6 things WWE subtly told us on RAW: Storyline being repeated after 5 years, Champion to turn heel and form a faction?
Welcome to this week's edition of things WWE subtly told us on RAW. It was a big improvement from last week, but the first half wasn't particularly great. We're not going to get into the six-man tag team match that involved tomato throwing, because it's simply not worth discussing.
However, the continued absence of the RAW Tag Team Champions AJ Styles and Omos has been surprising. We're not sure why they've been taken away from TV, but given that they're the champions of their brand, it makes no sense as to why they're away.
Let's start with perhaps the most interesting part about RAW this week:
#6. The R-K-Bro dynamic on RAW
While we thought that Randy Orton would simply have a rematch and defeat Riddle on RAW this week, we were pleasantly surprised. Orton's character status has been up in the air for a while - especially since he spent almost all of 2021 feuding against Alexa Bliss and 'The Fiend' Bray Wyatt.
During that feud, there was a blur in the character dynamic. While Orton was "logically" the babyface, Bliss and Wyatt weren't necessarily presented as heels. Either way, post-WrestleMania has seen a bit of clarification on Randy Orton's character.
Last week on RAW, Orton was defeated by surprise in a match against the up-and-coming Riddle. This week on RAW backstage, The Viper mentioned that he had a bit of respect for Riddle, and took up his offer to form a tag team called "R-K-Bro" - but only if they won on the night.
They teamed up to take out Shelton Benjamin and Cedric Alexander, who have drastically dropped down the card. It seems to be the start of a tag team, but there could be a small twist.
Remember the Y2AJ storyline involving Chris Jericho and AJ Styles in early 2016? The two formed a tag team after a series of matches against each other, and they even released Y2AJ merchandise before breaking up in a matter of weeks. This could be a small repetition of the RAW storyline from 2016.