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This week's episode of WWE RAW had quite a few twists in the current storylines on the red brand. We also found out the next challengers for the WWE Championship and the RAW Tag Team titles this week, with one of the matches confirmed for the upcoming TLC PPV.
In addition to that, WWE RAW also saw Asuka and Lana pick a huge victory over the Women's Tag Team Champions, Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler, for the second consecutive week. In fact, it was Lana who pinned Baszler and managed to shock everyone. Moreover, we saw the creative teasing a potential betrayal during one of the big matches of the night.
In this article, we will take a look at Superstars who impressed us on WWE RAW and those who didn't. So, without further ado, let's begin.
#3 Impressed on WWE RAW: Randy Orton
The opening segment of this week's episode of WWE RAW kickstarted with an interesting segment involving Randy Orton, Alexa Bliss, and 'The Fiend' Bray Wyatt.
Bliss welcomed Orton as a guest on 'Moment of Bliss', and two Superstars discussed the events that unfolded on the show last week. It was The Fiend's interference that allowed AJ Styles to beat Orton to qualify for the No.1 Contender's match for Drew McIntyre's WWE Championship.
Orton and Bliss exchanged words about their respective relationships with The Fiend on WWE RAW. 'The Viper' took this opportunity to remind everyone that he shares a long history with Bray Wyatt and the only reason why he always has the upper hand against the former Universal Champion is that he is good at finding Wyatt's weakness.
This prompted The Fiend to make an appearance, but when the lights came back on, Orton already had Bliss in his arms. A shocked Fiend then gave up any intention of attacking Orton while the latter managed to hand over Bliss and quickly escape.
The entire segment was carried out really well, but Orton looked fairly impressive by outsmarting The Fiend. The fact that he once again managed to find the latter's 'weakness' has already made him a stand out rival of The Fiend ever since Bray Wyatt introduced the WWE Universe to this particular alter-ego.
Orton looked far from being intimidated which means that we will see a more balanced rivalry between the two Superstars on WWE RAW. It will be interesting to see how 'The Fiend' and Alexa Bliss will respond to The Viper's actions this week.
Randy Orton has enjoyed a great run as a heel on WWE RAW this year. He went from being a Legend Killer to becoming the WWE Champion. After he lost his title to McIntyre a couple of weeks ago, several fans wondered about what's next for him on the red brand.
Fortunately, this feud with 'The Fiend' Bray Wyatt is helping him strike the eight chords all over again, and it's making him look even more threatening than he was before.
Both Superstars share a lot of history between them, which is expected to play a huge role in how their current rivalry will turn out.
#2 Flopped on WWE RAW: Drew Gulak
Less than a year ago, Drew Gulak was enjoying a respectable run on SmackDown alongside Daniel Bryan. The latter had used his backstage influence to help push Gulak, and the two were actually involved in a good enemies-turned-friends narrative.
Unfortunately for him, all that changed ever since Bryan left for a break. The time turned out to be too cruel for someone as talented as Gulak who is now seen involved in chasing the 24/7 title on WWE RAW.
This week, we saw Gulak for a few seconds during the match between Elias and Jeff Hardy. R-Truth was hiding in a piano and was exposed by Elias. The 24/7 Champion then ran away and was immediately chased by a lot of Superstars, one of them being Drew Gulak. The former Cruiserweight Champion ran into Jeff Hardy who slammed him onto the ramp and then hit him with a guitar. This was the only TV time Gulak got on RAW tonight.
It's borderline criminal to misuse someone with Gulak's caliber and have him chase the 24/7 Championship. With correct opportunities, Gulak can turn himself into a serious challenger for at least the United States Championship. In fact, he deserves a shot at challenging Bobby Lashley. Even if he doesn't win the title, Lashley will benefit highly from a good feud.
Gulak should be rubbing his shoulders with the likes of Ricochet, Mustafa Ali, Riddle, and Keith Lee on WWE RAW and it is quite embarrassing to see him involved in a hunt for the 24/7 Championship.
