5 things that could happen on RAW next week: Time to shake things up

WrestleMania is over! It was a show full of ups and downs, almost like the rollercoaster featured in last year’s entrance set. I had a very good time watching the event, even though it wasn’t perfect.

It featured some interesting creative decisions, some disappointing matches and some odd stuff in general, but there was a lot of good in there as well. In my eyes, this was the best WrestleMania since WM 31 in 2015 (ironically with the same main event) and up there as one of the better WrestleMania events in the last 10 years. I had fun.

With WrestleMania comes the RAW after ‘Mania, emanating this year from the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans. I thought the show was fine. It breezed by and didn’t feel like nearly three hours, even though it reached almost 3 hours and 10 minutes.

I will say, however, that I didn’t particularly enjoy the show. It happened. It wasn’t bad, but it was kind of disappointing and somewhat boring. Yeah, there were some surprises, including a few big returns, but the wrestling was mostly just okay and there was very little storyline development. It felt very hollow and was not what I was expecting. What did I predict would happen?

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- Bayley’s Battle Royal trophy gets destroyed

Sadly, Bayley didn’t even win the battle royal but came darn close. She eliminated Sasha Banks, as anticipated, but was tossed out moments later by Naomi, who wasn’t eliminated from the match like pretty much everybody figured she was. And on RAW, the follow-up of what happened last week on RAW (Bayley attacking Sasha) and the events of WrestleMania (Bayley tricking Sasha and eliminating her), was pitiful.

Bayley came to ringside to watch Sasha’s match and accidentally punched her when Sasha’s opponent Mandy Rose ducked out of the way. Sasha got in her face, which was a distraction, and let Mandy hit a knee strike to win. Bayley then proceeded to just leave. Super, super weak follow up to a feud that could be amazing if they don’t bungle it.

- Strowman & Big Show dominate in a tag title rematch, Sheamus & Cesaro break up

I could not have been more wrong about this one. Braun chose a kid, young Nicholas, from the crowd to be his tag partner at WrestleMania. They did win the belts, as I expected, but on RAW this week they immediately forfeited them because Nicholas is still in school and has no time to defend the titles.

I thought it was an awesome and wonderfully fun part of WrestleMania. It wasn’t what I expected nor what I hoped for, but in the end, it turned out to be better than anything I could have seen coming or anything I would have wanted regarding the tag title match. Sheamus and Cesaro will get a shot to regain their titles in Saudi Arabia at the end of the month and Braun will not be involved.

- Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn crash the show

I think everybody anticipated that this was going to happen. It didn’t go as I expected, which is interesting. Instead of showing up and creating some havoc, they begged for a job and Kurt Angle gave them a match against each other to earn the one spot he was willing to give. He got in a shot at Impact Wrestling by namedropping TNA, saying that they’re hiring if either guy was looking for a job, and that was funny.

In any event, Owens and Zayn ended in a no contest when neither man could answer the 10-count in the ring. Neither of them has a job and next week is the Shake-Up. Will they be involved? Will they crash it? I’m very interested in seeing how this one plays out.

- Kurt Angle gets fired as RAW General Manager

Not quite yet. Maybe not at all. It’s tough to say. He’ll be on RAW next week as the GM and will be partaking in the shake-up, so he’s probably got the job for at least another week. Or he’ll stick around for a while. I don’t really know. Either way, it’s probably for the best, at least at this moment, because so much happened on RAW and there’s a big show next week -- it’s good that he’s not gone.

- Samoa Joe returns and steps up to Roman Reigns

This did indeed occur, but Joe was not stepping up to the Universal Champion, because Roman actually lost the match. That was a surprise in and of itself. Roman will be getting a rematch inside a cage at the Saudi Arabia show, and I have a feeling he’ll probably win the belt there.

Joe said on RAW that he’s coming after Reigns whether he wins the title or not. Joe was great in this segment, and I have no idea where they are going with Roman. My gut says that they will just continue to stay the course. With Roman beating Brock at the Greatest Royal Rumble event and beating Joe at Backlash a week later to retain his newly won title. We’ll see.

Overall, I went 2 for 5. No half stars this week, just two correct predictions and three wrong ones. Let’s talk about the Superstar Shakeup edition of RAW for next week!

