WWE Raw Predictions: Drew McIntyre Will Replace Kofi Kingston

Have you ever seen a 3-hour circus? On this week’s episode of WWE Raw, there are two scheduled matches. The two scheduled matches are Natalya & Tamina (c) vs. Shayna Baszler & Nia Jax for the Women’s Tag Team Titles and Riddle vs. Xavier Woods in a Grudge Match. Also, in last week’s main event, Kofi Kingston defeated WWE Champion Bobby Lashley in a non-title match. Will Kofi Kingston relive Kofi-Mania and get a title shot at WWE Hell in a Cell 2021? Or will Drew McIntyre bring ‘broken dreams’ to reality by replacing Kofi Kingston in that title match?

Indeed, WWE is four weeks away from WWE Hell in a Cell 2021. There are no matches scheduled for this PPV event, as of this writing. However, based on WWE’s recent bookings on Monday Nights, it is expected that the following title matches will be built up for the PPV: Bobby Lashley (c) vs. Drew McIntyre for the WWE Title, Rhea Ripley (c) vs. Charlotte Flair for the Raw Women’s Title, Sheamus (c) vs. Damian Priest for the U.S. Title, AJ Styles & Omos (c) vs. RKBro for the Raw Tag Titles, and Shayna Baszler & Nia Jax (c) vs. Alexa Bliss & Lilly for the Women’s Tag Team Titles.

With that being addressed, it’s now time to preview and predict the matches and segments that will occur on this week’s episode of WWE Raw.

WWE Raw is scheduled to take place on May 24, 2021, at 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT live on the USA Network. Here are some predictions for this week’s show.

Natalya & Tamina (c) vs. Shayna Baszler & Nia Jax [Women’s Tag Team Championships]

On this week’s WWE Raw, Natalya and Tamina are scheduled to defend their Women’s Tag Team Championships against Shayna Baszler and Nia Jax. After losing those tag team championships to Natalya and Tamina two weeks ago, Baszler and Jax had already lost their title rematch to Natalya and Tamina on last week’s episode of WWE Raw due to Alexa Bliss and Lilly’s fiery distraction, which gave a slight hint of a Kane return. However, that hint could be a red herring and just a sign that Bliss meshed both Bray Wyatt and Kane’s gimmicks into one.

Despite all of that, Baszler and Jax earned another title match after defeating Natalya and Tamina in a six-women tag match on SmackDown last week. Lately, Baszler and Jax have not shown any signs of dissension after losing the belts and are currently the only heel tag team in what is an inappreciable women’s tag team division. This gives away a clear hint that they are winning back the tag titles to become the first-ever three-time Women’s Tag Team Champs and maintain the babyface-heel dynamics in this division until the Bella Twins dethrone them at SummerSlam.

Baszler and Jax still have unfinished business with Mandy Rose and Dana Brooke after mocking Mandy Rose for tripping during her entrance at WrestleMania. They also have unfinished business with Alexa Bliss and Lilly after being cast under their spell during key women’s tag title matches with Natalya and Tamina. In order to continue these feuds, Baszler and Jax would have to win the tag titles. In retrospect, this means that Natalya and Tamina won the titles just for the moment as a means to stretch Baszler and Jax’s ongoing feuds until SummerSlam in August.

Prediction: Shayna Baszler & Nia Jax

Riddle vs. Xavier Woods [Grudge Match]

On this week’s WWE Raw, Riddle is scheduled to battle Xavier Woods in a grudge match. Riddle shoved Xavier Woods last week after apparently being frustrated with Randy Orton’s loss to Kofi Kingston. It seems as if Riddle could be teasing a heel turn of sorts to fulfill a future heel run with Randy Orton as Raw Tag Team Champions, especially since they are clearly the favorites to dethrone AJ Styles and Omos at some point this summer. If that heel turn comes to fruition, he would have to lose to Woods here to have a reason to get angrier at The New Day.

This victory by Woods will most likely be booked as a fluky small package or crucifix pinfall victory in order to allow Riddle to hear the voices in his head that will tell him to attack Woods after the match. The more Riddle spends time with Orton, the more he becomes like Orton. Riddle has been trusting The New Day’s friendship for weeks but has now finally recognized his inner venom after Orton rubbed off on him. Now that AJ Styles and Omos are being booked as babyfaces in their current feud with Elias and Ryker, it makes sense for Riddle to be booked as a heel with Orton.

It can be argued that fans will cheer RKBro once they return to arenas in July and August and it would be ill-advised to book them as heels. However, most fans will probably cheer Styles and Omos as well since they are popular, so the WWE seems to be at a crossroads as to who should play what role. At the end of the day, it’s probably safest to keep Riddle as babyface and Orton as heel in order to maintain that Team Hell No vibe or even the Broserweights vibe from NXT. However, Riddle’s heel turn was already teased from his recent interactions with The New Day.

Prediction: Xavier Woods

"“A man is known by the company he keeps” – Aesop"

What’s Next For Bobby Lashley and Kofi Kingston?

Our Chris Jeter already covered the possibility of KofiMania 2 with documentation of Kofi Kingston’s own thoughts on the matter. The main event push of Kofi Kingston on last week’s WWE Raw was abrupt. It’s a shame that it had to be this abrupt because Kingston should have never left the main event scene after losing the WWE Title. Despite Drew McIntyre’s distraction in that main event last week and the fact that Kingston has the credibility as a former WWE Champion, this booking decision still made current WWE Champion Bobby Lashley look very weak.

Clearly, there are no babyfaces outside Drew McIntyre who have been booked to believably dethrone Bobby Lashley at this moment in time. KofiMania 2 is obviously contrived and has zero chance of happening, so it was a waste to have Lashley lose via pinfall so early in his title reign. McIntyre’s distraction was a foreshadowing that he will replace Kofi Kingston in that title match and win back the WWE Title from Bobby Lashley at WWE Hell in a Cell 2021 to feud with Jinder Mahal at MITB and have a dream title match with the returning John Cena at SummerSlam.

It’s quite risible that anyone can even fathom this abysmal show getting any worse, but it’s actually possible because ‘anything can happen in the WWE.’ The main event scene in both the men’s and women’s divisions are egregious, the tag team divisions are infinitesimal to the max, and don’t get anyone started on the non-existent mid-card division that either spend tons of time in catering with no creative plans going forward or in meaningless matches on Main Event. Stay tuned for more of these WWE Raw Predictions on Daily DDT. You don’t want to miss them.

Prediction: Drew McIntyre Will Replace Kofi Kingston