'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
WrestleMania is now less than a week away and the excitement for the event is about to blow off the roof. This year’s event will see major titles from all three brands, namely RAW, SmackDown, and NXT be defended at the event which will make things even more interesting for the fans.
Last week’s RAW announced some major matches for the event, especially non-title matches between Aleister Black and Bobby Lashley, and confirming the Last Man Standing Match between Edge and Randy Orton.
NXT was not too far behind on the action as we saw a big announcement from Triple H regarding the rivalry and match between Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano. Fans were also introduced to a brand new tag team that can take over the Tag Team Division, while Tyler Breeze and Io Shirai got a make a point during the show.
SmackDown was last but the show did not lag behind as it set up some major Championship matches for The Show of Shows. Bray Wyatt appeared through the Firefly Fun House to make his match against John Cena even more interesting, while King Corbin overstepped the line while building his rivalry with Elias.
Here we will look at the five things that must happen on RAW, NXT, and SmackDown this week to make all three shows successful before WrestleMania 36.
#5 Bobby Lashley crushes his opponent
As mentioned earlier, last week’s RAW confirmed a match between two of RAW’s biggest Superstars, namely Aleister Black and Bobby Lashley, with no backstory.
While both men are extremely dominating and unforgiving, the company needs to build just a little backstory to make the competition and the match between them more exciting. Black completely destroyed his opponent on RAW last week as he defeated him with just one fatal move and pinned him within 15 seconds.
This week on RAW, the creatives should give Lashley a similar opportunity and allow him to take on a lower-card Superstar, defeating him in seconds.
This would give fans a good idea of what to expect from these two men at WrestleMania, as squash victories for both men will give fans the idea that they are both looking to absolutely decimate each other to score a big win at The Show of Shows.
Even though there is no real hype behind their match, it could turn out to be one of the better matches of the event, and building towards it this week will help both men get some much-needed momentum ahead of the clash.
#4 Angel Garza betrays Andrade
By now, most of us are aware of the fact that Andrade is injured and won’t be able to team up with Angel Garza to take on The Street Profits at WrestleMania for the RAW Tag Team Championships.
While the pairing seemed to be a good one, WWE needs to figure out a way to get Andrade out of the match realistically and get someone to replace him as the story will head to The Show of Shows.
WWE must ask Andrade to appear this week with Angel Garza, simply for a segment where Zelina Vega tries to put both men over on the mic. We should then watch Garza betray Andrade, and deliver a Hammerlock DDT to him on the concrete floor to write him off.
The Street Profits should run out to help Andrade out as the good guys, and we should see Garza’s mystery partner arrive to help him out against the Champions and deliver a beating to them.
Since Garza was fast-tracked to RAW from NXT, we could watch an NXT star come out to help him even the odds and team up with him for WrestleMania. With several top heels on NXT such as Cameron Grimes, Damian Priest, and Austin Theory looking for a chance to break out, we could see one of those three men partner with Garza at WrestleMania.
This will allow WWEhave a realistic story to follow with Garza drawing even more heat while El Idolo could return as a face once he recovers from his injury and give fans a new side to his character.
#3 The Dream outsmarts Bobby Fish
The Velveteen Dream has made his intentions very clear but the NXT Champion Adam Cole seems unmoved by the new challenger, as he continued to celebrate his reign as the longest-reigning NXT Champion of all time last week.
Cole made it clear that the rest of The Undisputed Era was eager to teach Dream a lesson, and Bobby Fish was the man who was first in line to face Dream.
The Purple Highness already lost his Cage Match against Roderick Strong a few weeks ago, but he deliberately let Strong win to get himself trapped in the cage with The Panama City Playboy.
With His Purple Highness so eager to take on Cole and win the NXT Championship, NXT should book Dream to defeat Fish easily while fending off an attack from the rest of the members of the heel faction.
Dream is no stranger to the faction and has battled Strong for a long time while keeping an eye on his back for the rest of the men of the stable.
It will be great to watch Dream defeat Fish clean on NXT this week and then progress to take on Kyle O’Reilly before taking on Cole and potentially defeating him for the NXT Championship.
#2 Keith Lee overpowers his challengers
Last week on NXT, Keith Lee took it upon himself to come out and apologize for Spirit Bombing Dominik Dijakovic a couple of weeks ago after thinking that he was the one who attacked him after his match against Cameron Grimes.
Dijakovic came out to make it clear that he wasn’t there for any apologies anymore and just wanted to take the NXT North American Championship away from The Limitless One. This brought out Damian Priest, after which a brawl broke out and a Triple Threat match between the three men for the North American Championship was announced.
This week, the action will likely headline the show as we will see three of NXT’s biggest men battle it out for the big belt. While both Dijakovic and Priest seem ready to carry the secondary title forward, it would be too early to take away the title from the Limitless Lee who is just getting started dominating the NXT roster.
Since we have already seen Dijakovic try and fail to win the title earlier, NXT must protect The Archer of Infamy in this match and allow Lee to pin Dijakovic to pick up the pinfall victory.
This will take Dijakovic out of the equation for some time but give Priest a chance to get some solo shots at the title which could see him take it home from the babyface as he is among the biggest villains on the brand.
Fans deserve a one-on-one rivalry between Lee and Priest, and NXT must deliver by getting Dijakovic out of the equation for some time this week.
#1 Roman Reigns offers Braun Strowman a chance
Roman Reigns is one of the biggest Superstars and merchandise movers of the company. The former Universal Champion did not need any more reason to walk out on SmackDown after Super ShowDown and challenged newly-crowned Universal Champion Goldberg to a match for the title at WrestleMania.
While Reigns was all set to compete against Goldberg, and possibly even win the Championship that he never lost, it seems like some unavoidable circumstances will halt his progression to the top of SmackDown.
In October 2018, Reigns had announced that he had to relinquish his Universal Championship and take time off from wrestling because he had Leukemia and an immunocompromised state will not allow him to compete during a global pandemic.
Therefore, WWE must allow Reigns to strip down to his real-life character once again and acknowledge the fact that he won’t be able to fight Goldberg because of his health and no other reason.
He should then play the real-life hero and good guy character and offer Braun Strowman the opportunity to face Goldberg, claiming that no other man on the roster deserved the title more than Strowman.
This will allow WWE to take Reigns out of his scheduled match without any silly gimmicks or stories, and cash in on the chance to get fans to cheer for Reigns again. It will also allow them to get Strowman in the top title picture against after a short reign as the Intercontinental Champion, and it could end up with The Monster Among Men finally becoming a top Champion.
