The new Champs are here - Raw and Smackdown shuffle the deck

The Royal Rumble is just a little over two weeks away and the annual 30-man bout is filling up quickly. Even current title holders like U.S. champ Chris Jericho and Intercontinental Champion Dean Ambrose have announced their intentions. Three of the WWE's biggest attractions (Goldberg, Lesnar, and The Undertaker) will also be entering, giving this year's event the aura of a "gold rush". Not to mention we haven't heard much from Finn Balor's camp, so The Demon could surprise everyone with a return.


This week's edition of Raw saw Chris Jericho and Kevin Owens essentially steal the U.S. belt from Roman Reigns in a 2-on-1 Handicap Match, ending with a brutal Codebreaker/Apron Bomb that sealed the former Shield member's fate. This solidifies the power base on Raw, with the two top heels holding both singles titles. Raw has centered around this ongoing bromance almost since the brand split last summer and it hasn't worn out its welcome, at least for me.

The Raw Women's division on the other hand, while full of some of the most talented and well-rounded performers that women's wrestling has ever seen, is starting to tread water. Charlotte, Sasha Banks, and Bayley have been engaged in a triangular feud for what feels like two years now and if not for the variable that is Nia Jax, I could see myself getting bored. This week's Raw revealed Nia is definitely out for herself though, which finally gives Charlotte a fresh challenger.

The New Day seem to have plummeted from their position as longest reigning tag champs in history to dunking on Titus O'Neil on a weekly basis. This week's segment was excruciating, calling back to mind the corny New Day/Club segments from earlier this year. Sometimes the New Day's antics fall flat on their face. This was one of those times.

The Rusev/HBK stuff was alright, but the Enzo and Cass duo are falling into the same rut as New Day in my opinion. It really doesn't help matters that Enzo is out with another injury and, although his electric wheelchair moves were funny the first time, now the hollowness of their act is starting to show through. Big Cass is a decent enough big man, but he still isn't a very compelling singles wrestler.

On the bright side of things, Cesaro and Sheamus are having very physical matches with Gallows and Anderson, so I can rest easy knowing the tag titles are going to be defended in intense match-ups and won't be put on the back burner . . . yet. All four men in this feud are capable of outstanding work and I'm really invested in the team of Cesaro and Sheamus. Beyond Gallows and Anderson however, I'm not sure where they're going to go.

Smackdown's world title picture is more interesting to me at the moment. AJ Styles and John Cena are set to square off at the Rumble, and if there's any truth to the chaff in the rumor mill, Cena and Undertaker may be squaring off at Wrestlemania in April. Will Cena dethrone the phenomenal one to nab the title and turn his *potential* match with the Deadman into a title bout? Perhaps. I like the notion, even if it means Styles gets bumped down a notch.

To Cena's detriment, his match with Baron Corbin put more arrows in the haters' quivers this week, as he dominated the Lone Wolf after what had been, up to that point, a pretty one-sided match in Corbin's favor. Corbin may not be ready for a world title feud yet, but having him essentially "job" to Cena on a random episode of Smackdown isn't going to help things.

Last year, Smackdown's women's division appeared to be the weaker of the two brands, but I'm finding myself more and more invested in Becky Lynch and Alexa Bliss's feud than the seemingly endless string of Charlotte/Sasha/Bayley re-runs we're getting on Raw. Alexa has proven the Bard's old adage true - "I am small, but I am fierce." The smallest womesn competitor may also be the division's most ruthless, and the introduction of La Luchadora, a masked persona being used by both sides to prank the other, adds another layer of mystery to the weekly installments.

American Alpha's win over Bray Wyatt and Randy Orton was a shocker to me, as I was expecting the Orton/Wyatt slow burn feud to go on a little while longer before the eventual turn. I don't know is Bray vs. Randy at Mania is something worth building to, but there are still a few PPVs between now and then, so maybe it'll be a featured match at Elimination Chamber or something. That aside, Chad Gable and Jason Jordan continue to impress each time they're in the ring, and their rematch this past tuesday was a sturdy 15 minute slobberknocker that put them over big time.

Dean Ambrose winning the IC title from Miz and the introduction of Renee Young into their feud has kicked things into another gear. Miz is probably the best pure heel in the company right now, playing off of fan ire and even incorporating Daniel Bryan's old offense into his move set. Last year was Miz's time to shine, and with Maryse by his side, he could have a strong 2017 as well.

Well, there's my two cents about everything Raw and Smackdown. Tomorrow I'll be looking at 205 Live, NXT and this weekend's UK Tournament. See you then!

Twitter: @ ChrisBComics