RAW

One could see some of the moves in the second night of the WWE draft coming from a mile away to provide continuity within specific storylines for them to make sense. Randy Orton staying on Monday Night Raw was a perfect example of this – since the WWE Champion Drew McIntyre was already drafted to Raw on Friday night, it only made sense for Randy Orton to also be drafted to Monday Night Raw so he can continue the storyline with McIntyre and finish the process of establishing him as a megastar inside Hell in a Cell on October 25. The anticipation for that match took a significant step forward on October 12 as they are getting fans emotionally invested.

It makes sense for The Fiend and Alexa Bliss to move to Raw to give them both a fresh batch of opponents to work with. Bray Wyatt essentially had no more momentum on SmackDown since the storyline surrounding him going after Roman Reigns and the Universal Championship – which was hinted at through Alexa staring down Roman on SmackDown – was dropped at least for now by Mr. McMahon.

We saw the next step in the transformation of Alexa Bliss changing her demeanor. The lights went down at about 10 o’clock on Monday Night Raw and Alexa appeared – hanging upside down as Bray Wyatt typically does – and they both proceeded to connect with Sister Abigail. It’s important to remember exactly when Alexa’s transformation began – July 31. In 2 ½ months The Fiend has transformed Alexa into his minion.

Alexa pitched the idea of doing a storyline with Bray Wyatt to Mr. McMahon a couple years ago, but their characters were in such different places that Vince McMahon deemed it would not make much sense at the time. After ruminating about the idea for a couple years, Mr. McMahon made the decision to finally put the pieces in place in order to make that idea come to fruition. This goes to show that any idea someone thinks about for a sustained amount of time will come to fruition sooner or later – whether that idea is good or bad.

Personally, I don’t blame Alexa for wanting to work with the creative genius that is Bray Wyatt/Windham Rotunda. His level of creativity might make her better as a performer.

Fresh scenery for Kevin Owens on SmackDown; The New Day and Braun Strowman to Raw

The first man who really stuck out to me being shipped to SmackDown was Kevin Owens. Owens is an interesting case because, after months of not doing much of anything except hosting people involved in separate storylines on his talk show, he was suddenly thrown into two different storylines at once – one with The Fiend/Alexa Bliss and one with Aleister Black (as far as I can recall, that has never been done in WWE) – it’s good to see Mr. McMahon trying something new. He is often criticized for not doing this, so it needs to be appreciated). The WWE universe now has the answer to the question of which storyline the company will pursue. KO will most likely have a payoff match with Black given that they were directed to SmackDown and The Fiend is now on the opposite brand.

The New Day (without Big E) will take some getting used to. It is totally understandable – the splitting of The New Day was to further the singles push of E. That said, The New Day had a special connection with the WWE universe – they moved over to Raw immediately after winning the Tag Team Titles, so it only made sense for the Tag Team Champions on the opposite brand to reciprocate.

Braun Strowman has had a compelling couple months. Just two months ago he was Universal Champion reigning supreme over SmackDown before dropping the title at SummerSlam to The Fiend (who held the title for only a week before dropping it to Roman Reigns at Payback on August 30). Strowman’s role in the storyline was complete after that, so he was moved to Monday Night Raw for a fresh start. After being featured several times on Raw Underground, he has now been drafted to Monday Night Raw permanently for now.

Strowman is in the same boat as Mandy Rose and Dana Brooke because they all moved to Raw shortly before the draft. Mandy was moved due to Miz trying to sabotage Otis’ momentum (in storyline). It’s almost guaranteed that he will find himself challenging for the WWE Championship at some point over the next year, along with AJ Styles, Keith Lee, Jeff Hardy, or even The Miz.

However, before we get to any of that, McIntyre has unfinished business with Randy Orton – and as good as McIntyre’s WWE title run as a warrior babyface has been, there’s not much of a chance that The Scottish Psychopath stops The Viper from walking out of Hell in a Cell with his 14^th world title. Remember that about two months ago Ric Flair put Randy over by telling him that he wanted Orton to break Flair’s record for most world titles at 16 (not John Cena’s record) because of their history with Evolution from 2003 – 2005.

The case can feasibly be made that The Miz could win the WWE Championship assuming that he somehow wins the court case against Otis and takes the Money in the Bank contract (that is if Mr. McMahon chooses to go this route). If he were to cash-in and win the WWE Title, Miz would become only the second man to successfully cash-in a Money in the Bank contract twice (Edge in 2007).

