If you’re a fan of WWE, sometimes it is hard to keep up with the massive amount of content they produce on a weekly basis. Every week there is Monday Night Raw, SmackDown Live, Talking Smack, 205 Live, and NXT. Then there are new episodes of WWE Network originals, Pay-Per-Views, and so on. This week features the Raw “go-home” show for Payback (which also airs this week), and what could potentially be an all-time great episode of NXT.
Monday Night Raw
Going into tonight’s show, fans are eagerly anticipating the announced Dumpster Match between Braun Strowman and Kalisto. Last week, Strowman went on another rampage backstage and quite literally threw the luchador in a big garbage bin. Kalisto challenged Strowman on Twitter, and the match was made official by Kurt Angle.
There is enough story that needs to be built for this week’s Raw to feel important. Alexa Bliss just became the #1 Contender for the Raw Women’s Championship, but she has barely interacted with the champion, Bayley. The Hardy Boyz will defend their Raw Tag Team Championships against Sheamus and Cesaro, and since Cesaro faced Jeff Hardy last week, expect Sheamus to go one-on-one with Matt Hardy. We round out title matches with assumedly Dean Ambrose vs. Miz for the IC title, and we’ll also probably get another promo from Bray Wyatt regarding his House of Horrors Match with Randy Orton.
SmackDown Live
The blue brand is still ways away from its next Pay-Per-View, so they have scheduled a championship match to keep fans tuning in every week. Charlotte made her in-ring debut last week, defeating SmackDown Women’s Champion Naomi in a non-title match. That win earned Charlotte a title match for this week and immediately pushed her ahead of the rest of the locker room.
Last week’s big surprise story was that Jinder Mahal is the new #1 Contender for Randy Orton’s WWE Championship. He had some help from the Singh Brothers (formerly known as the Bollywood Boyz), so hopefully, we can expect some development from all three Superstars. Mahal has potential to be a great heel for SmackDown, while the Singh Brothers can add even more depth to the tag team division.
Other things to look out for include Kevin Owens parading around as the Face of America, the improving Colons (Primo and Epico), and perhaps the long-awaited debut of the New Day. If Talking Smack is co-hosted by Daniel Bryan this week (which is doubtful because his wife, Brie Bella, is due to give birth any day now), it is definitely worth tuning into.
205 Live
As of this writing, nothing is advertised for 205 Live. There have been stories with TJ Perkins aligning himself with Neville, as well as the (hopefully over) plot between Noam Dar, Alicia Fox, and Rich Swann. Also, Austin Aries challenges for the Cruiserweight Championship this Sunday, and Drew Gulak has been pushing to remove high-risk moves from 205 Live altogether. Tony Nese just returned to action last week, and there are still tons of Cruiserweights that have not been featured as much as they should have (Gran Metalik, for example), so perhaps more stories will develop this week.
NXT
I said in the intro that this could be an all-time great episode of NXT, and it truly has that potential. There are three matches advertised, two of which could be on TakeOver specials, and there will still probably be time to develop the NXT Championship and the NXT Women’s Championship feuds.
The first match just advertises that Aleister Black will be “in action.” Last time Black competed on NXT, he won a 30-second match with one swift kick. This week should be about the same, but he already has an impressively commanding ring presence. In the middle of the show, we have Andrade “Cien” Almas taking on the recently returned Drew McIntyre. Both men are great in the ring, and this match could help both Superstars reach main event status.
Perhaps the most intriguing match of the week, including Payback, is Tyler Bate defending his WWE United Kingdom Championship against Gentleman Jack Gallagher. Bate has put on incredible performances in the UK Championship tournament, as well as his occasional NXT appearances. Jack Gallagher is known for putting on high-quality matches every week, and a match-up like this could bring out the best in both men.
Payback
The Raw-exclusive Pay-Per-View this Sunday (4/30) is an interesting one because some of the stars are on SmackDown Live. There is the House of Horrors Match between Bray Wyatt and Randy Orton, which doesn’t seem to be for the WWE Championship anymore. There is also the United States Championship match between Chris Jericho and Kevin Owens, with the winner moving to SmackDown Live.
Outside of cross-brand matches, the card is pretty solid. Seth Rollins finally has a chance to get his revenge on Samoa Joe, The Hardy Boyz take on Sheamus and Cesaro for the Raw Tag Team Championships, Bayley defends her Raw Women’s title against Alexa Bliss, Austin Aries challenges for the Cruiserweight Championship, and Roman Reigns returns to take on Braun Strowman. It’s a weird spot before the brands finally go their separate ways, but it should be a good show.
