The following editorial was written by Geoffrey Rowland and does not reflect the opinions of WrestleZone as a whole. We encourage you all to discuss Geoff’s thoughts in the comments section at the bottom of this post or by tweeting him @Geoff_Rowland
There is a little less than a month until The Biggest Party of the Summer! And with that said, RAW and SmackDown Live are both racing toward SummerSlam with little clarity set on how the card will shape up.
Both shows have yet to set matches for their top prize and the only match officially booked is the RAW Women’s Championship match between Alexa Bliss and Ronda Rousey.
That should allow plenty of build up for Rousey, who is quickly becoming the biggest star in the company. Her segments are sometimes a little clunky, her mic work is sometimes very rehearsed, but somehow, she is the most memorable thing every time she appears and it is nearly impossible to look away when she is on the screen.
The segment with Bliss this week coupled with Kurt Angle’s “threats” of another suspension were the most exciting part of a show that tried to move forward to giving us a fresh face to challenge for Brock Lesnar, but just appeared to move closer to the same old song and dance.
Roman Reigns and Bobby Lashley both won triple threat matches to set up a one-on-one to determine Brock’s No. 1 contender. And, all signs point to a Reigns victory to set up a third match this year between Lesnar and Reigns for the Universal Championship, all but nullifying Lashley’s shocking win over The Big Dog at Extreme Rules.
Lesnar is a draw pairing with anyone, but it is clear most would like to see a different challenger at this point. It could end up being a triple threat with Lashley, but it seems more likely that Lashley gets a loss caused by his scheduled opponent at SummerSlam. Kevin Owens seems to make since here as a follow up to Lashley’s feud with Sami Zayn, but with RAW, the storylines don’t always make much sense.
RAW seems to have firmly entrenched Dolph Ziggler as its top heel, making him the top dog among a thin crop, and there is no reason to think he won’t be facing Seth Rollins again for the Intercontinental Championship in August. That could also be a triple threat as Drew McIntyre needs worked in somewhere. That would work and could be a show stealer, but where does RAW go from there?
There seems to be no real movement in angles for Braun Strowman, Finn Balor, Baron Corbin, Elias or Jinder Mahal, much less some of the lower guys on the card.
Maybe they are awaiting a commitment from John Cena or Undertaker for one or two of these guys — Cena vs. Strowman and Balor vs. The Deadman would certainly be fantastic draws.
With a scheduled visit from Stephanie McMahon this week, hopefully we will get more clarity for the matchups and maybe guys like Elias and Corbin will get rewarded for the excellent work they have been doing.
Next Page: RAW & SmackDown Live Offer Little Clarity As SummerSlam Approaches (cont.)
