RAW Preview: 20-time champion to possibly confront Roman Reigns, Popular star to get a title shot after over 14 months? (May 2nd, 2022)
Welcome to this week's edition of RAW Preview. It's the go-home episode of the red brand before WrestleMania Backlash, and WWE is set to wrap up many of the rivalries going in.
The upcoming premium live event will feature a handful of rematches from WrestleMania 38. It's the easiest way to go about it before the company starts building up new rivalries from May.
RAW has been excellent in the build-up to WrestleMania Backlash, with the quality being far superior to SmackDown despite no world champion on the brand. The sole world champion of WWE will be appearing this week, as these are the things to look forward to on the red brand tonight!
#5. The Bloodline is set to take over RAW, but who will confront Roman Reigns?
#TheBloodline returns to #WWERaw tomorrow night just days before #WMBacklash!
@WWERomanReigns @WWEUsos @HeymanHustle https://t.co/odDSfWnn9z
Roman Reigns and The Usos are set to take over Monday Night RAW this week. This comes from the fallout of SmackDown, where a surprising change confirmed the main event of WrestleMania Backlash.
As you may know, The Usos were originally slated to unify the tag team titles against RK-Bro at the premium live event. However, this past week on SmackDown, a messy situation involving The Bloodline and RK-Bro saw Drew McIntyre emerge, as he was teased as Reigns' next Universal title challenger.
As a result, the title unification stipulation is off and it will be a six-man tag team match this weekend.
It will be interesting to see how things play out on the red brand this week. It wouldn't be surprising to see 20-time champion Randy Orton confront The Tribal Chief ahead of their six-man tag team clash at WrestleMania?
#4. Will Mustafa Ali's RAW return lead to a title shot?
Last week on RAW, The Miz TV featured United States Champion Theory as the guest. While he got along with The A-Lister, he was soon interrupted by the returning Mustafa Ali, who was reminded of the fact that he asked for his WWE release months ago.
Despite this, Ali stood his ground and proceeded to beat two-time WWE Grand Slam Champion The Miz after months away. It seems to be the perfect stepping stone for Ali to get right into the US Title picture after over a year. Last year, he feuded with Riddle, who was the US Champion at the time. He was unsuccessful on that occasion.
Will his luck change this time around?
#3. Will Omos manage to one-up Bobby Lashley ahead of their clash at WrestleMania Backlash?
Omos lost to Bobby Lashley once again, but on that instance, it was an arm-wrestling contest last week. However, immediately after the win, Lashley was attacked from behind and Omos assaulted him while MVP gave him all the orders.
It has been a tense rivalry as they are set to clash once again at WrestleMania Backlash. It all depends on who stands tall this week - if Omos stands tall, then Lashley is likely to win. If The All Mighty one-ups The Colossus, then he is likely to lose to the giant, setting up a third bout at some point in the future.
#2. Will Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins go face-to-face one last time?
Can @CodyRhodes make it 2-0 at #WMBacklash or will @WWERollins sneak out a win? https://t.co/vWCfAfdtd7
Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins are set to run it back at WrestleMania Backlash. Over a month after their epic clash that saw Rhodes return to WWE after six years, they are set to do battle once again.
Last week, they had little interaction but they were involved in an eight-man tag team match where Rhodes' team was victorious as he also had a mini-reunion with his old Legacy member Randy Orton.
What will happen between the two veterans this week? Will The American Nightmare gain enough momentum to make it 2-0 against Seth Rollins?
#1. What will be the fallout of the Becky Lynch-Asuka segment from last week?
Becky Lynch returned to RAW last week for the first time since WrestleMania 38. It also happened to be the first episode of the red brand in over three years that she didn't have a championship around her waist.
It was a bit of a shock for her, and she seemed to be in a bit of a downward spiral, although she still vowed to have the best return to the top possible. However, the moment Asuka's music hit after nine months, the mic fell out of the former champion's hand, and she was met by her old rival.
It seems to have kickstarted the feud that will likely lead to a match at WrestleMania Backlash. Given Lynch's downward spiral and Asuka's return after months, this is the perfect set-up for the Japanese star to pick up the win.