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This week’s RAW continued to build on the storylines that were laid down in the previous episodes while also building towards the next pay-per-view, Survivor Series.
After losing the Universal Champion, Seth Rollins seemed like he was lost on the Red brand, but the company gave him another task by making him the captain of Team RAW for Survivor Series. Rollins battled against an unlikely opponent this week which helped the company make things much more interesting ahead of the triple-branded pay-per-view.
The O.C. also made their way back to RAW and continued to bully the babyfaces of the brand in a manner they’re very well known for.
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The women of the company also made a huge statement this week, as The Kabuki Warriors managed to defend their titles against their biggest threats yet, while the three singles women's champions of the company were all involved in a segment.
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In this article, we will look at the 5 things that the company got right on this week’s episode of RAW.
#5 Let Drew McIntyre show his true self
Drew McIntyre has seen many ups and downs since his main roster return last year, with a lot of ups in the initial months and several downs recently.
Last week, McIntyre battled in a big match against Rusev where both men did their absolute best to topple each other. The match showed the two great heavyweights’ best points and ended in a disqualification after interference from Bobby Lashley.
This week, McIntyre finally got a good victory. McIntyre received a good pop during his entrance as he was set to take on Sin Cara in a one-on-one match. Sin Cara hasn’t had the best of returns and had already suffered two losses at the hands of Andrade in the past couple of weeks.
McIntyre was dominant throughout the clash and showed what he’s made of in front of the United Kingdom crowd. This was the right thing to do in order to build McIntyre who needs to get in position to challenge the top of the roster again very soon and set his eyes on the WWE Championship before he loses all credibility.
#4 Allowed The Kabuki Warriors to retain their titles
The Kabuki Warriors consist of two strong and dominant female Superstars from Japan, Asuka and Kairi Sane. Both women have shown why they are among the top female wrestlers in the industry, and their time in NXT proved that WWE did the right thing to bring them into the company.
As the WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions, the two women have defended their titles against several teams. However, they met their strongest match this week on RAW as Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair joined forces to take on the two women for their championships.
While Lynch and Flair seemed like the favorites to win the match, The Kabuki Warriors benefited from some outside interference and distractions to retain their titles and stretch their reign even longer.
This was the right move, as the champions had already lost a non-title match against Flair and Natalya last week, and losing another match, especially with their championships on the line, would have severely hurt their credibility. Asuka pinning Lynch to pick up the victory also sets up a possible future program between the two women for the RAW Women's Championship.
Lynch is already the RAW Women’s Champion and has a huge match ahead of herself at Survivor Series, while Flair does not necessarily need to add another title to her cupboard. Maybe she’ll be better off winning the title with Natalya sometime down the line.
#3 Teased a face turn for Randy Orton
The O.C. returned to RAW this week after invading NXT and got back to business on the Red brand. Their heelish characters couldn’t help them from confronting Ricochet and Humberto Carrillo backstage, and the trio challenged the two men to a battle if they could find themselves a partner.
Surprisingly, Randy Orton agreed to team up with the two pure babyfaces, and it seemed like Orton was only partnering with the two men to turn on them later in the night and align himself with The O.C. or further solidify his heel status.
Instead, the main event saw The O.C. battle Ricochet, Carrillo, and Orton, with Ricochet and Orton constantly displaying differences between themselves. However, the WWE Creative allowed Carrillo to hit a moonsault on the United States Champion AJ Styles to pick up a victory, confirming that their singles rivalry wasn’t over yet.
Orton sticking with his team even while having differences with Ricochet teased a possible face turn for the veteran who has been a heel for quite a long time. If the company is planning to turn Seth Rollins heel sometime soon, then a face turn for Orton could do wonders for the brand in the long run.
#2 Introduced WALTER and Imperium to the main roster crowd
Friday Night SmackDown was hit by an invasion by NXT UK’s Imperium, one of the most dominant factions in the entire company led by NXT United Kingdom Champion WALTER.
The four men attacked SmackDown’s Heavy Machinery and made a big statement to the WWE Universe before retreating when the rest of the SmackDown locker room tried to get back at the UK Superstars.
This week on RAW, Seth Rollins challenged the best from the United Kingdom to come out and face him in the middle of the ring. The NXT UK Champion WALTER answered his call, as the dominant man who ended Pete Dunne’s record-setting streak entered the arena to a big pop.
The two men had a really good match where the WWE Universe, especially those who are not familiar with NXT UK’s product and Superstars, got a good look at WALTER. As Rollins set up WALTER for the finale of the clash, Imperium attacked Rollins to save their leader and draw a disqualification, similar to what happened last week with NXT Champion Adam Cole and his entourage The Undisputed Era.
The segment ended with The Street Profits and Kevin Owens making the save and teaming up with Rollins to defeat Imperium on RAW in a tag-team match. The entire segment did very well to introduce Imperium and the threat NXT UK also poses to the entire main roster with Survivor Series on the horizon.
#1 Brought Bayley to the party
During the WWE Women’s Tag Team Match, which involved RAW Women’s Champion Becky Lynch, we saw NXT Women’s Champion Shayna Baszler appear at ringside to take a much closer look at one of her two opponents for Survivor Series.
Baszler has attacked Bayley twice over the past two weeks on SmackDown, and it seemed like she was ready to dish out a similar punishment to Becky Lynch on RAW in order to assert her authority over the women’s roster.
However, the creatives did the right thing by bringing out Bayley to RAW this week, as she attacked Baszler at ringside. This allowed the SmackDown Women’s Champion to exact some revenge from Baszler who has already attacked her twice.
The distraction from the brawl on the floor allowed The Kabuki Warriors to retain their Championships, while Bayley got a big chance to come out on top in this rivalry for the first time as she has been right at the bottom for the triple-threat clash.
Becky, Baszler, and Bayley are set to take on each other in a Champion vs. Champion vs. Champion triple-threat match in a battle of supremacy at Survivor Series, and it could prove to be one of the best stories going into and coming out of the event.
