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WWE RAW kept the focus on the WWE Championship scene, with WrestleMania 37 drawing closer. Bobby Lashley dominated Cedric Alexander in a non-title match, while Drew McIntyre overcame King Corbin to keep his place in the match at WrestleMania.
Asuka and Rhea Ripley fell apart during the WWE Women’s Championship match on RAW. Will McIntyre win the WWE Championship once again at WrestleMania? And has WWE made certain storylines way too predictable over the past few months?
NXT hosted its first-ever two-night event on Wednesday and Thursday this week. NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver was filled with some top matches that did not let the quality of the event drop.
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Karrion Kross and Raquel Gonzalez emerged as the new NXT and Women’s Champion respectively at the end of the show. Who will step up to these two powerhouses once NXT moves to Tuesday nights starting next week?
#5 How many times will WWE fans continue to watch the same formula build towards championship rivalries?
This is one question that has been asked many times over the past few months in WWE, but there seems to be no answer to it. Rhea Ripley and Asuka teamed up to challenge for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships on RAW this week.
Ripley and Asuka showed signs of disunity early on but it did not take long for Ripley to turn on her partner. Asuka and Ripley are set to meet at WrestleMania 37 with the RAW Women’s Championship on the line.
The angle allowed WWE to build towards the match for The Show of Shows. Have fans watched WWE creative build towards championship rivalries too often now?
Over the past couple of months, SmackDown and NXT have used the same formula to build towards top championship rivalries. Bianca Belair and Sasha Banks teamed up to compete for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships before breaking up at Fastlane.
Similarly, Finn Balor and Karrion Kross teamed up to challenge for the NXT Tag Team titles just weeks before TakeOver: Stand & Deliver. Unsurprisingly, the two had a misunderstanding that helped Kross show his dominance over the NXT Champion.
The idea of putting Edge and Daniel Bryan in a tag team to take on Roman Reigns and Jey Uso had also crossed creatives’ minds during the build up for the Universal Championship match.
This sort of booking has become way too predictable. Will WWE stop booking such angles and focus on building better championship storylines?
#4 Why is WWE creative so obsessed with vandalizing cars?
Booking rivals into tag team matches is an overused idea in WWE to build up towards big matches. Vandalizing cars seems to be the second overused idea.
Vince McMahon and his team seem to have an obsession with vandalizing cars while building towards some important storylines. Fans have watched limousines blow up, The Miz and John Morrison smash Braun Strowman’s car, Brock Lesnar tear apart a Cadillac and Strowman flip vehicles over.
This past week on RAW, Miz and Morrison did something very similar. The A-Lister and Johnny Drip Drip painted all over Bad Bunny’s multi-million dollar Bugatti.
Bunny was set to take on The Miz at WrestleMania, the angle allowed WWE to insert Damian Priest and Morrison into the match.
However, will WWE ever overcome its obsession with using cars to build towards rivalries? Is it something about expensive and flashy cars blowing up and getting vandalized that helps superstars get more motivated for their matches?
It’s always good to have a little bit of everything in sports entertainment to build different rivalries. However, using the same ideas over and over again can get a little exhausting for the fans.
#3 Should Finn Balor switch brands after losing the WWE NXT Championship?
Finn Balor has been a star performer for WWE over the past few years. Unlike Roman Reigns, Drew McIntyre, Brock Lesnar and Keith Lee, Balor isn’t a powerhouse. However, his in-ring work has helped him make a niche for himself in WWE.
Balor returned to NXT after a successful main roster run and had some good matches. Last year, he won the NXT Championship for the second time in his career. After successfully defending the title for over 200 days, The Prince finally lost it to Karrion Kross at TakeOver: Stand & Deliver.
Balor has already had a great stay in NXT and competed against almost all top superstars on the brand. Is it time for Balor to switch brands once again?
Balor has already been part of NXT, RAW and SmackDown. However, the Irish Superstar hasn’t been part of NXT UK for a long stint. WWE did tease a major angle between WALTER and Balor last year, but the pandemic stole that dream match away from the fans.
Unsurprisingly, WALTER is still the NXT UK Champion, and Balor is now free to chase a brand new title. Should The Prince move from NXT to NXT UK for some time? Will his involvement in the brand help WWE pull in more viewers?
Balor is a top draw in WWE, and he can certainly help the UK version of the brand gain more popularity while helping put some newer faces on the map.
#2 Are several WWE NXT Superstars ready to move to the main roster?
Finn Balor is now free to move to the WWE NXT UK brand if he wishes to help other superstars. On the other hand, certain NXT Superstars could now move to the main roster in search of new opportunities for themselves.
NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver was a stellar event that helped many superstars prove their worth in the ring. The result of certain matches has now freed a few superstars to look for new opportunities in WWE.
Adam Cole, Io Shirai, Toni Storm and Tommaso Ciampa all lost at TakeOver. The losses certainly did not hurt their value as they went down fighting. Is it time for these top names to move to RAW or SmackDown following WrestleMania 37?
Rhea Ripley recently moved to RAW and immediately found herself in the Women’s Championship picture of the brand. However, not all former champions of NXT have been as fortunate as Seth Rollins, Ripley or Charlotte Flair.
Will fans watch some NXT Superstars make their main roster debut following WrestleMania? Or should these superstars stick to NXT and look for different things to do on the brand? Only time will tell whether it is beneficial for more superstars to move to RAW or SmackDown or not.
#1 Why is the build for the first main event for WWE WrestleMania 37 so weak?
The match for the Universal Championship at WWE WrestleMania 37 has an outstanding build. WWE SmackDown creative have done well since the Royal Rumble to keep the rivalry at the top. Roman Reigns, Daniel Bryan and Edge have played their roles very well in building up one of the biggest matches of the year.
However, the SmackDown Women’s Championship has had a rather lukewarm build over the past couple of months. 2021 Royal Rumble winner Bianca Belair has challenged Sasha Banks for the title at the show of shows. However, they haven’t quite managed to make their rivalry as grand as one would expect for WrestleMania.
The two women will main event the first night of WrestleMania. Keeping that in mind, it seems like the build could have been much better. This week’s SmackDown was the final one before The Show of Shows. Creative spent a lot of time in the final build-up to the Universal Championship match.
However, all the SmackDown Women’s Championship rivalry got was a backstage interview with Belair followed by a promo by Banks. The rivalry does not feel too special yet even though it is a dream rivalry for many.
Could WWE have done more over the past few weeks and on the final episode of SmackDown to build this rivalry? Will fans watch The EST win her first title on The Grandest Stage of Them All?
Randy Orton picks the next Randy Orton HERE.
