After an entertaining Extreme Rules pay per view, we now shift our focus towards Great Balls of Fire, and this week’s Monday Night Raw is the first step in that transition.
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How will Dean Ambrose react, now that he has fallen victim to Miz’s methodical plan all along and given up his Intercontinental Title strap in the process? It was game, set and match to the conniving Hollywood A-Lister at Extreme Rules and the Lunatic Fringe has no one but himself to blame for not knowing any better.
Bayley almost, almost found it within her to use the Kendo stick on Alexa Bliss but the moment of hesitation cost her dearly. Bliss retains her championship but must reckon with the promise that she made her ‘best friend’ Nia Jax.
Finally, Sheamus and Cesaro got the proverbial monkey off their backs with an elusive victory over Team Extreme at the pay-per-view...but the former Champions won’t be best pleased with being beaten at their own game inside the Steel Cage and will have a spot of revenge on their minds.
And what of Samoa Joe...the battle-hardened submission machine who withstood the challenge of four other men and earned the right to go one-on-one against the Beast at Great Balls of Fire?
Covering all this and more, here is our weekly preview of this week’s Monday Night Raw!
#1 Seventh Heaven
It’s hard to deny the Miz his place among the pantheon of modern greats in the WWE after he relieved Dean Ambrose of his Intercontinental Title at Extreme Rules. It’s the Miz’s seventh reign with what is widely appreciated as the Wrestler’s Championship.
And it wouldn’t be like the Miz if he doesn’t organise a party to commemorate his achievement. It comes as no surprise, then, that he has announced that the Miz’s Intercontinental Championship “comeback” tour will begin on this week’s episode of Raw.
On the other hand, it wouldn’t be like Dean Ambrose if the Lunatic Fringe, out-thought and defeated, doesn’t gatecrash the party with revenge on his mind.
#2 Money where her mouth is
Alexa Bliss may have capitalised on Bayley’s soft-hearted nature at Extreme Rules, hardly breaking a sweat in defending her belt against the Huggable one, but is she truly in the clear as far as the threat to her Title is concerned?
You would remember how Nia Jax promised to have Bayley’s back against Bayley but demanded the next title shot once she has defended it against her. At the time, Alex Bliss was only too happy to agree to those terms.
But now that she has emerged unscathed from Extreme Rules, her Title belt intact as well, it’s time to put her money where her mouth is.
How will Little Miss Bliss weasel her way out of this one?
Also read: Best and Worst of WWE Extreme Rules 2017
#3 Finally
After repeatedly suffering defeats at the hands of the Hardy Boyz, both in tag team and singles competition, Sheamus and Cesaro finally broke their duck against the legendary tandem when they just about managed to pip them in the Steel Cage match at Extreme Rules.
The Hardy Boyz were gracious enough to offer Sheamus and Cesaro a rematch for their Raw Tag Team Titles after WrestleMania but will the self-professed “Bar” in the WWE repay the favour?
Or will they, relieved at finally getting one over the Hardyz, look to avoid confrontation and move on to other tests less stern?
The choice may not be completely in their hands as the displaced Champions do have a customary rematch clause that they can activate whenever they want. Will the Hardyz, then, have a go immediately?
Or will their exertions in a gruelling encounter at Extreme Rules prove too much to overcome, too soon?
#4 Dirt on Kurt Angle?
Corey Graves claimed to have some damning information about Kurt Angle last week on Raw, and Angle even went as far as to claim that “if it were true, it could ruin me[him]”. What could be so serious that the Olympic Gold Medalist’s reputation stands to be besmirched so?
And how did Corey Graves come to know of it?
The Saviour of Misbehaviour told Angle that people tell him things, but was that too convenient a reasoning to cover up his hand in this whole situation?
Talking about mysterious circumstances, does all of this have anything to do with Kurt Angle’s ongoing investigation of who Enzo Amore’s attacker was? Big Cass was uncharacteristically hostile against Corey Graves when the commentator brought the topic up, but was he being defensive of Enzo or just plain defensive?
This week’s episode of Raw should reveal more details as the plot thickens.
#5 Samoan Badassery
It was a Samoan who walked out of Extreme Rules having earned the right to face Brock Lesnar, but it wasn’t Roman Reigns.
Although the big dog had a strong showing, it was Samoa Joe who had the last laugh, choking a resilient Finn Balor unconscious with his patented Coquina Clutch submission hold.
Paul Heyman may have plumped for Balor to emerge victorious, but Extreme Rules was a lesson to everyone not to ever bet against the resourcefulness of Samoa Joe. Teaming up with Bray Wyatt when it suited him and then pouncing when the opportunity was there for the taking, Joe proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is much more than just brute force and physicality.
And now that a challenger has arisen, the million dollar question – that will be answered on Raw – is how will Brock Lesnar react?
Brock Lesnar versus Samoa Joe. Has a ring to it, doesn’t it?
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