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Welcome to this week's edition of things WWE subtly told us on RAW. We thought that the overall episode was fantastic minus one segment (which we'll get to later). WWE's build to Backlash 2020 has been far more impressive than the build to Money in the Bank despite the latter being a bigger PPV overall.
There are a few solid match-ups on the card but we expect "The Greatest Wrestling Match Ever" between Edge and Randy Orton to close the show. Despite the odd marketing tag for the match, we're quite excited at how things are shaping up on RAW.
Without dragging it much further, let's get into the things WWE subtly told us on an incredible episode of RAW!
#7 Seth Rollins' reign of terror resulting in a big retirement?
Seth Rollins had a great episode of RAW with Austin Theory giving his group a much-needed boost With Theory and Murphy both being loyal disciples, it means that The Monday Night Messiah now has a major numbers game advantage.
His two disciples took on recent adversaries in Aleister Black and Humberto Carrillo, with the 22-year-old Austin Theory picking up the win after pinning Carrillo. He certainly proved why he belongs in the faction and stated his loyalty towards Rollins for picking him up while he was down.
We're excited to see how Theory progresses, but the big shock coming out of RAW was the fact that Rey Mysterio will officially be having a retirement ceremony next week. Seth Rollins will be the host and will look to send-off the Superstar who he brutally assaulted a few weeks ago.
However, we fully expect this to be a fake retirement situation, with Mysterio getting one back over Rollins and setting up a big PPV clash at Backlash 2020.
#6 Kevin Owens' next big feud
This one was the most surprising result of the show. Kevin Owens' return last week saw him call Zelina Vega and her trio to The Kevin Owens Show. What we didn't realize was that his tag team match against them later that night would result in a feud for him as well.
And the name? Angel Garza. That's right, the former Cruiserweight Champion defeated the former Universal Champion, albeit with a little help from outside. It was the biggest upset of the night and just like Apollo Crews, Kevin Owens had his leg targeted.
It worked out at the end for Garza, who now has one of the biggest wins of his career since joining Monday Night RAW. Given that Apollo Crews just won the title from Andrade (with the Mexican star trashing objects backstage post-match) and Kevin Owens just lost to Garza, we wouldn't be surprised to see that alliance continue going forward and an interesting rivalry.
The only negative is that we feel that every Superstar involved needs a win. However, that's simply not realistic.
#5 Who's stepping up following Apollo Crews' US title win?
Apollo Crews won his first championship in WWE in five years, beating Andrade to win the United States title. He could have done it last month, but an ill-timed storyline injury saw the referee stop the earlier contest in favor of Andrade, who also had the best match of his title reign.
The two would have another solid match and as expected, Crews defeated Andrade to become the new champion. It was a fitting end to a somewhat-average United States Championship reign.
We certainly don't blame Andrade given the circumstances, but it was high time for him to drop the title and we're glad that Apollo Crews has been a direct beneficiary of this. However, this doesn't mean Andrade is stepping down the card. If anything, dropping the United States title frees him to take a step up the card, which we expect him to start doing soon.
As for Apollo Crews, we hope that this is the first of many Championships in his career.
#4 An IIconic title chase
The IIconics returned to television a few weeks ago and faced the Women's Tag Team Champions Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross. They defeated them in a non-title match and set up a championship bout for the following week.
However, a mistake by Peyton Royce would cost them the match and there was a moment of backstage tension between the former champions. However, they reconciled quickly and are now back in the mix.
Confronting Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross again, they took them out and made a statement on the latest episode of RAW, indicating that they're still in the pursuit of the titles. While we're not sure how they're going to fill the net two weeks for this feud, it's a match big enough for the WWE Backlash PPV.
However, with Asuka as a singles star again and The Kabuki Warriors seemingly ending their run as a tag team, it's going to be tough to keep this feud going past a point. It's still exciting because of Royce & Kay's return, but there's only a certain point to which they can carry the rivalry. The women's tag team division is lacking some big names right now.
#3 Nia Jax is next...as expected
There was a triple threat match on RAW to determine Asuka's title challenger at Backlash 2020. It was contested between NXT Women's Champion Charlotte Flair, the veteran Natalya, and Nia Jax.
What was a bit odd about Natalya was her backstage promo where Tyson Kidd called her and she picked it up mid-promo. Either way, she hasn't had too much direction since WrestleMania 36.
Nia Jax, however, was the first to confront Asuka in her title celebration last week and got into an altercation as well, with the night ending for Jax after Asuka gave her a kick to the head backstage.
She had a different level of motivation this week and the trio would have a really fun match where all three competitors stepped up their game in a big way. As expected, Nia Jax won the match. Given that Asuka and Jax had a confrontation last week, the result was all too obvious.
It's going to be a solid match at Backlash, with the two having crossed paths previously in NXT. Asuka has always emerged the victor and we expect the same in this case.
#2 The Tag Team title feud isn't actually a tag team title feud
We thought at first that The Viking Raiders vs The Street Profits would be a potentially serious and intense feud for the champions, particularly since they never defeated The Viking Raiders before.
While it was a title feud at first, things have changed and for a few weeks now, it's been about something else. This was hardly subtle, but the fact of the matter is that The Viking Raiders and The Street Profits have been having many odd segments since the culmination of WrestleMania 36.
For one, we don't understand the decision to turn The Viking Raiders into a comedy tag team when they're better suited to be a more serious, intense, and physically imposing duo. While we don't doubt that it'll lead to a title match, the feud is really about the "Anything you can do, we can do better Championships". That's why they had a basketball match, an ax-throwing contest, a golf game, and next week, they go bowling.
It was our least favorite part of RAW and the only blip in an otherwise great episode.
#1 Why Drew McIntyre vs Bobby Lashley is the perfect match-up
At first, we were a bit skeptical about Bobby Lashley as Drew McIntyre's WWE Championship challenger at Backlash 2020. It's been over six months now since Lashley lost a certain 'edge' in his character, something that MVP has been bringing back.
We've loved MVP's role on RAW so far - being the man to try to bring out the fire in Bobby Lashley again. Despite his loss to Aleister Black at WrestleMania 36, we believe that Lashley could be an even more exciting opponent for McIntyre than Seth Rollins.
WWE seems to be ignoring Lashley and McIntyre's alliance together, but they don't need to acknowledge it. When looking at the tension and chemistry the two have when standing in the same ring, it's clear that we're witnessing the perfect physical match-up.
The two had to be separated to close the show, but not before Bobby Lashley used the masterlock on Montez Ford to beat The Street Profits while teaming with MVP. We're excited to see the direction that Lashley goes, with Lana seemingly being pushed out of the fray. Lashley is set to receive his first WWE Championship shot in around 12-13 years and it's long overdue for him.
