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WWE RAW returned to Madison Square Garden with a lot of expectations attached. The episode managed to deliver on almost every one of them very well.
The return of Stone Cold Steve Austin spiced things up even more, as we got the Hall of Famer to open up the night as well as shut it down, all at the expense of the United States Champion AJ Styles.
Apart from that, we got a huge tag team match between the Four Horsewomen which had the potential of main eventing the show but was shoved in the middle as a ten-man tag team match took the final spot on the card.
While the bookings for the night were tight, it still had its loopholes which left us asking a few questions. In this article, we will take a look at the questions on our minds, and what they might mean for the Superstars and the storylines heading forward.
#1 Where was Dominick?
Rey Mysterio was one of WWE’s biggest stars in the 2000s and returned to the company amid much fanfare in 2018. Since his return, fans have been waiting for another huge push for the future Hall of Famer even though he turns 45 later this year.
Instead of building Mysterio any further, it seems like WWE will be using the Superstar to give a huge boost to his son’s career who is expected to make his wrestling debut with the company sooner than later.
Mysterio was shown to almost announce his retirement from wrestling in a backstage interview a couple of weeks back after a string of losses, and was only stopped once his son intervened.
Keeping that in mind, it would have made a lot more sense to have Dominick by Mysterio’s side on this week’s RAW where he returned to the ring to take on Gran Metalik. However, Dominick was nowhere to be seen during the clash or after Mysterio’s victory, which seemed a bit odd as he was instrumental in stopping Mysterio from retiring. He should have been a part of the match in some way so that the father and son storyline could have flown forward better.
#2 Why did The Fiend not appear?
The Fiend has been the Achilles heel of WWE legends in recent weeks. Bray Wyatt’s alter-ego has taken out Mick Foley, Jerry “The King” Lawler, and Kurt Angle in the past, and does not seem in a mood to stop any time soon.
This week on RAW, fans were expecting him to make his presence felt, especially with Stone Cold Steve Austin in the arena. This would have been the perfect time and place for The Fiend to attack one of the greatest Superstars that ever entered the WWE, and make another huge statement to the locker room and the WWE Universe.
Instead, The Fiend was nowhere to be seen, which was quite a disappointment as he could have definitely earned a huge boost from attacking WWE’s biggest ever known badass. If this was done to protect Stone Cold’s image in some way, then it was surely not welcomed as Stone Cold had nothing to lose and would have helped a current Superstar get a big boost.
If The Fiend is instead scheduled to interrupt The Undertaker tomorrow, then it makes even less sense as The Undertaker is still an active wrestler who has a lot more to lose from an attack from The Fiend even if it results in a match between the two down the line.
#3 Was the Universal Championship match build-up good enough?
Last night’s RAW opened up in the biggest possible way as glass shattered and fans inside Madison Square Garden erupted with a thunderous ovation as "Stone Cold" Steve Austin hit the ring to moderate the contract signing between Universal Champion Seth Rollins and his challenger, Braun Strowman.
Strowman and Rollins followed, and the two signed the papers but were interrupted once again by AJ Styles, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson. With none of the three men a part of the Universal Championship or the RAW Tag Team Championship storylines at the moment, it made little sense for them to interrupt rather than build on the clash between the two men.
Later on in the night, during a ten-man tag team match, Ziggler shoved Rollins into Strowman which led to a short argument between the two men. Is that all the WWE could do to build towards the rivalry for its biggest championship?
Is the company really waiting for Sunday itself to build the heat during the RAW Tag Team Championship for the Universal Championship match? We will have to wait and find out during Clash of Champions, but WWE missed a trick this week by not building enough towards the biggest championship clash.
#4 What does 11:19 mean?
Bray Wyatt doesn’t seem to play well with others anymore unless those he’s playing with are the residents of the Firefly Fun House. This week on RAW, Wyatt returned with a new and very interesting episode of the show which fans love to watch and talk about.
This episode saw Ramblin’ Rabbit, Huskus the Pig, Mercy the Buzzard and Abby the Witch all bent out of shape ever since Stone Cold Steve Austin made friends with Seth Rollins and Braun Strowman. Abby’s clock was even stuck at 3:16 which resulted in Wyatt fixing it by smashing it with a hammer, causing it to read 11:19 instead.
While 3:16 has a lot of meaning to fans, one wonders what Wyatt’s 11:19 really means. Is it a date, a time, or something else which will result in The Fiend or Bray Wyatt deliver something that we’ve never seen before?
This was arguably the best part of the night and the biggest question which came out of it, as we wonder what RAW’s most interesting character is up to now.
