Credit: WWE.com
There will be many exciting segments and matches on tonight’s episode of WWE Raw, but nothing can exceed the brilliant idea of Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn being on commentary and Drew McIntyre’s imminent betrayal his tag partner, IC Champ Dolph Ziggler.
We are now on the road to the biggest WWE event of the summer: SummerSlam! On tonight’s episode of WWE Raw, there will be new, upcoming feuds and some continuing ones due to the aftermath of the Extreme Rules PPV.
In terms of new feuds, I foresee Drew McIntyre turning on his tag partner, IC Champ Dolph Ziggler, to have a future title match at SummerSlam. Also, there will most likely be a multi-tag match for the Raw Tag Titles at SummerSlam in order to avoid a rematch between Deleters of Worlds and the new Raw Tag Team Champs, B Team.
In terms of continued feuds, I foresee Natalya battling Alexa Bliss for the Raw Women’s title tonight in order to finally obtain justice for her training partner and friend, Ronda Rousey. Also, Seth Rollins will most likely feud with the Modern Day Maharajah, Jinder Mahal, due to their backstage moment last week on Raw.
Finally, I foresee Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn being on commentary throughout 2018 due to the facts that Sami Zayn is injured and Kevin Owens has not much planned left for him on Raw. With that being said, here are five elaborative predictions for tonight’s Raw.
Credit: WWE.com
5. Seth Rollins Feuds With Jinder Mahal On The Road To SummerSlam
Shanti? Indeed, Shanti! After his loss to Roman Reigns at MITB, Jinder Mahal has obtained somewhat of a new gimmick. He seems to be maintaining an optimistic view, in which he aspires for self-growth and tranquility despite his losses and failures. In fact, that’s exactly what “Shanti” is all about. Check out this link from WWE’s Youtube page below that portrays Jinder’s mini-speech on “Shanti” to Chad Gable a month ago:
Jinder then proceeded to defeat Chad Gable and gain momentum in his own right. After many weeks of inactivity, he appeared backstage last week on Raw where he tried to meditate with Seth Rollins and calm him down in order to obtain that state of tranquility. Check out this link from WWE’s Youtube page below that portrays Jinder’s meditative moment with Seth Rollins:
Indeed, Shanti! Jinder could very well proceed to feud with Rollins, just like he did with Gable. I foresee this match occurring at SummerSlam in order to keep both men as relevant as possible on Raw since they’ll both be out of any particular title pictures. This feud sounds underwhelming, but Rollins, who is the MVP of 2018, can make anything he is involved in look as great as possible. All he has to do is keep calm and BURN IT DOWN!
4. Authors of Pain and The Revival Join The Fray For The Raw Tag Team Title Picture
Never judge a BOOK by its cover! However, it’s appropriate to judge a tag team by their first championship TITLE shot, especially when analyzing the STORYline going on with the AUTHORS of Pain! Puns aside, the Authors of Pain have been very dominant by defeating Heath Slater and Rhyno in their debut, local talent from time to time, and Titus Worldwide recently.
Despite this dominance, this tag team has not connected with the crowd in the way they did back in NXT. They seem to need that extra push in order to showcase their characters and take over the Raw’s tag team division. Authors of Pain’s time to shine has been well overdue and they have a long way to go before they write their LAST CHAPTER for their careers in Raw’s tag team division.
The Revival is also a potential tag team contender for the Raw Tag Team Titles due to their momentous showings against Roman Reigns and Bobby Lashley over the past three weeks. They have proven to be Top Guys who are worthy enough to be involved in the Raw Tag Title picture as well.
With that being said, I foresee a fatal 4 way title match occurring among (1) Deleters of Worlds, (2) Authors of Pain, (3) The Revival, and the NEW Raw Tag Team Champions, (4) B Team at the biggest event of the summer: SummerSlam.
