With the Royal Rumble in the books, WWE is on the Road to WrestleMania. This week could be the start of planning WrestleMania matches or they could just look to the next Pay-Per-View, Elimination Chamber. There are a ton of questions to be answered and a lot of directions for WWE to go this week.
Monday Night Raw (1.29.18)
Both brands had a big Royal Rumble, but Monday Night Raw is the first to address anything. Sheamus and Cesaro defeated Seth Rollins and an injured Jason Jordan to become four-time Raw Tag Team Champions. Brock Lesnar retained the Universal Championship by pinning Kane. Lastly and most importantly, Asuka won the first-ever Women’s Royal Rumble match.
Raw is starting to build an impressive tag team division of its own. With Jordan injured, Seth Rollins is likely to move back into singles competition, leaving room for others to step up. Outside of the Bar, Raw has The Revival, the Good Brothers (Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson), and the team of Heath Slater and Rhyno. Perhaps we could see a debut of the Authors of Pain as well since Akam and Rezar failed to capture the NXT Tag Team Championships in Philadelphia.
What is next for the Universal Championship? Now that Brock Lesnar successfully defended the title against Braun Strowman and Kane, there is an empty spot for a new challenger. However, Raw’s next Pay-Per-View is Elimination Chamber, which provides five men with the opportunity to challenge the Beast Incarnate. Speaking of the Elimination Chamber, there will hopefully be one for the women, too.
Lastly, we look at the women’s division. Asuka won the Royal Rumble match, but she was interrupted by Ronda Rousey before she could make her decision on which champion she is going to face at WrestleMania. It would make the most sense for her to face the Raw Women’s Champion (currently Alexa Bliss) because that is the brand she is on every week. There is the possibility that Bliss could drop the title before WrestleMania, though, giving Asuka a completely different opponent. Perhaps Raw this week could also give us more details on Ronda Rousey’s contract.
SmackDown Live (1.30.18)
SmackDown Live almost had the exact same night as Monday Night Raw, except that there were no title changes. AJ Styles successfully defended the WWE Championship against both Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn because the referee thought Owens was the legal man when he wasn’t. Bobby Roode held a US Open Challenge on the Kickoff Show and retained against Mojo Rawley. Lastly, The Usos scored a 2-0 sweep against Chad Gable and Shelton Benjamin in their 2 Out of 3 Falls Match to retain the tag titles yet again.
While a Raw Superstar won the Women’s Royal Rumble match, Shinsuke Nakamura of SmackDown Live won the men’s match. Immediately after winning, Nakamura said that he wanted to face AJ Styles for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania. That all seems set in stone, but there is a chance that Styles could lose the title before they head to New Orleans. If Daniel Bryan wants to make a championship rematch for Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn, Nakamura might be facing them instead.
Now that the Usos have retained the SmackDown Tag Team Championships, it gives another team a chance to step up. The New Day could try to be five-time champs, or maybe the Bludgeon Brothers can turn their attention to bigger targets.
Bobby Roode has an open spot for the United States Championship #1 Contender too, so that could be addressed this week as well. There is a ton of mid-card talent to fill this gap. Mojo Rawley just failed at this opportunity and Jinder Mahal lost in the United States Championship finals, so perhaps someone else get step up to the plate. Tye Dillinger and Dolph Ziggler don’t seem to be doing much of anything.
Now that the first-ever Women’s Royal Rumble is over, this would be a great time for SmackDown Live to finally do something interesting again with its women’s division. Everyone has just been thrown together in lazy segments ever since the Riott Squad debuted and it is time to have multiple stories like they did this time last year. If the return of Nikki and Brie Bella is full-time, perhaps that could be the catalyst for this change.
WWE Mixed Match Challenge (1.30.18)
This week, we move onto the third match of the Mixed Match Challenge. Last week, we saw The Miz and Asuka (Awe-ska) defeat Big E and Carmella. To kick off the Mixed Match Challenge, Finn Balor and Sasha Banks defeated Shinsuke Nakamura and Natalya. This week, Braun Strowman teams up with Raw Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss to face the team of Sami Zayn and Becky Lynch.
205 Live (1.30.18)
Everything is kicking into full gear for WrestleMania season and that even includes 205 Live. This week, the cruiserweight focused brand will get a General Manager for the first time ever. The 205 Live competitors have suggested everyone from Dean Malenko to Bill Nye to be the General Manager. Whoever takes this role will announce the direction of the Cruiserweight Championship, which was vacated a couple weeks ago after Enzo Amore was fired.
WWE NXT (1.31.18)
Normally, most episodes of NXT right after a TakeOver event tend to be pretty bland, but this week tries to break that trend. WWE has finally decided to acknowledge the United Kingdom Championship again and this week, we find out who the new #1 Contender is. The first UK Champion (and youngest champion in WWE history) Tyler Bate takes on NXT’s Roderick Strong to determine who will face Pete Dunne for the championship next. There have been no announcements as to when the title match would take place, but at least it is something that they are looking into.
There is not anything announced for the this week’s episode of NXT outside of the #1 Contender’s match, so there is a chance that it might be full of TakeOver: Philadelphia highlights. That being said, TakeOver: Philadelphia was incredible so if you did not get a chance to catch the show, this is a must-see episode of NXT (or just go boot up TakeOver).
