credit: wwe.com
An action-packed edition of WWE Raw shook things up for not only Monday nights, but the entire company as well.
With Survivor Series less than three weeks away, the WWE continues its build towards the event and last night’s WWE Raw helped change the complexion of the event. It was also a night that saw the return of prominent members of the Raw roster.
With those returns, Raw gains needed additions for not only Survivor Series, but the future of the red brand as well. With that being said, let’s take a look at five takeaways from the Oct. 30 edition of Monday Night Raw.
5. Kane’s Rampage Shouldn’t Come at Present-Day Stars’ Expense
The return of the Big Red Machine to Monday nights came out of nowhere and has added a different element to Raw. Kane is back in the saddle of destroying fellow competitors and his return was all based around the Monster Among Men Braun Strowman.
Kane helped The Miz and The Bar put Strowman in the back of a garbage truck compactor at TLC and Kane’s reasoning behind his actions was to lay his claim as the one and only true monster of the WWE. But the Big Red Machine’s ways of proving this have been a bit off according to many fans.
Over the past two weeks on Raw, Kane has looked like his old, dominating self by laying waste to several of Raw’s top superstars. We even saw Kane take out SmackDown GM Daniel Bryan backstage last night. For two straight weeks, Kane has left Finn Balor lying in a broken heap and even defeated him in dominating fashion on the Oct. 23 edition of Raw.
The same fate happened to the Raw Tag Team Champions last night and Kane defeated Seth Rollins before laying out both Rollins and Dean Ambrose with the help of Sheamus and Cesaro. The Big Red Machine has certainly looked impressive as of late, but it’s coming at the expense of the individuals the WWE should be building Raw around.
Having Kane look dominant makes sense in building towards a potential match with Strowman, but he should not be looking dominant against present-day stars that are some of the cornerstones of the WWE. Have Kane take out lesser superstars, but not top one’s.
Kane’s a star of the past at the end of his career and his character development in 2017 should not come at the expense of the red brand’s top, present-day stars.
Photo Source: WWE.com via Twitter
4. WWE Misses Opportunity to Avoid Heel vs. Heel Dynamic at Survivor Series
The Goddess of the WWE Alexa Bliss has been arguably the top women’s competitor on Raw over the past several months and with good reason. She has been as impressive as anybody on the mic and in the ring and her recent feud with Mickie James has been a memorable one as well.
Bliss retained her Raw Women’s Championship against James at TLC, but it looked as if James still wasn’t done with Bliss. And on last night’s Raw, James got another championship opportunity in the main event of Raw against Bliss.
It seemed like an example of seeing the writing on the wall that James would defeat Bliss and win the Raw Women’s Championship, but Bliss once again retained her title in a subpar match considering the two’s solid encounter at TLC. Keeping Bliss as champion isn’t a bad thing, but it did mess up a potential fix for Survivor Series.
The card at Survivor Series has garnered positive and negative reactions out of the WWE universe with many claiming the card is lacking and features too many heel vs. heel matches. The WWE could have avoided that in one match by having the babyface James defeat Bliss last night and go on to face the heel SmackDown Women’s Champion Natalya at Survivor Series.
But with Bliss retaining, it will be a heel vs. heel showdown between the two women’s champions on the roster. The match can still work given how both Bliss and Natalya are strong enough characters, but a babyface vs. heel match would have made things easier.
Pulling off babyface vs. babyface matches are relatively easy, but Bliss and Natalya will have to make a heel vs. heel match work in a battle of the current top two women’s competitors in WWE.
Photo by WWE’s Twitter
3. Stephanie McMahon’s Reemergence Adds Needed Heelish Authority Figure to Raw
It was only a matter of time before Raw commissioner Stephanie McMahon made her return to Monday nights, and last night saw her return in a big way. Stephanie returned by cutting off Raw GM Kurt Angle as he was opening the show and apologizing for the previous week’s siege of Raw via Shane McMahon and the SmackDown roster.
Stephanie began as if she was going to be a babyface, but quickly shut down that thought. She began ripping into Angle for allowing the siege to happen in the first place and allowing Shane O’Mac to fool him. The verbal criticism continued and she eventually raised the stakes of the whole situation.
Stephanie announced that Angle would be the captain of Team Raw at Survivor Series and if his team were to lose to Team SmackDown, she would look for a new GM of Raw. The Olympic Gold Medalist will now have two straight pay-per-view appearances under his belt, but this time with much higher stakes.
Outside of simply the stakes being raised for Angle at Survivor Series, Stephanie’s return to Raw gave Raw an added addition it had been missing. Her heelish, authoritative promos were missed on Monday nights and she didn’t miss a beat last night. This could create many different opportunities in the future and shake up the red brand.
The return of the boss’s daughter gives Raw a heelish authority figure once again and having Stephanie back in the fold could lead to great things in the future.
Photo Source: WWE.com via Twitter
2. A Night of Returns Helps Raw at Survivor Series and Beyond
It’s always exciting to see a superstar return to the WWE, and last night’s Raw saw the return of several superstars that all make a big impact. The rumors were swirling about potential returns to Raw last night and those rumors did not disappoint.
The show began with Stephanie McMahon’s return, but the in-ring returns hadn’t even begun. The first domino fell with the return of Nia Jax. Jax had been under scrutiny the previous few weeks with her apparent walkout at TLC, but her return to Raw last night was a pleasant sight and she defeated Bayley before being added to Team Raw’s women’s team at Survivor Series.
The next return happened soon after by way of The Destroyer Samoa Joe. Joe had been out of action since late August with an injury and fans wondered when his return would come. Joe teased a babyface return only before ripping into the WWE universe and defeated Apollo Crews before choking out both Crews and Titus O’Neil.
The final and most impactful return came at the end of the show. After The Miz and the Miztourage were trying to leave the arena in a hurry after being paranoid of a Braun Strowman return, the Monster Among Men made his return by chasing the three out of their limo and back into the arena. Strowman attacked all three, but Curtis Axel got the brunt of the attack after Miz and Bo Dallas managed to escape.
It was great to see these individuals back on Monday nights and it was a really cool change of pace to see them all return on the same night.
Photo Source: WWE.com via Twitter
1. Survivor Series Stakes Raised With Addition of Kurt Angle
Following his WWE in-ring return at TLC, many wondered when Raw GM Kurt Angle would return to the ring again. It’s safe to assume Angle could be in a match at WrestleMania 34, but the returning Stephanie McMahon cleared up the situation last night.
Stephanie’s return interrupted Angle at the beginning of last night’s Raw and after a verbal tirade towards Angle, Stephanie dropped the bombshell of Angle captaining Team Raw at Survivor Series. But that was only half of the equation and if Team Raw loses at Survivor Series, Angle will no longer be the Raw GM.
TLC seemed like a nice warmup for Angle’s in-ring return with him doing just enough to appease the WWE universe, but not doing too much to risk injuring himself in his first match back. But at Survivor Series, we could see more of the vintage Olympic Gold Medalist since his job is on the line.
Angle had a solid performance at TLC given the circumstances and despite his age, Angle is not an ordinary athlete and the WWE universe should expect an even better performance at Survivor Series. And with the stipulation in place for this match, it could lead to a variety of storyline possibilities for Angle in the coming weeks and months.
The Olympic Gold Medalist has a lot to fight for at Survivor Series and with his job on the line, expect nothing less out of the wrestling machine.