The last week’s episode of Monday Night Raw was of epic proportions. Roman Reigns relinquished the Universal Championship after he let the world know that he has been fighting Leukemia for eleven years. Prayers and well wishes were heard from all across the world in the support of this fighting man, who promised us to be back once he defeats the disease.
The remaining two-thirds of the Shield, Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins, imploded at the end of the night after winning the Raw tag team championships from their arch-rivals, Drew McIntyre and Dolph Ziggler. The Shield brothers did their signature fist-gesture at the beginning of the show after Roman Reigns gave a heartfelt speech. No one expected this collapse, especially on the same night when the "Big Dog" bid the roster a goodbye.
Among all the chaos, there are five big plans which got indirectly revealed last week on Raw.
#5 Seth Rollins is not going to win the WWE World Cup
Dean Ambrose was the only member of the Shield who neither had a championship nor had a match at Crown Jewel. Ironically, the man he attacked, Seth Rollins, is part of the WWE World Cup match at the event.
It is to be noted that all eight competitors are already announced for the match and the Lunatic Fringe still has nothing to do on the show. Hence, it is quite possible that he takes the matter into his own hands.
He might interfere in the match to ensure Seth Rollins doesn’t come out victorious. Last week, he removed the ringside carpet before delivering a Dirty Deeds to the Architect, which shows he won’t stop at anything to hurt the former Shield-brother. This suggests that Mr. Monday Night is not going to become the Best in the World at Crown Jewel.
#4 Drew McIntyre can be in the Universal Championship match at Crown Jewel
Drew McIntyre has been on a roll since the last couple of weeks. He has picked up an intense rivalry with Braun Strowman by kicking him multiple times.
It is speculated that this week on Raw, Drew McIntyre can feud with Brock Lesnar as well if the latter decides to show up on Raw to gain an upper hand on Braun Strowman. Putting every piece together, it is of a good chance that the Scottish Superstar might get added to the Universal Championship match.
It is to be noted that he lost the Raw tag team championships last week, and by the looks of how he is feuding with the Monster Among Men, it is likely that he will continue to be in the singles division.
In my opinion, he has shown a lot of promise in his current run in WWE and deserves a shot to be placed in the top bracket of the roster.
#3 A tag team tournament will be announced
Even though Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose hold the Raw tag team championship, it is safe to say that they have no intention to keep it. After all, if the Brotherhood couldn’t keep these two men together, tag team championships certainly won’t.
With Drew McIntyre likely to compete in one-on-one matches in the coming future, the idea of a rematch for the championships also goes out of the window. Hence, Baron Corbin will have to come up with a way to fix this situation.
It is likely that the acting General Manager of Raw will announce a tag team tournament to crown the new tag team champions. The preliminary matches of this tournament can happen this week on Raw, with the finals taking place at the Crown Jewels. There are a couple of teams on the roster who are worthy of winning these championships, but Authors of Pain seems to be the front-runners as of now.
#2 Finn Balor will again be lost in storylines pretty soon
Finn Balor is one wrestler who stands out on the Raw’s roster when it comes to talent, charisma and athletic ability. He has proved this in every opportunity he has got so far on the Monday Nights. But somehow he always gets lost when it comes to being part of the main storyline.
Currently, he is booked in a storyline with Bobby Lashley, where he managed to pick up a victory over the latter in their first confrontation last week, thanks to a quick roll-up. However, it is certain that these two will face each other again and Lashley will pick up a decisive victory which would help him to get established as one of the top heels on the WWE roster.
Sadly, this will again leave Finn Balor high and dry. He is the one Superstar who deserves to get the push to make it big, but always someone else gets that ahead of him.
#1 Dolph Ziggler will win the WWE World Cup
There are a lot of predictions for the WWE World Cup match regarding who might win the tournament and earns the right to be known as the Best in the World. Notably, the tournament features Superstars both Raw and SmackDown Live.
The participants from Raw are John Cena, Kurt Angle, Seth Rollins, and Dolph Ziggler. John Cena and Kurt Angle are veterans who compete once in a while. Hence, it is unlikely that any of these men will earn this accolade. Seth Rollins is caught up in a fiery situation with Dean Ambrose, and that might come in the way for him to win this tournament.
Hence, if someone from Raw is going to win this tournament, it can only be Dolph Ziggler. It is worth noting here that he left the company a couple of months ago, and hasn’t won many titles since his return. Having him win this prestigious tournament will certainly fill that void.