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What’s in store for “Holiday Week” in WWE? Let’s take an outside the box look at the week ahead.
One of my favorite pastimes as a WWE fan is to try and guess what’s going to happen in the future. I don’t go out of my way to spoil myself. But trying to get into the heads of the creative department is a good way to kill some time.
We’re just days away from Clash of Champions for the SmackDown brand. The card is pretty much set at this point, but that doesn’t mean things can’t – or won’t – change. Will Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan make any moves before the pay per view?
As for Raw, there’s plenty of things happening despite several weeks until a pay per view. The Intercontinental Championship Open Challenge will roll on, but is it causing trouble for The Shield? How about the monkey wrench thrown into the cruiserweight division over the weekend?
Let’s not forget this is WWE Holiday Week, so there’s even more programming on the USA Network than usual. Wednesday night brings the broadcast premiere of NXT, (hopefully) putting more eyes than usual on the stars of tomorrow. And Thursday night brings the annual Tribute to the Troops show, which is more of an exhibition show than anything to further major storylines.
So let’s think outside the box for what may happen this week.
NXT Outperforms Everyone’s Wildest Expectations
Last week’s episode of NXT featured possibly one of the best matches of the year in Johnny Gargano vs. Kassius Ohno. That gives the brand a lot to live up to as it airs on prime time television for the first time. Simple observation of how crowds of main roster shows react to NXT superstars tells you that even after all this time, Triple H’s baby is still a well-kept secret in the WWE Universe.
But given the chance to be showcased like this is a huge opportunity. Even though the episode is pre-taped and not live, there’s bound to be plenty of action to satisfy wrestling fans. New NXT Champion Andrade Almas will be in action, as will Adam Cole, Aleister Black, NXT Women’s Champion Ember Moon, and Roderick Strong.
If that’s not a stacked lineup, I don’t know what to tell you. It’s really a shame that Gargano vs. Ohno wasn’t scheduled for this week, as it would really put a light on what’s going on in NXT. But there’s some precedent for NXT superstars getting a shot like this, just not much of one.
Way back in 2014, just before NXT TakeOver: Fatal 4 Way, the participants in the scheduled main event took part in a tag team match on Raw. Sami Zayn and (Adrian) Neville defeated Tyler Breeze and Tyson Kidd, in the WWE Universe’s first glimpse of three of those four superstars. And the match was well received, as was the TakeOver match days later.
Why wouldn’t NXT be able to win over a large chunk of the WWE Universe this time around? All they need is eyes on the product, and the superstars will take care of the rest. As long as the show is heavily promoted on Raw and SmackDown Live there should be a decent sized audience, and who knows? Maybe NXT is a big part of the next WWE television contract.
New Blood in the Cruiserweight Division
I’m not going to sit here and write a bunch of words about the Rich Swann situation – it’s been done by enough people. All I’ll say is, obviously, it’s a terrible situation that needs to play out in the legal/justice system, so we’ll let that happen.
However, you can’t ignore the fact that, prior to his suspension, Swann was scheduled to face Drew Gulak this week on Raw in a number one contender’s match. With WWE needing to adjust their plans, the smart money would be on Gulak either advancing by forfeit, or another match taking place and just pushing everything back a week.
But why not fast track a debut? Hideo Itami has already been advertised to be joining 205 Live in the near future. Couldn’t he fill in for Swann and just smack Gulak around the ring for a while? The pair had a pretty good match on NXT about a year ago – a rematch could be a great way to introduce Itami to the larger WWE Universe (if they don’t remember him from the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal a few years back).
Of course, the best way to bring that match to an end would be interference from Enzo Amore. As Itami is wiping the floor with Gulak, Enzo realizes that he would be next – and Itami would take his precious Cruiserweight Championship in the process. So Enzo costs Itami the match, setting up Enzo vs. Gulak – a match Enzo believes he would have in the bank.
But Gulak wouldn’t just roll over for his boss, Zo Train or not. In fact, I think Gulak could take advantage of a lackadaisical Enzo and win the title. It would wreak havoc on the Zo Train, but it would keep 205 Live interesting – plus Itami’s presence would freshen things up.
The Riott Squad Comes Up Short
It’s bound to happen at some point – even the most dominant of factions eventually take a loss, or a beating, or something. With a pay per view coming up, the odds of Charlotte Flair and Natalya looking the strongest are pretty high. So, it’s probably time for Ruby Riott and company to roll over a bit.
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Last week, the SmackDown Women’s Championship match at Clash of Champions became a Lumberjack Match. So Riott, Liv Morgan, and Sarah Logan are going to be at ringside. There’s plenty of time before, during, and after the title match for them to put a hurting on Charlotte and Natalya. So this week on SmackDown, I fully expect a potential Riott Squad ambush to be thwarted.
It will most likely happen during a non-wrestling segment. Could we get a contract signing for the big rematch? Possibly. If Charlotte and Natalya come down to make the match “official” and let their guards down, it’s a perfect opportunity for a trio of young, hungry rookies to try and make a statement yet again.
But the guards wouldn’t really be down for a contract signing. It’s WWE, after all – when does a contract signing ever go smoothly? It’s something Riott, Morgan, and Logan wouldn’t expect, so their “surprise” attack would go unsuccessful. As the trio regroups, it makes everyone think that the division is onto them by now.
Big Dog Called Out For Cracking The Shield
To close out Raw last week, Cesaro and Sheamus defeated Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins to retain the Raw Tag Team Championships. It was an overbooked mess, but the important takeaway was that outside interference cost The Shield the match. That interference came from Samoa Joe – nemesis to Roman Reigns.
My prevailing theory is that Rollins and Ambrose are going to call out Reigns for his “role” in their failure to regain the titles. Joe’s interference was solely due to his rivalry with Reigns, and when The Big Dog came out the combined distraction led to the finish of the match. I’m no expert in causality, but I do know that if Roman wasn’t out there, Ambrose and Rollins had a better shot at winning.
This week, there are three matches already set for Raw featuring all the major players in this saga. I would wager that Samoa Joe interferes in the Rollins vs. Sheamus match, bringing Reigns out to even the odds. Later, when Ambrose takes on Joe, that match will have “Roman Reigns interference” written all over it. When that causes Ambrose the match (yes, I said when, not if), I fully expect the cracks in The Shield to become more evident.
The result of Cesaro vs. Reigns is irrelevant here. Most likely, that will open the show, so there will be no real context for it outside of the open challenge (if it’s a title match). But Rollins and Sheamus will probably kick off hour two with Joe interference, and Reigns will even things up in the main event of Joe vs. Ambrose. And that brings The Shield to a breaking point.
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What do you think is going to happen this week in WWE?