Evan Luebbe

WWE Raw 9/28/2020

The pairing of Dominik Mysterio and Humberto Carillo as a tag team last week made perfect sense because Rey Mysterio – Dominik’s father – put over the young Carrillo about 3-4 months ago in a backstage interview on Raw by publicly endorsing the young superstar as one of the faces of Monday Night Raw for the next generation of WWE superstars.

Drew McIntyre has served as an extremely compelling babyface warrior WWE Champion over the past six months, the first since Kofi Kingston in 2019. Brock Lesnar was sandwiched between them from the first episode of SmackDown on FOX on October 4, 2019 until dropping the WWE Title to McIntyre at WrestleMania 36. There is always the chance that Lesnar returns to WWE at some point to recapture the WWE Championship.

Drew McIntyre issuing an open challenge for the WWE Title provided a perfect reason for Robert Roode, who has had an interesting six months, to say the least. He returned to his home country of Canada to be with family during the Covid-19 pandemic but was unfortunately unable to return to the United States due to travel restrictions. Dolph Ziggler provided the perfect segue into this segment because he has been a Raw Tag Team Champion with both McIntyre and Roode (most recently with McIntyre). McIntyre and Roode have a little history of their own from NXT when McIntyre defeated The Glorious One to become NXT Champion at NXT Takeover: Brooklyn 3 – once upon a time in August 2017.

On a separate note, “The Viper” Randy Orton cannot seem to let his issues with the legends (Shawn Michaels, Christian, Ric Flair, and Big Show) go. That’s why he is – The Legend Killer. Orton is almost guaranteed to win his 14th WWE Championship, it’s just a matter of when Orton can drop the WWE Title to Brock Lesnar seeing that these two men have history together from SummerSlam 2016.

Randy has earned major credit over the past few months for doing the one thing he has been somewhat criticized for over the course of his career – that would be putting over superstars unselfishly, the beneficiaries are people such as Drew McIntyre and Keith Lee. There is a high probability The Viper will become WWE Champion for the 14th time at Hell in a Cell on October 25, and at the same time put an end to Drew McIntyre’s nearly 7-month long title reign – and his first.

McIntyre proved that he is capable of carrying the company for the long haul, so expect him to stay at the top of the card. He is definitely a very introverted man who contemplates his actions before actually doing anything – which is very commendable.

The route WWE is going down for the WWE Title scene goes is almost an exact parallel to the direction the company went leading to WrestleMania 36 just a year ago. That year, Kofi Kingston won the WWE Championship from Daniel Bryan at Mania 35 and held the title until October when SmackDown debuted on FOX – about the same amount of time McIntyre will hold the championship this year – WWE is essentially going back to the well of what they did the prior year.

Once upon a time, there was a trio in WWE comprised of Ricochet, Apollo Crews, along with Cedric Alexander – with Mustafa Ali filling in occasionally for Alexander. So it was only logical for Ali to take Alexander’s place when he decided to join The Hurt Business. The events on Raw this week led me to believe that this alliance will bode well for Mustafa (who did lose his first name for a while before getting back). I will stay hopeful that Murphy will ultimately get the same treatment to get the pin in the six-man tag match on Monday night. This could provide Ali with a storyline he can sink his teeth into – something he’s been in need of for a couple of years.

Categories RAW

WWE Clash of Champions: Gold Rush 9/27/2020

Roman Reigns had an excellent first full-length match as Universal Champion. It perfectly sowed the seeds for the storyline set to manifest in the coming months – where The Tribal Chief takes the role of a mob boss as the sole breadwinner of his family who takes immense pride in that, so much that it becomes a significant problem for his entire family. This story could serve as a perfect excuse to get the storied Anoa’i family involved in a WWE storyline again (all of them).

The Big Dog also wrestled shirtless for the first time in years, and his physique looks better than ever as Corey Graves alluded. The next logical step would be to introduce new entrance music for Roman as part of the rebranding process – because everything else about Roman’s heel presentation is new. The affiliation with Paul Heyman is serving to legitimize his character. It only makes sense at this point to go all the way with the rebranding process by introducing a completely new presentation of Reigns.

Jey Uso has absolutely proven his merit in WWE and reminded the powers backstage of his value to the company. He has, without a doubt, earned the right to stay at, or near, the top of the card for the foreseeable future. This is not a case of nepotism or SmackDown having a problem in the depth department – this is a case of Jey, and most likely his brother Jimmy as well, earning their position.

I legitimately had a strong inclination that Randy Orton would become WWE Champion for the 14th time at Clash of Champions. It has been over three years (believe it or not) since Orton has held a world title in WWE. Four men who have been punted by Randy in the last couple months all showed up to give him retribution, helping Drew McIntyre manifest a massive second victory over Orton – one of the biggest stars ever in WWE – in two months, cementing his legacy as one of the primary focal points in WWE for the foreseeable future.