Credit: WWE.com
3. Drew McIntyre Turns On IC Champ Dolph Ziggler
Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre have been potential contenders for the Raw Tag Team Titles as well, but they seem to have alternate plans. Ever since Ziggler won the Intercontinental title, their focus has been on the mid card as opposed to the tag team division. Since it would not make sense to get demoted back to the tag team division, Ziggler and McIntyre can sadly break up but finally have a payoff with a mid card feud leading up to SummerSlam.
Last week on Raw, McIntyre’s win against Seth Rollins had huge implications. Check out this link of his win from WWE’s Youtube page below:
This win not only shows that Seth Rollins will remain out of the main card title picture but also shows how much of an asset McIntyre can be on Monday Night Raw. He’s the chosen one for a reason, and he made Raw’s main event so worthwhile that a strong push is bound to happen.
Intercontinental Champion Dolph Ziggler has been rightfully booked so strongly throughout the past few months that he has become a more formidable opponent for McIntyre and is now more believable enough to win matches once again. This makes Mcintyre’s long-awaited feud with Ziggler more unpredictable and worth watching. It will also make his eventual WWE PPV debut win over Ziggler mean much more than Shinsuke Nakamura’s WWE PPV debut win over Ziggler back at Backlash 2017, which is showcased briefly in the link below from WWE’s Youtube page:
As a whole, McIntyre can finally redesign his journey, rebuild his character, and reclaim his Intercontinental Title, which was the very first title he had won back in his 2010 career.
Credit: WWE.com
2. Natalya Becomes The New Raw Women’s Champion
Last night at Extreme Rules, Alexa Bliss finally prevailed against Nia Jax and retained the Raw Women’s Title. Now, Natalya is owed a title shot against Raw Women’s Champion, Alexa Bliss, after defeating her three weeks ago on Raw, as indicated in the link below from WWE’s Youtube page:
Since Ronda Rousey is technically still suspended from Raw for one more week, Natalya can keep her role significant on Raw by challenging Bliss for the championship in the main event. I then foresee her winning the title off of Bliss not only for the shock value but also to include herself in the feud with Rousey and Bliss. Therefore, this can potentially lead to a more unpredictable triple threat title match among them at SummerSlam.
Due to her friendship with Ronda Rousey and beef with Bliss, it would be very fitting to see her involved in the title picture at SummerSlam. In the short term, it will be a spectacular main event title match for Raw, in which Natalya can make Bliss TAP OUT one more time. In the long term, Natalya can maintain her relevancy on the roster, add another well-deserved title to her resume, and bring more interest to the Raw Women’s division.
Credit: WWE.com
1. Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn Join Commentary
Since coming back to Monday Night Raw, Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn have been treated as comedic acts against the bigger and stronger Braun Strowman and Bobby Lashley. First, at Backlash 2018, they were squashed like jobbers in a tag match against Braun and Lashley, which can be briefly viewed in the link below from WWE’s Youtube page:
Then, at MITB 2018, Zayn was squashed like a jobber in a singles match against Lashley, while Owens was senselessly tossed by Braun off a 20-foot ladder into the announcer’s table. The link below from WWE’s Youtube page shows the 20-foot drop:
Finally, in Zayn’s absence from injury, Owens has been treated as Braun’s broken toy week after week in embarrassing segments, especially the portable toilet segment, which can be viewed in the link below from WWE’s Youtube page:
Now, Owens is injured after getting tossed off a cage by Braun at Extreme Rules last night. It’s therefore safe to say that these two “guardian angels” do not have much of a forward direction on the Raw brand after having a more significant storyline and feud against Shane O Mac and Daniel Bryan back on SmackDown Live.
This was very similar to CM Punk’s role during his time on Raw back in 2010 since he transitioned from a more significant world title feud with Jeff Hardy on SmackDown to a meaningless role with no direction on Raw. Due to this meaningless role, the solution was to put CM Punk on commentary temporarily until a more meaningful role was available for him.
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Since CM Punk was very successful in that role and was able to propel himself to a more meaningful feud afterwards, I foresee Owens and Zayn doing the same. It is a great opportunity for them to continue building their characters without getting treated as comedic acts night in and night out. Instead, they can produce the excellent comedy on the commentary table due to their amazing humor as WWE superstars.