WWE Raw: 5 biggest questions from this week’s episode (August 19, 2019)

With the King of the Ring tournament kicking off this week, WWE Raw had a lot to play with on this week's episode. On Monday Night Raw we witnessed the first two matches, with Sami Zayn facing Cedric Alexander and Samoa Joe battling Cesaro. With none posing as favorites, there was a lot up for grabs.

We also got a tag team match involving four men who will compete for the next two spots in the quarter-finals next week.

The Fiend again made his presence felt on this week's Raw, as he found a new legendary victim on the red brand. Another legendary superstar, Rey Mysterio, also thought it was the right time to hang up his mask for good.

In this article, we look at the five biggest questions we have from this week's episode of the flagship show.

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#5 What was the point of making Elias the champion?

Last week, Elias pinned R-Truth to become a two-time WWE 24/7 Champion. This week, Elias attempted a farewell concert before disappearing from the public eye to remain 24/7 Champion.

Even though Elias seemed to have it all figured out, his stagehand revealed himself to be R-Truth with a referee in tow.

This allowed Elias to lose the WWE 24/7 Championship for the second time without any real work with it. Elias has the personality and character to become a good and humorous champion, but instead WWE once again just used him as a temporary place holder before going back to R-Truth.

Just like R-Truth and The Miz, Elias is also a good character which the company could have built on. Instead, they have given him a lot of spotlight and screen time without any real result to prove himself before hardcore wrestling fans.

#4 Was pitting Cesaro against Samoa Joe a mistake?

A heel vs. heel match is always a bit milder, with the crowd lacking some energy due to no clear face involved. However, Cesaro and Samoa Joe are two of the finest heels and wrestlers in the industry today.

This allowed the crowd to get behind at least one of the two superstars, and the entire clash was arguably the best of the night.

While that was the case, the question now is whether booking this clash was the right thing to do, as both superstars are incredible and deserve the push.

Had both been in separate matches, it would have allowed them to win against their opponents and perhaps meet in the semi-finals, which would have increased both their values. With the type of match these two hard-hitting wrestlers put up, one can only imagine what they can do together at pay-per-view level.

#3 Is this how a legend retires?

Rey Mysterio is one of the legendary household names of WWE.

Recently, WWE put Mysterio on a losing streak to build towards a greater storyline. This week on Raw, Rey Mysterio announced in a backstage interview that he was hanging up his mask.

Dominic, Mysterio's real-life son, saved the day by interrupting and asking his father not to retire. He stated that he wanted to debut by wrestling alongside his father.

While we now know the story behind the losses and what WWE has been planning, did they try to sell us the retirement of one of WWE's greatest wrestlers in a backstage interview?

They could have surely done better by at least taking this to the ring and making it a big announcement from Mysterio like they tried for Daniel Bryan, rather than wrapping the entire thing up in a quick backstage segment.

#2 Why did Roman Reigns face Dolph Ziggler?

A couple of weeks before SummerSlam, we started seeing Roman Reigns getting attacked by a mystery man behind the scenes. While some of us expected the story to unfold at SummerSlam, the same did not happen and we can now expect it to be stretched longer.

On the other hand, Dolph Ziggler was put into a rivalry against The Miz which resulted in The Showoff facing Goldberg at SummerSlam, and the A-lister a night after that.

While Dolph Ziggler and Roman Reigns ended up being a good match on the Raw card, one wonders if it was the right booking, considering the two wrestlers' current storylines.

Reigns should have been in an out of the ring segment trying to find out who his attacker was, while Dolph should have been mocking The Miz and talking about taking his place in the King of the Ring tournament.

Ziggler gave Reigns a good run for his money on Monday night, which was rather out of the blue, as he has been squashed by Goldberg and taken out by The Miz in his two previous matches. Reigns had been dominant in that period.

#1 Is Braun Strowman the next Dean Ambrose?

We were expecting the tides to turn during the United States Championship match, and also expected that something would cause Strowman to come after Seth Rollins next.

However, WWE lazily booked a match between the two men for a later date by letting Rollins announce that he wanted to face The Monster Among Men next in a title defense.

This was something similar to what they did with Bayley and Ember Moon and seems to just be a way to establish Rollins as a true fighting champion.

WWE seems to be throwing too much at Rollins to make him that one the WWE Universe will cheer for no matter what, and we can now expect Braun Strowman to pull off a Dean Ambrose in the coming weeks.

Will the Raw Tag Team Champions develop differences within the next couple of weeks, making Strowman turn heel before Clash of Champions to take on the Universal Champion? It seems more than likely, considering the circumstances!