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WWE RAW had a big match scheduled for this week’s show. The Miz was scheduled to make his first WWE Championship defense against The Almighty Bobby Lashley. The Miz did a good job at playing the cowardly heel, allowing Lashley to come out strong. However, was it the right call to have Lashley win the title on an episode of RAW rather than a pay-per-view?
Meanwhile, RETRIBUTION lost in a six-man tag team match against The Lucha House Party and Riddle. Mustafa Ali then challenged Riddle to a non-title match and defeated him with the help of his partners. Is Riddle’s United States Championship reign in jeopardy so early?
WWE NXT saw chaos ensue during the Women’s Tag Team Championship match. After the referee was knocked out, Adam Pearce sent in another official, who wrongfully awarded the victory to Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler. Will Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzalez get another shot at the titles?
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Daniel Bryan booked his ticket to WWE Fastlane by defeating Jey Uso in a Steel Cage match. WWE teased another alliance between Seth Rollins and Murphy on the show. Can the two men get back together even after their involvement with The Mysterios?
Let’s take a look at the five biggest questions from RAW, NXT, and SmackDown this week.
#5 Why is Charlotte Flair back in the WWE RAW Women’s Championship picture?
Charlotte Flair was in an intense rivalry with Lacey Evans not too long ago. Evans, who’d been paired up with Ric Flair, continued to mock The Queen until she made a big announcement. Evans revealed that she was pregnant, and it looked like WWE was going to take that into the storyline against Charlotte.
However, the announcement turned out to be real and Evans did not compete against Asuka for the RAW Women’s Championship at Elimination Chamber. WWE RAW creative recently decided to break up the partnership between Charlotte and Asuka, and Charlotte immediately expressed her desire to face The Empress.
While most Superstars lose out once their opponent gets injured or takes time away, Charlotte doesn’t have to face the same. Why is The Queen back in the RAW Women’s Championship picture without a feud?
Charlotte is the top woman in the RAW locker room, but WWE creative could have picked someone else for Asuka. The Empress hasn’t had a proper rivalry for her title for a very long time, and this was the perfect time to build that rivalry for her.
However, putting Charlotte in the title picture against Asuka immediately after their alliance broke makes things seem forced. WWE could have done a better job with the RAW Women’s title picture.
#4 Why does WWE RAW continue to compromise the tag team division?
WWE RAW has had the most fragile tag team division in the company for some time now. Over the past three years, fans have watched Braun Strowman and Nicholas, The B-Team, and several make-shift tag teams win the titles.
The RAW Tag Team Championships are currently in the hands of The Hurt Business. Shelton Benjamin and Cedric Alexander have done a good job at elevating the value of the titles, and have held the belts for over two months now.
However, Shane McMahon teamed Adam Pearce with Braun Strowman on RAW and let them have a go at the RAW Tag Team Champions. Strowman was able to nearly defeat Benjamin and Alexander until McMahon intervened and got Pearce into the match.
This was the first time that The Hurt Business looked vulnerable, and WWE allowed Strowman to come across as a dominant performer just a week after losing to Bobby Lashley.
Why does WWE continue to compromise the RAW tag team division for the sake of solo stars? Does it show that the company is not ready to take the division seriously at the moment?
WWE could have booked Strowman and Pearce against any two Superstars to reach the same conclusion. However, having Strowman nearly win the RAW tag team titles singlehandedly made the Champions look weak.
#3 Why is Karrion Kross being kept out of the WWE NXT Championship picture?
Karrion Kross won the WWE NXT Championship from Keith Lee last year. However, an injury forced him to relinquish his title soon after without making any defenses. Kross was able to recover well and return to competition earlier than expected.
Soon after Kross returned, he sent a warning to NXT Champion Finn Bálor. As weeks went by, Kross and Scarlet kept talking about the title that The Herald of Doomsday never lost in WWE without doing much about it.
Last week, Kross defeated WWE NXT Cruiserweight Champion Santos Escobar in a no-disqualification match. Even though Legado del Fantasma tried to help Escobar win the contest, Kross came out on top after a brutal fight.
Kross has picked up a few big victories on NXT since his return and continues to talk about the NXT title, so why isn’t WWE allowing him to target the NXT Champion directly? Instead, Pete Dunne, Kyle O’Reilly, and Adam Cole have made their way to the NXT Championship scene. Why is Kross being kept away from Finn Balor and the NXT Championship?
Is WWE trying to protect Bálor and waiting to take the title off him before putting Kross in line for the title? That seems to be the case, but it is surely hurting Kross’ narrative and buildup at this point.
#2 What’s going on between King Corbin and Sami Zayn on WWE SmackDown?
WWE has sparked an interesting story between King Corbin and Sami Zayn. The two heels have been put into a partnership, but it seems like Corbin is not really a fan of Zayn.
While fans have watched several WWE heels team up for no reason, this storyline has provided viewers with something different. The two heels have found it difficult to get on the same page.
Corbin walked out on The Master Strategist during their separate singles matches against Street Profits' Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins on SmackDown. This led to Zayn taking the pin, as Dawkins earned the victory.
Why is WWE pairing up Corbin and Zayn when they both don’t like each other? Are the two men heading towards a rivalry against each other, and will one of the Superstars turn face in the process?
That seems to be the case as Corbin could turn face after a long time following this angle. Zayn has a long way to go with his new conspiracy theorist character, and Corbin could benefit from a change in his gimmick that can help him get back to prominence.
#1 Why is WWE SmackDown teasing another alliance between Seth Rollins and Murphy?
Seth Rollins and Murphy enjoyed a really good partnership on both WWE RAW and SmackDown. The two Superstars got into a few major rivalries that allowed them to stay relevant during the pandemic. Murphy benefitted from the storylines the most and got a chance to appear on weekly WWE television and compete against some top Superstars.
However, Murphy had a change of heart during their rivalry against Rey and Dominik Mysterio. He ended up betraying Rollins to join The Mysterio Family. After that, the storyline came to an end and Rollins went on a hiatus.
This week on SmackDown, WWE once again teased an alliance between the two men. Murphy approached The Messiah backstage and offered to help him out in his feud with Cesaro.
Why is WWE teasing a reunion between the two men? Even though Rollins refused Murphy’s offer, will fans watch the two men get on the same page again?
While Murphy was much better off working alongside The Messiah, the creative should not have teased this alliance so early after breaking up the two men. This made little sense and left a bad taste in the mouths of most fans.
WWE could have instead brought someone like Drew Gulak into the storyline and allowed him to offer The Messiah some assistance.
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