#3 Storyline/Character Development – Winner: Raw
Considering this was one night removed from a Raw PPV, it’s not surprising that Monday night saw quite a bit of development in terms of storyline and character development. The show after a PPV is typically when the roster gets a mini shake-up, and new feuds start to emerge. For example, we got a new rivalry in the Raw women’s division between Alexa Bliss and Nia Jax.
Perhaps Nia’s comments last week struck a chord with somebody backstage, as not only was the women herself catapulted to the main event scene, but the writers even found a way to incorporate more of the roster into this story. Dana Brooke and Mickie James played important supporting roles here, which is what the division needs to be doing. It’s not enough just to concentrate on the two women who are fighting for the title.
Unsurprisingly, the upcoming bout between Samoa Joe and Brock Lesnar took its first steps with some impressive mic work from the former, and it looks as if Roman and Bray are also going to be feuding for the next few weeks.
For the second week in a row, however, Raw showed us all that it has the advantage in terms of storyline interest. The mysterious matter involving Kurt Angle made an impact on the show yet again, although it would have been nice if we’d have got a few more clues as to what is actually happening.
The Enzo and Cass storyline is still interesting and took a rather unexpected turn this week when we learned that Big Cass was this week’s victim, as opposed to Amore. Again, not many clues were given as to where this is going, but that’s not necessarily a negative.
What if Big Cass himself staged the whole attack to shift the spotlight away from him? What if it was the Revival who attacked them both buidling up for a feud upon their return, afterall they have been spotted on RAW in recent weeks.
SmackDown is working towards a PPV, so doesn’t really have the space to be developing new storylines. Instead, we got another collection of matches involving the six MITB competitors and a rather pointless match between the WWE Champion and the Andre the Giant Battle Royal winner. This is likely to change after the next PPV, where new feuds will hopefully begin to develop on the blue brand.