It is massive for McIntyre to retain his WWE Title two months in a row against one of the biggest stars in WWE history – one of those victories coming at the second biggest Pay-Per-View of the year, SummerSlam. Shawn Michaels did tell Randy about a month ago that Sweet Chin Music might be coming his way in the near future. The man who interfered in the match who made the most sense within the framework of the story was Big Show. Not only was he punted by Orton recently, but he also got McIntyre’s reign as WWE Champion off to a solid start by putting McIntyre over literally immediately after WrestleMania 36 went off the air.

It was a huge steppingstone for McIntyre to get a victory over a legitimate threat in WWE over the past 20 years – almost, and it was equally as unselfish of the giant to ensure the success of McIntyre – thus preserving the future of the business.

There is still a significant possibility that the trilogy of matches between Orton and McIntyre will be completed at Hell in a Cell on October 25. There is a strong chance that Randy Orton will win the WWE Championship – since he has had arguably the greatest calendar year of his career, both on the microphone and in the ring. From a storytelling perspective, Randy is simply on a different level – the storyline in the first half of the year with Edge was most notable.

Sami Zayn employed some major creativity in the Intercontinental Championship match. This storyline was a reincarnation of the storyline between Razor Ramon and Shawn Michaels back in the early 90s, Michaels, the original Intercontinental Champion, took a hiatus from WWE and Razor was crowned champion. When Michaels returned, a ladder match was booked for WrestleMania 10 in which Razor won. In the 2020 version of this storyline, Jeff Hardy was in the role of Razor – the rightful champion, Zayn was in the role of Michaels – the man who still technically had a claim to the title, while AJ Styles served as the actual wheel on the bike for now.

The WWE booking team flexed their creative muscles in this match, having Jeff Hardy take the WWE universe back to WrestleMania 33 as well as so many other nights when he has jumped off a ladder. Zayn got the victory in what was one of the most creative ways to win a match – by handcuffing both his opponents to ladders, including one of them by his own ear.

WWE is in the process of creating a narrative where the company is badly in need of the rivalry between Bayley and Sasha Banks to begin (even though the WWE knows that is not the case as the Women’s Division in WWE is arguably even deeper than the men’s division). These two women have received so much prominence from the company and have been the primary story in the women’s division for about three months now – maybe even longer.

Bayley was originally scheduled to have a match with Nikki Cross – her challenger from July, but when Nikki was deemed unable to compete, Bayley’s challenger from SummerSlam was rehashed – Asuka (who had already wrestled a match earlier in the night).

The Street Profits have been extremely reliable and dependable since being promoted to the main roster about a year ago. They have been Raw Tag Team Champions most of this time, and in the process have become the longest-reigning Champions since the inception of those titles in 2016. Angel Garza and Andrade should either win the titles very soon or just completely disband as a team after losing Zelina Vega as their manager.

It was not necessarily a great night for her either, losing a Raw Women’s Championship match to Asuka. Zelina will likely get another title match since she attacked the champion after the match. Vega could absolutely be champion one day – just not yet. She will develop her in-ring style, and her character, more importantly, to resonate in a bigger way with the WWE universe.

It is finally feasible for WWE to begin positioning Bobby Lashley as a prominent and emphatic force in WWE now that he has the backing of The Hurt Business. This could ultimately set up for the orchestration of a match between Lashley and Brock Lesnar at some point in 2021. WWE management is reportedly pushing for this to happen, which I am all for. From the perspective of a fan, it’s pretty unbelievable that this has not transpired yet considering Lashley has been back in the company for over two years.

However, the two men have resided in different stratospheres when it comes to their level of stardom. Lesnar has been a box office attraction since the day he walked into the company. Lashley, on the other hand, has struggled to gain that same level of momentum. WWE definitely wants this match to take place, but the company wants to do it while both stars are on the same playing field. The company would like to position Lashley as a superstar on the same level as Brock. Right now he is absolutely on the right track – being a dominant United States Champion and the CEO of The Hurt Business. His character direction is on an upward trajectory!

Smart business people always keep their eyes on their long-term vision

Vince McMahon has successfully created another Brock Lesnar-type figure in WWE over the past several years who has the ability to dominate his opponents in the ring and also has the ability to generate a polarizing and authoritative aura in the form of Roman Reigns. This process began back in 2015 when Roman won the Royal Rumble match and went on to face the beast in the main event of WrestleMania 31 (and Seth Rollins became known in WWE for cashing in his Money in the Bank contract at WrestleMania – pulling off what would become known as “the Heist of the Century”). Reigns would also be placed in the main event of WrestleMania 34 three years later with Lesnar.

I would imagine Mr. McMahon had to be a little tempted to turn Roman heel at some point between 2015 and 2018 because of just how vocal a small group of the WWE universe was becoming – voicing their displeasure with The Big Dog’s creative direction around his character. Mr. McMahon stuck to his original plan – it would mean so much more if WWE waited a few years to ultimately turn Roman Reigns heel.

This is what Mr. McMahon – and most smart business people understand – that: in order to be successful in whatever business endeavor one decides to undertake, a person’s long-term aspirations can never be sacrificed for whatever he/she wants in the short-term. Smart people are masters at resisting quick gratification by always thinking of their long-term vision first.

