Monday Night Raw went off the air last week and left its audience with an intriguing cliffhanger surrounding the future of general manager Kurt Angle. The angle (no pun intended) has been developing for weeks by way of frequent cell phone messages indicating a significant secret in Angle's life that could impact him personally and professionally.
In RAW's closing moments last week, Angle was on the phone with a mystery person confirming a big reveal for this week, ending the conversation curiously with "I love you."
Predictions began flying in left and right. Was it Stephanie McMahon in a renewed love triangle program featuring Triple H from 17 years ago? Was it former TNA/Impact Wrestling President Dixie Carter? Carter was featured on the fantastic WWE24 program detailing Angle's WWE comeback. RAW was also in Nashville this week, where Carter resides. Does it have something to do with Chad Gable or Jason Jordan of American Alpha, a team that consistently draws comparisons to Angle from an in-ring perspective?
We had a lot of questions heading into Monday and no solidified answers until the 10 o'clock hour of the show when Angle entered the ring and addressed the audience.
"Recently I just found out that an action of my past has a serious consequence because it changed my life," Angle said, "and I was afraid of change because I thought it would hurt my family. But I'm happy to say that my family is 100 percent supportive of this."
So what was he talking about?
Angle revealed that a woman he was involved with back in his college days gave birth to a boy, something Angle was not aware of, and the boy was put up for adoption. The child was a major success athletically and decided to pursue wrestling.
Angle then introduced the newest member of the RAW roster, his son, Jason Jordan.
On the plus side, both now-former members of American Alpha will be given a chance to shine on their own as Jordan's former partner Gable is a part of the SmackDown Live roster. American Alpha never quite caught fire on the main roster the way it did in NXT. This was a smart move from a personnel perspective.
From a storyline perspective, it's a bit far-fetched, and a sense of realism has been detached from the situation. Obviously, Jordan is not Angle's son, so it is a bit tough to buy into.
Time will tell if this will be a successful endeavor.
The top contender for >Brock Lesnar's belt remains undecided
With SummerSlam just over a month away, one of the major questions as it pertains to RAW was who would be the next man to challenge Brock Lesnar for the Universal Championship.
Should Samoa Joe get another opportunity? His bout with Lesnar at Great Balls of Fire a couple weeks back was as intense and fascinating as any WWE pay-per-view match has been this year and left us wanting more.
What about Roman Reigns? Even though he didn't come out victorious at Great Balls of Fire, Reigns single-handedly put the monster, Braun Strowman, out of commission following their ambulance match via a brutal attack.
Speaking of Strowman, should he get the next opportunity? He did technically win the ambulance match against Reigns.
How about all of them?
As Reigns and Joe battled it out in a fantastic match to determine the true No. 1 contender for Lesnar's title, Strowman made his first appearance since Reigns put him on the storyline shelf at Great Balls of Fire, and boy did he make an impact.
Braun decimated both men with running power slams, spinebusters and corner splashes among other power moves leaving them down and out as RAW went off the air.
So where do we go from here? This is one of those situations where the obvious option is the best one. Instead of a one-on-one match for the Universal Championship at SummerSlam, a Fatal 4-Way main event featuring Lesnar, Joe, Reigns and Strowman is the most appealing and quite frankly, the right choice.
When Renee Young asked Angle to shed some light on the situation during his interview alongside Jordan after RAW, he noted that he would make a decision by next week.
The good
Adding the wrinkle that is Seth Rollins to the stale and dragged-out Dean Ambrose/The Miz rivalry was the perfect way to spice things up.
Ambrose and Rollins opened RAW this week with an entertaining segment where Rollins apologized for his part in dismantling The Shield and even offered to let Ambrose grab a chair and take a swing at him the way he did three years ago. Instead, they were attacked by the Miztourage. This sets up a two-on-three handicap match next week when Rollins and Ambrose take on The Miz, Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel. And just like that, the feud is interesting.
The Revival was back in action following its ambush of The Hardy Boyz on last week's show. The two teams went head-to-head in a solid match with The Revival coming out on top via nefarious means, likely leading to more encounters. With The Revival, The Hardy Boyz and Gallows & Anderson all being presented as legitimate threats to Sheamus & Cesaro's tag team championships, the RAW tag team division is in great shape.
Enzo Amore has always been a tremendous talker, but his achievements on the microphone since his split with Big Cass have been nothing short of stellar. That continued this week. After another entertaining promo, Enzo called Cass out and set him up for a confrontation with Big Show. Cass ended up getting the better of both the Big Show and Enzo a week after the Big Show got the better of Cass. Look for a Cass/Big Show match at some point in the near future, possibly trickling onto the SummerSlam card.
The bad
For some reason, both the RAW and SmackDown women's divisions have ceased a focus on multiple programs at once. Both shows have shined the spotlight solely on multiple superstars vying for their respective show's championships. That continued on RAW as Bayley pinned the champ Alexa Bliss for the second straight week. So who's the No. 1 contender? Angle alerted both ladies that they'll determine that in the ring next week in a one-on-one matchup. Where does Nia Jax factor in? There are a lot of unanswered questions, but they are all bunched up together. There is enough talent on each women's roster to allow for more storylines to develop.
The prolonged feud that is Finn Balor and Elias Samson continued Monday. The finish saw Samson get himself disqualified after smashing his guitar into the head/shoulder area of Balor, causing quite the gash on Balor's head. This leads to yet another match between the two next week, a no-disqualification match. It's time for Balor to progress into something with a bit more substance. Luckily, Bray Wyatt appeared on the screen following this week's match with a message for Balor. It appears we'll be shifting back to the Balor/Wyatt program that as hinted at last month, which creates a much needed opportunity for both superstars.