Nice work by WWE last night working around the awful news that Universal champ Roman Reigns has been diagnosed with leukemia.
The booking on Raw had been getting stale in recent weeks, with storylines revolving way, way too much around the Shield vs. Drew McIntyre/Braun Strowman/Dolph Ziggler rivalry, but creative had already been getting away from that with the tensions between McIntyre and Strowman coming to head last week.
It had also been increasingly clear in recent weeks that The Shield was on the verge of some sort of breakup with tensions between Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins.
You’d excuse yourself for thinking the pending Ambrose-Rollins feud would get put on hold in light of the news regarding Reigns. Then we got the booking that had Ambrose and Rollins winning the tag belts from McIntyre and Ziggler, predictably with Strowman offering the assist, in the form of an attack late in the match on McIntyre.
So, the belts are on Ambrose and Rollins, and off Ziggs and McIntyre, freeing McIntyre up for his next feud, with Strowman.
Nice.
Then, shocker! Ambrose turns on Rollins, moments after winning the tag belts.
This was going to happen anyway, but to complete the heel turn on a night that began with the emotional real-life news involving Reigns is … really smart booking.
You certainly didn’t expect that kind of thing to happen on that kind of night, but now fans will have good reason to put heat on Ambrose, and Rollins is elevated as a babyface, big time.
And, we can presume that Strowman will be booked to win the Universal title at Crown Jewel, wherever that event happens, and then have his first feud as champ with McIntyre.
Good stuff, all around.
Column by Chris Graham
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