#2 Impressed on WWE RAW: Cedric Alexander
On this week's episode of WWE RAW, Cedric Alexander locked horns with Xavier Woods. Both Superstars were engaged in quite a few heated moments during last week's episode when they battled it out for the red brand's Tag Team Championships.
Tonight, Alexander had a shot at winning another opportunity for the Hurt Business to challenge the New Day for the WWE RAW Tag Team Titles. This match looked promising on paper, and it would be fair to say that it delivered.
Both Woods and Alexander were fired up for the match scheduled for this week's WWE RAW. Their in-ring battle was fantastic, and Woods gave everything to ensure that Alexander goes over. The latter definitely deserved every bit of prop that he received today, especially considering how brutal he was inside the squared circle.
Not just his in-ring maneuvers, but also his story-telling skills deserve every bit of praise from the viewers. But that was not all.
In fact, what happened after the match was more interesting. Alexander picked a huge win over Woods to ensure that he, along with Shelton Benjamin, have an opportunity to challenge The New Day for the WWE RAW Tag Team Championships again.
However, he didn't stay back to celebrate with his friends. Instead, Alexander was seen walking back, as he celebrated how it's his achievement and he alone while a shocked MVP and Benjamin stood inside the ring. WWE subtly hinted towards a possible betrayal where Alexander's ego would sabotage his relationship with The Hurt Business. It would be interesting to see what's in store for the young talent.
#1 Flopped on WWE RAW: Ricochet
Ricochet locked horns with SlapJack in a somewhat confusing match on WWE RAW this week. Both Ricochet and RETRIBUTION members were involved in a heated exchange on Twitter over the past week. Mustafa Ali then made it clear that since Ricochet refused to join RETRIBUTION, he will now have to face the consequences. And that's precisely what happened with the 'resident Superhero of WWE'.
This WWE RAW match saw Ricochet and SlapJack engage in an underwhelming in-ring battle. Even though it started really well, the match did very little to show the caliber of either Ricochet or his opponent. One spot saw him fly over the top rope and to take out the rest of the members of RETRIBUTION. Apart from that, the only highlight from this match included Dana Brooke slapping Mustafa Ali across the face.
This created a lot of commotion at ringside which allowed SlapJack to pick a surprise victory over Ricochet. The One and Only was enjoying a great run on the main roster but quickly fell down the pecking order.
Unfortunately for him, that's something that is still haunting him on WWE RAW. Given that WWE doesn't have anything big planned for Mustafa Ali and his group at the moment, they should make the best of this opportunity to involve both of them in a compelling feud.
Hopefully, the creative will continue to push both these talented Superstars and script the next chapter of their rivalry with better story-telling.
#1 Impressed on WWE RAW: AJ Styles
On this week's episode of WWE RAW, AJ Styles battled against Keith Lee and Riddle to become the No. 1 contender for Drew McIntyre's WWE Championship. While the match between the three talented Superstars wasn't as good as one would expect, it still managed to create enough hype around the new contender for the top title. All the three Superstars looked good inside the ring, with Lee and Riddle receiving ample opportunities to prove why they deserve to compete for the WWE Championship.
However, it was Styles who ended up picking a victory at the end of the match. The closing moments of the match saw Riddle hitting Lee with a well-calculated knee shot right to the face that took the latter out of the equation. But before Riddle could take a breather, Styles hit him with a Phenomenal Forearm to become the new No.1 Contender on WWE RAW.
AJ Styles will now face Drew McIntyre for the WWE Championship at TLC later this month. He also made his presence known in the main event when Drew McIntyre and Sheamus teamed up to take on The Miz and John Morrison.
Halfway into the match, Styles ran interference and attacked McIntyre, causing the match to end in a DQ. He then insisted that The Miz should cash in his MITB contract, but the latter didn't have enough time to do so as McIntyre recovered from the beatdown.
Ultimately, WWE RAW ended with both Styles and McIntyre aggressively challenging each other with words, thereby hyping up their upcoming title match.
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