Normally it would be my job to answer that question, but it was sort of a mixed bag this week. This leaves only more questions to be answered next week on RAW and Smackdown.
One notable rumour circulating about the wrestling publications is the much vaunted ‘Wildcard Rule’ that Vince McMahon announced many moons ago could finally be put out to pasture, but quietly. Now that Paul Heyman and Eric Bischoff have assumed the Executive Director roles for RAW and Smackdown, it can be assumed that more specific brand oriented rosters will take shape over the next few months…especially when AEW finally debuts on network television.
RAW: Banks Returns, and Strowman as the next challenger for Rollins?
The only two highlights of RAW is the obvious return of former RAW women’s champion Sasha Banks. Banks, who has been off TV since Wrestlemania after she and Bayley dropped the Women’s tag titles to the Iconics, came back and attacked both Natayla and RAW Women’s Champion Becky Lynch.
You may have noticed that Sasha came out in a pink wig, which she ripped off after slapping Natayla to the mat, revealing her hair dyed a deep purple. I’m not sure if the changing of hair colour was meant to signify going from babyface to heel; it was a peculiar way to do it to say the least, and Banks doesn’t look that much different as a heel doing so.
That said, Lynch is in need of a credible challenger given that Natayla really only got her title shot because it took place in her home country of Canada and that the RAW Women’s roster is rather shallow at the moment. Given that she has been kept off TV since Extreme Rules, the Lacey Evans experiment may be over for now; a better use of the ‘Sassy Southern Belle’ would be to find her a partner to take on current tag champs Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross.
RAW’s second highlight was the reemergence of Braun Strowman into either the Universal Title or the United States title picture. The Monster Among Men came out to save current Universal champ Seth Rollins and Ricochet from an attack by The OC (Karl Anderson, Luke Gallows and US champion AJ Styles) before personally handing back Rollins his title and shaking his hand.
Styles challenged Strowman to a US Title match next week on RAW, but it’s doubtful that will end with the Phenomenal One dropping the belt. I could see WWE booking an extended feud between the heel OC faction and Strowman, a one man wrecking crew on his own, but I’m not sure at this point if Strowman would be the one to topple Styles. Another possibility is to have him go after Rollins’ Universal title; the whole notion of not having babyfaces against each other went out the window long ago.
Just being back on TV after what seems like weeks of not being on air with anything to do is an indication that whatever backstage problems Strowman had been having, they may be gradually forgiven over time.
Smackdown Live: What’s Next for Owens and Roman’s Attacker Final Reveal?
Smackdown also had only about two segments worth repeating: the continuing feud between Kevin Owens and Shane McMahon and another cliffhanger on the reveal as to who has been attacking Roman Reigns.
I completely disagree with continuing this meaningless McMahon / Owens feud and Summerslam was the perfect conclusion where Owens keeps his job and moves on, while this would be a good chance to get McMahon off the air for awhile. Even as Shane came out to address Owens this past Tuesday, you can hear the audience literally chant ‘boring’ as he was speaking; what further proof do you need?
There is no doubt in my mind that Owens will get ‘his revenge’ on this ongoing feud, but it seems pointless to keep it going at this point in time. Even WWE themselves may have stumbled upon their fans’ views on this, what with Owens’ overblown reaction to McMahon coming out and the subsequent $100,000 fine.
As for the Roman Reigns cliffhanger , an announcement next week is pending from Daniel Bryan and Rowan on who Reigns attacker is supposed to be after the duo basically beat a confession out of Buddy Murphy who just had a grueling match with ‘The Big Dog.’ On a side note, Murphy certainly increased his stock after his impressive performance.
Rumoured culprits in the Reigns attack range from Baron Corbin, Murphy (who was seen near the area when the scaffolding fell on Roman the first time), Daniel Bryan/Rowan or even, bizarrely, Mike Kanellis. The cliffhangers have been good at keeping people’s attention to who did it, but the reveal definitely needs to happen next week to keep this storyline going forward properly.
As for the motive? It’s always the best to keep it simple: someone wants to make a name for themselves and what better way to do that than to go after the ‘biggest dog’ in the yard, Roman Reigns? With all the talent that have been kept backstage the last few months on Smackdown, in all honestly it could be anybody.
An average professional doing the 9-5 grind who really loves wrestling across all platforms. Here's hoping wrestlers finally get some basic workers rights in 2021.
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