1. Roman Reigns Drops To Alberto Del Rio
WWE.com
At the end of Smackdown, Reigns, Ambrose and The Usos stood tall to close out the show. The Authority shouldn’t be happy about that, and they should look to squash the rebellion on Monday Night Raw. This is exactly what people would expect Triple H and Stephanie to do, because they shouldn’t want to leave anything to chance. By winning, this could lead The Authority to explain why they chose Alberto Del Rio to be involved, because they knew he could get the job done.
2. Triple H Wants Ryback As A ‘Heavy’ For The Authority
Recent reports online link Ryback to a possible heel turn in the near future. Right now, WWE are quite heel-heavy, so they may wish to cling on to any babyfaces they do have. Scanning the roster – however – reveals that not many of the ‘good guys’ are really clicking right now, and Ryback is one of those performers struggling.
There’s a way to make a subtle nod to these online rumours, and keep Ryback on television in a more effective manner than he has been as of late. Triple H is in the process of hiring talent to band together around Sheamus. The new WWE World Heavyweight Champion has become the prized asset of The Authority, and the ‘Big Guy’ could be someone Triple H is interested in having around.
Approaching Ryback backstage, ‘The Game’ could talk about the babyface’s history as a bully. He could even play Roman Reigns against him, saying that Reigns is stealing the spotlight from guys like Ryback. If he were to join The Authority as a bodyguard, Ryback could still keep his ‘Big Guy’ moniker. There are worse ways to use him, and he’s not really doing much of note anyway.
3. Sasha Banks Tears Down ‘Team PCB’
By defeating Brie Bella on Monday Night Raw, Sasha Banks is someone who is starting to gain some steam herself. It’s fairly clear that Banks is the leader of Team B.A.D, backed up by Tamina and Naomi. It makes sense that ‘The Boss’ will one day get a shot at the WWE Divas Title, but there’s admittedly no rush to make that happen. The Paige vs. Charlotte situation needs resolved first.
There is a way for Sasha to become involved in that story, without muddying the waters too much. Giving her some much-needed promo time on Raw would be the first step. Discussing her thoughts on the current Divas Title situation would be a refreshing change for Banks. During her in-ring promo, she could state that she knew Team PCB and Team Bella would fall by the wayside.
Meanwhile, Team B.A.D is stronger than ever and dominating the ‘female revolution’. This is a simple step, but it kills the proverbial 2 birds with a single stone. Not only does Sasha Banks get some time to show and develop her skills on the mic, Team B.A.D also get put over in the process. This leaves some room for either Charlotte or Paige to address her at a later date.
4. Tyler Breeze Challenges Dolph Ziggler To Final Match
The initial buzz surrounding Tyler Breeze has already started to wear off. It’s becoming more and more clear that the WWE creative team didn’t really have a solid plan for ‘Prince Pretty’ when calling him up from NXT. That’s in stark contrast to the likes of Kevin Owens, who was booked to look threatening against John Cena, then handed the Intercontinental Title.
Thus far, Breeze has been losing more than he’s been winning. Sometimes, wrestling fans like to say that wins and losses don’t really matter, but it’s all about perception. After all, what does Tyler Breeze have to shout about if he’s consistently being undermined by his babyface rivals? His feud against Dolph Ziggler has petered out somewhat, so it might be time to end it.
For TLC, Tyler could lay down the challenge to a brazen Ziggler for a final showdown. A stipulation could be added that Summer Rae’s service contract is on the line, adding some more meaning to the clash. Then, when Tyler Breeze wins emphatically, he looks stronger and still has his girl on his arm. He badly needs some momentum, otherwise he’ll be stuck in mid card purgatory.
5. Dean Ambrose Warns Reigns That They Need Help
There’s a sense that WWE feel the need to book a top babyface who attempts to overcome the odds all on his own. John Cena previously filled this role, but the position is now occupied by Roman Reigns. There’s no doubt about it, the company are trying to stack the odds against Reigns, hoping fans will in turn get behind his quest to become WWE World Heavyweight Champion.
In the modern era, that’s a tough sell, but it’s reportedly the way Vince McMahon wants to play things. Therefore, it looks like Roman may continue to try and take on all comers this Monday on Raw. As his friend, Dean Ambrose should approach Reigns and warn him against that strategy. Last week, the numbers advantage for the League Of Nations proved too great.
By explaining this to a defiant Roman Reigns, Ambrose could say that they need to enlist more help. Otherwise, they stand no chance of fighting back, and Reigns will never be WWE Champion. Tension between the babyfaces is needed, to sell the idea that Sheamus and crew are winning the war. Roman could react negatively to Ambrose, ensuring his pal that he has things in hand.
6. Draw A Line Under Rusev And Lana Explanations
2015 has been a topsy turvy year for Lana and Rusev. Behind the scenes, the pair are romantically involved. Their flaunting of this fact on social media has irked WWE, who wanted to present the story of Dolph Ziggler and Lana being an item during the Summer months. Summer Rae also became involved, and the whole love interest storyline quickly became quite the mess.