Riddle and Hardy switch brands; Elias returns from injury

Matt Riddle has not found a niche for himself on SmackDown as he has been somewhat lost in the shuffle since going over on AJ Styles in his debut in June. Jeff Hardy might become one of the faces of Monday Night Raw for the foreseeable future. Jeff can obviously still go in the ring even though he is in his 40s and has put his body through more damage than just about anyone over the past 20+ years.

He participated in what was easily the greatest match of the night with the Monday Night Messiah (his last night on Raw) and Styles. Seth and AJ had an excellent Universal Title match at Money in the Bank in May 2019, but Jeff Hardy has not crossed paths with either of these two men in the 3.5 years since returning to WWE at WrestleMania 33 in 2017.

Jeff’s brother Matt is experiencing success right now in AEW, and as a result the WWE is putting a heavy amount of emphasis on keeping Jeff Hardy happy and away from AEW with his brother. Hardy will be getting his entrance song back “No More Words” that he had back in 2009 during his last singles run in WWE.

Elias returned to WWE after healing from a torn pectoral muscle he sustained in May. The Drifter has shifted his demeanor so his character can undergo the next stage of its evolution. The start of a rivalry with a prominent figure like Jeff Hardy is a step in the right direction.

It was a clever move by Ricochet to pull an Eddie Guerrero by cheating to get a victory over Cedric Alexander and in the process ending his feud with The Hurt Business for now, even though it technically could continue since they are all remaining on Raw.

Natalya is so incredibly consistent with whatever task is asked to do, whether that’s establishing someone else or performing herself.

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 14^th 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 14^th 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.

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.

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.

It’s always great to hear Michael Cole’s voice on commentary – filling in for Tom Phillips on his first week off in I don’t even know how long – Phillips is so consistent; I sincerely hope he enjoyed the night off. He earned it.

Randy Orton could very well be crowned the new WWE Champion on September 27 because he is doing the best work of his career

Randy Orton will face Drew McIntyre at Clash of Champions: Gold Rush for the WWE Championship on September 27, but before that time comes McIntyre gave Orton a taste of his own medicine with three Claymore’s after taking in three punt kicks from The Viper just a couple weeks ago.

The primary reason Randy is so intertwined right now with Keith Lee may be because Mr. McMahon’s plan is for Randy Orton to win the WWE Championship from Drew McIntyre at the Pay-Per-View, This could eventually lead to a feud with Lee over the WWE Title within a few months (if not immediately), creating a brand-new star in the process.

Vince McMahon’s original plan for the WrestleMania 37 main event was to have a match between Randy Orton and Edge for the WWE Title. This plan, however, got thrown off when Edge legitimately tore his triceps in The Greatest Wrestling Match Ever with Orton in June. Let’s just hypothetically say the injury takes nine months to heal. In that case, that would mean Edge could return to action in March giving the WWE creative team only a few weeks to hype up his confrontation with Orton (which took place the year before). With just a few weeks of build, the WrestleMania 37 main event would still be very good, just maybe not as good as it could be because creative would ideally need at least a few months of build to create a sufficiently compelling storyline.

Because of the unfortunate timing of this injury, 2021 may not be a good year to include Edge in the main event of the biggest show of the year (maybe it will happen again one day, but the best story cannot be told in just a few weeks. This is a long-term story, so more meaning will be added if it has another year to marinate).

Randy Orton, however, has absolutely earned the right to be included in the WrestleMania main event next year because he is doing the best work of his career in all areas. The Legend Killer looks more comfortable than ever on the microphone and he is combining that with his incredibly consistent in-ring work.

MVP’s hard work to elevate underutilized superstars since the Royal Rumble is paying massive dividends; and the primary beneficiary is Cedric Alexander

Anyone who pays attention to Monday Night Raw consistently could have anticipated that MVP would eventually persuade Cedric Alexander to turn against his tag team partner Ricochet and join The Hurt Business. There were a few subtle hints of this – like Ricochet costing the team a match or MVP talking to Cedric privately about how he should not sacrifice his career for someone who calls himself The One and Only.

Hopefully this heel turn will advance Alexander’s career in the same way it has done so for the careers of Bobby Lashley and Shelton Benjamin (this is the most TV time Benjamin has received since his return to the company in 2017 and the same goes for Lashley who returned to WWE in April 2018). It was MVP’s primary goal with this stable to further the careers of superstars who were a bit underutilized, and while it took a few months to cultivate that presence, it’s now paying off and proving to be extremely successful.

