We have already seen two guys debut recently and get involved in this storyline. Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson debuted and have been trying to side with AJ. He has stayed face, while the two goons have been obvious heels. It creates some drama. Will AJ embrace his old friends? Or will he continue to politely keep them out of his business? That might likely end with them having enough and beating him up.
The WWE could go the route of an even bigger swerve and have Roman Reigns be the guy that turns heel. Have him form a stable with Gallows and Anderson. Why would the WWE do such a thing? Fans are booing Roman Reigns. A lot of fans say they should just turn him heel. If a face is getting a negative reaction or just a mediocre reaction, an easy answer is usually to turn him heel. That would at least explain the boos or the dead reaction he is getting. Fans aren't reacting because the guy is a heel and they hate him. Heels often also play cooler characters that might help them get over. Roman Reigns played a heel back in The Shield. The group got over. They stayed over as faces. But it looks like the WWE might want to make Reigns a heel again. With John Cena coming back in a few weeks, the WWE might want to change up their top guys. Cena and Styles could be the top faces, as well as Ambrose and the possibility of Seth Rollins being face when he returns. There aren't a lot of great heels around. Reigns is feuding with a face now. He was feuding with a part-timer before that. Sheamus isn't pushed that well. Jericho is a part-timer. Owens is a midcarder. Can Roman Reigns be that top heel?
I would like to see a heel turn. If not that, debut someone else to be the leader of the stable. I do not want to see Gallows and Anderson just get tired of Styles not wanting their help and attacking him. That would be the simple story to tell. Things are already heading in that direction. Do a swerve. The WWE can create drama with whose side these guys are on and they should take advantage of it.
Who walks out of Payback with the title? Roman Reigns is a 3-time WWE Champion. Let that sink in. In less than six months, he has won the title that many times. He will eventually have a title reign that lasts a while. To have him lose the title so soon just seems ridiculous. Whether he turns heel or not, I say he retains here. There are a lot of different scenarios the WWE could have to have him retain the title, while still doing whatever turn or debut they might be planning to do. Just have the match end by DQ, then let the drama really unfold.
It might not be a match, but another big angle playing out at Payback will be Vince McMahon deciding who gets Raw, Shane or Stephanie. I am not going to complain about Shane losing at Wrestlemania and still running Raw. I won't talk too much about why I think segments like this should be on Raw, not pay-per-views. Fact is, the WWE is doing it.
How will this likely play out? I can see Triple H also coming back and some kind of match is made to decide things. But the WWE should drag this on a little to create drama. Shane gets Raw, while Stephanie and Triple H get Smackdown.
Return of the brand split? No. There is a lack of star power and the injury issue right now is just crazy. Bray Wyatt got injured recently. The WWE shouldn't tie their hands by committing to splitting up the rosters again. On the one hand, it should help them to make more stars by getting some guys away from Cena and Reigns, but the WWE is so inefficient right now, they would probably still mismanage it. Shane can run Raw and Stephanie and Triple H can run Smackdown without rosters being split. It could create some interesting tension and be a hot summer angle. It might even lead all the way to Survivor Series. Could they take it all the way to Wrestlemania next year? Let's not get too far ahead just yet. Right now, I do not think Vince will just give an easy answer at Payback and give control of Raw to either Shane or Stephanie and end it there.
Speaking of Raw, let me talk about ratings for a little. Raw last week was a taped episode as part of their European tour. A lot of fans read spoilers and decide not to watch. Ratings for these Raws are usually bad, as last week's was. You then get a bounce back the following week.
There was no bounce back. Viewership was 3,336,000, down about 6%. The rating came in at 2.2, down about 5%. That is pretty bad for a Raw that should have done better than a taped episode just one week ago. The WWE went against NBA playoffs, but they also had that excuse the week before and the games this week on Monday didn't have that much hype to them. Ratings aren't going to continue to sink forever, but this is an indicator that things can be pretty bad during football season in a few months. Will Raw drop below a 2.0?
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