-I know it was draft night and all this week on Raw, but starting the show with Becky Lynch as the new WWE Women's World Champion was a smart move. Not only did it reiterate the big win from last week, but it positioned her as a steadying star for a show that has lost Cody Rhodes, Seth Rollins, and Rhea Ripley in the last few weeks.
Heel? Face?
-Liv Morgan was all over the place. First, she's cutting a heel promo on Becky Lynch with the fans booing her and then she's cutting down Nia Jax as the fans cheer. Way too inconsistent -- especially when the crowd is telling you exactly which way to go. Morgan is going to be a heel once Rhea Ripley gets back. Why not just go there?
-Interesting to see Stephanie McMahon back in the fold on television so soon. Sure, she was only making draft picks, but her presence is a clear shout from the mountain top that she doesn't want to be connected to her father. Ahhhhh palace intrigue ...
-Xavier Woods and Gunther had a nice little match together. Not a surprise to see Gunther win, but it was a surprise to see him stay on Raw. Cody Rhodes is going to need top tier opponents throughout his run and Gunther is an act ready for him right now. I guess not, though.
Does WWE actually know who Patrick Mahomes is?
-Look, when you're in Kansas City and somehow you get access to the star quarterback of the Kansas City Chiefs -- one of the most recognizable athletes on the planet -- you present him as a damn babyface. This isn't hard. Yep, Patrick Mahomes was on the show and ended up helping heel Logan Paul down likable babyface, Jey Uso. What sense did this make? This entire segment needed to be flipped upside down, so that Mahomes was helping Jey and then doing the yeet entrance pose dance thing he does. A miss of epic proportions on top of being an ineffective build for Jey Uso vs. Damian Priest at Backlash, which is this weekend.
-Braun Strowman is back in WWE and was drafted to Raw. Not a big return in terms of top tier star power, but a nice piece to freshen up the show week to week. If he goes the route of Nia Jax, it'll be a win.
-Ehh, a fine match between Bronson Reed and Sami Zayn, but no finish. Chad Gable interfered and everything fell apart after that. Zayn vs. Gable is the feud here. Why Reed is getting wedged in is a bizarre use for him. Especially since Zayn is going to need someone to feud with after Gable.
Stick with NXT when it comes to the draft
-Real quick on an overall WWE Draft topic. It all kind of was much to do about nothing, right? Mostly, but not entirely. The NXT picks were really fun as they all had genuine reactions to being picked. I think that's your live formula for drafts going forward. The rest of this can be done on a Peacock special or on Netflix next year, but the NXT stuff? That matters because it really is this talent getting the call for the first time.
-Maxxine Dupri is still Maxxine Dupri. Michael Cole touted her progress this week during her match against Candice LeRae and I guess there was some? Maybe? It's such a low bar, though, it's hard to take that credit seriously.
-The Drew McIntyre and CM Punk material this week was excellent. When WWE is able to go to that match, they'll have a really nice piece of business on their hands. Clear babyface, clear heel, and a clear story with it. Simple, but totally effective.
Punk microphone mishap
-CM Punk seemed to lose his place twice during his promo. That's something that you just don't see from that guy very often.
-So, Liv Morgan beats Nia Jax in front of a cheering audience just in time to turn heel in the coming months? I don't get this. Jax has been protected and positioned to do jobs when they really mean something. This felt like Jax was leaving the territory, but folks, she isn't. She's just heading to Smackdown. It's all WWE and it's all the same ecosystem. A double down on the strange Liv booking from the opening segment.
-The Miz and R-Truth successfully defended their tag titles against Otis and Akira Tozawa. After the speech from Chad Gable to Otis and Tozawa a couple weeks ago, they certainly didn't deliver in storyline. The question is, what kind of credibility does this give Gable as a newly turned heel act? Those guys lost in less than five minutes. I have to imagine this is the spark that will cause Gable to send them out of Alpha Academy in favor of The Creed Brothers.
A star power void
-A good main event, but nothing great. Not a great final hype for Backlash either. Raw has lost Cody Rhodes, Seth Rollins, and Rhea Ripley in the span of a month and the show has felt it. Jey, Priest, and Gunther feel just a notch below those three and it leaves a void at the top of the card on the show each week. Drew McIntyre and CM Punk not wrestling doesn't help matters either, but Triple H needs one of those three new faces of the show to step up. Priest would be the ideal guy as champion, but he hasn't quite yet.
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