Who came up as a loser by the end of WWE Raw this week? With Survivor Series only days away, it’s a bad time to be on the decline.
As much as we’d all like to think everything is sunshine, roses, and kittens, sometimes people hit a rough patch. It’s no different for WWE superstars. Sometimes, they’re just in a funk. After WWE Raw this week, there’s a few superstars who fall into this category.
This isn’t to say there’s no hope for these particular superstars to come back to the promised land. It’s WWE – things can change in a heartbeat. But at the present, here are three superstars who are in need of a big boost in the coming weeks.
Kurt Angle
The Raw GM had a rough go of it this past Monday. At the start of the show, he was mere seconds away from being fired by Commissioner Stephanie McMahon. Apparently, Kurt has been a poor general manager, in Stephanie’s opinion. He hasn’t done enough to try and destroy Shane McMahon and the entirety of SmackDown Live.
On one hand, it’s a fair point. What kind of retaliation had there been from the Raw roster after Shane invaded? The big payback segment happened after Angle got chewed out this week. So maybe Stephanie lit the fire underneath the Olympic Hero.
On the other hand, Raw and SmackDown Live are both part of the same company. Sure, they’re separate brands. But it’s all under WWE. You know, the actual company she runs. So it’s a little ridiculous for Kurt to be blamed for this.
To top it all off, Angle had to attempt to make a tough decision regarding his son, Jason Jordan, who was injured in a match against Bray Wyatt. Since Jordan was supposed to be part of Raw’s Survivor Series team – another point of contention with Stephanie – Angle felt he needed to find a replacement. Jordan pleaded with his father to stay in the match.
But it didn’t matter – Triple H made his return, announced himself as Jordan’s replacement, and Pedigreed the young superstar right in front of his dad. Now that’s a bad night.
Kane
For several weeks, Kane has been the monster he was for many years. His surprise return on Raw leading up to the TLC pay per view seemed to be a return to form of sorts for the Big Red Machine. And right up until this week on Raw, it looked like Kane was once again an unstoppable force.
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Trouble is, Braun Strowman is the immovable object. Physics be damned, when those two forces meet, someone is going to get the upper hand. In this particular encounter, it was Strowman who looked like the monster, not Kane.
The match never really got under way, as the two behemoths just started attacking each other. One positive for Kane? He got the first shot in. But that just angered The Monster Among Men, who went on a rampage.
There wasn’t a whole lot of back and forth in this not-match, as Strowman seemed to have the upper hand for the vast majority. For him, that’s great – for Kane, not so much. This is a guy who beat Finn Balor clean as a whistle a few weeks ago, you know?
At the close of the show, Strowman finally got Kane up for the running powerslam – and broke the ring (someone is going to have to start charging Strowman for ring repair). After Raw went off the air, Strowman emerged from the wreckage seemingly unhurt. Kane, meanwhile, was nowhere to be seen. Not a good look for a monster.
Dana Brooke
Last week, I had Bayley down as one of the losers for not making her way onto the Raw Survivor Series team. But this week, she did exactly what I said she had the chance to do – turn things around and get back on the upswing. One of her opponents this week, though, was not so fortunate. And her inclusion here is more for a momentary lapse in judgement than anything else.
Bayley defeated Mickie James and Dana Brooke to earn the coveted fifth spot at Survivor Series. She got the pin on Mickie after a Bayley to Belly, while Dana was incapacitated outside the ring. And why was she in that predicament?
Well, the other superstars from the women’s team were at ringside to scope out their new partner, whomever it would be. Towards the end of the match, Dana rolled to the outside to recuperate. Asuka went over to check on her, and that’s when Dana made a terrible choice. She shoved The Empress of Tomorrow away, raising the ire of Raw‘s newest superstar.
Having a moment of mental clarity, Dana tried to run away, but there’s no escaping Asuka. When Asuka caught up to her, Dana was leveled with a spinning kick to the head. Nighty night, Dana, someone will tell you how the match ends when you wake up.
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We’ll see if any of these superstars can make a comeback after Survivor Series.