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From Bobby Lashley's bounty on Drew McIntyre to a few cartoonish segments, this week's edition of WWE RAW featured many contrasting moments.
Monday Night RAW receives a lot of criticism, which isn't a new development. But there are instances where even the show's most loyal followers can't defend the quality of a select few episodes. The latest edition of RAW falls into this category, as the show came across as far too shallow for the average viewer.
Let us know your thoughts about this particular episode in the comments section below.
Here are the five biggest news stories from this week's episode of WWE RAW (March 29, 2021).
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#5 Rhea Ripley and Asuka's storyline took a pretty familiar turn on WWE RAW
Rhea Ripley and Asuka came out on WWE RAW to sign a contract for their WrestleMania 37 clash. Little did they know that a recent SmackDown trope would take over their singles feud as well.
Asuka felt that Ripley was too overconfident heading into their WrestleMania 37 match, and the latter surprisingly agreed. Ripley said she was confident enough to challenge The Empress of Tomorrow to a WrestleMania match, and she seemed just as confident in claiming her future as the new RAW Women's Champion.
After both women signed the contract, Ripley flipped a table onto Asuka. This led to an appearance from WWE Women's Tag Team Champions — Shayna Baszler and Nia Jax (w/ Reginald).
Having been unimpressed with the current RAW Women's Championship feud, the two challenged Asuka and Ripley to a tag team match next week. Ripley gladly accepted the challenge without Asuka's approval.
Now, when exactly have two female rivals been booked as a tag team on the Road to WrestleMania 37?
Over on WWE SmackDown, Sasha Banks and Bianca Belair recently broke off as a temporary tag team to focus on their singles feud for the SmackDown Women's Championship. Banks and Belair's impromptu stint as a tag team led to the storyline becoming an overcomplicated mess, and WWE just decided to apply the same strategy to the RAW Women's Championship feud this week.
Also, with just one episode of RAW left to air before WrestleMania, was it even necessary to include Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler's subplot in between Rhea Ripley and Asuka's one-on-one feud?
#4 Braun Strowman was a dumb student, according to Shane McMahon's exposé on WWE RAW
Shane McMahon's hobby to target Braun Strowman's alleged lack of intelligence led to a glorified exposé during this week's WWE RAW.
Alongside Elias and Jaxson Ryker, McMahon presented Strowman's fake fifth-grade report card. The report had a bunch of D-grades and some interesting "teacher's remarks." Add to that a picture of Strowman in a dunce cap, and The Monster eventually came out to face Ryker in a singles match.
Strowman won the bout, as expected. But a post-match brawl led to McMahon running away from the scene. Strowman brought up the fact he could choose any stipulation for their WWE WrestleMania 37 match. This led to a Steel Cage match between the two being made official for The Show of Shows.
In addition to the "fake report card" segment, the RAW Tag Team Championship segment included a game of charades this week. Meanwhile, The Miz and John Morrison, along with Riddle, took part in justifiably silly shenanigans during the same episode.
But as a whole, these bits made the show an overwhelming mess in terms of WWE's brand of comedy. The ironic truth is that despite all the ridicule, R-Truth wasn't even booked for this episode.
#3 Alexa Bliss predicted a vicious fate for Randy Orton at WWE WrestleMania 37
This week, Alexa Bliss shed some light on the abstract elements of her WWE saga with The Fiend and Randy Orton.
Bliss revealed the significance of her jack-in-the-box toy, which signaled The Fiend's arrival last week. She said that centuries ago, the object used to be called the "devil in the box." The legend goes that these boxes contain a demonic presence, thanks to a few spells written all over them.
After WWE TLC, The Fiend got trapped in such a box, and Bliss used the object to unleash him on Orton last week. Bliss said that Orton has no idea what will happen next, but she gave everyone a clue — The Legend Killer will die at WWE WrestleMania 37.
Whether she meant the statement figuratively (meaning the end of Orton's Legend Killer persona) or, literally, The Viper's chances of winning against The Fiend at WrestleMania seem unlikely.
At this point, The Fiend, Alexa Bliss, and Randy Orton's saga is an acquired taste. Regardless of anyone's subjective take on this storyline, it can't be denied that the players and creative heads involved have presented a different style of content in a medium filled with age-old storytelling tropes.
Let's hope that the buildup to this long-term feud will end with a huge bang next week.
#2 The Hurt Business split up during this week's WWE RAW — or did they?
This week's WWE RAW kicked-off with a controversial development for The Hurt Business.
Bobby Lashley and MVP were tired of Cedric Alexander and Shelton Benjamin's incompetence within the faction. Benjamin and Alexander took offense to the way they were being addressed by their peers. This led to an implosion, as Lashley attacked the former RAW Tag Team Champions and declared that The Hurt Business was "over" for the two stars.
Later in the night, Lashley and Benjamin faced each other in a singles match, where the former emerged as the more dominant competitor.
Despite being a popular faction that showed no signs of slowing down, why did WWE choose to split up The Hurt Business?
Sportskeeda's Riju Dasgupta theorized two possibilities if Alexander and Benjamin will no longer be a part of the faction. Another interesting possibility mentioned was that this may be an elaborate ruse planned by the men who are supposed to be all about business.
Cedric Alexander and Shelton Benjamin are barred from ringside during the WWE Championship match at WrestleMania. If the faction truly faked the aforementioned split-up, it may encourage McIntyre to make it a No Disqualification match since he wouldn't expect interference from Alexander and Benjamin anymore. As a result, the two stars could then interfere in a No Disqualification setting to help Lashley retain the title — a smart swerve.
But if The Hurt Business being split-up is a long-term decision, then the fan criticism is justified to some extent.
#1 SmackDown's King Corbin influenced the WWE Championship scenario
When Bobby Lashley made an offer to the RAW locker room to dismantle Drew McIntyre before WWE WrestleMania 37, fans thought everyone would step up to the occasion. After all, any man to successfully execute the terms of the deal would get a shot at the WWE Championship.
This week, however, when McIntyre entered the locker room to encourage everyone to pick up the challenge, most stars seemed unmotivated apart from a select few talents.
Ricochet stepped up to the challenge in the ring but failed to defeat McIntyre. Mustafa Ali - who will no longer be associated with RETRIBUTION - grabbed the opportunity, which fell in line with his character traits. But he too failed to dismantle The Scottish Warrior.
After both matches, Lashley and McIntyre brawled for a while, where the latter emerged as the more dominant star. However, McIntyre was ambushed by WWE SmackDown's King Corbin before the show could end. Corbin apparently accepted Lashley's offer to dismantle McIntyre.
Surely, people were expecting a more surprising name to take up this role, even if it made sense for Corbin to grab the opportunity. It's just that Corbin is a universally hated heel for different reasons, and his appearance added more disappointment to an already underwhelming show.
Lashley and Corbin have the same goals at the moment. How will that scenario impact the final episode of WWE RAW before WrestleMania 37?
With the latest plot developments in mind, there could be an interesting announcement regarding Drew McIntyre and Bobby Lashley's WWE Championship clash at The Show of Shows.
Do check out the latest edition of 'Legion of RAW' with Dr. Chris Featherstone and former WWE Head Writer Vince Russo in the video embedded above.
