5 Takeaways From Monday Night Raw - 7/30/18

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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Ever since the Authors of Pain ditched Paul Ellering, they've been on a downfall. Sloppy promos, average (at best) in-ring work, and no story have dragged the NXT duo down on the card.

These two had the potential to be an absolutely dominant tag team (and still do), but they desperately need a mouthpiece to do so. It all starts on the mic, and hopefully the rest will fall in line from there.

What happened to Finn Bálor? Just a few years ago he was crowned the first ever Universal champion. At this point in 2018, he's stuck in another "haha you're a small person" feud with Baron Corbin. I like the both of them, but there really is no point in extending this feud at all, as no one benefits from it.

Imagine Bálor on Smackdown, battling the likes of AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, or Daniel Bryan in the WWE title picture. Even if that push doesn't come immediately, matches with Andrade Almas, Rusev, or Shinsuke Nakamura for the US title would be a step up from where he is now.

After an entertaining (but quickly draining) rivalry between the B-Team and the Deleters of Worlds, it seems as though that could be coming to an end (or at least adding some fresh faces to it).

The Revival got involved during a promo between the two teams, and defeated the former champions, possibly solidifying a title match in the near future (at Summerslam, perhaps?).

It appears as though WWE are intent on keeping Sasha and Bayley together as a team. It's obviously going to lead to a cold-blooded heel turn for one of them, it's just a matter of time. Until that happens and the start of their feud begins, my guess is we'll see more tag matches with these two.

After beating the Riott Squad (Liv Morgan and Sarah Logan), it is obvious they are the center focus of the Raw women's division (besides anyone named Alexa Bliss or Ronda Rousey). There are rumors of a possible women's tag team championship in the works, so there very well could be some sort of tournament, possibly ending with a Sasha/Bayley win at Evolution.

The first Raw appearance by Lesnar in approximately 7 years didn't disappoint. He spent most of the night backstage, refusing to come out, and even snapped out at his own manager, Paul Heyman. After this outburst, it seemingly could only go downhill from there, and it did.

Earlier in the night, Heyman was told that if he didn't get Lesnar to come out, he'd be fired. Brock made their relationship perfectly clear, and told him "We're not friends. You work for me". He eventually came out and F-5'd Raw GM Kurt Angle, before intimidating Constable Corbin as well.

This is actually quite interesting, in that it leaves room for a potential turn by Heyman (if he aligned with new Universal champion, Roman Reigns, that'd be just awesome). We obviously don't know where we're going from here, but there's always Braun Strowman (or possibly Kevin Owens) to worry about when Brock Lesnar or the Universal title is concerned.

Thanks for reading! Did I miss any good points? Is there something you agree or disagree with? Sound off in the comments below, and be sure to check out my SmackdownLive Takeaways tomorrow!