On Monday Night Raw, Lana and Rusev were reunited on Miz TV. That needs to be the end of it, WWE can’t continue trying to explain their way out of the situation. The couple embraced and appeared to forgive one another in kayfabe land, which is pretty much the writing team’s way of acknowledging their real life engagement. Now, things must move on.
This coming week, Lana should simply appear with Rusev. Better yet, she should be an asset to him, not a hindrance. There shouldn’t be any more mention of the messy situation from before, because it draws attention to what turned out to be a botched angle. The Rusev, Dolph Ziggler and Summer Rae love triangle was tepid at best, there’s no need to continually revisit it. WWE should end this particular chapter.
7. Paige Asserts She Was Right All Along About Charlotte
source//wwe.com
Unless WWE are interested in the Divas all existing as shades of grey, there’s a distinct possibility that Charlotte could be about to turn heel. Last time out on Raw, she used villainous tactics to secure victory over Becky Lynch. When questioned about her actions, the WWE Divas Champion told Becky that wins are wins.
Logically, Lynch should be confused, because she was under the impression that she and Charlotte were good friends. The fact that Charlotte would then feign injury to gain a cheap win over her is a heel move. On Smackdown, Charlotte ended up costing Becky her match against Brie Bella. Paige should use that to her advantage this week, claiming that she was right all along about Charlotte. She is just like her father, a no-good cheater.
In truth, fans are more heavily into Paige than Charlotte anyway. The latter has been struggling as a babyface, meaning WWE even had to resort to using Reid Flair (her deceased brother) to gain sympathy for her plight. Turning her heel may be a good solution, but Paige needs to call her out for her actions. In an ideal world, Becky Lynch would have something to say too, instead of simply accepting the fact her friend cheated her.
8. More ECW Originals Return To Help The Dudley Boyz
Right after The Usos and The Lucha Dragons fall to The Wyatt Family, Bray and clan could start beating them down. Recently, The Wyatts have been inserted into a rivalry against The Dudley Boyz. Last week on Monday Night Raw, Tommy Dreamer dropped by to lend his old chums a hand and help diminish the numbers advantage that The Wyatts have.
This coming episode, that story arc could be continued. The Dudley Boyz could warn The Wyatt Family to pick on them. Grabbing the microphone, Bray Wyatt could state that he and his men have already proven their point against this ECW backlash. Dreamer would then come out again, causing Bray to laugh, because it’s hardly a surprise.
Bubba and D-Von could go on to state that Tommy isn’t the only one who has their backs. This would be the perfect time to hit Rob Van Dam’s music, possibly leading to the making of a bumper 8-man tag-team bout for TLC. The match could even be done on television before the show, if WWE don’t deem it worthy of a Pay-Per-View slot.
9. The New Day Put Rivals In 8-Man Tag Against The Wyatt Family
The League Of Nations are closely tied to The Authority, or at least that’s how things come across. This means that The New Day theoretically hold more favour with Triple H and Stephanie McMahon, because they’re helping out Sheamus. On Raw, that could be played into the WWE Tag-Team Title situation. The New Day could try to burn out their TLC opponents.
Before the Pay-Per-View, Big E, Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods could state that they have been given authority (pun intended) to put The Usos and The Lucha Dragons in matches. On the show, they could book the quartet against The Wyatt Family, which would end with both teams coming out on the losing end. This would have the added advantage of making Braun Strowman look strong if he dominated.
Straight away, this makes The New Day look like heels. Looking at their current situation, they’re so entertaining that the group are hard to dislike. By appearing cowardly and looking to weaken their opponents for TLC, New Day come across as villains immediately. Some continuity over what happened last week, when Stephanie waved her wand of power over The Usos, would be good. That heat could be transferred to the tag champs.
10. Alberto Del Rio Moves Away From Zeb Colter
One thing that’s become abundantly clear over the past month or so is that the union between Alberto Del Rio and Zeb Colter isn’t working. Fans find the partnership drab, which isn’t aided by the fact that Colter effectively cuts the exact same promo each and every time he appears. There isn’t a lot of substance to the pairing, which has frustrated fans.
Colter is a good talker, but he requires some better promo material than the asinine racial nonsense he’s being fed. Del Rio looks to have joined the ‘League Of Nations’, so this coming week on Monday Night Raw would be as good a time as any for change. Some angles simply have to be cut loose, and the whole ‘Mex-America’ scenario seems like one of them.
Unless Zeb is going to join the new faction by association, having Del Rio tear into him on Raw would be a good way to play things. Alternatively, WWE may wish to end their on-screen relationship quietly, but that may be a missed opportunity. Alberto needs to regain some of his heat, because he’s been lukewarm since the night after Hell In A Cell.
