WWE Raw Rankings: Is Brock Lesnar Leaving After SummerSlam?
By Warsame A
RAW. Photo by WWE.com
The RAW World Title Picture
Highlights of the Division
Roman Reigns earned a huge win over Samoa Joe and Braun Strowman in the triple threat match on RAW, but he shouldn’t be considered the favorite to win at Summerslam. The Big Dog is still the least popular superstar out of the four title contestants at Summerslam and has already been the world champion on a few occasions. The issue everyone has with Reigns is that his character growth has been roughly the same the past few years. As for Samoa Joe and Braun Strowman, they are fresh competitors that have yet to win a world title on the main roster. The stories and money that could be potentially made off of their title run if they win would be huge for the WWE. Food for thought when considering who should be the Universal Champion at Summerslam.
Also, will Brock Lesnar leave the WWE and head back to the UFC? Jon Jones called him out after his big title win at UFC 214 so there might be a serious possibility that Lesnar will lose the Universal Championship at Summerslam and leave the WWE. But the question is if this is a swerve by Brock Lesnar to leverage his deal with the WWE over the UFC? Paul Heyman somewhat implied it on RAW so we shall see next Monday night.
Meanwhile, for the Rest of the Division
The feud between Finn Balor and Bray Wyatt still doesn’t have a narrative on why anybody should care about their potential clash. If Bray Wyatt gave a valid reason on why he initially attacked Balor back in May and again in mid-July, we could justify it as two men who have personal animosity and want to impose their will on each other. But the problem is with a lot of Bray Wyatt’s feuds is that he rambles way too long with no meat behind those words.
One suggestion the WWE could do to justify this feud is to bring up the proclamation Wyatt made after he lost in Extreme Rules: that he would target every man who cost him a shot against Brock Lesnar for the Universal Championship.
Remember that he lost to Roman Reigns on RAW that same night and then turned his attention to Seth Rollins soon afterward. If he can bring up that point, that he’s on a crusade to destroy all the men who cost him his victory at Extreme Rules, then the story between Finn Balor and Bray Wyatt has a logical narrative to continue on.
These are the rankings for the division this week.
WWE Universal Champion: Brock Lesnar (2 Wins – 1 Loss)
Contenders
- Top Contender: Samoa Joe (11 Wins – 7 Losses)
- Contender No. 2: Braun Strowman (9 Wins – 6 Losses)
- Contender No. 3: Roman Reigns (11 Wins – 11 Losses)
- Contender No. 4: Bray Wyatt (8 Wins – 8 Losses)
Pretenders
- Pretender No. 1: Seth Rollins (10 Wins – 9 Losses)
- Pretender No. 2: Finn Balor (11 Wins – 5 Losses)
What are your thoughts on this week’s RAW Rankings?