This week’s WWE Raw is the final episode before the King & Queen of the Ring premium live event this weekend, and Triple H has some decisions to make.
It’s the last chance for the red brand to build hype and interest for the PLE, which is taking place just three weeks after Backlash in France.
Here’s a preview of four potential plans for this week’s Raw.
1. King Of The Ring Decision – Bloodline Or Prestige
It seems like WWE has two options for the King of the Ring final this coming weekend – GUNTHER vs Randy Orton, or Jey Uso vs Tama Tonga.
If you go with GUNTHER vs Orton, you establish the King of the Ring tournament as a major prize that the absolute top stars are fighting for – and if GUNTHER wins, well, that means he’s scored a win over an absolute legend.
As for Uso vs Tonga, that would tie into the whole Bloodline situation so in terms of having a match with a ‘story’ more than just winning the King of the Ring, it’s stronger in that sense.
That’s the thing though – the story should be wanting to win the King of the Ring, that’s how you establish it as a big deal.
It shouldn’t take a back seat to the Bloodline drama, and if the final ends up being Jey Uso vs Tama Tonga, it would.
WWE Raw will host GUNTHER vs Jey Uso in the Raw semi-final, so the winner will likely tell us who’s going to win Friday’s SmackDown semi-final too, because GUNTHER vs Tama Tonga or Jey Uso vs Randy Orton don’t seem like likely options.
Either way, Triple H will need to have made this decision come Monday night.
Click the next page button below for more
2. Queen Of The Ring Options
As the WWE King & Queen of the Ring PLE name would suggest, much like the King of the Ring tournament, the Queen of the Ring culminates this week as well.
The WWE Raw semi-final of Lyra Valkyria vs IYO SKY will determine who goes on to face either Bianca Belair or Nia Jax at the weekend.
It’s been good to see immediate investment in Valkyria after her main roster call-up, because as we’ve already seen with a couple of call-ups, she could easily have faded into the background, but that’s not been the case.
The tournament final might be one step too far though, because it presents a perfect opportunity to reheat IYO after she lost the WWE Women’s Championship to Bayley at WrestleMania.
And the good thing is, either of the SmackDown semi-final options would work.
You can either go with IYO vs Belair and the history between them, including the awesome match they had at Backlash last year, or the David vs Goliath dynamic with Nia Jax.
It would be a surprise if Valkyria ends up in the final, so unless there’s something unexpected being sprung upon us, expect an IYO win here.
Click the next page button below for more
2. Sami Zayn vs. Chad Gable II
A big match is set for WWE Raw as we get the re-do between Sami Zayn and Chad Gable, this time with a fully heel Gable after he turned following their original match.
The key hope here is that they get to have an actual match, and not just something that gets cut off after three or four minutes.
That is of course because they’re both involved in a three-way for Zayn’s WWE Intercontinental Championship at King & Queen of the Ring along with Bronson Reed.
It would be very easy – and this happens far too often – for Reed to show up and cause a no contest. Hopefully Triple H can just let these two have a great singles match, something in which a heel Gable can really shine for the first time.
Click the next page button below for more
1. Ilja Dragunov Fallout
Ilja Dragunov suffered an early setback last week as he lost in the King of the Ring quarter-final round to Jey Uso – which a lot of people weren’t particularly thrilled about.
There’s no need panic though. Dragunov lost to the likes of JD McDonagh, Baron Corbin, Carmelo Hayes and Trick Williams in NXT.
It’s not like he was completely invincible.
There’s every opportunity here for Dragunov to actually get over more by coming back from a setback than he would if he just went on a massive undefeated streak.
It has to be done right though, so hopefully Triple H has something good in mind as he starts his road to recovery.
There does seem to be a plan for GUNTHER vs Dragunov at some stage, but the question is how we get there, and how far away it is.
As exciting as it is, and we live in a world where we expect instant gratification a lot of the time, it’s important not to rush it.
Want a career in the professional wrestling industry but don’t know where to start? Enrolment is now open for the first-of-its-kind Wrestling Masterclass – click here for details!
Comments.
Loading comments…