#5 Complete silence from Brock Lesnar

Brock Lesnar retained the Universal Championship at WrestleMania and didn’t appear this week on RAW. I expect that he won’t appear next week either, and won’t be a part of the shaking up of things. He will show up the following week, which is the last episode of RAW before the cage match in Saudi Arabia, but not next week. No Paul Heyman, either, and other than what Roman will have to say, nothing else really about Brock.

In fact, I expect that next week will be more focused on Roman and Joe in order to help build to their clash at Backlash. Brock will show up on April 23 and on the April 27 WWE Network special, and then he will indeed be disappearing for a while. I’m almost certain of that.

#4 Big overhaul of the women’s division

With the shake-up looming next week, chances are that there are going to be a lot of moves to create interest and freshen things up. Both women’s divisions have gotten stale, and with only 3 call-ups from NXT between RAW and SD this week, there needs to be some restructuring.

The Riott Squad will be disbanded when Ruby Riott is brought to RAW. Natalya will end up on RAW as well as Becky Lynch. Asuka will officially land on SmackDown and Sonya Deville will join her.

There may be more moves and I may be far off, but I think this is pretty close to what we are going to end up seeing. Nia Jax needs challenges and I think Natalya could end up challenging her sooner rather than later. Ruby is a better face than she is a heel in my opinion, and I think she would play a great foil for Alexa Bliss because the two women are so unbelievably different.

#3 Matt Hardy & Bray Wyatt win a shot at the tag team titles

hardy and wyatt — Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt have joined forces and want to be tag team champions

Kurt Angle’s “tag team eliminator” mini-tournament (why the silly name?) will come to a conclusion next week on RAW, with Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt taking on The Revival. The winning team will go to Saudi Arabia to take on The Bar for the vacant tag titles at the Greatest Royal Rumble event.

It was nice to see The Revival get a win one year after debuting on RAW on the night after last year’s WrestleMania, but they won’t be going any further at this point. I hope I don’t have to say something similar about the Authors of Pain next year.

Hardy and Wyatt are going to be the next RAW Tag Team Champions, and I still think that Sheamus and Cesaro will be breaking up sooner rather than later, potentially right after the Greatest Royal Rumble show.

If they fully embrace a Bray Wyatt face turn and create a true alliance between he and Matt Hardy (I think Jeff is headed to SmackDown), then I think they could really have something good here. The money, I think, is in these guys teaming up rather than feuding.

#2 Big E, Rusev, and Ziggler come to RAW

There will be more than just these three, but I think they will find their way from the blue brand to the red brand. Big E may come with Xavier Woods, but I think New Day as a trio will be split up no matter what.

Kofi as a singles guy on SmackDown and Big E on RAW, but Big E and Woods may stay together to strengthen the RAW tag scene. Alternatively, Woods could end up on 205 Live.

Rusev has nothing going for him on SmackDown Live. On RAW, he has the Intercontinental Championship to vie for. Seth Rollins would be a great match for him, as would an eventual clash with Samoa Joe. That could be amazing. Rusev vs. Lashley has tons of potential as well.

Dolph Ziggler is largely irrelevant, but even if they don’t bring him to RAW to try to rejuvenate his career, he would be a solid guy to have on the roster for longer matches that fill time on a regular basis.

There’s no way he’s sniffing the Universal Title, but the IC Title could be available for him, and maybe he can even find new life as part of a tag team. If Jeff Hardy stays on RAW (though I do not believe he will), he and Ziggler could make a pretty darn good tag team.

#1 No Ronda Rousey

I don’t know what they do next with her. Does she stick around on TV while continuing to train at the Performance Center? Do they send her down to train and maybe even put her on the NXT house show circuit? Tough to say.

Rumour is that they may be set up to have her in the main event of WrestleMania next year, likely taking on Charlotte Flair with the Women’s Championship on the line. I would expect that to mean that Rousey wins the second annual Women’s Royal Rumble match.

Until then, I think it would be wise to keep Ronda off TV for the next few months to train. She’s advertised for an upcoming Madison Square Garden show as well as being in some promotional material for SummerSlam.

Hence, she will be back for the second biggest show of the year but I think in preparation for it, she should be away from WWE television for a few months and just continue training. I really think she should go on the Florida loop of NXT house shows as well, so she can get some live event match experience under her belt.

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Edited by Shruti Sadbhav