Vince McMahon took gradual steps to evolve Roman Reigns into the Tribal Chief that he is now. Instant gratification would have told McMahon to book Roman to win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship from Brock Lesnar at ‘Mania 31, but Vince knew that so many more layers would be added to the story if it was extended for a few more years, and it worked beautifully. More meaning was added to the storyline when Roman took yet another lost to Lesnar at Mania three years later, and when he finally won the Universal Title at SummerSlam 2018.

Then there was the leukemia saga, which was an unfortunate and unexpected turn in Roman’s story. However, this absolutely endeared him in the eyes of the WWE universe forever. When the Tribal Chief made his most recent return to WWE at SummerSlam 2020, it was simply crazy how similar it looked to the night after WrestleMania XXVIIII in 2012 when Brock Lesnar returned to WWE to attack John Cena.

Maybe Mr. McMahon was intending to create the next Brock Lesnar all along and not the next John Cena as so many people thought. Roman Reigns did defeat John Cena in September 2017, but maybe that was just a steppingstone for Roman that made perfect sense given that they were both so polarizing along with John having been the face of WWE for about 12 years at that point in time. Vince McMahon could have thought to himself, “instead of making Cena the face of the company, what would have happened if I went with Lesnar? Now I can’t find out because I have basically a carbon copy of The Beast in Reigns, only Roman is much more committed to preserving the health of the business.”

WWE Smackdown 9/25/2020

The Tribal Chief’s Mob Boss Storyline is Brewing

Roman Reigns, WWE’s Tribal Chief and Universal Champion, may be laying the foundation for a potential “Mafia-style storyline (according to Paul Davis of wrestlingnews.co) with his family in which he is a sort of “mob boss” type figure at the “head of the table” (Reigns used that terminology this week on SmackDown). This storyline will most likely get in full swing when Jimmy Uso returns from his torn ACL he suffered at WrestleMania 36 in the first-ever singles match for the SmackDown Tag Team Championships (he suffered the injury back in April, so it might be reasonable to guess that he will be able to return in December/January).

Paul Heyman, meanwhile, recognizes that his purpose in this storyline is to aid The Big Dog in the process of becoming comfortable as a heel by creating a forceful and commanding presence. It not only makes for a good story, but it’s unselfish of Roman to push for his cousin to receive a title match after approximately a decade of competing in the tag team division (which has not gotten as much love in the last decade).

Speaking of that, Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Gran Metalik in singles competition as his partner Cesaro has also done recently. This, along with the fact that Metalik’s partners Kalisto and Lince Dorado are arguing with each other and seemed to have disagreements regularly, is a giveaway that the champions will most likely retain their titles at Clash of Champions Gold Rush.

Unfortunately, the women’s tag team division is not receiving a high level of permanence either. This division was thrown together as somewhat of a last-minute thing, with not very much prior planning. As a result, Mr. McMahon is building this division as he goes.

The Fiend is the end game of Roman Reigns’ universal title Reign; the Foundation for this Match is being laid right now with Alexa Bliss

The Fiend’s presence was once again felt despite the fact that he did not make a physical appearance. He can seemingly control Alexa Bliss’ behavior by selectively invoking the screeching noise at certain times. The WWE universe is fully aware that the end game of Roman Reigns’ Universal Title reign is a match with The Fiend (most likely at WrestleMania 37, hopefully in front of live fans).

Alexa is already mesmerized and somewhat possessed by The Fiend. It might be feasible to imagine that she will become a mouthpiece for The Fiend (because she is so naturally gifted on the microphone). It is easy to envision her creating memorable moments with Paul Heyman on the stick each week. Another reason this is so easy to envision coming to fruition in the coming months is that Alexa was staring down Roman Reigns this week as he made his entrance – foreshadowing things to come.

Riddle’s Feud with Corbin Extended

King Corbin defeated Matt Riddle in what was easily the best match of the night – Corbin has earned major praise for being an extremely safe worker and protecting the body of whoever he is working with on that particular night. This result should serve to extend the rivalry between Corbin and Riddle. The Bro got the victory over Corbin at Payback on August 30, so it would be very feasible to figure that there will be a third encounter between the two men since Corbin got the victory in the second meeting this past Friday.

Matt Riddle is on an upward trajectory since debuting on the main roster in June. Other than defeating AJ Styles in his first match on the main roster, the victory over Corbin is Riddle’s biggest victory. The Original Bro should be a key component of the WWE main roster for years to come.

The storyline between Bayley and Sasha Banks Marinating

Sasha Banks may return to set up a Hell in a Cell confrontation with Bayley, but for now, the story needs time to breathe and marinate in the minds of the WWE universe. This will serve to make the story have more impact on each competitor when it finally does come to ahead. For now, Sasha might want to stay away to further the storyline and give it an adequate amount of time to simmer.

WWE Raw 9/21/2020

Tom Phillips is back on Raw where he belongs as the voice of the show; and it’s always a joy to hear Jerry “The King” Lawler on Commentary

Retribution Debuts (surprising it wasn’t on Pay-Per-View)

Retribution’s first six-man tag team match against The Hurt Business ended by disqualification to protect the group so they can more quickly develop into a dominant faction on the main roster. There are about 25 members so not all of them were recognizable. However, the recognizable members were Dominik Dijakovic (the leader for now), Mia Yim, Mercedez Martinez (she was called up to the main roaster rather quickly after being in NXT for just a couple months), and Dio Maddin (who was on commentary for Monday Night Raw about a year ago and decided to pursue an in – ring career again).

