Monday Night RAW: 3rd March 2014 - 5 talking points

What awaits at WrestleMania

For those who think that the only thing you can do behind enemy lines is to sit low and let the day pass, well WWE might not be the place for you. Despite being in the backyard of CM Punk without his presence, the creative managed to keep the fans quiet for most of the time with some twists and turns.

From hitting Punk’s music in the start to projecting Daniel Bryan as a fallen hero in the end, WrestleMania seemed to be in the making this week but still many questions were left lingering in the mind of everyone.

Shield’s match with the Wyatt Family was clearly the high point of the night which also saw a major title change. And though the battle lines were drawn clearly by the WWE there were many talking points that sprouted from Monday night, so let’s take a look at the most significant ones.

Heyman back with his brilliance

It’s not a mic its pipe bomb

One thing that was most expected in the feud between Undertaker and Brock Lesnar was the involvement of Paul Heyman in it. With his ability of being a hate magnet, Heyman simply adds a lot into the feud that would’ve not been there if Lesnar was alone.

The idea of bringing out Heyman with Punk’s music was a nice touch to start with and Heyman just took off from there.

Acknowledging the absence of Punk to set the stage for Lesnar-Taker feud was a typical show of Heyman’s brilliance with the mic and the fans are going to see a lot of this as the buildup progresses further.

The moment when Taker finally locks horns with Heyman will be one worth waiting for so keep an eye for that before WrestleMania.

Verbal wars

Finally someone overpowering Cena

After being taken out by Wyatt Family last week, Cena came out and acknowledge the Chicago crowd only to be cut off by CM Punk chants and Bray Wyatt.

The feud between Cenation and the Wyatt Family seems set at the moment with a possible match at WrestleMania lurking around the corner. However, what is going to steal the show when these to go at it will be the verbal confrontations.

Raw showed signs of its inception since Cena looked inferior to the microphone skills of Bray Wyatt. Cena failed to still emotions in the WWE Universe who were constantly rooting for Punk, but Bray soon took the centre stage and called Cena a running horse at the end of its career.

Projecting Cena as an old guy was a classic moment from the promo and Bray surely seems to overpower Cena which could set up an intriguing clash between the two.

The End of Outlaws

A job well done

When the New Age Outlaws came and won the title by beating the Rhodes brothers at Royal Rumble, it all felt like a nostalgic fairytale that had to happen in the PG Era. However, soon the effects wore off as the degenerates started to look like duck-champions clearly because of their age.

After getting a lot of criticism on the way, the Outlaws finally fell this week to the Usos in an average match. Though it wasn’t a big stage for the Usos to finally get their hands on the title, what this now means is that Usos will be heading to WrestleMania with the titles.

With more fit teams like Rhodes Brothers and Rybaxel in the division, the chances of New Age Outlaws heading to WrestleMania and getting another shot at the title seems a distant dream.

Even if they make it, they are bound to be restricted to a less involved team in order to hide their flaws. And the nostalgic fairytale might just be coming to an end after this week.

Rollins on a Roll

Three Way Friction

The Shield Breakup storyline was restricted to Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns till now with Seth Rollins being a confused soul trapped between the two. However, Rollins took the centre stage this week and showed that he has plans also.

Rollins walked out on his partners during the six man tag team match which was the match of the night despite the incident. The motives of Rollins are yet to be known as he only said “figure it out”.

What this means is that the company is clearly going to split Shield to the core rather than taking out Reigns alone.

Last week it was Ambrose who walked out on the team and this week it was Rollins, the pattern is there to be seen and if they were planning for a handicap match it would’ve been a more heelish approach from Rollins and Ambrose as a pair rather than this.

What the future holds for the Shield will be a major storyline through to WrestleMania and its talents like this that hides how shamefully that the company is booking their other stars.

Game or Title

Title or Game

It’s not an easy job to book your hottest superstar for the grand stage of them all. And WWE is clearly feeling that pressure since they still haven’t chosen a door for Daniel Bryan to enter.

A clash between Triple H and the possibility of a triple threat match for the title at WrestleMania were teased this week and both the prospects seemed exciting due to Bryan’s energy. The former is the likely one to happen however since the promo with Triple H and Bryan would be a waste if it doesn’t go through.

But then again having a heel Batista and a stale Orton in the main event makes it necessary to put Bryan in the title scene.

Something needs to be figured out soon by the company as the buy rate of WrestleMania solely depends on where Bryan is put on the card.