It appears that WWE will look to keep Ricochet in the tag team division for right now. His partner, as opposed to being Cedric Alexander, will be Apollo Crews (because Apollo has nothing to do right now after losing the United States Championship) since Alexander is now a heel. I could be totally wrong about that but that’s the way it appears right now. A few weeks ago I would have said that Ricochet’s new partner after Cedric Alexander would possibly be Mustafa Ali because he has teamed with Ricochet and Alexander in the past.

Murphy takes a massive step toward forging his own identity in WWE and not being so reliant on the presence of Seth Rollins

Murphy may be ready to stand on his own 2 feet without the presence of Seth Rollins right next to him to provide legitimacy. This week was a critical steppingstone for Murphy because it showed he can cultivate his own presence and captivate the WWE universe. Maybe, once Murphy breaks out on his own officially, he will get his first name back to provide more credibility to his name.

Dominik Mysterio will be heavily reliant on the legacy of his father and the rest of his family for probably six months to a year while he builds a reputation of his own. Then when he’s ready, maybe he could turn heel and turn his back on the Mysterio family; this could open the door for him to take the Mysterio legacy in an entirely different direction.

Peyton Royce has the makings of a singles superstar according to Mr. McMahon

The reason the IIconics’s split as a tag team is reportedly because Vince McMahon views Peyton Royce as a potential superstar as a singles competitor in the Women’s Division and wants to give her a singles push to see how she fares on her own. This makes total sense because she is slightly smoother in terms of in-ring work and is slightly more comfortable on the microphone than Billie Kay. This statement is supported by the fact that Peyton recorded a victory over Billie just this week.

This is somewhat of a touching topic to write about because these two girls’ life paths have been so intertwined to this point. They both got into wrestling right out of high school and have been a tag team their entire careers, so it has to be heartbreaking to have this come to an end from their perspective. Chris Van Vliet did a great interview with Peyton on her history of how she got where she is today.

Mickie James set for her Raw Women’s Championship match against Asuka next week

One could have guessed that WWE might elect to wait until Clash of Champions: Gold Rush to orchestrate this match, but Mickie James might not have quite as much momentum as the company would like to place her in a Pay-Per-View title match. She does absolutely know what she’s doing, being a six-time Women’s Champion.

Kevin Owens and Aleister Black help Raw Underground take a massive stride forward

The Kevin Owens and Aleister Black match is by far the most high-rated match to take place on Raw Underground in its one-month history. This brainchild of Shane McMahon will take some time to pay dividends by creating new stars in WWE, but it has serious potential – it’s almost like a mixture of UFC’s The Ultimate Fighter and the movie Fight Club. Including matches with big names like this is how this new concept will gain prominence over time.

Retribution’s message is still unclear, but at least someone talked a little

This was the same frustration with The Shield in late 2012 – and that group turned out to be legendary – so I will be patient and give Retribution time to cultivate an identity. Perhaps they will do a little bit of what The Shield did in December 2012 and orchestrate a tag team match at Clash of Champions later this month or maybe a match inside Hell in a Cell on November 1.

Drew McIntyre retained his WWE Championship against Dolph Ziggler as expected and will most likely go on to hold the title for several more months – could be until at least January at the Royal Rumble 2021. In the meantime, Randy Orton will be a great challenger for McIntyre because a match like this at SummerSlam could put him over the hump to help legitimize his WWE Title reign. Randy Orton always has the ability to do that for opponents because he is so well respected and has been featured on WWE TV since 2002 (he is probably the most respected and legitimate opponent for anyone in WWE aside from Brock Lesnar in WWE right now).

While I am predicting McIntyre will retain against Orton, never count Orton out. He has not received a title opportunity in almost a year when he faced Kofi Kingston at a couple Pay-Per-Views around this time in 2019; and Randy has not actually been WWE Champion in about three years when he lost the title to Jinder Mahal at Backlash in May 2017.

It was very encouraging to see that July 27 was the first time it was actually palpable that Dominic Mysterio had a firm grip on the attention of the WWE universe. They were invested in what he was doing, and Seth Rollins also gets credit because he did the bulk of the talking (it is the heel’s job to get the audience invested, and Rollins and Mysterio both did an excellent job; this is massive for Dominic because it is the first time he has really gotten through to the audience.

Kairi Sane was officially written off TV this week so she can return home to Japan to be with her husband. She may not be gone forever, just for now. She seemed to be gaining a significant amount of comfort in the ring before her departure.

