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SummerSlam was a great pay-per-view filled with memorable moments and WWE has managed to follow it up with a great episode of Raw. This week, we saw some great action and a return that mixes things up nicely in the Women's division.
The show started with the announcement of the return of King of the Ring tournament after four years on Raw. Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross retained their Women's Tag Team titles against the Kabuki Warriors. Sasha Banks made a surprising return and beat the hell out of both Natalya and the current Raw Women's Champion, Becky Lynch.
Paul Heyman then confirmed that there will be no rematch for Brock Lesnar after he lost his Universal Championship to Seth Rollins on SummerSlam. Elias became a 3-time WWE 24/7 Champion, while the match between Drew McIntyre and Cedric Alexander stole the show. The main event, Seth Rollins vs AJ Styles quite expectedly resulted in a DQ finish, with Ricochet and Braun Strowman coming to the rescue of the Architect against the OC.
In this piece, we are going to take a look at the five talking points from the show:
#5 The 24/7 Championship segments are gold
Since its inception, the 24/7 Championship segments have had a brilliant impact on the ratings of the show due to its unpredictability. This week, we saw the championship change hands three times. First, the Revival became co-champions before R-Truth managed to win it again. Lastly, Elias came out of nowhere to pin R-Truth and win the title for the 3rd time.
The thing that one loves about these segments is that they are short and filled with humor, and while some fans might say that this doesn't count as professional wrestling, it does provide some comic relief in a three-hour-long show.
#4 The King of the Ring tournament will give some Superstars deserved screen time
It's confirmed, the King of the Ring tournament will finally return to Raw next week after four years and many superstars like Ali, Chad Gable, Andrade, etc will be participating. This idea of bringing back the tournament has Paul Heyman written all over it as this would provide some Superstars much-needed screen space.
The tournament has always been a success among the WWE Universe and it was strange that the WWE decided to stop it entirely. Now that it has returned, expect some great action next week.
#3 Cedric Alexander is destined for a huge push
In the weeks leading up to SummerSlam, Cedric Alexander has impressed in his short feud with Drew McIntyre and today on Raw, their match was the best on the show. Alexander showed his high flying qualities and his technical ability in the ring is absolutely exquisite.
The amount of screen time he has been getting lately on Raw suggests that Paul Heyman likes him and these are all signs pointing towards a huge push for Cedric in the near future.
#2 Becky Lynch finally has a worthwhile challenger for her Raw Women's Championship
With all due respect to Natalya and Lacey Evans, since Becky Lynch lost the SmackDown Women's Championship, she hasn't had many great challengers for the Raw Women's Championship. She has lost all her momentum and the match her average match against Natalya on SummerSlam was a testament to it.
Hopefully, a returning heel Sasha Banks will provide the much-needed eyeballs to the Raw Women's Championship title picture. The Boss has always been a brilliant heel since her NXT days and the WWE Universe has been rooting for her return. Lynch vs Banks has the PPV main event written all over it and the WWE fans are in for an absolute treat.
#1 Braun Strowman will either form an alliance with Seth Rollins or will challenge him
In the main event on Raw this week, we saw the OC along with AJ Styles beating the hell out of Seth Rollins before Braun Strowman came to the rescue of the champion and shook hands with him afterward. This could either be a hint that Strowman is forming an alliance with Rollins or he is going to be the next challenger for the Universal Championship.
Heyman confirmed that Lesnar isn't getting her rematch, so we are definitely getting a new challenger for Rollins' gold and if this week's Raw is anything to go by, the most likely new challenger seems to be Strowman. Whether Vince McMahon and Heyman would go for a face vs face match, only time will tell.
