5 things that could happen on RAW next week: The Night After WrestleMania

Here we are, it’s WrestleMania week! This week’s episode of WWE RAW was the “go-home” show before the biggest event of the year, and it was a pretty quick watch but more than a little bit disappointing. No partner for Strowman, no answer from The Undertaker, they announced that the Cruiserweight Title match is on the pre-show again, and outside of a great Rollins vs. Balor match, there was zero wrestling worth watching. It wasn’t a bad show, but man, I was so excited going in, and with every passing hour my excitement waned. Last week I predicted 5 things and I didn’t do so well. The word disappointment is my word of the week, Coach.

- Sheamus and Cesaro demand an answer, Braun delivers Big Show

The Bar did indeed come out and cut a promo, but they actually said they didn’t even care who Braun chose, because at this point there’s no way they can be a cohesive tag team like the tag team champions. It may have been an attempt at reverse psychology. In any event, Braun came out and teased his partner, but then they just made a joke. It would have been a really good one if they didn’t do it 6 days before WrestleMania. “Brains” Strowman is something they should have done a week or two ago. Their last chance to build to the tag title match and they used the opportunity to make a joke? I chuckled, but the timing was awful. Either they still haven’t figured out who Braun’s partner is going to be or they are waiting for the “WrestleMania Moment” surprise? I’d be much more excited for the match if I knew the partner going in.

- Finn Balor defeats Seth Rollins, protects him from Miztourage, then Rollins attacks

They did indeed get a good amount of time to work with and the two challengers for the IC Title on Sunday definitely made the most of it with a great match. I still think that Balor getting the win would be better for the story, but now I’m actually leaning towards The Miz actually retaining the belt. Either that or Finn wins the title and possibly turns heel, and maybe they try another Miz face run? I doubt that.

- Lesnar and Reigns have a good, old-fashioned pull-apart brawl

For the entire evening the scene was set for a big brawl to happen at the end of the show. Kurt Angle asked both Paul Heyman and Roman Reigns to stay cool, which obviously meant that they wouldn’t. No pull-apart, but Roman got a bunch of good shots in and knocked Brock down with 5 Superman punches, thwarting every attempt from Brock to use the steel chair. I think that’s how they should have ended the show. If they needed to have one guy get the advantage of the other, it should have been Roman, with Brock running away after taking all of those punches instead of blindsiding Roman and hitting the F-5 to leave as the victor of their scuffle. Did you notice that the Atlanta crowd was ON FIRE for Roman? I don’t think he’s ever gotten a positive reaction like that at any point in his career.

- Triple H and Stephanie get the better of Angle & Rousey

This went about as expected. They threw jabs at each other verbally, then the staredown turned physical. Triple H blindsided Kurt, and Ronda went right after Triple H. The only thing I didn’t get right was that Stephanie would get such a good shot in. I thought it would be a slap, but instead we got Rousey going through a table. It was a pretty good segment, but I’m not interested in the match. I just hope it’s short.

- The Undertaker’s career flashes before Cena’s eyes

Yeah, so no Undertaker. That’s interesting. I guess Cena is going to be in the crowd, and at some point they will interview him, and THEN the lights go out and The Undertaker appears. If they are indeed doing Cena vs. Undertaker (I assume they will be doing something even if it isn’t a match) I would love to have Undertaker come out during Kid Rock’s performance. I assume that he will perform. My plan would be to have him do a quick medley starting with the WM theme song, going to Bawitdaba, then Cowboy -- and then he starts American Badass, there’s a huge explosion, and The Undertaker flies past on his bike. That would be pretty sweet.

Overall, I went 1.5 out of 5. I hope I do better for the fallout next week. It’s going to be tough to predict the RAW After WrestleMania, but I’m going to try.

#5 Bayley’s Battle Royal trophy gets destroyed

This week’s episode of RAW featured Bayley giving Sasha Banks a receipt from last week’s locker room attack. Banks saved Bayley from an attack by Absolution only to essentially demand that Bayley publicly thank her.

Instead of thanking her, Bayley punched Banks and tackled her. They brawled before Absolution came back in and laid both women out. It was a find building segment for the battle royal and good for the progression of the Bayley/Banks saga.

I am thinking that Bayley wins the battle royal on the WrestleMania Kickoff, and on RAW the following night, she will be officially presented the trophy. Banks, who will be the final woman eliminated, will interrupt and the awful genital trophy will get destroyed during the ensuing brawl.

