Before I get into any of the happenings this week on Monday Night Raw, I’d like to make a proposal for a storyline involving the Universal Championship (I’ve already made my proposal for Kevin Owens to become WWE Champion at WrestleMania 36, but I have been hesitant to make a prediction about the Universal Title scene). My proposal is that Bray Wyatt wins the championship from Seth Rollins at Hell in a Cell (after interfering in Seth’s Universal Title defense against Braun Strowman) and goes on to hold the title until ‘Mania, what terrorizing the entire roster until that point.
The man who turns out to end his reign of terror is Finn Balor, who has an extensive history with both Wyatt and the Universal Championship. He has feuded with Wyatt in the past and is the only superstar so far to actually have a match with his new alter ego The Fiend. What is even better is that Balor is currently taking a hiatus from WWE to “recharge”, so from a storyline perspective, he could claim that he took time off because he felt mentally unable to compete. This will also be a great storyline because Balor could finally regain the Universal Championship after nearly four years (he became the first Universal Champion in 2016 after defeating Seth Rollins, but held it for less than 24 hours after realizing he tore his labrum during the match).
Steve Austin is authentically himself and not afraid to tell people exactly what he thinks – something that everyone in society should look to embrace more.
AJ Styles is such a phenomenal heel because he points out the subtle nuances of situations that the entire audience is thinking and it is extremely palpable, but usually no one says anything. Speaking of AJ, it looks like WWE creative has elected not to ask him to the Universal Championship match at Clash of Champions and has instead decided to give Cedric Alexander a United States Championship match at the pay-per-view (this match should be a fantastic one).
The best match of the night (considering it received “this is awesome” chants) was the woman’s match between the team of Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch against Sasha Banks and Bayley, which was won by Flair and Lynch. It’s going to take a while to get the overwhelming majority of the WWE universe to embrace the idea of Bayley being a heel, since she was such a good babyface for so long. It’s funny that, at least according to my train of thought, she is being positioned as a sidekick who is simply supporting her friend Sasha, but she is still at the beginning of a slow process of becoming a full-fledged heel. This move has real potential to make Bayley even more relatable by adding another dimension to her character.
Baron Corbin has advanced to the finals of the King of the Ring Tournament, and very well may win the whole thing. This may be the case because for the most part the entire WWE universe feels a very strong emotion toward his character (even though it is negative for the most part. All that matters is that he is proving to be a very strong heel who generates intense fan reactions). It’s like Roman Reigns has said: It doesn’t matter that much if the reaction the superstar gets is positive or negative. As long as a superstar is receiving passionate reactions, one way or the other, it is proving that the audience cares about them.
For as much flak as the WWE creative team gets, they have absolutely nailed it with Firefly Funhouse. This week’s episode confirmed once again that The Fiend Bray Wyatt will definitely challenge the winner of the Universal Championship match at Clash of Champions, which will likely be Seth Rollins (he did not like the Beest twice only to lose his championship a month later). There is even a chance Wyatt will interfere in the title match this weekend in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Fiend will be making this challenge at Hell in a Cell on October 6 from Sacramento, California.