Shane Thorne has also been a member of Retribution in recent weeks, so it would make sense for him to be another member. This also would be logical because Thorne did participate in several tag team matches earlier in the year on Monday Night Raw.

Keith Lee is protected with another Non-finish, this time by Randy Orton

Keith Lee’s match with Drew McIntyre ended in yet another non-finish with Randy Orton delivering another RKO to McIntyre ahead of their WWE championship encounter at Clash of Champions Gold Rush. The only match Lee has wrestled on the main roster that has had a conclusive and decisive finish is the one at Payback in which he beat The Viper in quick fashion.

As Dave Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer is reporting, Mr. McMahon’s plan as of right now is for Randy Orton to win the WWE championship from McIntyre this Sunday and to hold the title until his big payoff match with Edge (once he returns from his triceps injury of course).

WWE reportedly chose to book an Ambulance match between Orton and Drew McIntyre so The Scottish Psychopath can be protected by not having to take a clean loss. The plan at the moment is for McIntyre to win the WWE title back in I would guess a year or so in front of the WWE universe so that he can have a “true crowning moment.”

There is also the potential there for Orton to begin a feud with Lee over the WWE championship at some point in time over the next few months to create a brand-new top-level star in WWE.

Seth Rollins’ primary goal right now is to make both the Mysterio kids into superstars; the Monday Night Messiah has arguably already succeeded with Dominik

Rollins wisely did not go back to the well of the storyline in which the legitimacy of Dominik being Rey Mysterio’s son is in question. Eddie Guerrero already told a brilliant story surrounding that topic 15 years ago. Instead, Rollins attempted to insinuate that Aalyah was not Rey’s biological daughter, claiming that Aalyah consoling Seth’s disciple Murphy last week was not characteristic of a Mysterio.

Rollins is in a stage of his career where he is heavily invested in creating new stars for the future of WWE and making sure the business is in good hands when he decides to leave. The Kingslayer arguably already accomplished that with Dominik by giving him his first three big matches in WWE (and sharing a heartwarming moment with Dominik after their SummerSlam match by giving Dominik his wrist tape as a symbolic and congratulatory moment, initiating Dominik into the business).

A romantic storyline is also budding between Murphy and Aalyah, and this could ultimately serve as a vehicle to write Seth off TV come December when his fiancée Becky Lynch is due to give birth to their baby. The Mysterio family already turned against Rollins, so it would make sense from a certain perspective for Aalyah to get in Murphy’s head regarding his own allegiance. Rollins would then have no allies, and this could give him a reason to not be involved in the storyline for a few months.

Braun Strowman defeats Dabba-Kato, who isn’t familiar enough with the WWE universe to be a massive star quite yet, but there is absolutely zero doubt  that he will be in a few years. The man has everything you would ideally want if you were Vince McMahon

It will not hurt Dabba-Kato at all to lose to a former Universal Champion in Braun Strowman; instead it will do just the opposite. This is kind of an initiation match for Dabba-Kato to become a legitimate threat in WWE. The former football standout made his first main roster appearance in The Greatest Royal Rumble in April 2018 before being sent to Evolve about a year later to work on honing his craft.

He made his return to the WWE main roster on the debut episode of Raw Underground on August 3, 2020. Braun Strowman was the perfect opponent for Dabba-Kato in his first major match considering that Braun eliminated him on the way to winning The Greatest Royal Rumble match (Kato wrestled the match under his biological first name Babatunde).

Vega’s first title Match Ever

Zelina Vega has some real in-ring potential that is largely untapped – no one has seen very much of her talents in the ring on TV. She absolutely gave Mickie James a much smoother match than she had with Asuka last week due to miscommunication with the referee – essentially James sold so well that there was a mistake. That will happen from time to time.

Zelina Vega will get an opportunity to test herself in her first ever title match in WWE. She most likely will not win the Raw Women’s Championship since she is going against one of the best in the world in Asuka, but this will still be very exciting for Zelina.

Asuka initiates Peyton Royce into Stardom

Similarly to Dabba-Kato being initiated into becoming a top star by Braun Strowman, Peyton Royce received the same sort of initiation from the Raw Women’s Champion Asuka. Mr. McMahon views Royce as a potential top star in the Women’s Division in WWE and is preparing to give her a major push in the coming months.

Who better than the champion to introduce someone to the bright lights of superstardom? Let’s see how well Peyton Royce responds.

Cedric Alexander’s 50/50 Booking

Cedric Alexander taking a loss to Apollo Crews after just defeating Apollo’s partner Ricochet last week was a prime example of the 50/50 booking WWE is known for. This will ensure that Alexander does not accumulate too much momentum as a member of The Hurt Business; and the CEO Bobby Lashley coming out after the match to attack Apollo gives hype to their United States championship rematch that has gotten virtually zero attention since SummerSlam.

