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This week’s WWE RAW was called the night of the Championships as fans were ready to be entertained with four Championship matches during the night. Apart from that, we saw the United States Champion in action against Shelton Benjamin, while WWE Champion Drew McIntyre opened up the night with a good segment.
During the night, Asuka defended her RAW Women’s Championship against Charlotte Flair, while The IIconics challenged Sasha Banks and Bayley for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships. The IIconics could not pick up their second WWE Women's Tag Team Championships as Bayley and Banks outclassed them.
The RAW Tag Team titles were also on the line as The Street Profits came face to face with The Viking Raiders. Lastly, a match between R-Truth and Akira Tozawa was set for the 24/7 Championship.
The Viking Raiders managed to put up a great fight but could not claim the RAW Tag Team Championships, while R-Truth lost his 24/7 Championship thanks to a surprise attack.
However, the night was ruled by some excellent mic-work by the Superstars of WWE who gave fans a few great rivalries to look forward to.
In this article, we will look at the 5 things WWE got right on RAW this week.
#5 Rey and Dominik Mysterio’s alliance
Rey Mysterio returned to RAW this Monday to address Seth Rollins in person. He was accompanied by his son Dominik who had shown up last week to attack The Monday Night Messiah in front of the WWE Universe.
Mysterio praised his son’s actions for defending the Mysterio name a week ago but insisted that he wanted to finish things with Rollins on his own. Dominik, however, insisted that he wasn’t leaving the WWE legend and going anywhere.
The father and son want to defend their name on WWE RAW
The Monday Night Messiah walked out to the middle and threatened to take out both father and son with the help of his disciples, Murphy and Austin Theory.
However, help arrived in the form of Humberto Carrillo and Aleister Black who returned and helped fight the heels off, showing that they were with the WWE veteran and his son in their fight against Rollins.
This was a great segment that helped the father and son tease a match together while getting some backup. While it’s odd to see Black paired up as a sidekick to Mysterio, hopefully, he will build up towards his own individual feud from hereon.
#4 The WWE Championship creative direction
This week’s WWE RAW was kicked off by the WWE Champion, Drew McIntyre. This was a great way to begin things as the night was dedicated to the champions of the brand.
Before The Scottish Psychopath could get going, Dolph Ziggler interrupted him. The newest addition to RAW’s roster has come in as a replacement to AJ Styles, someone McIntyre really wants to face.
The Showoff expressed his happiness over McIntyre’s title reign but claimed that The Scot owed him big time. Ziggler took credit for McIntyre’s redemption story and asked for a WWE Championship match.
It was great to see WWE RAW build upon previous storylines
The Scottish Psychopath called Ziggler entitled and asked him to confirm whether he actually wanted to face him knowing what he is capable of. After The Showoff confirmed that it was exactly what he wanted, McIntyre accepted the challenge to make things official for Extreme Rules.
The creatives did a great job by taking a story from over a year and a half ago and putting it back in motion as soon as Ziggler showed up on the Red brand. While we know the outcome of the clash, we also know the Ziggler could end up giving McIntyre one of the best matches of his title reign.
#3 Bobby Lashley’s new target
MVP welcomed United States Champion Apollo Crews to “The VIP Lounge” this week on RAW. MVP was still interested in adding the fast-rising WWE Superstar to his list of clients.
When the Champion showed no interest, MVP distracted Crews to allow Shelton Benjamin to attack him from behind. This led to a rematch between the two men from last week's RAW where Benjamin started off on the right foot.
While Benjamin did a good job, Crews proved to be superior in this clash once again and put him away with the sit-out powerbomb.
Lashley could do with a belt on WWE RAW right now
Crews then confronted MVP while heading back, but fell victim to Bobby Lashley’s assault who took out the United States Champion with a Full Nelson.
It seems like The All-Mighty is targeting the secondary Championship on WWE RAW after falling out of the WWE Championship picture. This could lead to a victory for the giant and a great run that can help him get ready for the top of the roster once again.
As for Apollo, this could be the rivalry that either makes or breaks him as Lashley is among the most lethal and most experienced Superstars on the Red brand today.
#2 Asuka vs Charlotte Flair for the RAW Women’s Championship and her new challenger
Asuka looked to finally get one over Charlotte Flair this week on RAW, but The Queen had to settle some business with Nia Jax first. Jax was staging a sit-in in protest of her two losses to Asuka, and Flair decided to come out and confront her. A brawl broke out between the two women that led to an injury to Flair’s arm.
Later on, Flair took on Asuka for the RAW Women’s Championship. Both women showed why they’re considered the best in the business yet again, and The Emperess continued to target Flair’s bad arm.
After a great fight, Asuka was able to trap Flair in the Asuka Lock and make her tap out. While WWE should have saved this moment for Asuka for a stage like SummerSlam, they may have other plans in store for her which led to this match taking place on an episode of RAW instead.
Asuka seems to have found her next challenger on WWE RAW
Late in the night, The IIconics competed against Bayley and Sasha Banks for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships. Banks and Bayley managed to retain their titles, after which Banks claimed that she was jealous of Bayley for having two titles and wanted another title for herself.
After teasing a match with Bayley, she claimed that she wanted to challenge Asuka for the RAW Women’s Championship at Extreme Rules.
This was excellent as it will give us a great chance to see two of the finest wrestlers in the ring together and possibly give us a few mega feuds by the end of the match.
#1 The RAW promos
RAW was filled with some great, raw promos this week to build up towards some old and new rivalries. It all started from Edge who cut one of the most intense WWE promos of 2020 in a pre-recorded video. Edge warned Randy Orton that he had awoken the Rated-R Superstar within him and that he would be coming back for more soon.
Even though not much can get the fans excited for another Edge vs. Orton match in 2020, this promo did just enough to get the wheels rolling again.
Soon after, Randy Orton responded to Edge with a great promo of his own and sent another warning to the Rated-R Superstar and Captain Charisma.
This week's WWE RAW had some great promos
Later in the night, Ric Flair took to the ring to name Orton “The Greatest Wrestler Ever”, but before they could do much, they were interrupted by Big Show. Even Big Show managed to cut a good promo as he looked to avenge Edge and Christian.
This effectively begins a rivalry between Show and Orton and will keep the fans going until Edge is ready to compete again. While this match does not sound very appealing in 2020, we could end up getting a good match out of the two men judging by the promo they cut.
Last but not least, Sasha Banks too cut a good promo as she challenged Asuka for the RAW Women’s Champion. Overall, the work the WWE RAW Superstars did on the mic this week was truly great.
