WWE Raw: 5 things the company got right on this week’s episode (September 2, 2019)

WWE is building up to Clash of Champions quite nicely and has eliminated past mistakes of setting up matches and storylines very late in the lead up to big events.

This week, we got a challenger for the Raw Women’s Championship, and WWE also teased another challenger for one of the top prizes of WWE Raw. Besides that, the segments on this week’s Raw episode were near perfect, unlike the bland ones we’ve seen take place post-SummerSlam.

Generally, we can see that WWE Creative has been hard at work to develop better storylines, and the inclusion of Paul Heyman has seriously made things a bit more interesting.

In this article, we look at the 5 things WWE got right on this week’s Raw in their build-up to Clash of Champions.

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#1 Gave us a strong opening segment

Contract signings in WWE usually do not end the way we expect them to. They either end up in a serious brawl or in a bait-and-switch, similar to what we saw before WWE SummerSlam between Dolph Ziggler and The Miz.

This week on Raw, the company opened the show with a contract signing for the Universal Championship match between Seth Rollins and Braun Strowman.

Instead of making one of them cause a problem in their partnership, AJ Styles interrupted alongside Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson. The Phenomenal One demanded that he and his friends get shots at the men in the ring, starting a brawl.

The brawl went too far, with Strowman accidentally rolling over Rollins, while Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode also joined the party.

This was a great way to keep Rollins and Strowman together as a tag team while building enough tension between them for their match at WWE Clash of Champions.

#2 Allowing both Ricochet and Samoa Joe to progress

Samoa Joe battled Ricochet to earn a place in the King of the Ring semifinals. Although Joe is a destructive force who can beat even the biggest Superstars, the One and Only was a great opponent due to his in-ring skills and agility.

After a good match, the Samoan Submission Machine caught his opponent with a Coquina Clutch on the top rope, and they both fell to the mat with shoulders of boths stars down for the 3 count.

This allowed both men to progress to the semi-finals, and it seems like we will have an unexpected triple threat match with Baron Corbin involved to determine who will progress from Raw to the KOTR final.

This was a great surprise and also a good booking to protect both Joe and Ricochet at a point when neither have any other storyline going on besides the WWE King of the Ring tournament.

#3 Firefly Fun House sets up a challenge

Bray Wyatt has stopped playing around. After taking out Finn Balor, he has targeted a few legends, sending shivers across the Raw locker room. This week on Raw, Bray Wyatt addressed the rumors of The Fiend challenging either Seth Rollins or Braun Strowman at Hell in a Cell.

This was a perfect segment, as we now have a potential challenger for the championship weeks prior to the event. There's plenty of time to build the storyline. Wyatt has been doing incredibly well with his mic work and segments, and this could end up being his best work yet.

This will also keep Rollins and Strowman on their toes during the battle at Clash of Champions, as they’d want to win the championship, but surely wouldn't want to become a victim of The Fiend in return.

#4 Prepared a potential challenger for the United States Championship

Before Cedric Alexander’s quarter-final match against Baron Corbin could begin, The O.C. attacked the young Superstar, targeting injuries he picked up last week. This proved to be too much for Cedric, as he fought as much as he could with a bad arm but ended up losing the match to Baron Corbin, falling out of the King of the Ring tournament.

Even though Cedric’s fans will be disheartened to see him get knocked out of the tournament, it has freed him to pursue a potential new storyline which could prove to be more rewarding.

AJ Styles is currently without a challenger for his United States Championship, and we now wouldn’t be surprised if Cedric challenges the veteran for the title. The seed has been sown, and WWE could build upon this angle next week, giving us Styles vs Cedric for the United States Championship at Clash of Champions.

#5 Setting up the biggest women’s championship match since WrestleMania 35

For months WWE tried to make Lacey Evans one of the top female Superstars on the Raw roster. However, they were unable to get her over with the fans as planned.

Also, since WrestleMania 35, we haven’t seen a credible feud for the Raw Women’s Championship. However, this week we got a couple of segments that have perfectly set up what is probably the biggest women’s championship feud since WrestleMania.

Instead of taking things to the ring, WWE allowed Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch do mic work, setting up a match at Clash of Champions, with Lynch’s Raw Women’s Championship on the line.

They added the perfect flavor at the end of the night, as they turned Bayley heel, putting her back with Sasha Banks. This will get fans more interested and excited. The two segments involving the Raw Women’s Championship arguably stole the show this week!

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