Photo Source: WWE.com
We’re one week away from the big Raw 25th Anniversary special, and two weeks away from the Royal Rumble. What could WWE have in store for us this week?
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.
Time for full disclosure: I didn’t watch a second of WWE programming as it aired live last week. We also skipped this regular column last week. Why is that? Those of you who follow me on social media saw all the pics and results, but for those of you who don’t I “ran” my first marathon last weekend. After spending 6 1/2 hours running through Walt Disney World, I wasn’t up for much of anything. And to top it off, when I got back home Tuesday night, I had frozen/leaking pipes in my house! Ah, the joys of homeownership.
So now, I’m back in the saddle, ready to roll. My crystal ball is working overtime trying to get a fix on what’s ahead. Reception’s a bit fuzzy, but I think I have this under control. After all, the Royal Rumble is two weeks away. The 25th Anniversary episode of Raw is one week away. And let’s not forget that the Mixed Match Classic kicks off 24 hours after this week’s Raw.
Let’s get right into our bold predictions for the week of January 15 in WWE.
Braun Strowman to Compete in Men’s Royal Rumble Match – Not a Universal Championship Match
Well, if we’re going outside the box, this would be outside the entire country.
For weeks, Braun Strowman and Kane have been scheduled to face Brock Lesnar at Royal Rumble. The triple threat clash for the Universal Championship was seen as a “battle of beasts.” Lesnar and Kane have spent years building their reputations as monsters, while Strowman has enjoyed a quick rise to the top.
Last week on Raw, Strowman proved just why he’s so dangerous by taking out both Lesnar and Kane in one fell swoop. A backstage brawl turned ultra violent in the blink of an eye, then a grappling hook came out, and Braun did his best Batman impression by using said grappling hook to pull the stage down onto his rivals. Cool, just attempted murder, no big deal.
This time, I predict Kurt Angle will have no choice but to try and punish Strowman for his actions. I mean, over the past year, Strowman has tried to kill Roman Reigns on numerous occasions. Rumor has it that Braun still isn’t finished with Reigns, but we can discuss that in a few weeks.
Anyway, there’s a pattern here that can’t be ignored. Angle is going to remove Strowman from the Universal Title match as punishment, prompting Braun to enter the Men’s Royal Rumble Match. And you know what? He’ll win it.
Bobby Roode vs. Mojo Rawley Put On Match of the Night
To this point, the United States Championship Tournament has been mostly successful. When Dolph Ziggler won the title at Clash of Champions, it was a surprise. His subsequent abandonment of the championship was similarly surprising. But hey, I love tournaments, and if we’re not getting the King of the Ring any time soon, give me a tourney for a vacant title.
The eight names in the tournament bracket was a good mix of previous championship contenders and good workers who could use the rub of a title win. The first round played out almost exactly as one would expect, based on how the bracket was set up. The two second round matches are scheduled for this week’s episode of SmackDown Live.
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While Xavier Woods is likely the fan favorite to win the entire tournament, my guess is that Jinder Mahal finds a way to win. Or, rather, the Singh Brothers find a way to win for Jinder. Hey, it could set up New Day vs. Mahal and the Singhs down the road.
But the match to watch is Bobby Roode vs. Mojo Rawley. Roode is a seasoned veteran, and has the uncanny ability to pull a better than average match out of thin air with the right opponent. For all the jokiness surrounding Roode being a clone of Triple H, there’s some truth in that statement – remember, we all hated The Game back in the day for his perceived backstage clout, but he was really good most of the time.
Then there’s Mojo, who’s riding the breakup of the Hype Bros to the peak of his young career. Of course, it should have happened last spring, when Rawley won the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal. But beggars can’t be choosers.
All the elements are there for Rawley and Roode to have the best match of the night on SmackDown this week. That’s on a show where AJ Styles holds court weekly, and the Usos and Gable & Benjamin have been tearing it up regularly. But Rawley has nothing to lose, and Roode is likely en route to a Royal Rumble match against Jinder Mahal for the vacant US Title.
Mixed Match Classic is Better Than Anticipated
Forget about Tout – everyone else sure has. With all the criticisms about WWE as a company (sometimes warranted, sometimes not), one thing they cannot be faulted for is their willingness to embrace new technological advances. They don’t always pan out (ahem, TOUT), but for every failure there’s a WWE Network-like success.
So 2018 bring us the first-ever Mixed Match Classic. It’s a mixed tag match tournament (not intergender), with each team competing to win $100,000 for charity. Oh, and it’s airing exclusively on Facebook Watch. Per WWE’s official website:
"Each 20-minute episode will reflect a progressive approach to production, with elements optimized for mobile consumption, experimentation and social interaction, including the ability for the WWE Universe to engage with Superstars during the show."
This week brings us the premiere episode of the event, and it will be interesting to see how it pans out. On the first episode, Finn Balor and Sasha Banks represent Raw as they face SmackDown’s Shinsuke Nakamura and Natalya. While that offers an intriguing match, what’s more interesting is the production.
Just how much of a “progressive approach to production” will WWE take? Is the episode going to be filmed on iPhones and Galaxy Notes? Are we going to get weird Snapchat filters over the action? Nah, it’s going to look “normal,” I’d guess. But I do think it’s going to be much better than anticipated.
Beth Phoenix on commentary is a possible wild card – as far as I know, she’s never done any real commentary work before. But even if Phoenix is on par with Lita’s commentary from the Mae Young Classic, Corey Graves and Michael Cole will keep things on track. The visual and interactive aspects of the production are more intriguing – if the interactivity works out on Facebook, maybe it will come to the WWE Network in the future. Could you imagine truly interactive pay per view events? Not Cyber Sunday, the “Social Media Lounge,” or the like – real interactivity, where the superstars respond in real time. It’s an interesting idea.
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What do you think may happen in WWE this week?