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WWE Raw preview (Oct. 21, 2019): Be Ready

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Raw returns tonight (Oct. 21) from the Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland, Ohio. It is their first night with their new roster, and we’re a week and a half way from Crown Jewel.
The Headliner
The roster is set and Raw made out alright.
Their main event scene has Seth Rollins, AJ Styles, and Randy Orton as their anchors. It’s not as strong as SmackDown with Brock Lesnar, Roman Reigns, Bray Wyatt, and Daniel Bryan, but they have guys like Drew McIntyre they can elevate. Their midcard is stacked and they have a pretty good tag team division.
But I want to focus on the women’s division.
Raw Women’s Champion Becky Lynch and Charlotte ended on Raw while Bayley and Sasha Banks ended up on SmackDown. When Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross were sent to SmackDown in one half of a BLOCKBUSTER TRADE last Thursday, it left Raw’s division in a tough spot.
Their top two talents can’t feud right away since they did that feud pretty much from SummerSlam through WrestleMania last year. They just can’t go to that well right now. So who else do they have?
There’s the Kabuki Warriors (Asuka and Kairi Sane), who hold the Women’s tag team championships, the IIconics, Natalya, Liv Morgan, and Sarah Logan.
There are not many options for Becky right away. She feuded with Nattie even more recently than she did Charlotte. Liv Morgan would need to be built up more. The same goes for Sarah Logan.
For this division to work, they need to use Asuka as a singles competitor.
Asuka’s year has been underwhelming ever since losing her SmackDown Women’s championship to Charlotte just weeks prior to WrestleMania. But she still has a strong resume in WWE that she’d be immediately believable battling in that top role. She held the SmackDown Women’s championship, winning it from Becky Lynch in a TLC match featuring Charlotte. She tapped Lynch at the Royal Rumble as well. Add in her undefeated streak that extended from NXT to the main roster (ended by Charlotte Flair at WrestleMania 34), and she can be the third pillar in this division.

Asuka has a ton of history between both Lynch and Flair that could be drawn on but hasn’t feuded with them very recently so either feud would be fresh. Plus she’s a heel now, which adds a new dynamic.
The Empress of Tomorrow doesn’t need to lose the tag team titles she holds alongside Kairi Sane. She could pull double duty. But for the Raw women’s division to work until they hopefully build up a couple more women, Asuka needs to be misting ladies in singles matches.
The Title Scene:
Universal Champion
Seth Rollins will explain why he burned down the Firefly Funhouse last week. The Wild Card rule is not dead until he and SmackDown’s Bray Wyatt have their title match at Crown Jewel in a week and a half.
The Viking Raiders won the Raw tag team championships last week. The losers, Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode, landed on SmackDown afterwards. Because of that, there are no obvious challengers.
AJ Styles is United States champion. He’ll be joining his OC bros Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson when they face the Street Profits and a partner of their choosing. It’s possible that partner will be next to challenge for AJ’s title.
With a hard brand split, is the 24/7 title a Raw title? Is it 24/7 - 2 hours on Friday? That kind of defeats the purpose of the title. We’ll see if R-Truth and his baby are still featured or if that belt is going to get phased out.
Other Things to Keep an Eye on:
- Ric Flair will choose the last wrestler to represent him at Crown Jewel against Team Hogan. I bet it’s a heel!
- Sin Cara will renew his feud with Andrade from months back. Andrade is a new guy on Raw who will likely see a decent amount of time.
- Rey Mysterio will be featured. Will he be helping sell his friend Cain Velasquez’s match against Brock Lesnar at Crown Jewel? It’s likely.
A week and a half to Crown Jewel! What will you be looking for on Raw tonight?
 
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