Road to WWE Wrestlemania 33: Week 6

This week we have moved beyond the fast lane and move ahead to Orlando. Monday Night Raw kicked off with Chris Jericho explaining why he cost Kevin Owens the Universal Title and wanting an explanation for Owens actions three weeks ago at the Festival of Friendship. Owens gave his explanation, which led to Chris Jericho suggesting a match between the two of them at Wrestlemania. Owens accepted and then a brawl broke out between he, Jericho, Samoa Joe and Sami Zayn. This lead to Zayn vs. Owens, and Jericho vs. Joe. Triple H’s boys won their respective matches. Most people thought that Jack Gallagher and Neville had the best match at WWE FastLane. Well things didn’t change much because Neville had another incredible match with Rich Swann on Raw. Once the match was over Austin Aries interviewed Neville and during that interview the crowd was on fire for Aries. Neville was angered by this which resulted in Aries attacking him. It looks like 205 Live and the Cruiserweight Division are heating up. Two big matches were set up for Wrestlemania this week. It was determined that Bayley will defend her Women’s Championship against Charlotte and Sasha Banks at the biggest show of the year. The other match that looks to be set in stone is Roman Reigns vs. The Undertaker. Braun Strowman came out at the end of Raw to challenge Reigns for another fight. He got The Undertaker instead. After The Undertaker chased off Strowman out came Roman Reigns and told The Undertaker “this is my yard now.” Raw ended with Taker chokeslamming Reigns and leaving laying in the ring.

While part timers are dominating the scene on Raw, the Smackdown roster has some great matches in place with full time members of the roster. The women’s division is being put to good use at Wrestlemania because Alexa Bliss will be defending her title against every available woman on the Smackdown. I have a feeling that a few woman from the past might just show up to claim the spotlight. When it comes to claiming the spotlight no one has been doing more to claim it then Baron Corbin. He and Dean Ambrose have been at each others throats since Elimination Chamber and things have gotten more intense by the week. This Wrestlemania could be a career defining moment for Corbin. He has the talent and attitude to do big things in WWE. A lot of people are upset about the outcome of Tuesday’s main event that saw Randy Orton defeating AJ Styles for the right to challenge Bray Wyatt for the WWE Championship. After Smackdown went off the air Styles confronted Shane McMahon which ultimately means they will end up in match on the biggest night of the year. Many feel that Styles has carried the WWE since his arrival last year. The fans feel that this is not a high profiled match and AJ deserves better. I agree that he does deserve better, but I have a feeling that all of this negative feedback is going to motivate both men into have a great match that will most likely steal the show.

Following Smackdown, 205 Live was very fun to watch due to the fact that Austin Aries made his in-ring return against Tony Nese. It seems to be the Aries wants that Cruiserweight Title but he will have to go through Neville to get it. Austin Aries is a great addition to 205 because the show lacks the names people want. I think the show would benefit from adding Kalisto and some veteran Cruiserweight to the show. Name recognition is a huge thing for WWE audiences and the need the big names to work with those who don’t have the star power. On Wednesday, NXT saw the return of Shinsuke Nakamura as he took on TJ Perkins. I love Nakamura but he seriously needs to be moved up to the main roster. I think Nakamura will do great things on either brand and will become a major player in WWE.

This concludes another week on the Road to Wrestlemania. Wrestlemania is starting to shape up and with less then four weeks anything can happen. Tune in next week to see what takes place on the Road to Wrestlemania.

Matches of the Week:
Raw- Rich Swann vs. Neville
Smackdown- Randy Orton vs. AJ Styles
205 Live- Austin Aries vs. Tony Nese
NXT: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. TJ Perkins