5 things that could happen on RAW next week: Roman Reigns suspended

There’s this week, and then only three more episodes until it’s time for WrestleMania. With that in mind, let’s talk about what’s going on now that we’re past the final pay-per-view before the biggest show of the year, and what I expect to happen next week as we inch 7 days closer to 8 April.

WWE continues to be all-in on trying to use Brock Lesnar’s “laziness”, his perks, his preferential treatment, and so on, to get the fans behind Roman Reigns. It’s not working, but they’re sure trying. I just don’t understand why WWE isn’t putting this much work behind somebody that the entire crowd actually does want to cheer like Seth Rollins, for example.

The adults like him, the kids like him, the women like him. He’s exactly what Vince is looking for, except… he’s not part of the Samoan dynasty, I guess. Braun Strowman beat up all of the non-champion tag teams, thus making a weak division look even weaker.

At least it means we’re going to get to see Braun do something at WrestleMania. I was worried that he was going to be relegated to the battle royal again, and I’m intrigued to see how this plays out.

I saw someone bring up the idea of calling on Lars Sullivan from NXT to be Strowman’s partner. I would be 100% for that. Demolishing the tag division isn’t too bad, though, because Cesaro essentially confirmed that they are going to be doing a “shake-up” after WrestleMania, so WWE has a chance to rebuild the teams if they choose to.

Let’s get into more of RAW this week by talking about what could be implicated for next week based on the events of Monday.

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#5 Nia Jax tries to get her hands on Alexa Bliss during or after her match but fails

Nia Jax has been bullied by Alexa Bliss for the last couple of weeks

For whatever reason, WWE has decided to give Asuka one final parting match on RAW and decided that the best option would be putting her in the ring with the RAW Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss. I’m not exactly sure what the intended purpose is, but we will find out in a few days. Asuka is most likely going to win, thus further proving why she chose Charlotte instead of Alexa; she thinks Bliss is a joke and a non-challenge.

In any event, Alexa will probably end up getting counted out or something of that nature with help from Mickie James. Nia Jax will try to get her hands on Bliss but fail, yet she will get some retribution by laying out Mickie.

Has anybody questioned why Mickie is all of a sudden a “mean girl” heel and best friends with Alexa? She was part of the babyface trio going up against Absolution every week, and then suddenly she’s playing the exact opposite character? Yeah, Alexa saved her from an ass-kicking a couple times, but it was a clearly transparent effort to get help in the Elimination Chamber match. Nonsense.

#4 Bayley and Sasha Banks lose to Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville due to miscommunication

Sasha Banks and Bayley stare each other down

It’s the next logical step. Bayley and Sasha are put into a tag team match but clearly have some trouble working together. They’ll tag themselves in rather than tagging each other intentionally. Maybe they’ll try to play a game of one-upsmanship. Eventually, they’re going to have some sort of miscommunication - a collision, maybe, or an errant dropkick - something that leads directly to them losing the match.

It’s tough to say whether or not the heel turn will happen next week or the week after. I’d personally prefer to have them just do it next week, leaving two more episodes of RAW to really build the match up with a clear face-heel balance to it.

I think they are going to drag it out one more week. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if they announced the match this week but just keep the tension between the women, only to have Sasha do the beat-down next week. I wouldn’t be totally against that.

#3 Finn Balor and Seth Rollins defeat The Miztourage

Seth Rollins and Finn Balor were guests on Miz TV this week

There’s really not much left to do in the build up for the Intercontinental Championship triple threat match. It’s extremely straight-forward. Miz wanted to defend his title in a big match and neither Rollins nor Balor had a match, but they both beat him, so they’re both getting a shot.

In the meantime, there are still three more weeks to go until WrestleMania comes around. They’ve already done singles matches with all three competitors, and making two of the three guys, who are not quite enemies but not quite friends, team up to take on the unified front of Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel, is the next logical step.

What do they do for the next two weeks after that? Separate singles matches against the Miztoruage? Separate “warm up” matches for all of the guys while the others do commentary? There’s not a whole lot of intrigue going on here. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

I just hope that coming out of WrestleMania they start doing something interesting with the title again. The belt isn’t an unimportant prop like it had been in the past, but just saying “it’s relevant” doesn’t actually make it relevant.

#2 Undertaker gets a vague teaser video - Deadman or Biker Taker?

John Cena called out The Undertaker on RAW

There has been speculation that with Kid Rock being inducted into the Hall of Fame this year, WWE may use him to play The Undertaker down to the ring the way Limp Bizkit did in 2003 for WrestleMania 19. I would be all for that.

With the way John Cena called Undertaker out in a more “shoot style” manner this week, confirming that it is Undertaker himself, not management, who is refusing to have the match, I would much prefer to see ‘Taker return as a more humanized version of himself. Maybe not quite “Mark Callaway” and maybe not exactly the same Biker Taker from the past, but a version of the man fairly close to reality.

I would say that they should completely ignore the terrible promo from RAW 25 and make believe it never happened and claim that last year’s WrestleMania ending was symbolic of the end of the Deadman character, but not necessarily of his actual retirement.

It bugs me that people are so attached to the mystical character. The idea that the best way to end his career is to have him take on Kane one last time is silly. They’ve done it before, and it’s never been good. The idea that he has to end his career as The Deadman and not as any other character is also ridiculous to me.

The attachment to that gimmick bugs me so much. It doesn’t fit in with the current style of the company, and it just feels old. Even as far back as 2005, he was playing more of an evil undead cowboy than the old school Undertaker character. I think the guy who came back and went after Brock Lesnar a couple of years back would be pretty close to what I would like to see for the Cena feud. I guess we’ll see what happens.

#1 Brock Lesnar appears via satellite

Brock Lesnar will defend the Universal Title at WrestleMania

There’s no way they actually have Brock in the arena next week. WWE doesn’t seem to care about advertising something that they know isn’t going to happen, so they’re going to do it again. It would make sense for Lesnar to appear live with Roman suspended and thus not in the arena, but I think to really try to get people angry at Brock, they should have him pull the old “live via satellite” that Cena used to call out The Rock for doing so often.

Vince gave his word that Brock would be on RAW. I don’t recall the exact wording, but he didn’t say that Brock would be in the arena or in the ring, just that he would be on RAW. That technically counts.

I’m not sure what Roman would do in this situation. Will his suspension stand for next week’s show or was it only for this week? I would keep him off of RAW so that he has some more ammunition to throw at Brock on the following week’s show, in which Brock again doesn’t show up, leaving them to meet face-to-face only 6 days before WrestleMania. If this is the story they’re telling, it’s the best way to tell it.

It isn’t going to get the fans behind Roman and against Brock, but that’s the story they’re going for and there’s no way to stop it.