Raw, WWE.com
With WWE Royal Rumble 2017 in the books, what kind of fallout can we expect to see on Monday’s Raw?
Last night’s Royal Rumble pay-per-view helped shape the landscape of WWE as we head toward WrestleMania 33. Randy Orton won the Rumble for the second time and earned a spot in one of the Mania main events to challenge for the WWE Championship. But that result adds another question mark to the already uncertain title pictures on Raw.
Kevin Owens retained his Universal Championship and now doesn’t have an easily identifiable challenger for WrestleMania. Reigns figures to go to the back of the line and Chris Jericho is occupied with the United States Championship.
Bayley figures to remain in the Women’s title picture, but the question is how. She lost to Charlotte clean as a whistle last night.
Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson finally captured the tag team titles, but will their feud with Sheamus and Cesaro really extend all the way until WrestleMania? Probably not. Which tag team will step up to challenge them?
Neville finds himself in a similar situation with the newly captured Cruiserweight Championship. He’ll have a rematch with Rich Swann, but Swann doesn’t figure to win the title back. Who challenges him after that?
We may get our answers to some of these questions on Monday. Here are our predictions for the post-Royal Rumble edition of WWE Raw.
WWE.com
Kevin Owens and Chris Jericho Start Their Dissension
The Royal Rumble has come and gone, and Kevin Owens and Chris Jericho are as close as ever. Owens still has his Universal title, Jericho has the U.S. title, and all is well in the land of Kevin and Chris. But that can’t last forever.
Owens needs an opponent for WrestleMania, and although Jericho having the U.S. title seems to throw a wrench into the idea of him facing KO, it doesn’t necessarily have to. Jericho could easily drop the U.S. title before Mania. And if not, it could always be a title vs title match at the Show of Shows to add a little bit of extra intrigue.
But in order to get to that point, Owens and Jericho’s friendship needs to start taking a hit. We’re predicting that begins to happen tonight. Although it’s not clear how or why it would happen, their relationship has been going on for a long time now. They’re still funny and their on-screen dynamic has never been better, but all good things must come to an end. And if their friendship coming to an end means we get the payoff of them facing off at WrestleMania, then it should absolutely happen.
WWE.com
Nia Jax Challenges Charlotte
Nia Jax was involved in one of the more surprising matches of the night. Throughout the buildup to her match vs Sasha Banks, everyone assumed the match would at least be competitive. But as we saw, that wasn’t really the case.
Sasha got some offense in, but the match ended very abruptly. Nia’s Samoan drop was impressive and looked devastating, but it didn’t seem like a move that would end the match. The fact that it did exactly that against one of WWE’s most successful women says a lot about how WWE is trying to push Nia. With that in mind, her next step should be obvious.
Nia is probably going to set her sights on WWE Women’s Champion, Charlotte. That doesn’t necessarily mean the two will get a one-on-one match for the title since they’re the top heels in the Raw women’s division right now. But it does mean she could find herself in a triple threat involving Bayley or something along those lines. Either way, it’s clearly Nia’s time to ascend toward championship gold, and that’s exactly what we think she’ll do tonight.
WWE.com
The New Day Start to Show Cracks
Last night, all three members of the New Day entered the Royal Rumble and they didn’t really do much. They were all eliminated by Sheamus and Cesaro, and even Kofi’s yearly spot where he avoids elimination by some convoluted means was lackluster. But perhaps the most surprising development among the three was the fact that there were no developments.
The New Day seem to be on their descent. After losing their tag team titles, it seemed like they were probably going to break up shortly after since there was nothing left for them to do. That’s why the Royal Rumble seemed like such an ideal spot for them to show some cracks in their group. The match promotes an “every man for himself” mentality, so maybe the New Day would finally fight among themselves. Well, that didn’t happen.
But that doesn’t mean they’re going to stay together as a group. We’re predicting that tonight on Raw, there is dissension between the New Day. Whether it comes as a result of blaming each other for their group elimination last night or something else, they may finally show the first signs of breaking up. However, no matter what happens, the most important thing is that Titus O’Neil stays far, far away from the ring if the New Day happen to enter it tonight.
WWE.com
Roman Reigns Shows Signs of Turning Heel
Here we go again.
Fans have been begging for a Roman Reigns heel turn for what feels like an eternity. Reigns is not getting fully over as a face and many believe his look and skill set are much more fit for a heel. And last night, Reigns executed some of the most heel acts of his career.
The first thing he did was not necessarily his own action, rather it was something WWE did. They had him come out at number 30 when fans around the world were clamoring for a surprise entry/return. Would it be Samoa Joe? Finn Balor? Nope, Roman Reigns. It was deflating and infuriating at the same time. WWE had to know fans would feel that way, which is why it points toward a potential Reigns heel turn.
But that wasn’t all. Reigns compounded the fans’ rage by eliminating the Undertaker and saying “This is my yard now.” The Undertaker is and will always be a fan favorite. Either we’re finally getting a Reigns heel turn, or WWE is more out of touch than ever in their assessment of how fans will react to things.
For now, we’re going to have some faith in WWE and say this was intentional. If they’re really trying to turn him heel, we’ll see some more of that tonight on Raw.
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