3 Mistakes WWE made this week and 3 things they got right: Unexpected Roman Reigns alliance, Multiple RAW Superstars intentionally not used (January 17th, 2021)
WWE faced a massive setback this week as just before the start of Monday Night RAW, it was announced that WWE Champion Drew McIntyre had tested positive for COVID-19 and was kept in isolation. This last-minute mishap would've surely spoiled several plans, but the company managed to pull off a decent episode of RAW.
As for SmackDown, there were several storyline advances and some great matches. The return of Shinsuke Nakamura's old theme song and a full-blown face turn has fans excited as to what plans WWE has for him.
In this article, let's take a look at three mistakes WWE made this week on RAW and SmackDown and three things they got right.
#3 Mistake WWE made: Not using multiple top Superstars on RAW
A lot of top names were missing from Monday Night RAW this week and many Superstars pulled off double duty. It was assumed that the reason behind this would have been the COVID-19 outbreak with WWE keeping some Superstars in isolation as a precaution.
However, a report from PWInsider stated that six top Superstars were backstage on RAW and were just not utilized on TV. These include RAW Women's Champion Asuka, RAW Tag Team Champions Shelton Benjamin and Cedric Alexander, Nikki Cross, Ricochet, and Humberto Carillo. It seems a little baffling as to why WWE would not use them and make multiple other Superstars pull off double duty.
#3 WWE got right: Triple H returns to save the day
WWE Hall of Famer Triple H has multiple hats in the company. While he is one of the top authorities backstage, he remains a fan-favorite and one of WWE's biggest attractions - one that they can use anytime on occasions like these to save the day. We saw this happen last year on the first-ever empty-arena episode of SmackDown, and this week Triple H did the same on RAW.
WWE announced the return of Triple H merely hours before the show began and many fans surely tuned-in to see The Game. He was interrupted by Randy Orton, setting up a 'street fight' for the main event, and WWE did a commendable job of hyping it up. While the match in itself was a little too short, what happened at the end made up for it. More on that later.