When was the last time a trophy was demolished? In the history of WWE, there has almost never been a time in which a trophy appeared on TV and left unscathed. It’s been quite a while and I think next week will see that happen. There’s no way that they use that thing as the real yearly trophy for the battle royal.

#4 Strowman and Big Show dominate in a tag title rematch, Sheamus and Cesaro break up

I am standing steadfast that Braun Strowman’s tag team partner will be revealed to be Big Show. Rey Mysterio is probably still not quite cleared to compete, and based on what happened at the Strong Style Evolved show in Long Beach (Marty Scurll ripping off his mask) and the fact that he didn’t actually get to wrestle, I think Mysterio is going to end up hanging around New Japan instead of signing with WWE. Big Show, however, just signed a new WWE contract.

Big Show will get his big return on Sunday night and he and Strowman will win the titles from Sheamus & Cesaro. The rematch clause will be immediately invoked on RAW, but Show & Strowman will end things pretty quickly and in a dominant fashion.

After the match, Sheamus will berate Cesaro, who will take the verbal abuse for a short period before laying his partner out with an uppercut and the Cesaro Swing.

That will be one of the big surprises on the RAW After Mania. If Sheamus really is injured as bad as it sounds like he is, this could be his goodbye. It also opens up Cesaro for a run at the Intercontinental Title (matches with Balor and/or Rollins? Yes please).

#3 Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn crash the show

owens and zayn — Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn may be RAW's newest superstars

Daniel Bryan isn’t going to lose his return match. Not clean, not with Shane taking the pinfall, not because Shane turns on him -- he’s going to win. This leaves KO and Zayn still fired from SmackDown.

I don’t care what verbiage they’ve used, as I think they’ve been somewhat vague. They haven’t specifically said that the men would only stay fired from SmackDown since technically I think they were fired from WWE in general, but it hasn’t been made specifically clear.

Even if they did say “fired from WWE” and not just “fired” or “fired from SmackDown Live”, none of them would make a difference. There are no rules. Therefore they aren’t actually going to be fired.

I don’t know if they are going to crash in general and just appear for a promo or if they will interrupt someone, but I expect that the friends-turned enemies-turned friends will be RAW’s newest members in less than one week’s time.

#2 Kurt Angle gets fired as RAW General Manager

ronda rousey — The participants in Sunday's mixed tag match squared off for a photo op on RAW

Kurt Angle’s time as the RAW GM hasn’t been very good. Much like Mick Foley, he has stumbled over tons of lines, been awkward, and seemed confused or at least lost on many occasions.

This would mean that both RAW and SmackDown would need new authority figures, but since they are going to be “shaking things up” again I think an integral part of making things feel fresh will be new management.

Angle will stay with WWE in an ambassador-like capacity, a legends contract deal probably. He may come around for a dream match or two at some point, but his time as General Manager is over.

Triple H and Stephanie, feeling extremely angry after their loss at WrestleMania, will take it out on Angle. Ronda Rousey will probably get one last lick on the bosses and chase them away, raising Angle’s hand and allowing him to get a standing ovation before leaving.

#1 Samoa Joe returns and steps up to Roman Reigns

It’s a foregone conclusion that Roman Reigns will be taking the Universal Championship from Brock Lesnar on Sunday at WrestleMania. Lesnar will be taking a leave for quite a while (probably not forever) and Reigns will be the new Universal Champion leading into the future.

I don’t know what the crowd reaction is going to be like -- probably negative, even though the crowd in Atlanta this week was really on Reigns' side -- but he will come out for his celebratory promo only to be interrupted by his first challenger, the returning Samoa Joe.

I expect that the crowd will be very pro-Samoa Joe in New Orleans even though WWE will surely go the expected route and paint Joe as the heel and Roman as the surviving, underdog babyface. Man, I wish they would just figure out that Roman is like 6’4’’ and 250+ pounds. He’s huge. That guy should never be portrayed as an underdog. He’s a beast. Let him be a beast.

I don’t know what the closing segment will be. Will they open RAW with Reigns and the big Samoa Joe return? Will it close the show and end with Joe standing tall with the title in hand after choking out Reigns, completely spoiling the celebration? That’s tough to say. But I do think that Joe will return and be Reigns’ first challenger.