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The week after the Royal Rumble is always an exciting one, and it was just that as WWE delivered one of the best weeks of entertainment.
RAW was spot on, as not only did the Royal Rumble winner Drew McIntyre dominate Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson, but he also announced who he’d like to face at WrestleMania 36. However, Charlotte Flair was not lucky enough to make her announcement during the week.
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NXT built towards the next chapter in the rivalries between Finn Balor and Johnny Gargano, and the NXT Champion Adam Cole and Tommaso Ciampa.
SmackDown capped off the week by giving Braun Strowman his first major singles Championship after trying numerous times and failing.
This week, WWE will try to build up towards Super ShowDown and Elimination Chamber in full force and could give us some great matches and segments.
In this article, we will look at the 5 things that must happen on the three brands this week to give fans the best build-up to the next two events.
#5 Brock Lesnar finds a challenger for Super Showdown
Brock Lesnar is one of the most dominant Superstars in the entire world. The confidence he has in his abilities took him all the way to the 2020 Royal Rumble, where he entered the Royal Rumble match as the first entrant and eliminated 13 men in a row.
Lesnar was eliminated by Drew McIntyre of RAW, who went on to win the Royal Rumble match and the Scottish Psychopath now has his eyes firmly set on Lesnar’s WWE Championship.
While the two are getting ready to face off at WrestleMania 36, WWE will be making another trip to Saudi Arabia later this month. Since Lesnar is a big draw in Saudi Arabian PPVs, WWE will be looking to book The Beast in a match for the event.
This week on RAW, we should see someone like Ricochet come out to challenge Lesnar for WWE Super Showdown. Since Aleister Black doesn’t travel to Saudi Arabia, and Kevin Owens and Samoa Joe are indulged in a rivalry, Ricochet seems like the perfect choice to take on Lesnar.
Lesnar and Ricochet already have a rivalry brewing, and the company must use their recent encounters to build upon a match for a major event.
#4 The Monday Night Messiah and his crew beatdown Aleister Black
Seth Rollins and Buddy Murphy are enjoying their time as the RAW Tag Team Champions, with AOP’s Akam and Rezar support.
Murphy joined the Monday Night Messiah after repeated losses at the hands of Aleister Black, and it seems like he made the right decision by joining the heel as his fortunes have turned around.
While Murphy wasn’t a part of the 2020 Royal Rumble match, he played a major role in eliminating Black from the match. The RAW after Royal Rumble saw Black send a chilling warning to Murphy, confirming that their rivalry is far from over.
This week, WWE must book Black to take on another competitor and defeat him in a matter of seconds as usual. This should bring out Rollins and Murphy who could sneak attack Black and beat him down enough to take him out of competition for some time.
This will allow Black to remain off RAW and also skip the trip to Saudi Arabia, and after WWE Super Showdown, Black must return to join Kevin Owens and Samoa Joe to take down Rollins, Murphy, and the AOP.
#3 Charlotte Flair interrupts Rhea Ripley and Bianca Belair
The new NXT Champion Rhea Ripley did a fantastic job at defending her title against NXT UK’s Toni Storm during the Worlds Collide event. However, her job is just about to get much tougher as she is set to take on Bianca Belair for the NXT Championship at NXT TakeOver: Portland.
Belair not only surprised the NXT Universe by winning the No.1 contender Battle Royal to crown the challenger for Ripley, but also took the WWE Universe by storm as she set a record while competing in the women’s Royal Rumble match this year.
The two women are set to come face to face on NXT this week, but WWE should surprise everyone by allowing their Women’s Royal Rumble winner to interrupt the two women and set the rumors mill churning.
We’ve been seeing reports that Charlotte Flair may challenge the NXT Championship for a match at WrestleMania 36, and Flair should fuel the fire by making an appearance on the Black & Gold brand and confronting the current Champion and her No.1 contender.
Flair must appear to inform the two women not to feel too comfortable as she has the opportunity to cash in her win on any Champion in WWE, and also give fans assurance that NXT titles are now also in the mix along with RAW and SmackDown titles.
#2 The build towards TakeOver: Portland intensifies
Last week’s NXT was off the charts, and Tommaso Ciampa had a major role to play in making the night a huge success.
Ciampa took out Roderick Strong, Kyle O’Reilly, and Bobby Fish of The Undisputed Era backstage with a steel pipe and then brought a table to the ring.
He took the NXT Championship contract from Adam Cole and power bombed him into the table before signing the contract in his own blood, making their first one-on-one match for NXT TakeOver: Portland official.
This week, we should see Ciampa come out to the middle once again or get attacked by the four members of Undisputed Era backstage. This must bring out Pete Dunne and Matt Riddle to Ciampa’s aide, as both men are set to challenge for the NXT Tag Team Championships.
Since Riddle and Dunne won the 2020 Dusty Rhodes Classic, they need to build some story and chemistry with Undisputed Era before they go to battle with O’Reilly and Fish for the Tag Team titles.
Using the seven men together will help NXT build towards the next event better, and give fans enough back story to get invested in the matches.
#1 Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross build their case
For several weeks, we’ve watched members of Fire and Desire and Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross battle against each other in singles and tag team matches.
Bliss and Cross seem to be at the forefront of the women’s tag team division on SmackDown as it seems like WWE isn’t pushing Lacey Evans and Dana Brooke forward as a team.
With this in mind, WWE should allow both women to reenter the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship picture while The Kabuki Warriors are ready to defend their titles again.
An injury to Kairi Sane followed by Asuka’s quest to become the RAW Women’s Champion halted the progress of the Women’s Tag Team Championship picture. Now, Asuka and Sane should get back to competing together as a team again and WWE can put SmackDown’s Bliss and Cross in the title picture against the RAW Superstars.
They could build the story for several weeks before giving fans the match at Elimination Chamber, but we should watch Bliss & Cross defeat a team again this week and then ask for a match against the Champions sooner than later.
With The IIconics out of action on RAW, and no real tag team developing on NXT, Bliss and Cross feel like the perfect pair to take on the current Champions.