To be honest, I had no idea this match was even taking place this Sunday until this week’s episode of Monday Night Raw.

Andrade and Angel Garza become the Number One Contenders for the Raw Tag Team Titles after about Six Months of being a Team

There were a lot of moving pieces in this match simply because there were so many competitors. Seth Rollins is clearly most focused right now on putting over younger superstars like everyone else in this match, including his own partner Murphy; based on this fact, we could rule Seth and his disciple out immediately.

Dominik Mysterio and Humberto Carillo are simply too young. They have about two years of combined experience on the main roster. Having said that, these are two key components of the next decade in WWE.

Andrade and Garza have had time to gel together over the last several months. They have been a tag team since before WrestleMania 36; the timing is also interesting because it coincides with them disbanding from their allegiance to Zelina Vega.

Categories RAW

WWE has two Options to break Ric Flair’s Record – Orton or Cena

There are several reasons why Randy Orton might be the best option to receive this accolade. The first is that Ric Flair said on Monday Night Raw just a couple of weeks before SummerSlam 2020 that he wanted Randy Orton to break his record of 16 World Heavyweight Championship reigns – not John Cena’s record – because Flair held it first.

The second reason is that John Cena is a part-time WWE superstar now, and he will be remembered for his larger-than-life persona. Cena’s natural sense of charisma will live on forever regardless of how many World Heavyweight Championships he finishes his career with. Randy Orton on the other hand has never been thrust into the spotlight with quite as much mainstream appeal as his counterpart – Orton has always been 1B to Cena’s 1A. This is similar to the dynamic between Anthony Davis and Lebron James with the Los Angeles Lakers currently. It might give Orton a little more mainstream attention and serve to make him into an even bigger star.

A third reason this might be the way to go is that Orton has much more time left in his career. Randy has made it perfectly clear that WWE is still his main priority and he still significantly values being present each week to tell compelling stories for Mr. McMahon’s company. Cena is more of a movie star at this stage of his career who occasionally comes back to WWE; it seems that now the only period John can absolutely be relied upon to come back for is the buildup to WrestleMania each year.

However, given The Viper’s level of commitment, it’s very easy to envision those several years consisting of four more world championships (Orton is already at 13 so he doesn’t need very many more).

Essentially, Cena can only be counted on to be present in WWE once a year for a WrestleMania match each year. On the flip side, Orton has at least 5-8 solid years left in his career of being a very capable and committed top star in WWE. The Viper clearly cares a great deal about ensuring the future of WWE. One can see evidence of this by looking at Orton’s previous feuds with younger superstars like Daniel Bryan and Bray Wyatt. It can even be seen in his rivalries right now with Drew McIntyre (first WWE Title) and Keith Lee, who is brand-new to the main roster.

A fourth reason Randy Orton could be a better choice to break Ric Flair’s record for world titles is because of his history with Flair (Cena has none by the way, so he might not be able to tell as compelling of a story on account of this. Orton was a member of Evolution with both Flair and Triple H and has a great friendship with both men both personally and professionally. Randy was also made into a star right after his incredible and bloody rivalry with Flair back in 2005.

All of this is great, but I have not yet addressed probably the most important point, and that is Randy Orton’s healthy relationship with Mr. McMahon. Let’s face it, you are not going to go very far in WWE is you are not on the same page as the boss. So long as Vince McMahon is in support of The Viper, his trajectory and stock will continue to trend in the right direction.

WWE SmackDown 9/18/2020

Cesaro possibly a Potential Top Star

Cesaro has clearly emerged as the top star of his tag team with Shinsuke Nakamura. This can be seen dating all the way back to WrestleManiia 36 when Cesaro defeated Drew Gulak in a singles match on the pre-show on Night 1 of the event. Cesaro, one half of the current SmackDown Tag Team Champions, participated in yet another singles match with Gran Metalik of Lucha House Party this week.

Cesaro and Nakamura became champions at The Horror Show at Extreme Rules in July 2020, and Cesaro should be expected to continue his momentum as the leader of this tag team because he resonates more so with the WWE universe. On a personal note, I felt several years ago he had earned a WWE Championship match. Let’s hope he gets one in the near future before The Swiss Superman exits his prime years.

Alexa’s Transformation is Imminent

The Fiend didn’t make an appearance this week, however his presence and influence could absolutely be seen and felt when Alexa Bliss hit Sister Abigail on Lacey Evans after doing the same to Nikki Cross the previous week. She had the same faraway look in her eyes that the WWE universe would see in the eyes of Bray Wyatt from time to time when he was fully embodying the persona of a cult leader. Based on these events, a logical inference might be that Alexa is becoming infatuated with the demonic presence of Sister Abigail, so this storyline might be taking a rather sinister direction.

The Fiend has drastically changed the character of every superstar he has ever worked with (other than the poor booking decision of inserting Bill Goldberg into The Fiend’s storyline and winning the Universal Title from him, which did not make much sense). Finn Balor left the main roster after SummerSlam 2019 and after serving as The Fiend’s very first opponent to introduce the character to the WWE universe, returning to NXT (like Broadway as The Prince calls it) as a heel and becoming NXT Champion about a year later.

