WWE is one week closer to WrestleMania and things are heating up. This week includes expected appearances from Brock Lesnar and Ronda Rousey, the follow-up to Shane McMahon’s beatdown last week, the Cruiserweight Championship Tournament, and NXT continuing to deliver solid shows.
Monday Night Raw (3.19.18)
There are a ton of big segments advertised for Raw tonight, with perhaps the biggest one having nothing to do with WrestleMania. From the top to the bottom of the card, Raw looks to deliver another great show this week.
First, Asuka will battle Alexa Bliss in a non-title match after choosing to face Charlotte for the SmackDown Women’s Championship at WrestleMania. Asuka still has her undefeated streak on the line, so there is always intrigue when she competes. There could also be a chance that Nia Jax interferes and destroys Bliss after finding out that her “friend” insulted her behind her back.
Next is the Raw Tag Team Title scene. Braun Strowman won a tag team battle royal to face The Bar for the Raw Tag Team Championships at WrestleMania, but Kurt Angle says that the Monster Among Men has to find a partner.
Third, and perhaps the biggest match of the week, is the Ultimate Deletion. In his full Woken state, Matt Hardy will battle Bray Wyatt at his own house (The Hardy Compound) in a clash of the two strangest Superstars today.
A final note is that Brock Lesnar is supposed to finally show up, but if the past few weeks are any indication, he probably won’t.
SmackDown Live (3.20.18)
This week, Daniel Bryan returns to fill in for Shane McMahon after the SmackDown Commissioner was assaulted by Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn last week. Owens and Zayn are supposed to face each other at WrestleMania, per McMahon’s decision, but it is intriguing to see what Bryan will do with full control of the show.
There isn’t anything else planned, but SmackDown should continue ramping up to WrestleMania, most likely working on the United States and Tag Team Championship stories.
WWE Mixed Match Challenge (3.20.18)
The third to last match in the Mixed Match Challenge pits two Monday Night Raw teams against each other who could easily win the whole tournament. The Miz teams up with the undefeated Asuka to face Raw Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss and Braun Strowman. The winning team heads to the finals.
205 Live (3.20.18)
This week, we find out who will face Cedric Alexander for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship at WrestleMania when Drew Gulak faces Mustafa Ali. They go back to when 205 Live started and when Ali was just trying to fight Gulak’s “No high flying” message.
WWE NXT (3.21.18)
This week’s episode of NXT starts the final set of tapings before NXT TakeOver: New Orleans. With all of the recent signees, this means that we can see the likes of War Machine, Ricochet, and EC3 at any point over the next few weeks. Of course, the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic will continue. The most intriguing part of NXT is what is going to happen with the newly announced NXT North American Championship.
