Judgment Day Overkill, Becky Lynch vs. Trish Stratus Is a Lemon, More WWE Raw Takes

The Judgment Day continues to dominate Raw but faces some drama with the involvement of JD McDonagh.Credit: WWE.com.

Once more, WWE Raw bowed down to the power of The Judgment Day. The red brand's preeminent stable opened and closed Monday's show on top, including Finn Bálor gaining some revenge over Cody Rhodes despite losing to The American Nightmare.

Becky Lynch and Trish Stratus were supposed to close out their rivalry this week, but a double count-out and interference from Zoey Stark left another match between two without a definitive finish.

Piper Niven stepped up to become the new WWE women's tag team champion alongside Chelsea Green. They still need time to find their chemistry, but they do have potential.

Matt Riddle convinced Drew McIntyre to team up with him, adding a new name to the rotating roster of tag team partners for The Original Bro.

This show had potential throughout, but it set up more future excitement rather than delivering important moments.

While The Judgment Day becomes a bigger stable each week in WWE, the company have moved too fast in setting up the group to dominate TV time. Each week, Raw falls into the familiar pattern in which the faction opens and closes the show.

Even in a week when it looked like Becky Lynch vs. Trish Stratus would main-event, it was again Finn Bálor losing in the final match of the night. This time, Cody Rhodes was his bane rather than Seth Rollins.

Especially on Raw these days, The Prince has become the driving storyteller of The Judgment Day, even taking up more time than Damian Priest, Rhea Ripley and Dominik Mysterio, but the roster is too talented for every week to end with the same man in the main event.

JD McDonagh has begun to benefit from involving himself with the faction, but he still does not have the prestige to feel worthy of that spot over many names left on the back-burner.

NXT has shown a better path for the group where Dirty Dom continues to be a memorable nuisance, bringing new eyes to the program without overstaying his welcome week-to-week.

It would be nice to see Raw occasionally back off on the Bálor-led action to give the spotlight to exciting stories such as Imperium vs. Alpha Academy, and Shinsuke Nakamura's new heel persona.

While those stories take center stage, the heel stable can evolve, shuffling members and focus. The pieces are in place to make things fresh again with The Judgment Day, but fans will grow tired of the group if this same formula persists before the change comes.

The women's tag team division may be lacking strong teams, but the champions can still turn it around. After Sonya Deville's unfortunate ACL tear, Piper Niven was the best option to team with Chelsea Green as the new WWE women's tag team champions.

While Green and Deville did great work building their characters on Raw, Niven could elevate her new tag team partner all the more.

Few are better in the ring than the Scot. She has just lacked a good story to keep her relevant on television. As the heavy to back up Green, she fits The Hot Mess' story perfectly.

Together, they can fill in the gaps for one another in the ring and on the mic. Their first challengers will likely be Katana Chance and Kayden Carter, a committed tag team that can further elevate their act.

While Deville's injury was a blow to her and the women's division, it could be an opportunity for Niven to finally show what she can do.

Matt Riddle has consistently proved himself an impressive tag team performer, particularly in odd-couple pairings. His work with Pete Dunne in NXT translated well to a successful Raw and SmackDown run with Randy Orton.

However, Drew McIntyre should not be the next man up for The Original Bro. WWE needs fresh talent at the top of the card, and The Scottish Warrior is much better on his own than in a team.

The Judgment Day continues to feud with the same stars like Seth Rollins, Cody Rhodes, Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens. Drew McIntyre could have slotted well into this story to freshen up the picture.

Instead, working with Riddle, he will overshadow most of the division despite the talent committed to tag team wrestling. The Viking Raiders cannot afford another defeat, yet they lost to this makeshift alliance quickly.

Riddle could have helped elevate an underused talent like Akira Tozawa, Apollo Crews, Dolph Ziggler and Riddick Moss or a debuting NXT star like Odyssey Jones or Von Wagner instead.

For the past four months, Becky Lynch has been entangled in a feud with Trish Stratus that has dominated the Raw women's scene. But the time has come for both to move on.

In particular, The Man has too many interesting rivals on the roster to spend more time fighting the veteran. She needs to get her definitive win at Payback on September 2 inside a steel cage and move on.

Shayna Baszler has a story left to tell with Lynch, and Rhea Ripley needs a major challenger to solidify her status as the top woman on the red brand. The Man could even wake up the women's tag team scene if she could find a new partner.

Stratus has mainly helped elevate Zoey Stark, putting her in the best spot of her burgeoning career. However, she will do even more working with talent that needs the rub of working with the WWE Hall of Famer more.

Stratus and Stark especially have the best potential in the tag team division, feuding with newer teams like Katana Chance and Kayden Carter, Candice LeRae and Indi Hartwell, or Raquel Rodriguez and Liv Morgan once healthy.

The future is brighter with Lynch and Stratus spreading the wealth of their star power across the Raw roster.