10 Booking Steps For WWE Raw (May 23)
Could heat between Triple H and Shane McMahon be a focal point of this week's Raw?
What happens at Extreme Rules will have a major impact on the next Monday Night Raw, but there's a good chance several stories will move on after the pay-per-view. Squeezing a third consecutive bout out of the likes of Roman Reigns vs. AJ Styles or Charlotte vs. Natalya could prove tricky, so Raw could be the ideal platform for WWE to move on.
Big things are planned for SummerSlam, but there are also huge names waiting to come back to television imminently. Stars such as John Cena, Seth Rollins, Randy Orton and Bray Wyatt are all on the sidelines, but are due back soon.
That could make it more difficult when planning the next episode of Raw, because WWE may not wish to move things forward too much without them.
The show would therefore be a placeholder, full of matches that are entertaining but don't indicate which feuds are next. One big angle could change all of that, instantly making the program one of the biggest of the year and slowly starting the build towards a major match at SummerSlam.
Let's look at what WWE could have in store on one of their most challenging Raw episodes of 2016 yet...
10. Rusev Beats Dolph Ziggler
There's a very good chance Rusev will dispatch Kalisto and become WWE United States Champion. If he doesn't do so at Extreme Rules, the opportunity to rebuild the Bulgarian may be gone for WWE. The best course of action is to have him bag the gold and then quickly move on.
One option for Rusev is to be put against Dolph Ziggler on Monday Night Raw. The pair had a disastrous feud last Summer, but that doesn't mean they can't work well together in-ring. Besides, this one would have a story to it, coming out of Ziggler's match against Baron Corbin during the Extreme Rules Kickoff show.
Battered by the former NXT man, Ziggler would be banged up on Raw. Taking advantage of that, Rusev would have an easier-than-expected win. Fans would likely rally behind Dolph if he showed spirit to try and overcome his injuries.
That's the best tale to tell, but a Rusev win continues his rebuilding process and leads nicely into a major announcement for the following week's episode.