The booking of The Fiend takes an interesting turn; he is now being booked as a babyface – most likely so that Randy Orton can remain in the role of a heel in which he is most comfortable
Mr. McMahon has decided to do a complete 180 regarding the booking of Alexa Bliss and The Fiend Bray Wyatt by changing their roles to make them the babyfaces in this feud while positioning Randy Orton as the ‘master heel’ with a long-term plan for how he will go about systematically attacking The Fiend mentally. I don’t love it, but I am not necessarily opposed to watching how this will play out. It’s difficult to completely reverse the narrative of The Fiend when WWE has built the narrative so well of Him being a monster who has such a supernatural aura. Now the more human side of the character is beginning to be explored – people cannot be judgmental because the entire story is far from over.
This rivalry is being revisited after 3 ½ years when Randy Orton burned down Sister Abigail’s cabin. He would ultimately go on to take the WWE championship from Bray Wyatt at WrestleMania 33 after winning the 2017 Royal Rumble match. Orton was a follower of Bray Wyatt and a member of The Wyatt Family – and they were even tag team champions for a few months – before The Viper revealed that befriending Bray was the essential piece in his master plan all along to become WWE champion. The primary intention of the story is to further the character of Randy Orton and portray him as an even more sinister threat in WWE.
AJ Styles is the new No. 1 contender for the WWE championship, and after getting the victory in the triple threat match he subsequently made an effort to grab the WWE title off Drew McIntyre to more easily become WWE champion for the first time in two years
Regarding the No. 1 contender’s triple threat match for the WWE championship, Keith Lee is primed and ready to be a perennial superstar in the near future – maybe just after WrestleMania 37. His entrance, however, may have been better in NXT – the song he rapped himself. There was so much originality in that entrance, and singing his own lyrics was good enough for John Cena so why not do the same for Keith Lee. He also has a victory over Randy Orton in his back pocket from August 30 at the Payback Pay-Per-View.
Riddle may require a slight gimmick change if WWE wants to position him as a legitimate threat to the WWE championship. It is a very positive thing to see Riddle make his entrance last, so that gives away the fact that the company is intending to push him in the future. There is not much at all Riddle is not capable of in the ring as he has the physical ability to put together a great match with either a big guy or a small guy. He also picked up a win over AJ Styles in his debut match on SmackDown in June 2020 immediately following the Backlash Pay-Per-View.
The WWE championship match at TLC between AJ Styles and Drew McIntyre could be an instant classic – McIntyre has talked in the past about how Styles was one of the men he was looking forward to competing against for the WWE championship in the future. Some sort of event involving AJ’s bodyguard might transpire to further his WWE character at TLC – at least he talked this week on Monday Night Raw. After winning the triple threat match earlier in the night, AJ made an effort to help The Miz cash-in his Money in the Bank contract albeit unsuccessfully.
Meanwhile Sheamus is looming in the background for now as a future challenger to Drew McIntyre’s WWE title (which he will be for certain in the coming months, maybe even as soon as the Royal Rumble. For right now, WWE is seeking to lay the groundwork in order to build the story between the two men. Speaking of WWE creating stories out of Drew McIntyre’s friendships, a story could very well be built in 2021 between McIntyre and Jinder Mahal (who will be returning from knee surgery).
New Day dropping the RAW Tag Titles to The Hurt Business at TLC?
Since the story between The New Day and The Hurt Business continued this week and has been going on for several weeks in a row – Cedric Alexander and Xavier Woods met this week in a singles match which Cedric won – it seems at this point as if the writing is on the wall for a RAW Tag Team championship match to be booked for TLC between these two teams. It appears as though The Hurt Business is on pace to capture the titles. These will be the first titles either Cedric Alexander or Shelton Benjamin have held in quite some time.
The WWE Women’s Division is arguably Healthier than Ever, or not, Depending on your Perspective
The company is beginning to suffer from the same phenomenon they were suffering from earlier this year, and that problem is that all the opportunities in the women’s division are being given to just four or five women. There are many more competent women in WWE, but the opportunities are not being spread out, and the women’s division as a whole is suffering because of it. The five women WWE is building the entire women’s division around currently are Asuka, Lana, Nia Jax Shayna Baszler on RAW and Sasha Banks on SmackDown (and the women’s division in NXT is absolutely loaded). But at the end of the day WWE is Vince McMahon’s company and he has the right to do whatever he wants. There are so many women who could possibly be pushed – there is not a bad option. (I prefer to take the stance that WWE is doing better than ever in terms of the state of the women’s division).