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WWE has been building some great rivalries on all three brands over the past few weeks. While WWE NXT is heading into The Great American Bash, RAW and SmackDown are gearing up for Extreme Rules: The Horror Show.
Last week’s WWE RAW saw the return of Dolph Ziggler to the brand who wasted no time in coming out to confront the WWE Champion and book himself a title match for Extreme Rules. RAW Women’s Champion Asuka, on the other hand, found a rival in Sasha Banks for the event.
Seth Rollins came out to attack Rey Mysterio and Dominik with his disciples, while Apollo Crews was attacked by former United States Champion Apollo Crews.
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NXT delivered a power-packed episode that was headlined by a great NXT North American Championship match involving Keith Lee, Johnny Gargano, and Finn Balor. Bayley and Banks defended their WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships at the show, while Karrion Kross made another huge statement during his match against Bronson Reed.
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SmackDown was dedicated to The Undertaker as the brand paid tribute to the legend from the beginning to the end of the show. While WWE had some trouble leading up to the pre-recorded show, they gave us the No. 1 Contender for the SmackDown Women's Championship and allowed Jeff Hardy and the rest of the SmackDown roster to silence King Corbin.
In this article, we will look at the 5 things the must happen on WWE RAW, NXT, and SmackDown this week to build storylines for the events to come.
#5 Apollo Crews challenges Bobby Lashley for WWE Extreme Rules
Last week on WWE RAW, United States Champion Apollo Crews competed against Shelton Benjamin in a match that came to life thanks to MVP’s VIP Lounge. The two men had competed a week earlier and Crews had managed to overcome the veteran.
Crews was once again successful last Monday Night on RAW but his celebrations were shortlived as he had an exchange of words with MVP which led to Bobby Lashley coming out and locking Apollo in the Full Nelson.
We know that Apollo is a fighting champion, and this wouldn’t have gone down well with the athletic Superstar. We will likely see him come out and do something about it, and this week we must see Apollo walk out on RAW and address the situation.
Apollo must come out on RAW and call out Lashley, asking him to face him like a man if he wants a shot at the United States Championship. He should then show his fighting spirit by challenging the All-Mighty to a United States Championship match at Extreme Rules. This will be a great way to give Apollo a push and have him face one of RAW’s biggest stars who is also looking to get a title around his waist.
#4 Rey and Dominik Mysterio call out Seth Rollins on WWE RAW
Rey Mysterio and his son Dominik made an appearance on WWE RAW last week to address the situation Seth Rollins had put them in. Rey was proud of his son for defending the family name but stated that it was his fight and he was going to fight it on his own.
This brought the Monday Night Messiah out who taunted the two men before Murphy and Austin Theory arrived to beat down both father and son and tried to injure Dominik.
However, Aleister Black and Humberto Carrillo made a return to RAW and saved the two from any major damage. This week, WWE must build on this story and allow Carrillo and Black to become a major part of it. They could come out with Rey and call out Rollins again, asking him to bring his disciples for a fight against them to settle things for good.
After last week’s events, it seems more than likely that Black and Carrillo will be standing by the Mysterio family and look to take the fight to the Monday Night Messiah. This could lead to a big match at Extreme Rules.
#3 Roderick Strong overcomes Dexter Lumis on WWE NXT
Roderick Strong has been having a tough time in WWE NXT for the past few months. At the turn of 2019, Strong was still the NXT North American Champion and defended the title against the debuting Austin Theory in his last match of the year.
Theory has since moved on to WWE RAW, while Strong is no more the NXT North American Championship. Over the past couple of months, Dexter Lumis has been stalking The Messiah of the Backbreaker and haunting him.
Last week, Strong had a chance to face his fears and compete against Lumis but failed to gather enough courage to take the ring and lost the match via countout. This week, he will once again come face to face with Lumis, this time in a Strap Match.
The stipulation of the match suggests that Strong won’t be able to wander too far off from Lumis and likely have a tough time taking down the larger man. However, WWE must allow the heel to win the match with the help of his buddy Bobby Fish and the two men should continue to beat down the creepy Superstar after the match.
We could see Lumis work harder and emerge as a force on his own in the coming weeks to play more mind games on Fish and Strong to take them down on his own before progressing to the NXT Championship picture.
#2 Dakota Kai becomes the No. 1 Contender to the WWE NXT Women’s Championship
Io Shirai defeated Charlotte Flair and Rhea Ripley in the main event of WWE NXT TakeOver: In Your House to become the NXT Women’s Champion for the first time. Since then, fans have been seeing the hard-worker as a long-term option to lead the NXT women’s division.
This week, WWE NXT will host a match between Mia Yim, Tegan Nox, Candice LeRae, and Dakota Kai to determine who will be Shirai’s first challenger for the title.
While all four women are extremely well-deserving of a title shot, and even a title run, WWE must allow a heel to progress and give Shirai a chance to turn babyface again. With that in mind, Kai could be the best option as she is one of the biggest heels on NXT and has Raquel Gonzalez by her side to do her dirty work.
WWE must allow the heelish Superstar to win the match and progress to the Championship picture to make things difficult for the Genius of the Sky along with her henchwoman.
NXT has been building some great championship matches over the past year or so, and matches between Shirai and Kai will likely be show-stealers as Kai is one of the most improved NXT Superstars.
#1 King Corbin takes down Matt Riddle
A couple of weeks ago, Matt Riddle made an impressive debut on WWE SmackDown where he managed to defeat WWE Intercontinental Champion AJ Styles in his very first match. During the match, we saw The Original Bro get shoved into King Corbin who did not take it lightly and traded a few words with The King.
Last week, Corbin competed against Jeff Hardy and lost the match. After the match, Corbin attacked Hardy but Big E entered the ring to help The Charismatic Enigma before more babyfaces joined him to lay out the heel. Riddle was one of those men and he hit the Floating Bro on Corbin to end the segment.
Will WWE give The Original Bro a big match next month?
This week, we must watch Corbin vent out his frustration by attacking Riddle during a backstage segment. Corbin is looking for a big rivalry while Riddle is also searching for his first big feud following his move to SmackDown.
This could result in a great face vs. heel rivalry and give Riddle his first big singles PPV match at the upcoming Extreme Rules: The Horror Show.