Kairi Sane Progressing

The Kabuki Warriors – Asuka and Kairi Sane -came up short in their Women’s Tag Team Championship match against Sasha Banks and Bayley, but it was still very encouraging. Sasha, Bayley, and Asuka looked great in the match as they have for years. But, what is really encouraging is the fact that Kairi Sane (in my opinion) looked the most fluid and comfortable in the ring she has ever looked since being moved to the main roster from NXT in April 2019 after WrestleMania 35.

Sane is still a young superstar at just 31 years old, so it’s very encouraging to see so much growth on her part in a little over a year.

Lashley feels completely free to be himself with the Presence of MVP (I believe)

MVP has provided Bobby Lashley with that little bit of extra confidence – almost like a permission slip – to be his authentic self and allow the WWE universe to see his full personality (Lio Rush was a valuable stepping stone on this journey for Lashley). Bobby has clicked with MVP in terms of personality and it is probable on screen. This might be the perfect time for WWE to get the feud going between Lashley and Brock Lesnar for SummerSlam 2020. This rivalry has needed to take place for a long time but has never actually ignited because Lashley has never had quite enough momentum character-wise to be viewed on the same level of superstardom as The Beast. It would not have made sense within the framework of the storyline – but now Lashley’s character is at a point where it might make sense for him to be involved in a rivalry with a star as big as Lesnar.

As for Ricochet, he will most likely be around for the long haul (he said on his recent WWE 365 documentary that he plans on being around in WWE for many more years) because he is so unbelievable in terms of his physical gifts.

Randy Orton is clearly doing the Best Work of his Career at age 40

Randy Orton has easily done some of the best work of his career in the year 2020. The return of someone he is so close within Edge brought the best out of him in the first half of the year – and he has followed that up by taking out the likes of Christian. And, he is currently doing a program with Big Show. Orton is embracing his heel roots which made his character blossom back in 2005 (in a rivalry with The Undertaker).

Speaking of Big Show he has been extremely unselfish over the past few months. It started with him challenging Drew McIntyre for the WWE Championship right after he beat Brock Lesnar at ‘Mania 36 (this went a long way towards establishing McIntyre as a prominent WWE Champion by defeating a legitimate threat right after slaying The Beast. He has also done comedy segments with tag teams like The Street Profits and The Viking Raiders.

Becky Lynch and AJ Styles have essentially the same character when you really think about it, but one is loved and the other is hated because of the quality of energy that each person brings to their character. Becky comes across as very sure of herself and has a great time while doing it, but AJ comes off as very arrogant and full of himself. He seems entitled right now, like he believes he deserves everything that’s coming to him – and should have gotten it a long time ago. To say the least, the quality of Becky’s energy is quite clearly a lot more appealing because she is having a good time with life.

Randy Orton tells Beth Phoenix a Story

That was by far the best promo of Randy Orton’s career. He painted a very detailed picture with his words in the form of a story about him going to a WWE house show with his father Cowboy Bob Orton and he told Beth that he was very touched by the hospitality. Edge told him that if he played his cards right, then maybe someday they could work together, and that comment motivated Randy. That prophecy eventually came to fruition, but when Randy made some poor life decisions it was Edge who pulled him out all the funk he was in.

So, The Viper told Beth that he simply returned the favor and took out Edge because The Rated-R Superstar thought he was going to return to in-ring action on a regular basis after his emotional return at the Royal Rumble. Randy had to do what he did in order to provide Beth and her two children with the father they deserve.

This was very relatable emotionally, and Beth Phoenix played the role of a concerned wife beautifully – with tears streaming down her face as Orton was talking. All the while, Randy had a somewhat deranged look on his face not really feeling any of it. He presented it so it looked like all he was doing was regurgitating information, and he connected to the collective heart of the WWE universe. Because of this, his big blow-off match with Edge at WrestleMania will feel even more personal (as if it didn’t already). The RKO to a woman also fits his character perfectly, as it’s not the first time he’s done that to a woman (Nia Jax at the 2019 Royal Rumble).

Brock Lesnar, WWE’s Highest Paid Star, is fully behind the Idea of Putting over Drew McIntyre at WrestleMania 36

The WWE universe proved how emotionally invested they are in the rise of Drew McIntyre over the last 20 years when his 3 Claymore kicks to Brock Lesnar nearly blew the roof off the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY. Most importantly, Brock Lesnar showed how invested he is in pushing the 2020 men’s Royal Rumble winner to the top of the card in WWE by advising him to lift the WWE Title belt over his head, to which he got a massive pop.

