After the shocking result of WWE Backlash’s main event, this week was about readjusting and looking towards the future. Both Extreme Rules and Money in the Bank have all their main players in place, which no doubt means we will be treated to several multi-man tag team matches over the next few weeks.
Here is what we learned from a rather middle of the road week for WWE.
#1 Roman Reigns and Bray Wyatt should be the feud of the new era
RAW opened its show this week by concentrating on the Universal Championship scene. Bray Wyatt came out and delivered a characteristically engaging promo that only served to frustrate fans who think he should be much more of a star than he is.
His promo was interrupted by Roman Reigns, perhaps somebody in the exact opposite position to Bray, enjoying main event success despite his limited abilities.
One thing became highly apparent while the two men were toe-to-toe in the ring. Bray Wyatt and Roman Reigns should really be the defining feud of WWE’s new era. All the previous ages of the WWE have seen them, dating back to Hogan vs. Piper and manoeuvring through the real-to-life animosity between Bret and Shawn, and later Stone Cold and The Rock.
Bray and Roman both started wrestling in the main roster at about the same time, and were both instrumental in ushering in the post-John Cena era. If only Bray had been booked better in his feuds with Cena and Randy Orton, this opening segment would have felt like one of the more memorable moments of the week.
And just on a side note, the Universal Title scene is doing its best to keep fans interested until Brock’s return, but the 50/50 booking is really damaging the storyline overall. Surely one of the five needs to come out of this feud looking the most dominant, otherwise, how are we to expect any of them to defeat the Beast?
#2 We received a very strong indication that Finn Balor will be facing Brock Lesnar soon
While Bray, Roman, Seth and Joe were busy dealing with each other, Finn Balor was given a week to stand out on his own. Out of all the would-be competitors for Brock’s Universal Title, Finn does have a very salient claim to being the next challenger, having never lost the championship in the first place.
Who knows where Finn would have been now if it hadn’t been for his injury? Perhaps we would have seen Finn vs. Brock a fair few times already.
In a surprising turn of events, Finn Balor’s promo was interrupted by Paul Heyman, who seemed very keen to shower praise and adulation upon the Demon King. This felt like a defining moment in Balor’s career, receiving the much anticipated onscreen ‘rub’ from one of the greatest managers in WWE history.
On the surface, this felt like the WWE preparing us for Finn vs. Brock in the near future.
In WWE’s world, however, predicting results to matches can be fairly tricky. Many people in the know assumed Jinder Mahal would not be leaving Backlash with the WWE Championship, but that shocking decision was made at some point before the opening bell.
One thing is for sure, though, Balor has to be seen as the odds-on favourite at the moment. One would imagine that Roman will be facing Brock in a later PPV, most likely WrestleMania 34, and Joe and Seth don’t seem to be finished with each other just yet. There is Bray, of course, but a match up with Finn just feels more likely at present.
#3 The seeds were sown for AJ Vs. Nakamura on Smackdown Live
Ever since learning that SmackDown Live would be Shinsuke Nakamura’s new main roster home, fans of high-quality technical wrestling have been waiting with anticipation for the King of Strong Style to be reunited with the former Bullet Club member, AJ Styles.
When it does happen, as it inevitably will, the two men are bound to put on one of the greatest worked WWE matches of the modern era.
WWE are doing well to hold back on this becoming a reality. At present, both men are working as babyfaces, so barring any multi-man matches, such as the upcoming Money in the Bank ladder match, we will have to wait a little while before the two come face-to-face.
However, the seeds were very much planted this week as the two men found themselves as tag-team partners in the main event. This precipitated in a backstage segment between the two in which they briefly reminisced about their time in Japan, and exchanged a few words soaked in potential gamesmanship.
The main event itself was a star-studded affair, with the two facing Kevin Owens and Dolph Ziggler. Unfortunately, the WWE still appear to be handling Nakamura misguidedly. Just like his match up at Backlash, Nakamura found himself on the receiving end of far too much offence, this time from both Ziggler and KO.
Nakamura needs to be forwarded as an unstoppable enigma right now, whereas, in reality, it was AJ who came across as the one having to bail Shinsuke out. Thankfully, Nakamura got the pin, and the two were left to celebrate together in the ring, with Styles symbolically shifting the attention onto the newcomer.
