The Good
For Raw, they had a series of matches to determine who would face Seth Rollins for the Universal Championship at Money in the Bank. All of these matches were pretty solid and in the end, AJ Styles ended up winning it all. This has been a dream match WWE fans have asked for ever since Styles came to WWE, so Raw should be able to build this up properly.
For Smackdown, we all knew that Kevin Owens was going to turn on the New Day, it was just a matter of when. Owens decided that this week was the week to do it as he attacked both Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods after Kingston’s match against Shinsuke Nakamura. This is going to lead to a WWE Championship match between Kevin Owens and Kofi Kingston and this is another solid match added to the Money in the Bank PPV.
The Bad
For Raw, after WWE was torn apart by the fans by naming the War Raiders the Viking Experience, they decided to change their name again. This time, the new name is the Viking Raiders. It is a little bit of an improvement, but not to name them the War Raiders to begin with is still baffling. They had a segment on the show this week they felt like filler as well as they attacked Lucha House Party before they could even begin their match with them.
For Smackdown, Becky Lynch is deciding to defend both of her belts at Money in the Bank, but her challenger from Smackdown is a sight WWE fans have seen too many times. Charlotte Flair ended up earning her opportunity by beating Bayley in a number one contender’s match. While WWE wants to show that Charlotte did earn her opportunity, it’s just a match we have seen one too many times.
The Final Verdict
Both brands put on pretty good shows this week. Even though there was some mix up in the superstar shake up (Andrade and Aleister Black going from Smackdown to Raw, then back to Smackdown), WWE was was still able to bounce back from that confusion. Both brands were able to establish number one contenders for their biggest championships, and help put a story behind them too. But, as far as a better show from start to finish, it seems that Raw had the more impactful and better show. A wacky segment with Bray Wyatt, a dream match in the making for the Universal Championship, and proper time given to their women’s championship match helped Raw this week. Overall, both brands are starting to layout the blueprint for what is in store for WWE Money in the Bank, so hopefully WWE is able to capitalize on this moving forward.
