Apollo Crews' Injury Setback, What's the Jinder Mahal Plan, More WWE Raw Fallout

Monday's WWE Raw was a mostly uneventful show with little in the way of storyline development or interesting moments.

The only real noteworthy event was an unfortunate one. Apollo Crews was injured during his United States Championship bout with Andrade, causing WWE to remove him from the Money in the Bank match on May 10. 

We also saw Jinder Mahal make his return to Raw in his first match on the red brand in more than a year, while Liv Morgan defeated Ruby Riott in a rematch from last week.

Nia Jax destroyed Shayna Baszler and Asuka, Seth Rollins and Drew McIntyre signed their WWE title match contract, and the new tag team of Ricochet and Cedric Alexander picked up an easy win.

Let's look at some of the more noteworthy moments from this week's Raw. 

Apollo Crews Is Injured, out of Money in the Bank Match

Apollo Crews being injured could not have come at a worse time for him. It's possible this is all part of a storyline, but if the injury if real, it will represent his greatest setback.

He was right in the middle of his biggest push since joining the main roster. He was picking up wins, earning title shots and had a spot in this year's Money in the Bank ladder match.

Crews is one of WWE's greatest untapped talents. He has speed, power and agility combined with 11 years of pro wrestling experience.

The post-match interview backstage could be a good indicator this is all part of a bigger plan. We should find out soon whether this is part of a storyline or if Crews will be out for a little while so he can recover. 

Jinder Mahal Is Back

Jinder Mahal returned to Raw on Monday for his first bout since going down with a knee injury in June last year.

The announcers made sure to bill him as a former WWE champion multiple times, and he was booked in a squash match with Akira Tozawa. It looks like The Modern Day Maharaja may be in line for a new push.

His run with the WWE title in 2017 was met with a lot of criticism as the company took him from being the guy Rob Gronkowski tackled at WrestleMania 33 to a top contender in a matter of weeks.

If WWE takes the time to build him properly, there is no reason why Mahal can't be a top-level heel on the red brand.

Then again, there is always the possibility that management gives him a chance to work as a babyface. Other than a short period when 3MB was being cheered, Mahal has always been a bad guy in WWE. It would be interesting to see if he could get over as a heroic character. 

Is Nia Jax Unstoppable?

Nia Jax, Shayna Baszler and Asuka did not have a match on Raw because there was no bell or referee. They had a fight, and the last woman standing was also one of the favorites to win the Money in the Bank match.

The Queen of Spades and The Empress of Tomorrow have both been pushed in recent months, but Jax made them look like weaklings by comparison this week.

This is the strongest The Irresistible Force has been booked in quite some time. She looks like somebody who could be a serious threat to Becky Lynch's reign as Raw women's champion whether she has the briefcase or not.

However, Baszler and Asuka are the kind of performers who can come out next week and beat the life out of somebody to get back what little momentum they lost by making Jax look good. 

Is Murphy a Disciple or a Martyr?

Murphy and Seth Rollins have not been seen together much since Raw began airing from the Performance Center, but that changed this week.

While Rollins was being beaten up by Drew McIntyre, the Australian ran down to save his mentor. The Monday Night Messiah showed his appreciation with a hug before ducking out of the way so Murphy could eat a Claymore Kick to the face.

This is a classic heel move. The leader of a group will sacrifice his followers to stay safe and get ahead. We have seen it countless times from just about every heel stable that has existed. 

The problem is Rollins no longer has AOP to do his dirty work, too. Murphy is his only disciple and if he keeps having to take the hit to save the former universal champion, he may end up turning on the man who claims he is trying to save Raw.

A face turn for Murphy would be a new direction for his character after spending several years in NXT, 205 Live and SmackDown as a bad guy. He has an exciting arsenal of moves that would work well if he became a babyface.

It may be too early for WWE to plan a breakup, but with things constantly changing these days, storylines may be happening on the fly. Anything is possible when resources are limited and management is grasping for anything it can use to draw in viewers.