5 Takeaways From Monday Night Raw - 6/25/18

This is my series, simply known as "5 Takeaways", where I will share my personal main talking points coming out of Raw and SmackdownLive.

These are all my opinion, so I may miss a nugget or two. If you have something to add to my list, or a list of your own, feel free to share in the comment section below!

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Apparently there is not going to be a big "multi-man match" at Extreme Rules, as Kurt Angle announced last week (a "major announcement" it was supposed to be). Instead, it's going to be Roman Reigns vs Bobby Lashley to decide Brock Lesnar's next opponent. Since last week, the pair haven't exactly been getting along, with Lashley calling out Reigns for being unable to defeat Lesnar despite three years and countless opportunities to do so.

With a reinvigorated Bobby Lashley (no more "I love my sisters" crap) and a solid Roman Reigns, this match has the potential to be something fresh and exciting for the Raw product.

Finally, after about two long months the Authors of Pain have made their return to WWE television. After inexplicably disappearing, the intimidating tag team picked up right where they left off, in destroying a couple of jobbers. The difference this time, is it appears they have a team to feud with.

Backstage, Titus Worldwide told AOP they need to show respect, and they ran out to chase off the returning tag team after their match (it didn't make much sense for AOP to run off, but I guess it'll build the story). For a first main roster feud, they could do worse than Titus and Apollo. We'll see how the Authors write up this chapter.

This was delightful, and just a pleasure to watch. After losing a six woman tag match (teaming with Sasha Banks and Ember Moon) to the Riott Squad, Bayley absolutely snapped and destroyed Banks after the match. After repeated punches, a face-first throw into the second turnbuckle, and a sling off the apron and onto the floor, the former huggable one showed she absolutely had enough of Banks.

This was a great beatdown, and hopefully this signaled Bayley's heel turn. Honestly, I'd be fine with either one as the heel in this feud (I think it's going to be grand either way), but the way this looks headed is a very intriguing path indeed.

Kevin Owens probably my favorite heel in the company at the moment, but over the past couple of weeks, it seems as though he's being portrayed as a sympathetic figure. He took a crazy fall at Money in the Bank, and tried to befriend Braun Strowman (or at least work out a fair deal with him) before being Powerslammed and put into a match later that night.

Tonight, he was forced to team with that same monster (and actually won the match, thanks to a count out), and actually wanted to shake Braun's hand again, before he escaped and avoided certain doom. Out in the parking lot, he found out Strowman flipped his car. Poor Owens, I've never seen a more sympathetic character than him, and I'm rooting for him to hopefully overcome Strowman at some point.

This one is somewhat confusing. On one hand, Rollins failed to win back his title (in another spectacular match, I might add). It's obvious that Drew McIntyre is the problem that he needs to figure out. After a post-match beatdown, former Shield partner Roman Reigns made the save.

This is only confusing to me because Reigns is currently involved in a storyline with Lashley. While it's cool to have a superstar a part of multiple storylines at once, my question is will they intersect at some point? Could Dean Ambrose return in this storyline? Or maybe Rollins will get himself added at Extreme Rules and defeat both Reigns and Lashley for the right to face Lesnar... maybe then Roman Reigns will turn his back on Seth Rollins for good.

So many questions, but this storyline has so many potential possibilities.