Now that WWE’s rosters are finally staying on their own shows, this week is a bit of a new start for both Raw and SmackDown. With Payback in the books, Raw has to build up every feud going into the Extreme Rules Pay-Per-View at the beginning of June, while SmackDown starts to build on the feuds for Backlash that it couldn’t over the past few weeks. Along with 205 Live and NXT, there is always a ton of WWE programming to sort out, so let’s see what is in store for this week.
Monday Night Raw
Payback set up a lot of routes for Monday Night Raw to take tonight. The biggest story for tonight is the path of destruction Braun Strowman has been on as of late, with Roman Reigns needing medical help yet again last night. Is Strowman finally done with Reigns, and if so, who is is next target going to be?
Sheamus and Cesaro’s change of attitude almost guarantees that they are going for the Raw Tag Team Championships again, but they need to earn the spot as #1 Contender’s yet again. Alexa Bliss just won the Raw Women’s Championship, and it is very common for Raw to host the former champion’s rematch the following night. Also, what is going on with the Intercontinental Championship?
Along with title stories, we might see what’s next for Bray Wyatt, Seth Rollins, Samoa Joe, Finn Balor, The Miz, and many more.
SmackDown Live
Backlash is a few weeks away, and there seem to only be two matches set: Randy Orton defending the WWE Championship against Jinder Mahal and Chris Jericho defending the United States Championship against AJ Styles. Since Kevin Owens technically has a rematch clause, he could be added to the match and make it a Triple Threat match, but we will have to see what Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan decide.
Last week, Breezango won the Beat the Clock Challenge to become the new #1 Contenders to the Usos’ SmackDown Tag Team Championships, so we might finally get a push for Breezango as well as more focus on the tag titles. Also regarding the tag division, the Colons are finally coming into their own, and we are still awaiting the debut of the New Day.
In the women’s division, it seems like an all-out war against Charlotte. The Queen switched shows and demanded to be treated like royalty, while Carmella, Natalya, and Tamina were having none of it. They attacked both Charlotte and Naomi in their SmackDown Women’s Championship match last week, and this week should dive into that further. We are also missing one final member of the division, with Lana eventually making her in-ring debut on SmackDown Live.
205 Live
As usual, nothing is advertised for 205 Live until the Cruiserweight Division does its thing on Monday Night Raw. It is safe to assume that TJ Perkins and his changed ways will be featured, Akira Tozawa and Brian Kendrick will continue their feud, and perhaps there will be another #1 Contender’s Match to determine who challenges Neville next.
NXT
While this week of NXT might not be as exciting as last week’s episode, it is still a pretty big one. Hideo Itami returned a couple weeks ago and attacked NXT Champion Bobby Roode, but this week, he finally returns to in-ring action when he takes on Kona Reeves (poor Reeves, always on the losing end of things).
Since Asuka has run through the entire NXT Women’s Division in her almost historic undefeated run, she needs a new challenger for the NXT Women’s Championship. This week, there is a battle royal to determine the new #1 Contender, featuring the usual NXT female Superstars, as well as surprises like Candice LeRae and Rachel Ellering.
Outside of the ring, we were shown a video package last week that served as the first part of a “Who is Roderick Strong?” video series. After learning how Strong grew up and how he got into wrestling, we learn more about him in the second part of the video series this week.
