'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
With Money in the Bank coming up this Sunday, the WWE Universe was expecting a great show from Raw this week. The new Wild Card Rule has also allowed the wrestlers to break down boundaries and cross brands whenever they please.
This week, Charlotte Flair headed to Monday Night Raw to sign the contract for her latest match with Becky Lynch, while Lacey Evans also signed the contract for her bout with The Man.
Roman Reigns once again returned to Raw and worked a surprisingly good tag team match with The Miz. The remainder of the show focused on some promos to hype the singles matches for the event, while the matches built up towards the Money in the Bank ladder matches.
While not all the matches and segments worked out as they should have, there were still a few surprises and shocking moments from the night.
#4 The “New” Bray Wyatt
The Firefly Fun House continued this week and was full of surprise just like the previous few weeks. However, the surprise this week was much bigger than ever before.
This week on the show, Bray Wyatt finally showcased his true self to the WWE Universe. As the scene turned dark, just like we’d expect from The Eater of World, he revealed a new monstrous face, still wanting the fans to let him in.
Wyatt has always been a good talker and entertainer, and he continued his ace gimmick this week by giving fans a surprising and exciting shift. After weeks of playing it nice and getting over the old Bray Wyatt character, Wyatt took a dark turn that finally feels like it is revealing how this gimmick will work out in the weeks to come.
With the Firefly Fun House currently one of the top show on Raw, it’s been made obvious that Wyatt will always work better as a darker presence in the company.
Could this turn out to be the big break Wyatt has been waiting so long for?
#3 Ricochet losing to Baron Corbin clean
With Money in the Bank only a few nights away, WWE decided to book a match between Ricochet and Baron Corbin this week on Raw.
Last week, Ricochet defended his place in the MITB Ladder Match by defeating Robert Roode, and this week he had the chance to prove that he is a major threat going into the big match.
Instead, WWE booked Ricochet to lose clean to the heel Baron Corbin, whose value in the company has been more up and down than any other superstar’s. This was surprising, as it took away any momentum left from The One and Only, and made him look like no major threat.
To end the segment, the former Constable tried to make a statement by setting up a ladder and grabbing the briefcase, but The One and Only knocked him off the ladder to stand tall.
This did not do much for the superstar and made them seem like ordinary competition more than anything else.
#2 Roman Reigns & The Miz
The “Miz TV” opened Raw this week with The A-Lister introducing The Big Dog. For the first time, we saw both the men face to face as the two babyfaces on the same side with a common enemy.
Regins convinced Miz to bring out his new aggressive side against Shane for Sunday, and the two seemed to be getting together well before Shane interrupted.
He set up Elias and Bobby Lashley to lay out the two new friends and announced a tag team match that started right away. The heels isolated The Miz, and just before he could get the hot tag to Reigns, Shane laid out Reigns to cause a disqualification.
While what followed after wasn’t too pretty, it was surprising to see how well The Miz and Reigns worked together as a tag team. With a shared hatred of the McMahons, this was as natural as Reigns has felt as a babyface without The Shield by his side, while Reigns really brought out a new side of The Miz.
#1 Sami Zayn’s MITB spot
Last week, Robert Roode challenged Ricochet to a match to take away the latter’s spot in the Money in the Bank Ladder match. This week, it was Sami Zayn who convinced Shane to give him a match against Braun Strowman for his Money in the Bank spot in a Falls Count Anywhere match.
Even though Zayn did not look like much of a match for The Monster Among Men in his current gimmick, WWE took another swerve to shock its viewers just before a major event.
With Baron Corbin and then Drew McIntyre interfering in the match, they were able to take out Strowman and a Claymore Kick by McIntyre allowed Zayn to pick up the victory.
This now means that Zayn will be a part of the Money in the Bank Ladder match while Strowman will have to sit it out.
However, this leaves a few interesting angles open for the creative team, who could now use Strowman to allow one of the babyface underdogs to pick up the briefcase.
