7 Things WWE subtly told us on RAW: Bobby Lashley's next 2 opponents after losing the WWE title revealed, Current Champions quietly turn heel?
This is a special edition of things WWE subtly told us on RAW, solely because of how the show ended. Looking back, this will be considered one of the great endings to RAW this year, and it culminated with the biggest possible title change.
We'll be covering virtually every aspect of RAW, minus the 8-man tag team match featuring The New Day and Mansoor & Mustafa Ali against Mace, T-BAR, and AJ Styles & Omos.
It was a good episode of RAW with an incredible ending. Let's jump right into it:
#7. The big change in landscape on RAW
RAW opened with a fun segment between Bobby Lashley & MVP, RK-Bro, and SmackDown's Big E -- the Men's Money in the Bank winner this year. Big E wasn't exactly subtle about teasing a Money in the Bank cash in.
Bobby Lashley wasn't happy on RAW. He said that Randy Orton politicked his way to a WWE title match on RAW despite Lashley and MVP being #1 contenders for the RAW Tag Team titles.
Lashley also warned Big E that if he came near him with the contract, he would shove it far up his backside. Big E's role on RAW seemed to be purely psychological, as he could be seen entering the RK-Bros locker room.
While Randy Orton was zoning out and trying to focus on his potential 15th world title, Riddle was rambling on as usual. Big E simply came in and made his presence known.
It was also a bit of a reunion for The New Day, with Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods urging him on backstage. The main event of RAW saw Bobby Lashley face Randy Orton in what was originally scheduled to be a TV match.
If you never understood the importance of television ratings and weekly television, you might now understand why it holds more weight than even pay-per-views. TV broadcast deals are WWE's biggest revenue source, and although pay-per-views have traditionally been where all the payoffs are, that isn't necessarily the case anymore.
The Bobby Lashley vs Randy Orton match was meant to be a rating boost. Big E directly saying he was going to cash in the Money in the Bank briefcase was for a ratings pop.
With that said, we were a bit surprised that Big E wasn't lying or trolling. Big E and WWE did everything to make it seem as though it would simply be a tease and not a cash-in, but it turned out to be exactly that.
Bobby Lashley faced Randy Orton in a good match. MVP was taken out by Randy Orton at ringside, after which Lashley took advantage and picked up the win. Post-match, Big E came out and the cash-in was announced before cutting to an ad break -- deflating the moment a bit.
When we returned from the break, Big E and Lashley started their WWE title match, with the latter first refusing to defend due to a supposed injury. He still managed to put up a fight, but Big E ultimately won the bout and became the new WWE Champion.
There is a lot of fallout in that alone, but we'll dedicate another article to that. For now, Big E is the face of Monday Night RAW, and the Almighty WWE Championship reign has come to an end after an incredible 6 months.
For Bobby Lashley, there are two clear-cut routes for him post-WWE title -- a rematch against Big E at Extreme Rules and a match against Goldberg at Crown Jewel.
It seems obvious that Goldberg will get his vengeance over Bobby Lashley at Crown Jewel, especially since no title will be involved.