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 14th 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.