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From Asuka becoming the new RAW Women's Champion to Seth Rollins' brutal attack on Rey Mysterio, this week's edition of WWE RAW featured some contrasting moments.
Whether you liked it or not, Monday Night RAW felt like a fresh show this time around. The episode felt momentous from start-to-finish, and WWE chose to make bold choices after playing it safe on the Red brand ever since WrestleMania 36 concluded.
Despite its faults, the Red Brand finally has a solid direction right now, and it would be interesting to see how some new storylines fare on the Road to Backlash.
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Here are the five biggest news stories from this week's episode of WWE RAW (May 11, 2020).
#5: Shayna Baszler delivered a scathing promo about Becky Lynch's pregnancy
In case you haven't heard it by now, Becky Lynch kicked off WWE RAW with a surprise announcement about relinquishing the RAW Women's Title due to her pregnancy.
As it turns out, the Women's MITB briefcase actually contained the title instead of the contract this year, and unbeknownst to Asuka, she became the RAW Women's Champion the moment she grabbed that briefcase last Sunday.
All of us here at Sportskeeda congratulate Becky Lynch and Seth Rollins for the future.
But this is WWE, and the whole situation is opportunistic in terms of character development for Shayna Baszler. Lynch's former rival called The Man stupid for getting "knocked up" while being the Champion.
She dubbed Becky's unborn child as a miserable parasite before Natalya challenged Shayna to a match in the ring. Baszler won the bout, as expected. The whole situation made Baszler stand out from everyone else this week.
The Queen of Spades couldn't care less about wishing Becky good luck in reel life, and the only target in her mind is the title that belongs to Asuka right now.
#4: The Viking Raiders and Street Profits played a weirdly funny game of Basketball
Somehow, WWE greenlit one of the most controversial segments from this week's RAW.
It was controversial in the sense that Street Profits (Montez Ford & Angelo Dawkins) and The Viking Riders put on a parody-like Basketball game during the show, and if we know something about parodies in WWE, it's that many fans hate these segments to death.
I firmly believe parody has been one of the biggest aspects of WWE since the 80s, even though it can be quite unnecessary at times. But if you look at The Viking Raiders and The Street Profits' feud, there wasn't a lot of steam behind this program, to begin with. This segment may have gotten them some attention on the same episode that featured stars like Edge and Randy Orton.
We know that Street Profits excel at parody in WWE, but the same cannot be said for Erik & Ivar of The Viking Raiders, who were featured in a disastrous Carpool Karaoke parody a few weeks ago.
Even when Erik & Ivar are being themselves, their gimmick comes across as a cliché in 2020. So WWE decided to go all-in with the parody route this week, and The Viking Raiders played intentionally dumb and unfunny just to prove that white people can play basketball too.
On paper, this shouldn't work at all. But ironically, this intentionally absurd segment might just be the funniest thing The Viking Raiders may have done in WWE.
#3: Seth Rollins went into existential crisis mode and destroyed Rey Mysterio
Rey Mysterio has run into a lot of bad luck in WWE recently.
The Master of 619 almost died if it weren't for a second platform beneath the roof of WWE Headquarters at Money in the Bank.
On RAW, he teamed up with Aleister Black to face Seth Rollins and Murphy. After last Sunday's event, Rollins looked completely lost and homeless at the same time.
It felt as if he was stuck in a daze throughout the match. Rollins snapped out of it when Mysterio provoked him. This led to Rollins tapping into his murderous persona, and poor Mysterio almost got his eye gouged out on WWE RAW this week.
Later, Rollins apologized to Black and Mysterio in the trainer's room, completely oblivious of the heinous actions he had just committed.
From a character's point of view, now we know the reason why Rollins shook Drew McIntyre's hand after their MITB match. In a bid to enlighten Drew, ironically, it was the WWE Champion who enlightened Rollins of the fact that his "big plan" was nothing but a lie that he told himself every week.
This was the most intriguing contrast of the night, where Becky Lynch's character accepted the road to motherhood, while Seth Rollins dove deeper into his existential crisis in WWE at the same time.
#2: Drew McIntyre is set to face SmackDown's King Corbin next week
Apart from The Viking Raiders and Street Profits' segment, one other controversial WWE decision revolved around Drew McIntyre defeating the United States Champion, Andrade, on the same night.
Andrade hasn't been on a roll lately, and the United States Title has also suffered as a result. We already know that McIntyre overcame the threat of all three members of Zelina Vega's crew a few weeks ago.
But WWE felt the need to overemphasize that point in an impromptu match between Drew and Andrade this week.
Furthermore, McIntyre talked about the invitational challenge between RAW and SmackDown. He revealed that King Corbin accepted the invitation and chose to face the WWE Champion next week.
Later, Corbin responded in a backstage interview and vowed to prove that he is the sole reason why McIntyre became the WWE Champion. If you remember, Corbin and McIntyre teamed up as heels in WWE for an extended period of time.
But in 2020, Corbin faces an enormous task against his former ally next week.
#1: Randy Orton challenged Edge to a rematch at WWE Backlash
We all know that Edge and Randy Orton's WWE return is simply a ploy to attract viewership in times like these.
Their promos heading into WrestleMania 36 were simply amazing, but this week, you could feel something was off as both men came up with questionable reasons to have a rematch.
Even if Edge defeated Orton in a grueling match at the Showcase of Immortals, Orton didn't think the "best wrestler" won that night, if it makes sense. The Viper issued a challenge to face The Rated-R Superstar in a straight-up wrestling match because Orton thinks Edge can't hang with the WWE roster in a normal match.
The best part of the segment was that Orton's statement may actually stand true. Edge didn't respond to the challenge and it looked as if The Viper had just figured out his weakness.
The episode ended on a silent, but obvious cliffhanger. It will be interesting to see how both of them can create a different buildup to their rematch at Backlash, but it certainly doesn't help when you dub it as the greatest wrestling match at this stage.
Ex WWE writer blasts Liv Morgan HERE
