5 Real-life WWE feuds that should be settled on RAW Underground
It is safe to say that WWE’s new RAW Underground concept has divided opinion amongst fans on social media.
In the first two hours of the August 3, 2020 episode of Monday Night RAW, WWE’s cameras showed 7ft 3in Superstar Jordan Omogbehin (aka The Big Ninja) guarding a door in the backstage area.
That door led to a dark warehouse where two competitors battled it out in an MMA-style fight on a ring canvas with no ropes.
The host of RAW Underground, Shane McMahon, watched on as Dabba-Kato (fka Babatunde), Dolph Ziggler and The Viking Raiders’ Erik quickly defeated their opponents. Then, in the final segment, The Hurt Business (Bobby Lashley, MVP and Shelton Benjamin) beat up anybody that moved to stand tall at the end of the show.
Based on social media feedback, some people think Shane McMahon’s RAW Underground concept will only last a couple of weeks, while others have suggested that WWE could use this as an opportunity to blur the lines between fiction and reality.
The competitors are, after all, supposedly having ‘real’ fights, so why not take advantage of that by pairing up two people who have legitimate heat with each other?
In this article, let’s take a closer look at the latter theory by counting down five real-life WWE feuds that we would love to see on RAW Underground.
#5 WWE RAW Underground: AJ Styles and Paul Heyman
AJ Styles has made it clear over the last few weeks that he has issues with Paul Heyman in real life.
According to “The Phenomenal One”, the former WWE RAW Executive Director was responsible for the releases of Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson in April 2020. He has also claimed that Heyman “buried” all three members of The O.C. by repeatedly booking them to lose.
"But, he was like, 'Listen, you guys trust me, trust me, trust me, trust me. And if you guys, everything I've done you wrong, you get on social media, and you bury me. You bury me to every social media you could possibly think of.' He said this to us." [via AJ Styles’ Twitch stream]
Regarding WWE RAW Underground, there are obviously a few problems with this match-up. Styles is the Intercontinental Champion on SmackDown, which means he should not be able to appear on RAW (unless the Brand-to-Brand Invitational is still a thing), and then there is the fact that non-wrestler Heyman would get squashed by his opponent in seconds.
Roster assignments do not count for much in modern-day WWE, so it is not unrealistic to think that Styles could show up on RAW. As for Heyman’s lack of fighting experience, does it really matter? RAW Underground is all about sports entertainment and, presumably, TV ratings.
After everything that has been said recently by Styles, this would tick the sports entertainment box and it would definitely bring in the ratings!