Quick Takes on Edge's WWE Return, Remaining MITB Spots, Santana and Ortiz, More

Following a two-month absence, Edge resurfaced on Friday's WWE SmackDown to lay out Roman Reigns and seemingly set himself up as the next No. 1 contender to the Universal Championship.

Considering their WrestleMania match earlier this year was changed to a Triple Threat also involving Daniel Bryan, Reigns vs. Edge in a singles capacity is a fresh contest for Money in the Bank. Unfortunately, Edge's return also indicates that WWE has a stunning lack of credible babyfaces at the top of the card.

Also at the pay-per-view, the annual Money in the Bank ladder matches will return in their traditional form after being held in a cinematic setting last year. Multiple men and women have already qualified for both bouts, but several spots remain.

Saturday's edition of All Elite Wrestling Dynamite, meanwhile, continued to build toward the company's All Out event in September, with Kenny Omega successfully defending his AEW World Championship against Jungle Boy.

The Young Bucks vs. Eddie Kingston and Penta El Zero Miedo was also set up for next week's Dynamite, but regardless of the Bucks' opponents at All Out, all roads should lead to them losing the AEW World Tag Team Championship to Santana and Ortiz during AEW's New York City debut in September.

This week's installment of Quick Takes will look at why Santana and Ortiz are the right team to take the tag titles off the Bucks, Diamond Mine's NXT debut, WWE's Hell in a Cell concept reaching a new low and more.

Who Should Fill Out the Remaining Spots in the Money in the Bank Ladder Matches?

The Money in the Bank pay-per-view is set for July 18, and more than half of the Superstars set to compete in the men's and women's titular ladder matches have already been revealed.

On Monday's Raw, Ricochet, John Morrison and Riddle all qualified. The fourth spot for the men on the red brand will go to Drew McIntyre, AJ Styles or Randy Orton and be determined by a Triple Threat match. And since Riddle is already in there, that should make Orton the obvious winner.

Big E is the only name on the SmackDown side to qualify for the men's Money in the Bank match. Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn will face off in a Last Man Standing qualifying match on Friday, and of the two, Owens would be the better option to advance because he has a better chance of winning the whole thing.

Cesaro should be a given as well, even if he doesn't capture the briefcase. Shinsuke Nakamura, Seth Rollins and Jimmy Uso are all possibilities for that final slot, but Uso advancing would make for the most interesting Mr. Money in the Bank of the three.

As for the women's Money in the Bank bout, three spots remain on the SmackDown side, with Carmella, Naomi, Alexa Bliss, Nikki Cross and Asuka already having qualified. Liv Morgan hasn't been confirmed but should be added, making the final two spots a mystery.

It will likely end up being Bayley (assuming she gets another shot at the SmackDown Women's Championship on an episode of SmackDown and not at the event) and a mystery entrant, ideally Sonya Deville or a returning Sasha Banks.

WWE's Hell in a Cell Concept Has Long Lost Its Luster

In the understatement of the year, WWE Hell in a Cell is one of the company's most pointless pay-per-views, which was made evident by the most recent installment.

It was an event filled with quality wrestling, yet the Hell in a Cell matches didn't feel nearly as special as they should have. Although we have been treated to a handful of excellent Hell in a Cell matches in recent years, fans have always argued that giving the gimmick a dedicated event every year has greatly diminished its value.

That proved to be the case earlier in June when WWE held four matches inside the structure over a three-day period. Roman Reigns vs. Rey Mysterio kicked off the weekend on SmackDown, followed by Bianca Belair vs. Bayley and Bobby Lashley vs. Drew McIntyre at the pay-per-view and then finally Lashley vs. Xavier Woods on Monday's Raw.

Reigns vs. Mysterio was fun but had no business being inside Hell in a Cell. The same could be said for Belair vs. Bayley and Lashley vs. McIntyre, especially with how the latter match ended. Lashley vs. Woods, meanwhile, served no purpose.

