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Welcome to the first edition of "5 things that shouldn't have happened in WWE this week". We intend to make this a weekly series so do tune in around Friday to find this. In this series, we look at the things that WWE shouldn't have done and the decisions that they shouldn't have made.
This week has been a refreshingly good week for the WWE product. When you look at Stomping Grounds 2019, RAW, SmackDown Live, 205 Live and even NXT, for that matter, every single show was good.
Frankly speaking, such weeks are rare. We prefer not to take it for granted, but since the series is about criticism of the week, that's exactly what we're going to give. A good week doesn't mean it was perfect. While we do admit that there were very few complaints about the shows from our end, it wasn't without its faults. Here is what WWE did wrong this week.
#5. Elias defeating The Miz
So Shane McMahon is feuding with SmackDown Live star Roman Reigns on RAW and he's feuding with RAW superstar The Miz on SmackDown Live. Where's the sense in any of that?
Either way, what made lesser sense was Elias defeating The Miz. It's as though WWE wants to do everything in their power to ruin The Miz's babyface run, one that started off so well. We get that it wasn't a clean win and Shane McMahon was the reason Elias won, but it simply didn't feel like a good match in the first place nor did it feel like the right result.
Ultimately, there is nothing that can be done, but even in victory, Elias' place in WWE seems a bit shaky. He was much better off on RAW as his own act.
#4. Alexa Bliss getting another title shot against Bayley
Again with the unecessary interbrand action. SmackDown Live has Charlotte Flair, Ember Moon, Sonya DeVille, Mandy Rose and more and who do they choose to feud with the SmackDown Women's Champion? A RAW superstar.
Alexa Bliss challenging her last time didn't make sense, but what did make sense was Bayley defeating her and overcoming the demons of her past. That should have been it with the feud and Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross should have stayed on RAW.
Instead, we got Nikki Cross vs Bayley and Cross beat Bayley to earn a title shot for Alexa Bliss. In case you didn't realize, we're still trying to make sense out of the entire thing. This rivalry seems as though its pointless and if Alexa Bliss is eventually going to win the title, it'll undo the right they did by Bayley these last few months.
#3. Shinsuke Nakamura and not Andrade challenging for the IC title
We do admit that personally, Finn Balor vs Shinsuke Nakamura is absolutely exciting. They never really got to have a full-fledged rivalry in NXT, because when Nakamura was just getting started, Finn Balor was transitioning out into the main roster.
They did have one good match on NXT TV, which also happened to be Finn Balor's farewell to the yellow brand. On SmackDown Live, Finn Balor was confronted by the former NXT and United States Champion Shinsuke Nakamura, who is clearly next in line for the Intercontinental Championship.
However, we believe that the right rivalry would still have been Finn Balor vs Andrade. Andrade did lose clean to the Demon King at Saudi Arabia, but he should still be feuding with Balor and he should be winning the title as well. It's Andrade's time to shine and he should be in the title picture rather than feuding against Apollo Crews.
#2. AJ Styles beating Ricochet
Ricochet truly felt like the biggest star in WWE at Stomping Grounds when he won the United States Championship. The timing was right, the reaction was great and the reception he got backstage made him seem like an even bigger star, with WWE clearly planning to push him big time.
He had a dream match against AJ Styles on RAW and we truly believe that they didn't give it their full effort, because they'd like to have a more memorable match on PPV. Styles pinned the newly crowned champion in a non-title match and raised Ricochet's hand in endorsement.
While that's all well and good, we're not really the biggest fan of the champion being pinned in a non-title match so they can have a title match against said superstar. It takes away from their first meeting and it should be saved for PPV. Either way, the direction will be interesting, especially if Styles does turn heel.
#1. The Undertaker appearing
The Undertaker returned rather quickly after WWE Super ShowDown 2019. Roman Reigns was in the midst of a huge beatdown in the hands of Shane McMahon and Drew McIntyre in a 2-on-1 match, but it was none other than The Phenom himself who came to the rescue, saving The Big Dog.
It was later confirmed in the night that at WWE Extreme Rules 2019, it will be Roman Reigns and The Undertaker teaming up to take on Drew McIntyre and Shane McMahon. While the winners are all too obvious, fans aren't particularly excited about this.
What is interesting, however, is the fact that The Undertaker came to the aid of Roman Reigns - the man who supposedly "retired" him at WrestleMania 33. So at Extreme Rules, The Undertaker wil be teaming up with his WrestleMania 33 opponent to take on Drew McIntyre and his WrestleMania 32 opponent.
We still believe it's a big mistake because it really doesn't make much sense at the end of the day. The Undertaker needs to call it quits soon.
Teddy Long snaps when Swerve Strickland's race is brought up HERE
