WWE.com is promoting this week’s RAW in the most interesting ways I can remember. They’re basically saying that on this week’s show we’ll see the follow-up of the follow-up (of WrestleMania) from last week. That pretty much tells you one thing – They have no idea what they’re doing for tonight’s show.
They’re teasing the fact that we’ll get updates on all the superstars that were “battered” last week, including Chris Benoit, HBK and Christy Hemme. The preview also teases the fact that Batista will have some answer to Triple H, and also that where Batista and the World Title go, there is Edge, who could get his title shot at any time. Yeah, you can tell they don’t know what to do for tonight’s show.
This one is hard to call. I can see the development of some new storylines, since now would be the time to do that, and push the new character they want on TV for the next few months. The after-WrestleMania period of time is very important in WWE for a number of reasons, one being the push of the new talents. I don’t see that happening this week, but I do think the possibility of new storylines being at least hinted at will take place.
I would look for a Mohammad Hassan/Shawn Michaels confrontation in what could be leading to a match at Backlash, if not, just a short-term program, that should be good from what we’ve seen so far. I also expect Michaels to remind of us Kurt Angle but kind of put him in the back of his mind for now (since the earliest a rematch between the two can happen is SmmerSlam) and deal with Hassan. This works, since Angle is busy with the WWE Championship tournament over at SmackDown anyway.
Triple H and Batista will be dealing with their own issues, and if they don’t do the Batista promo to set his champinoship “status” in stone now, then they’ve dropped the ball majorly. What I predicted last time unfortunatelly happened – Triple H opened and closed the show last week. That was a horrible horrible horrible move!
Jericho, Benoit, Benjamin, Kane, Edge, Stratus, and Hemme are the other faces you should be used to by now on weekly basis. I’ll look for some interaction there. It seems like they set up a Randy Orton vs. Kane feud for when Orton comes back, but I won’t be surprised to see Kane go after Edge, or something. We haven’t had a turn in a long time over on RAW (other than Batista, but in the midcard range, it’s been quiet), so I’d look for that. I don’t know if Steve Austin is appearing, but I doubt that he will. Also, if WWE has decided to do a draft this year, we might get some sort of a hint on RAW, although it could be too early!
Let’s see if I’m right!