Seth Rollins turned heel and turned his back on the WWE universe, who was not particularly happy with some of Seth’s tweets in 2019, becoming effective as the Monday Night Messiah. Daniel Bryan did change the direction of his character, but for the better as he became a babyface once again (which is clearly the leader of the Yes! Movement’s niche). Whenever John Cena decides to return to WWE (that is assuming he will), one has to imagine he will also be a completely changed character. About the only thing John has not done with WWE is turn heel, so he could very conceivably portray this change in attitude. Finally, Braun Strowman has just crossed brands from SmackDown to Raw for a fresh start, so it’s very likely that Alexa will undergo some sort of rapid transformation within the coming weeks (possibly becoming the human embodiment of Sister Abigail).

A Modern-day Version of HBK vs. Razor Ramon with a Slight Wrinkle

In the Intercontinental Championship picture, WWE is rehashing a storyline the company executed in the early 1990s. Shawn Michaels won the title in what I believe was 1992 and left WWE for personal reasons, so Razor Ramon was awarded the title. When Michaels returned and laid claim to the fact that he was still the champion, it was ultimately settled at WrestleMania in the first ladder match at the biggest show of the year.

This is almost identical to what going on right now in the Intercontinental Title scene. Sami Zayn won the title on March 8 at Fastlane and successfully defended it at WrestleMania 36 against Daniel Bryan before leaving the company for personal reasons – he would fall in the same boat as Roman Reigns. He decided not to perform for a few months during the pandemic, which is completely respectable. Zayn relinquished the IC Title and AJ Styles won a tournament to crown the new champion. However, AJ still had disagreements with Jeff Hardy. Hardy would win the title from Styles right before SummerSlam 2020 and Zayn returned the following week.

This somewhat chaotic storyline will likely conclude with a triple threat match between all three of these men for the Intercontinental Championship (and if the events of this week were any indication it might be a ladder match – Jeff Hardy’s favorite). This is essentially a rehash of that old storyline I mentioned, but with one extra wrinkle of a third man being involved – AJ Styles is the third man.

The Foundation for Big E’s Singles push has been laid with Sheamus. This rivalry might end with a blow-off match between the two men at Hell in a Cell on November 1 (since Clash of Champions Gold Rush is reserved for title matches). It’s great to see E finally reaping the rewards of what he has earned over the last several years. Once upon a time this guy was one of the two men – along with Roman Reigns – Mr. McMahon was making a choice between to become the face of WWE.

The Tribal Chief Celebrating with his Family

It was Mr. McMahon’s decision to portray The Big Dog as a heel for a number of months – and ultimately the WWE universe would revert to chairing him as a babyface because of his likability. I was not quite sure originally if this strategy would pan out, but after the first night of seeing Roman in a legitimate match since becoming Universal Champion it might actually work exactly the way Mr. McMahon planned it. Roman is being given the freedom to be his authentic self in front of the WWE universe, which is something, which Chris Jericho has been an advocate of for years. Seeing Roman embrace his family in the middle of the ring is simply priceless and one cannot help but resonate with that.

King Corbin was much more productive in 2019 than 2020. He retired Kurt Angle at WrestleMania 35 and won King of the Ring in 2019. He is merely coasting off his accomplishments in 2020. Corbin’s biggest highlight of 2020 came in January when he lost a Falls Count Anywhere match to boot Roman Reigns as part of a rivalry that lasted far too long. There are ebbs and flows to anyone’s WWE career. Corbin could be a world champion in 2021.

Who does Otis Cash in On; Reigns or McIntyre

Technically, Otis could cash in his Money in the Bank contract that he won in May on either the WWE Champion or the Universal Champion. Otis is currently on the SmackDown brand, so it would be most logical from that perspective for him to cash in his contract on Roman Reigns. The issue is that WWE is finally electing to book Roman as a heel with more edge to his character, which is a real positive because that is the element of his WWE character that the WWE universe was so drawn to back in 2014.

Because of this, a heel Roman Reigns working with a comedic character like Otis may not do much to further the career path The Big Dog is going down with Paul Heyman. Roman Reigns may be the Universal Champion on SmackDown for quite a while (at least until WrestleMania 37, as Vince McMahon reportedly wants this to be Reigns’ long championship run – similar to when John Cena held the WWE Championship for over a year from 2006 – 2007. Mr. McMahon would like Roman to be able to cultivate that same presence on the microphone as Cena consistently did previously as the face of the company), so Otis may be better suited to potentially move to Monday Night Raw.

Another reason it might be best for Otis to move to Monday Night Raw is so that he can potentially continue his romantic storyline with Mandy Rose which has resonated profoundly with the WWE universe throughout most of 2020.

Mandy is a key reason why Otis is so popular right now. She has also blamed The Miz for orchestrating her move to Raw as he and John Morrison are involved in a storyline right now where they are intent on costing Otis his championship opportunity.

Otis coming to Monday Night Raw to challenge Drew McIntyre for the WWE championship immediately after McIntyre’s Pay-Per-View title defense against Randy Orton at Clash of Champions Gold Rush on September 27 (so on the September 28 addition of Monday Night Raw) would open the door for Randy Orton to attack Otis immediately after the bell rings.

