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With just a week to go until Money in the Bank, the two top brands of WWE will be looking to make an impact before the PPV. The final participant for the men’s Money in the Bank ladder match will be determined after the Last Chance Gauntlet match on RAW.
RAW and SmackDown will have major matches to look forward to on Sunday as their two major men’s titles will also be defended during the MITB pay-per-view.
Apart from that, NXT has announced some huge matches for this week that will see the NXT Championship and NXT Women’s Championship on the line. Also, Johnny Gargano will look to make another statement against a babyface while Karrion Kross will make his much-anticipated debut.
Finn Balor will be in the house too as he will look to address what happened to him in the locker room a couple of weeks ago before his match against Velveteen Dream.
Last week, SmackDown managed to find the final participants from the brand for the men’s and women’s Money in the Bank ladder matches and also gave Sheamus and Sonya Deville a significant push during the show. This week Jeff Hardy will make his long awaited return to the Blue brand after a lengthy layoff.
In this article, we will look at the 5 things that must happen on the three main brands of WWE this week to keep the fans at home entertained.
#5 Jinder Mahal wins the Last Chance Gauntlet Match
Last week’s RAW saw the former WWE Champion Jinder Mahal return to the Red brand after almost ten months away due to injury. The Modern-Day Maharaja wasted little time in making an impact and defeated Akira Tozawa with ease.
The match showed a much more intense side of Mahal as he needed to get more serious and focused following his return. Mahal was stuck in a comic act before his injury as he was seen chasing the 24/7 Championship in a storyline with R-Truth.
WWE must allow Mahal to have a better run on RAW this time around as the brand can do well with some top-level heels. In this week’s episode, a Last Chance Gauntlet Match will be held to determine who will replace Apollo Crews in the Money in the Bank ladder match.
The company must allow Mahal to win this match and progress to the pay-per-view where he can be seen as a real threat to win the briefcase. This will allow him to instantly get on top of the roster and get more prominent as a performer which could lead him to get in contention for the WWE Championship currently held by his former friend, Drew McIntyre.
#4 The RAW Tag Team Championship match gets interrupted
Two of RAW’s top babyface tag teams will engage in a battle for the RAW Tag Team Championships this week, as The Street Profits will defend their titles against The Viking Raiders.
While fans are used to seeing face vs heel matches with Championships on the line, face vs. face matches usually doesn’t get the same sort of crowd reaction.
With that in mind, the company must look to do something different this week to protect both the babyface teams and introduce a new team with eyes on the titles.
During the RAW Tag Team Championships match, we must see Zelina Vega lead Austin Theory and Angel Garza out to attack both the teams and end the match in a no-contest.
While Theory and Garza have had a shot at the titles at WrestleMania, the two are now more well-known and are working better as a team.
With that in mind, the company can then book a Triple Threat Tag Team Match for the titles at the Money in the Bank pay-per-view. This will increase the stakes and give either the Street Profits or The Viking Raiders a chance to win the titles by pinning Theory or Garza and protecting the other team.
#3 Johnny Gargano makes quick work of Dominik Dijakovic
One of the biggest matches scheduled for this week’s NXT will be between the newly turned heel Johnny Gargano and the mammoth babyface, Dominik Dijakovic.
While Dijakovic has the looks of a great heel, he has fit really well as a babyface character on NXT and had some good matches against Damian Priest, Adam Cole, and NXT North American Champion Keith Lee.
However, this will be one of the biggest matches of his career as Gargano is arguably the best wrestler in NXT today. Gargano will try to show his new heel side in his first clash since defeating Tommaso Ciampa with the help of his wife, Candice LeRae.
While Dijakovic is still climbing the ladder on NXT and fails to perform in every big match he’s a part of, he will try his best to overcome the mighty Gargano in this clash.
However, WWE must allow Gargano to make quick work of the massive Superstar to make a statement to the rest of the roster. Johnny Wrestling seems to be done chasing titles, and it’s all about making an impact for him now. He should continue to do so this week, and a quick victory thanks to some heelish tactics over a giant will help him come across as NXT’s biggest villain.
#2 Candice LeRae costs Io Shirai
Last week on NXT, the NXT Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair competed in her first match on the brand since winning the title at WrestleMania 36 from Rhea Ripley.
Flair handpicked Mia Yim to be her first opponent back on the Black & Gold brand, and even though The HBIC gave a tough fight to the Champion, we saw Flair make her tap out to the Figure-Eight leg lock.
After their match was over, Io Shirai arrived to challenge Flair to a title match for NXT next week. While Shirai will be looking to bag her first title in WWE by defeating Flair, NXT must pull off a swerve this week.
The brand must allow the new heel Candice LeRae to interfere in the match and cost Shirai the title. This will allow Flair to extend her reign while protecting Shirai in defeat. A rivalry between Shirai and LeRae will be best for business at this point as they are the two top female wrestlers on the brand at the moment.
It will also allow Shirai a chance to turn babyface in the process and possibly go after the title once again after a few months, winning it with the backing of the NXT Universe.
#1 Sheamus takes down Jeff Hardy
Sheamus defeated another enhancement talent on SmackDown last week and then watched a video package reliving Jeff Hardy’s career played on the big screen.
After the video package was over, Sheamus told Michael Cole that he would be there when Hardy makes his return to the Blue brand next week, and it looks The Celtic Warrior has something on his mind.
This week on the show, Hardy will make his much-anticipated return to the Blue brand and will likely take on an undercard Superstar to show what he’s still got to the WWE Universe.
However, after his match, WWE must allow Sheamus to appear and beat down the returning Superstar, sending a clear message to the veteran.
Both men are back on SmackDown and will be looking to make some impact at a time when the newer stars are trying to shine. Sheamus needs to get some real competition, while Hardy has always been a fan-favorite who can help any Superstar get over.
WWE has a great chance at building two major Superstars at the same time, and this could be the perfect way to give them a boost and take them to the upper card while allowing the newer stars to build around them.