Hopefully, this is the start of a slow-burn rivalry, leading to a truly phenomenal bout.
#4 Becky Lynch really needed that victory
SmackDown women’s division has genuinely impressed since the recent superstar shake-up. Charlotte’s arrival has brought about a call to arms amongst the ladies, leading to the formation of the ‘Welcoming Committee’.
In the six-woman tag match at Backlash, the heel faction rightly got the victory, but because they were facing Naomi, the current champion, and the new arrival, Charlotte Flair, it was the much loved Becky Lynch who had to eat the pinfall for her team.
Last year, as part of the WWE Draft, Becky Lynch actually received quite the honour, being drafted to Smackdown Live, while the rest of the Four Horsewomen remained on RAW.
After Becky become the first ever Smackdown Live women’s champion, this was essentially her opportunity to build herself into a leading figure of the women’s division overall, tasked with making Smackdown Live the home of true women’s wrestling.
Her career so far has probably exceeded expectations. Once facing the possibility of being overshadowed by Charlotte, Paige and Sasha, management clearly saw enough in her to make Becky a signature part of the continuing women’s revolution.
Her loss at Backlash was therefore slightly worrying, as it meant that of all the babyface women on the roster, she was starting to look the least important.
That’s why her submission victory this week was so essential. It’s unsure where the Smackdown women will be going from here, but sooner or later you would expect to see some singles matches between Charlotte and Becky. Thankfully, this week saw the ‘lass-kicker’ return to winning ways.
#5 Money in the Bank might not be the best PPV for Smackdown right now
It’s difficult to argue that since the Superstar shakeup, post-Wrestlemania 33, RAW has not only caught up with Smackdown but may have surpassed it, at least in terms of entertainment value. The addition of Dean Ambrose and The Miz have been crucial in padding out Monday night’s mid-card, and despite being early days, Bray is already being portrayed slightly better than he was under Shane McMahon.
Smackdown was the clear loser in the shake-up, only gaining Kevin Owens and Charlotte, in exchange for several of their previous top stars. This has seriously weakened the depth in their roster, which is perhaps one reason why Jinder Mahal is now the brand’s top champion.
One thing Smackdown does have going for it, however, is the potential for some mouth-watering matches in the near future. With AJ Styles, Sami Zayn, Kevin Owens and Shinsuke Nakamura all representing team blue, you have to expect at least one or two five-star matches coming out of the WWE before too long.
The problem is, Smackdown’s next PPV will be Money in the Bank, a card built around a six-man ladder match with the aim of retrieving a briefcase. This does not facilitate any one-on-one action between the company’s finest performers, and the build up to the PPV will most likely be made up of four or six men tag matches, like the one we saw on Tuesday.
It feels like Smackdown is not utilising their main asset, especially at a time in which RAW is marching ahead.
Another problem with the upcoming PPV is that the United States Champion, Kevin Owens will be involved. Before Shane’s U-turn, where we assumed KO would not be competing, at least we were given hope that a new US Title feud was on the horizon.
Putting Owens in the match now means that we won’t be getting a US title match at MITB, which leaves the rest of the card feeling pretty sparse. What we do know currently is that Randy Orton will be having a rematch with Jinder, and Naomi will face the winner of the fatal five-way match next week.
Other than that, the rest of the card is probably going to feel too much like filler.
#6 And the Superstar of the week is...
Finn Balor
This was a difficult week in which to pick out one individual from the rest. There were several solid matches across both shows, but everything seemed to blend into one. Finn Balor at least stood out with his very strong promo with Paul Heyman on RAW.
It’s not easy to be face-to-face with Heyman and not get drowned out by the advocate’s powerful mic skills. Yet Finn managed to hold his own and did well to position himself as a genuine contender for Brock Lesnar later this year.
We also got to see a mini dream match between Finn and his former Bullet Club partner Karl Anderson. It’s refreshing to see WWE acknowledging the history of many of its current roster, admitting that you don’t always need to be under the tutelage of Vince McMahon and Triple H to make yourself a star. Congratualtions Finn Balor.
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