Top 5 WWE Moments of the Week (October 8 - 14)

This was an eventful week in WWE programming. Perhaps ratings being close to record lows once again forced the company to finally take notice, and with Crown Jewel now in danger of being canceled, the company needed an eventful week to say the least. We await to see if this trend will continue. Monday Night Raw in particular certainly needs it!

Here are the five moments that stood out the most on the WWE's programming this week.

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#5 The Miz stirs the pot

Few can boast to be better kickers of hornet's nests than The Miz. His trolling of Daniel Bryan and AJ Styles on SmackDown last Tuesday was successful. Though Styles and Bryan may have turned against him, they also had tense relations with one another.

Amidst a storm of controversy and WWE's home state senators, among others, speaking out against the relationship with the Saudi Arabian government, Crown Jewel is now in danger, so the status of this match is up in the air, but the company supposedly has backup plans. We await to see what those are.

What is clear, though, is that AJ Styles vs. Daniel Bryan could easily be SmackDown's marquee WrestleMania match. The fact that the blue brand is doing it now suggests that there are other plans in mind, and The Miz's presence in the build here gives weight to the rumors that Daniel Bryan indeed won't capture the WWE Championship on this occasion.

Instead, The Miz could be the one that ruins Daniel Bryan's shot and somehow takes the title first, leading to the culmination of the Miz vs. Bryan feud on April 7th, 2019.

That scenario isn't guaranteed, but it looks like it's the direction that the company could be headed in right now. We'll have to wait and see if it's the direction they still appear headed in.

#4 "Maybe you're just not...tough enough!"

Tommaso Ciampa and Velveteen Dream are both among the best promo men in the company, so when the seeds of their rivalry were planted, we eagerly anticipated their segments together. They didn't disappoint.

Both men exercised a masterful degree of self-control when they talked down to each other. Velveteen Dream accused Ciampa of being an "angry little bald man trying to hide his insecurities." Like a true master of gab, Ciampa accepted the "angry little bald man" remark, but declared that he had a nice shiny title belt, while Dream perhaps wasn't...tough enough.

The crowd loved seeing these two go at it. Nikki Cross' entry into the scene was a lot of fun, too. A triple threat with Aleister Black may be brewing, given Nikki Cross' innuendo during the segment but if I'm being honest, I'd much rather see Ciampa vs. Dream one on one.

#3 Lashley turns heel

This came many months later than it should have. As usual, WWE is behind the curve on these things, but better late than never, I suppose. Lashley needed this heel turn badly and the turn is consistent with Lio Rush's character as well. It was weird, to say the least, to see Lio Rush acting as a babyface on Raw but as a heel on 205 Live. This was a step toward consistency at least. The company could use that sort of commitment far more if it wants to improve the quality of its content.

With the Shield still being the dominant faction on Raw (more on that later), the show needs powerful heel challengers to their supremacy, and Bobby Lashley steps into that role seamlessly. It was clear there was nothing for him to do as a babyface. Now he can feel like he matters and make the show feel less meaningless.

#2 Double count-out

You should have seen this coming a mile away as soon as Paige announced it after the shenanigans in the Super Showdown match.

With Evolution on the horizon, it was obvious that there wasn't going to be a conclusive finish to this match on Tuesday. It was just held so the Evolution match could be made into a last woman standing affair. Truth be told, it didn't need to happen at all to be made into such a match, but WWE loves beating things to death.

This was still a lot of fun to watch though and it should be the main event on October 28th, certainly over the far less organic and entertaining Ronda Rousey vs. Nikki Bella match for the Raw championship, which won't be fun to watch at all. It's obvious which match has more build to it and who the more talented performers are.

#1 Dean abandons the Shield?

Dean Ambrose's tension with the Shield grew a lot on last Monday's episode of Raw and while his turn on his buddies probably isn't going to happen quite yet, it's a lot closer to becoming reality now than it was a couple of months ago. We'll probably see some more dissents and reconciliations until, at last, Dean Ambrose is finally pushed past the point of no return. That sort of anticipation is something that could keep fans watching for months.

Raw badly needed this tension. The Shield up to this angle didn't have much of a reason to exist except for protecting Roman Reigns from the crowd's hatred of him. The show suffered as a result. Now, with a crack in the Shield, more people will have a chance to step up, and Raw might be on the way to building its marquee WrestleMania match.