Account
Drew McIntyre vs. King Corbin, Tag Titles on the Line, More WWE Raw Predictions
May 18, 2020
The brand-to-brand invitation brings SmackDown's King Corbin to Raw for a showdown with WWE champion Drew McIntyre in Monday night's main event.
The Scot has mowed down all of the competition with his Claymore Kick following his WrestleMania 36 victory over Brock Lesnar, but will he be able to do the same to The Lone Wolf?
That match headlines a show in which tag teams will take center stage in two blockbuster championship encounters.
Already announced for the broadcast are:
- Drew McIntyre vs. King Corbin
- Raw Tag Team Championship match: The Street Profits vs. The Viking Raiders
- Women's Tag Team Championship match: Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross vs. The IIconics
The Brand-to-Brand Invitation Spawns Lackluster Main Event
The booking crutch that is the brand-to-brand invitation continues Monday with McIntyre and Corbin's match, but while that relatively fresh contest appears strong on paper, it is anything but.
Corbin is coming off an Intercontinental Championship tournament loss to Elias, which raises the question: Why would WWE Creative book him to lose cleanly in a secondary title tourney when he is slated to face the top champion in the company on Raw?
Rather than the red-hot heel he was to close out 2019, The Lone Wolf limps into Raw a shell of himself. He has no momentum to speak of on his side and is primed for yet another loss.
How does such a contest benefit McIntyre in a way that a win over Shelton Benjamin wouldn't? Does a victory over Corbin help the Scot any more than beating Angel Garza might?
There are options already on Raw that could be used for the same purpose without dusting off a glorified version of the awful wild-card rule that bogged down last summer's WWE product.
Worst of all, such a match is most likely a setup for Bobby Lashley to attack McIntyre and establish himself as the next top contender to the title anyway, so why not just book the titleholder against MVP?
Tag Teams Take Center Stage...In Wrestling Matches
There will be no basketball nonsense or carpool karaoke Monday night when The Street Profits defend the Raw Tag Team Championships against The Viking Raiders.
The match is the latest chapter in the competitive rivalry between two babyface teams, but the winner of the contest is not nearly as obvious as one would imagine.
Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins have been an energetic option as champions, but Erik and Ivar are two big, nasty bruisers who look like unstoppable badasses. They have already lost more than they should, and another defeat—this time at the hands of the fun-loving Street Profits—would threaten their credibility, if the aforementioned karaoke segment did not erase it completely.
With that said, it still feels premature to take the titles off Ford and Dawkins, so expect an upset of sorts and a successful title defense.
The second of Monday's tag title matches will see Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross defend their Women's Tag Team Championships against The IIconics.
Billie Kay and Peyton Royce returned after a months-long hiatus and defeated Bliss and Cross in a non-title match last week.
A championship opportunity awaits, and while smart creative would see the Aussies further re-establishing themselves by winning the titles, Cross and Bliss worked so hard to regain the titles that cutting off their reign this early feels premature.
A screwy finish that keeps The IIconics strong while setting up a rematch should be expected, especially considering the lack of other tag teams ready-made to step in and challenge for the gold.
Who's Ready for Asuka?
Asuka is the new Raw women's champion, and the next question is an obvious one: Who will be her first challenger?
A week ago, Shayna Baszler's harsh comments regarding Lynch's pregnancy would suggest she will be filling the role of heel challenger, and that would certainly make sense. After all, it was The Queen of Spades who tapped Asuka in relatively easy fashion at Elimination Chamber in March.
Don't count out Nia Jax, though. She was conspicuous by her absence last week but had been enjoying a fairly significant push leading into Money in the Bank.
She has a history with Asuka, dating back to some wars in NXT and her handling of Kairi Sane in consecutive weeks.
Either woman would make for a suitable first contender and would likely result in some stellar matches based on styles and established in-ring chemistry.