The Street Profits will inject new energy into the Raw Tag Team Division while also freeing Seth Rollins of the responsibilities of being a tag team Champion so he can begin building to a singles match with Kevin Owens at Mania.

They will bring an energetic and lighthearted sense of fun back into the Raw Tag Team Division as a result of WWE striking while the iron was hot. It is a very palpable feeling, and the best way to articulate it is that the WWE universe resonates powerfully with their joyous energy.

I couldn’t understand why Vince McMahon decided to go with Rollins and Murphy as Raw Tag Team Champions as opposed to an actual tag team in AOP, but I’m sure he had some reason for it. It might have been partially due to the fact that Mr. McMahon doesn’t view tag team wrestling to be a very big draw. He believes that most WWE fans attend shows to see their favorite singles stars in action, and, at least in my opinion, he is exactly right in that thinking.

Paul Heyman’s Spoiler

It is all but guaranteed that Brock Lesnar will quickly dispose of Ricochet at Super Showdown. Ricochet gave Drew McIntyre an assist in eliminating Lesnar from the Royal Rumble match by delivering a low blow to The Beast. If Brock dominates Ricochet, it will stack the deck against McIntyre even more by making the task of taking down Lesnar seem even more impossible. This will serve to make the payoff when McIntyre wins the WWE Championship at WrestleMania even greater.

Speaking of Drew McIntyre, he proved again on Raw exactly why Mr. McMahon views him as a great potential face of the company. He presents himself in the public eye in a very articulate and humble manner. There is a quiet confidence about him, and my thought is that it’s because of the maturity he has gained throughout his 20-year wrestling career. He is a man who has grown up in the business.

Kevin Owens questions Randy Orton on why he attacked Edge, and like Matt Hardy, Owens gets no real answers out of Orton

Edge should be expected to make at least a couple more appearances before WrestleMania to build for the match with Randy Orton. Otherwise WWE wouldn’t be revisiting the topic of Orton’s attack every week. Edge is so beloved by the WWE universe at this stage in his career, and because of that there’s much anticipation surrounding his WWE return. His wife Beth Phoenix is sure to get a huge pop from the crowd on the March 2 edition of Monday Night Raw.

Randy Orton defeats Kevin Owens thanks to distractions by Seth Rollins and his disciples; Owens powerbombs the referee, who may or may not have been a disciple himself, through a table

This served as a very organized way to set the stage for a potential ‘Mania feud between Rollins and KO. The Street Profits were also placed in a position where they were elevated, as they will be at Super Showdown. Kevin Owens got a big pop in his native country of Canada.

As if there is any doubt who will win the Women’s Elimination Chamber match and go to WrestleMania to face Becky Lynch for the Raw Women’s Championship – we all know it will be Shayna Baszler. The only other storyline in this match that is being focused on even slightly is the one involving Liv Morgan and Ruby Riott.

Aleister Black’s next credible opponent after Murphy will be AJ Styles

This little rivalry will serve to provide valuable experience for Black with a savvy veteran like Styles before going into his WrestleMania program. It will also buy time for Styles before entering his own program for the biggest show of the year with The Undertaker, who he’s never faced before. Black may have made himself into an effective babyface for now by overcoming his injuries from being attacked by The OC to defeat Erick Rowan.

Ricochet defeats “The Big LG” Luke Gallows

Ricochet has now defeated the bottom 2/3 of The OC two weeks in a row. This will give him a little more momentum, but not too much, in preparation for his WWE Title match with Lesnar. The One and Only will serve as a steppingstone for The Beast on the road to WrestleMania 36 to make it seem like even more of an impossible task for Drew McIntyre to take the WWE Championship from Brock. The match itself will tell a similar story to the match between Brock Lesnar and Finn Balor at Royal Rumble 2019 – a David vs. Goliath story.

Seth Rollins gives his Sermon; later in the night, his Disciples Murphy and The AOP take on Kevin Owens and The Viking Raiders but it’s broken up by Rollins, Ending in a Disqualification

It was genius for WWE to have Rollins give a Sermon and to have Paul Heyman portray the Monday Night Messiah with a religious element. This will get Seth over as a heel in a major way, because the commentary team is right; all Seth is right now is a narcissist who wants Monday Night Raw to revolve around him, and he is masquerading as a Messiah.

One would be reasonable to imagine that Rollins and Murphy will lose the Raw Tag Team Championships a few weeks before ‘Mana, possibly even at the Elimination Chamber PPV on March 8. This will free up both men to work singles programs leading to WrestleMania as I personally believe they are more valuable assets to WWE as singles competitors as opposed to a tag team. Murphy and Rollins may even work a WrestleMania 36 storyline with each other.