This would make it so that:

  1. Otis does not have to take a loss, and;
  2. The integrity of the Money in the Bank contract is preserved since it would not be viewed as a complete failure of a Cash-in. This could also set up a third pay-per-view match between McIntyre and Orton inside Hell in a Cell (which is scheduled to take place shortly after the upcoming WWE draft in mid – October.

Otis is still super young as a WWE superstar at just 28 years old. 2020 is technically his second full year on the main roster, as he was called up in December 2018 after spending a couple of years in NXT. The most impactful thing Otis has going for him is that he has the complete backing of Mr. McMahon, who has taken a personal interest in the booking of Otis. Otis will be around for a long time in WWE, because if one has the backing of Vince McMahon, then they are guaranteed to be a long-term prospect.

Ivar’s Neck Injury

Ivar of the Viking Raiders underwent neck surgery earlier this week in Birmingham, Alabama and is expected to return to WWE within approximately one year. Unfortunately, this sort of injury is extremely common in the professional wrestling industry. A couple of notable superstars who have had the surgery at least once are Daniel Bryan (who is currently away from WWE to care for his second newborn child) and Tommaso Ciampa.

Here is what SportsKeeda had to say about the situation:

“How will Ivar’s absence impact WWE programming?

For one, WWE will have to start finding ways to utilize Erik as a singles star. Erik hasn’t been a singles star in a long time and hasn’t been so once during his WWE run. While it may turn out to be a golden opportunity for him, it could work the other way, where WWE simply decides not to utilize him because they only see him as a tag team player.

Perhaps that approach wouldn’t have been bad if Ivar was only out for 2-3 months, but that isn’t the case. Ivar could be out for a year and by the time he’s back, the landscape of WWE and the tag team division may change entirely.” (Source: SportsKeeda)

Let’s say a prayer that Ivar’s recovery goes smoothly and quickly, and that his partner Erik continues to be used on Monday Night Raw (as he was on September 14 in a quick loss to the CEO of The Hurt Business Bobby Lashley). The Viking Raiders are former Raw Tag Team Champions, so this accolade should be enough to keep Erik relevant in some sort of WWE storyline.

WWE Raw In Your Face 9/14/2020

Keith Lee is a Future Star

The fact that Keith Lee even has the opportunity to earn a WWE Championship match against Drew McIntyre this early in his tenure on the WWE main roster bodes extremely well for him and says that Mr. McMahon is serious about making Lee into a star that is a major attraction on Monday Night Raw. Even if The Limitless One does not end up receiving a WWE Title match at Clash of Champions Gold Rush, he is still being made into a legitimate threat on Raw simply by interacting with the WWE Champion on a weekly basis.

Until Randy Orton is officially ruled out of the WWE Championship match at Clash of Champions Gold Rush, I’m going to assume that it will be Orton challenging McIntyre for the WWE Title on September 27. There’s a very good chance Orton might even win the WWE Title at the end of September; if not then, maybe inside Hell in a Cell on November 1.

Orton has built a whole lot of momentum as a dominant heel in 2020, starting with his incredible rivalry with Edge (which started the night after the Royal Rumble when Orton proposed that their tag team, Rated RKO, reunite). It is excellent, however, to see the company becoming serious about making Keith Lee into a star immediately, because WWE has struggled somewhat in recent years to create new stars.

It might be time for at least one member of Retribution to show their face, because otherwise the WWE universe is going to get impatient and simply start tuning out of Raw because they don’t understand where this storyline is headed. Retribution has served their purpose under the masks, but it’s time to show their faces and give them actual personas.

It makes sense why WWE keeps orchestrating Keith Lee’s matches so nearly all of them end in disqualification. Mr. McMahon is orchestrating these non-finishes so that Lee doesn’t take losses, and it’s working beautifully right now. The only match Lee has had that did not end in disqualification was at Payback on August 30 when he beat Randy Orton. There is still a very high chance that Mr. McMahon will orchestrate for Randy Orton to win the WWE Title on September 27 so he can begin a rivalry with Keith Lee within a month or two of winning the championship (maybe even immediately after winning the title).

Seth Rollins ensures the Future of Murphy; Dominik Mysterio develops himself Further

It might be safe to infer that Murphy is no longer a disciple of Seth Rollins – it will be a step in the right direction for him to branch out on his own and see how much potential he truly has. Physically, Murphy can keep up with anyone in the ring (going back to his days as Cruiserweight Champion). Hopefully, this breakup with The Monday Night Messiah will cause Mr. McMahon to think about giving Murphy his first name back to add legitimacy to his character.

Murphy has been the second (along with Dominik Mysterio) on what I’m sure will be a long list of names who are put over by Seth Rollins. Based on what Rollins’ general mentality is, he is very unselfish with a high degree of character. The Architect also cares a great deal about ensuring the future of the business and it is his primary goal right now to help build the next generation of WWE superstars.

Rollins’ character in WWE is firmly established; now he views it as his responsibility to aid other superstars so they can experience the same joys by giving them guidance on their road to becoming top WWE superstars who the company leans on just as they have with Seth. Seth has done all he can to give Murphy a springboard into superstardom, now Murphy needs to take the ball and run with it.