If WWE didn't bring back the Hell in a Cell pay-per-view for another few years, most fans wouldn't complain. The match has become oversaturated and has lost any luster it had left.

Santana and Ortiz Must Win the AEW Tag Titles in New York City

Despite being one of AEW's most popular tag teams since arriving on the scene two years ago, Santana and Ortiz have yet to receive a run with the AEW World Tag Team Championship.

In fact, they have gotten all of one shot at the straps since 2019, losing to The Young Bucks on an episode of Dynamite in February. It should be noted that the Bucks were still faces at the time and Inner Circle had yet to turn, so revisiting that rivalry would make for a fresh dynamic.

Better yet, AEW's New York City debut on September 22 in Arthur Ashe Stadium would be the perfect place to pull the trigger on a title win for them.

AEW recently announced its debut in the market, and fans immediately starting speculating about potential title changes, which Santana even acknowledged on Twitter. It's still several months away, but AEW needs to start building toward it happening by having Santana and Ortiz rack up a few big victories.

They are in the midst of a heated rivalry with FTR, which should culminate with a win for Proud and Powerful. They are slotted at No. 5 in the AEW tag team rankings, and they should continue to work their way up over the summer.

It's mind-boggling that they haven't been featured in the AEW tag title picture more since the promotion's inception, but that's because they have been focused on Inner Circle business. No team makes more sense than them to dethrone the Bucks as champs, especially if it goes down in their hometown.

NXT Must Avoid Becoming Too Heel Faction-Heavy

NXT produced a strong show for the second consecutive week Tuesday night, and the episode was capped off by the long-awaited debut of Diamond Mine.

For months, vignettes promoting the arrival of the faction teased that they were "opening soon" without giving much detail as to who could be part of it. It was revealed during the ending of the most recent NXT that it will consist of Roderick Strong, Tyler Rust, Malcolm Bivens and Hideki Suzuki.

The group has promise, and Strong has proved in the past that he works well within the confines of a faction. It will be even better if it leads to a renewed focus on the depleted cruiserweight division, but NXT has to make sure to not go overboard with the amount of stables it has on the roster.

AEW has faced criticism from fans for featuring too many factions on its weekly programming, but it has at least found something for most of them to do, and there is a healthy mix of babyface and heel groups. Every group in NXT has been handled with care, but as of this writing, all of them are heels.

The Way, Legado del Fantasma, Hit Row, Tian Sha, Imperium and now Diamond Mine are all around without any babyface factions to oppose them. This shouldn't be considered anything but a minor concern, but it could see a group or two get lost in the shuffle unless they turn or make the move to Raw or SmackDown.

Edge's Return Illustrates a Lack of Strong Babyfaces on Raw and SmackDown

Of everyone who could have stepped up to face Roman Reigns on Friday's SmackDown, Edge was likely the last name fans expected to return and challenge for the Universal Championship at Money in the Bank.

It was always more a matter of when than if he would be back, but most figured he would resurface for SummerSlam season to kick off an anticipated rivalry with Seth Rollins. However, his return before then to set his sights on the title he never got a one-on-one shot at makes perfect sense from a storyline standpoint.

With all of that being said, WWE's glaring babyface problem must be addressed.

To its credit, the company has done an outstanding job of building up Reigns and Bobby Lashley as dominant heel champions on their respective brands. Unfortunately, there aren't many credible babyfaces who have been built up to oppose them.

Drew McIntyre is the de facto top babyface in WWE, but he needs a break from the world title scene for the foreseeable future after falling to Lashley on multiple occasions. Big E can get there eventually, but WWE has to rely on part-timers such as Edge and John Cena in the meantime because no one else is remotely close to being on that level.

Edge's return to TV is worth celebrating, but WWE should also be looking to make more stars in the coming months so it can maintain the momentum once he inevitably takes time off again.

Graham Mirmina, aka Graham "GSM" Matthews, has specialized in sports and entertainment writing since 2010. Visit his website, WrestleRant, and subscribe to his YouTube channel for more wrestling-related content.