This would make total sense because there is an easy story to tell. They could lose their titles to a younger team on the rise in the form of The Street Profits at Super Showdown. They could blame each other for the miscommunication, leading to a clash between Seth Rollins and Murphy at the biggest event of the year on April 5 in Tampa Bay.

Randy Orton viciously attacks Matt Hardy after delivering a Cryptic Promo

Randy Orton is a master at ring psychology and feeling out what a crowd needs in order to get emotionally invested in a storyline. This heinous attack was most likely done to write Matt Hardy off TV because his WWE contract expires on March 1. He will most likely go to AEW where he will have more creative freedom. This will be good for Hardy who is one of the most creative minds in wrestling.

This attack will benefit Randy Orton significantly because it ensures he is one of the most hated and relevant heels in WWE for the next several months and perhaps even longer. Orton has now attacked two superstars who the WWE universe has been attached to for a very long time in Edge and now Matt Hardy.

Charlotte Flair points out how entitled Rhea Ripley is because she hasn’t had to Struggle as much as Charlotte has

Flair did some of her best work on the microphone to date. She pointed out something that has a lot of truth to it, and because of this, fans most likely resonated with the message.

Ricochet defeats Karl Anderson; AJ Styles returns to Raw

Nothing about the match itself was very surprising. The result was never in doubt because the number one contender to the WWE Championship would never lose right before a Pay-Per-View. The same cannot be said regarding the return of Styles, which was much earlier than expected. Smart fans would not have anticipated him to be back for at least another month after injuring his shoulder at the Royal Rumble. Shoulder injuries are not easy to come back from (ask Finn Balor).

As reported by Dave Meltzer, Styles is slated to wrestle The Undertaker at WrestleMania 36 in Raymond James Stadium, home of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It will be nice to see The Undertaker back in action at ‘Mania after taking WrestleMania 35 off. The Deadman feels AJ is “the modern-day Shawn Michaels,” which is probably accurate. This is due to his ability to do just about anything that is asked of him in the ring as well as his level of fluidity with the sports entertainment industry with over 20 years of experience.

Angel Garza and Bobby Lashley defeat Rusev and Humberto Carillo

Garza and Rusev were easily the two superstars who stood out in this match. It’s amazing that the WWE universe still has the attention span to remember Rusev Day so vividly and continue to chant it like they did this past week. This is an era of short attention spans after all due to social media in large part. Based on this, Vince McMahon can draw the conclusion that Rusev is a major star and all Mr. McMahon needs to do is give Paul Heyman the green light to make him a major superstar, possibly even a champion.

Rusev’s connection with the WWE universe needs to be taken advantage of because fans don’t latch onto a character like this very often.

On the other hand, Angel Garza has the potential to turn into the next Eddie Guerrero type of Latino character, but he needs a little more time to acclimate the WWE universe to his personality. After all, he is still relatively new. He is kind of reminiscent of a newer version of Chavo Guerrero, but he has the potential for sure to turn into Eddie. Angel needs to add a more serious element to his character rather than just as a lady’s man which would make the audience more deeply connect with him.

Aleister Black defeats Erick Rowan

WWE may want to seriously consider building up Aleister Black similar to what WCW did with Goldberg a little over 20 years ago. This could be done by continuing his undefeated streak against opponents who are legitimately credible for the remainder of 2020. It would also build on his mystique. Rowan might want to just discard his cage; at this point no one cares much about what’s in it and it serves almost as a distraction more than anything.

Brock Lesnar’s impressive Attendance Record in 2020

The Beast is still a part-timer since returning to WWE in 2012, but he has a great track record for 2020 through the first of the year. Brock has shown up in some form on every episode of Raw in 2020 except for two – February 10 and February 17. However, he is now advertised for the February 24 and March 2 episodes. Lesnar also entered the Royal Rumble match at number one, lasting over 25 minutes before being eliminated by the eventual winner Drew McIntyre.

This significantly helps his advocate Paul Heyman (who is the Executive Director of Raw). Having Lesnar on the show every week makes it significantly more interesting. He creates an unspoken aura of legitimacy as a former UFC Heavyweight Champion. No one else on the roster has enough credibility to provide this at the moment. He is Raw’s top titleholder as the WWE Champion.

Even without Brock Lesnar, this past week’s edition of Raw was still very successful as it managed to draw the most TV viewers of any episode in 2020. MVP also wrestled his final match on Raw, putting over Drew McIntyre