Nothing is ever orchestrated purely by accident in WWE, when one considers the amount of precision with which Mr. McMahon prepares each week. With that being said, Rey Mysterio’s daughter Aalyah now has to get involved in a storyline with Murphy and/or Seth Rollins for everything to have continuity and logic.

Aalyah Mysterio may start to become involved in a romantic with Murphy after she placed her hand on Murphy’s shoulder this week on Raw. Dave Meltzer has drawn the logical conclusion that Aalyah will become “hooked up” with Murphy in the coming weeks.

The wrestling business is now clearly a family affair for the Mysterio family. Rey started out in the business over 30 years ago because of one of his uncles, and he went on to become one of the greatest wrestlers of his time, producing his most fantastic matches in the late 1990s with superstars like Eddie Guerrero. It has to be extremely rewarding for Rey to be introducing his son and now his daughter into the business.

Asuka retains the Raw Women’s Championship against Mickie James in a solid Match with a sloppy finish that could be Salvaged by transforming it into a Storyline

This was most likely Mickie James’ final opportunity at the Raw Women’s Championship (considering she’s 41 years old). Unfortunately, she does not have nearly as much momentum right now as Asuka. The match itself was a little awkward to say the least. Neither of the two superstars seemed to know what was going on, same thing with the commentary team. One way this could be salvaged is by turning this mishap into a storyline between James and Asuka.

Mickie is still extremely talented as an in-ring performer and looks about 10 years younger than she is – she could easily be placed higher on the card and produce a quality championship feud with The Empress of Tomorrow.

The Street Profits have a significant amount of momentum in WWE right now

The Street Profits defended their home turf of Monday Night Raw against the SmackDown Tag Team Champions Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura (The Bar 2.0. Cesaro has been tag team champions with 3 different partners: Tyson Kidd, Sheamus and now Nakamura) as part of the quarterly brand-to-brand invitational. It’s smart of WWE to do something like this every three months to give fans something new. The first time WWE did this was back in June when King Corbin came to Raw to challenge the WWE Champion Drew McIntyre (which McIntyre won).

Perhaps the next time this occurs WWE might want to orchestrate for someone from Raw to come to SmackDown and challenge someone from that brand. The man or woman from SmackDown could get the victory as well because it has happened the other way around both times WWE has done it to this point.

Fresh start for Strowman

Braun Strowman is a massive acquisition for Raw and an equally massive loss for SmackDown. It’s somewhat surprising that Strowman – a former Universal Champion – was moved from the bigger network in FOX. This move goes to show that SmackDown will be heavily reliant on the feud between Roman Reigns and The Fiend Bray Wyatt (with Alexa Bliss potentially getting involved as a mouthpiece of some sort for The Fiend, maybe even as the human embodiment of the spirit of Sister Abigail) to carry the brand as its top storyline moving forward.

This move for Strowman makes sense within the framework of his storyline, as he was funneled out of the Universal Championship picture. He lost the championship at SummerSlam to The Fiend and subsequently was thrown into with a triple threat Universal Title match with The Fiend and Roman Reigns at Payback, where The Big Dog became Universal Champion as a heel for the first time. Strowman has successfully been funneled out of that storyline, so he needed a fresh start – opening the door for him to switch brands.

Cedric Alexander defeats Ricochet, continuing his momentum on Monday Night Raw after joining The Hurt Business

Personally, I would say that I envision Ricochet turning into a bigger star than Cedric Alexander, but Alexander clearly has much more momentum right now having just joined The Hurt Business. Ricochet and Alexander formed a tag team immediately after WrestleMania 36 in April, which seems like each in history now considering it was only a few months ago.

The other three members of The Hurt Business aside from Alexander are all in their 40s, so it’s a positive thing to inject some youth into the stable. MVP is unselfishly using his history with WWE to elevate underutilized superstars, and it’s working to perfection.

There may be more to the Match between KO and Aleister Black – with the lights Flickering on and off – than Meets the Eye

Aleister Black speculated on Raw talk that Kevin Owens could be the leader of Retribution. This might make sense because Owens is currently not involved in a major storyline – and to be honest he hasn’t been since ‘Mania. Owens is currently involved in a confusing, makeshift storyline with Aleister Black at the moment.

This storyline appeared to come to an end on Monday night after Owens defeated Black. Owens seemingly began this rivalry as the babyface who was simply trying to help Aleister, who wanted absolutely no part of it. It would be an interesting wrinkle to the storyline if Owens had a hidden agenda to hide his true intentions, because people would least suspect him to be the leader of Retribution if his intentions seemed pure on the outside.

This is genius because the average fan watching Raw would simply dismiss the match between Kevin Owens and Aleister Black as meaning nothing, but great storytelling is always in the subtlety. No one suspects that anything is going on, and one day they are hit with some major storyline development out of nowhere.

Categories RAW
Menu
Disclosure: This site is not affiliated with WWE – just a diehard fan writing commentary on events.
 
Copyright 2021 Evan Luebbe. All rights reserved.