5 things we learned from this week's episode of Monday Night RAW

This week's Monday Night Raw was a celebration of WWE Hall of Famer, the Nature Boy, Ric Flair's 70th birthday. There was a sense of celebratory atmosphere around the State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia. But it was all cut short after the surprising return of The Animal, Batista.

Monday night also marked the return of Roman Reigns to Raw, 4 months after he was diagnosed with Leukemia. All of this added up to the interestingly poised road to WrestleMania and made this week's episode of Raw worth it.

Over the last few weeks, WWE has really upped their game by giving the WWE Universe what they want. This is the result of a drastic fall in ratings over the past 4-5 months. Also, it can be construed as WWE wanting to bring/promote new talent to freshen up the roster and carve out new matches in future.

Here we take a look back at the 5 things we learned from this week's episode of Raw.

#5 The Revival's future as tag team champions in jeopardy?

The tag champs suffered back to back defeats shockingly.

There have always been questions put up regarding the quality of the tag team division on Raw. It is evident that SD Live is the better brand in terms of tag team quality as all of the top 3 tag teams (The Usos, The New Day and The Bar) are associated with the blue brand. Raw also has good teams like Chad Gable & Bobby Roode, SAnitY, B-Team, and their tag team champions, The Revival. But with all due to respect to the tag teams on Raw, they've been average thus far. The audiences haven't connected well with these teams at all and the matches are dull.

Probably that's the reason why WWE is interested in bringing the NXT tag teams over on Raw to freshen up the roster. Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa are a prime example of it. They had a very impressive debut on Raw last week as they defeated the champions convincingly. On this week's show, Ricochet and Aleister Black teamed up to face The Revival and like last week, the NXT call-ups did not disappoint and picked up a resounding victory over the champions.

All of which brings me back to my original question. Is The Revival's future as tag champions in danger? Having suffered back to back defeats in the last two weeks at the hands of NXT tag teams, The Revival's imminent future doesn't look bright.

#4 Finn Balor finally getting a championship run leading up to WrestleMania

Champion Bálor Club

Finn Bálor finally won another championship in WWE. Prior to his championship victory last week, Bálor last won a title (Universal championship) almost 3 years ago at SummerSlam, beating Seth Rollins.

It all turned around last week when he defeated Bobby Lashley and Lio Rush in a handicap match for the title. WWE finally gave Bálor the major push which he richly deserved and put the title on him. But interestingly, WWE doesn't seem to have an imminent IC Title storyline lined up for him. On Monday, Balor again faced Lio Rush in a title match and won comfortably. This indicates WWE is still planning a storyline leading up to WrestleMania and Bálor is almost certain to be the champion till then.

There's a possibility that WWE could bring back the Ladder Match for the IC Title at WrestleMania. The last time a ladder match for the IC title took place was 3 years ago at WrestleMania 32. Given Finn's popularity, high flying moves and WWE's persistence with regular NXT call-ups, it shouldn't come as a surprise if a Ladder Match does take place, with the likes of Bálor, Ricochet, Gargano, Black, etc. being a part of it. This could very well turn out to be a classic.

#3 The Boss n Hug connection steamrolling their way to WrestleMania

Sasha Banks and Bayley have toiled hard over the years, both in singles and tag team division. Their victory at the Chamber is a hallmark of the work put in by both of them. On this week's show, Bayley took on Nia Jax in singles action. It was an intense match, especially with all the power game possessed by Nia but Bayley ground out a deserving victory. The Raw women's tag team division is also restricted to just 3-4 regular teams, as a result, making it more predictable at the moment.

So what's next for the Boss n Hug connection or the women's tag division in general? Since it's WrestleMania season, one cannot put it beyond WWE to stir things up and pull off a pleasant surprise. This could possibly mean either of the two things. Either WWE could pair two of its individual stars to face Sasha and Bayley at WrestleMania or they could bring back some of the past legends for a few weeks and set up a WrestleMania masterpiece.

#2 Possible reunion of The Shield following the return of Roman Reigns?

Last night, Roman Reigns returned to Raw after 4 months of being sidelined due to Leukemia. Reigns' return sparked a massive cheer all around the WWE Universe. It was really refreshing to see him back in the ring, a place where he actually belongs.

Just as Reigns was walking back after addressing the audiences, Seth's music hit and The Kingslayer came out to celebrate Roman's return. Later on in the night, both Rollins and Reigns again came out together, this time to save their longtime friend and member of The Shield, Dean Ambrose, from Lashley, McIntyre, Elias and Corbin.

Roman Reigns returning at this point of time is no coincidence. Although he's not yet medically cleared to wrestle, WWE still wants him to be a part of its WrestleMania plans. But that's later. Considering the lack of buildup for the Universal Championship match thus far, mainly due to the absences of Lesnar from Raw, WWE may try to spice things up by reuniting The Shield for one more night to face Corbin, McIntyre, and Lashley.

The next few weeks would be pivotal in determining the route WWE takes to set up a fascinating last few episodes of Raw on the road to WrestleMania.

#1 WrestleMania 21 rematch? A fitting farewell to Batista's WWE career

Dave Batista has landed the first blow. How will Hunter react?

A lot of wrestling legends appeared on for Ric Flair's birthday celebration. Shawn Michaels, Kurt Angle, Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat and "The Icon" Sting, were all present at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta on Monday night.

The entire roster was out on the ramp, while Triple H, Stephanie, and all the above-mentioned legends were in the ring, waiting for The Nature Boy to make his way down to the ring. Unfortunately, it never happened. Ric Flair never came out to the ring.

The cameras suddenly panned backstage and Batista dragging out a beaten Ric Flair. The Animal had a clear message for Triple H which indicates a match between them at WrestleMania is on the cards.

WWE had already planted the seeds for this massive match at the 1000th episode of SD Live. The Evolution had reunited for the special night and everything was going as smooth as silk until Batista reminded the world how Hunter had achieved everything in this business except beating him. The foundations were laid down then and there itself. It was only a matter of time this storyline exploded on the road to WrestleMania.