5 things that could happen on RAW next week

This week’s edition of Monday Night RAW didn’t do a heck of a lot to advance storylines. There were a few small developments, but with over a month and a half until the RAW brand will be back on PPV, they didn’t go all out and opted to essentially stay in a holding pattern for another week.Last week, I predicted 5 things that could happen on this week’s show. Let’s see how I did:The Riott Squad invade RAW, help Absolution take down AsukaI was off the mark on this one. I still think it is eventually going to happen, but not quite this week. Instead, Absolution did finally go after Asuka but although they had some initial success, the remaining female wrestlers on the RAW roster eventually came down to run the new faction off. They showed solidarity, as even the Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss was there. This could lead to Absolution calling for backup next week when Ruby and her girls help them even the odds.Jason Jordan challenges Samoa Joe but a match never happensI was very close with this. Jordan did indeed ask Kurt Angle for a match, but the GM turned it down. Jason did come out to the stage to watch Joe’s match with Dean Ambrose and a brawl did ensue near the end of the match. I’ll give myself some credit for this one, as I was concerned they were deciding to cut off the Jordan piece of the Joe/Reigns storyline when at the beginning of the episode it wasn’t included in the video package, but it did end up continuing. I’m glad. Joe vs. Jordan has a lot of potential.Rich Swann becomes No. 1 contender for the Cruiserweight TitleThis match didn’t happen for obvious reasons. We did get another very enjoyable fatal four-way match out of this, plus great and funny comedy on commentary from Drew Gulak.Vanguard 1 makes its WWE debutI was off on this, because WWE instead decided to do the exact same thing they did last week with the intercut promos, just with a stupid-looking “Woken” graphic for Hardy. It wasn’t nearly as good as last week, and I fear they’re going to do it again on next week’s show.Strowman defeats Kane, but Kane has a theatrical recoveryBraun Strowman and Kane ended up becoming a number one contender’s match for Brock Lesnar’s Universal Championship at the Royal Rumble event. Neither man won the match, as it ended in a double count out, but Braun did end up winning the fight. And Kane did not end up recovering.Overall - I’m giving myself 2 out of 5. One point for Jason Jordan and Samoa Joe, and half a point each for Absolution since they did go after Asuka and half a point because Strowman did stand tall at the end of the show.#5 Bray Wyatt and Matt Hardy just talk back and forth againDoesn't the background look like they didn't even try?After the disappointing segment on this week’s episode, WWE appears to be waiting to act. If history is anything to go by, they will do this gimmick for too long. It was a great way to introduce the “Woken” Matt Hardy character, but they needed to do something to advance the story.Of course, as I mentioned earlier, WWE appears to be in a bit of a holding pattern so instead of advancing things, the story stayed in exactly the same place, just wish some ugly graphics. Maybe to make people think they are actually moving forward. They’re going to do it next week, too. I know it.

5 things that could happen on RAW next week

#4 Finn Balor continues to be completely directionless