As for the red brand, we know there's a four-way No. 1 contender's match coming up on "WWE Raw" involving Rollins, Damian Priest, Dominik Mysterio, and Sheamus, with the winner getting a shot at GUNTHER coming off his flash pin loss to Rhodes. Rollins probably makes the most sense in terms of signing a big-name title match for Survivor Series, but it's very possible his feud with Reed isn't over yet, and GUNTHER and Priest recently teased a renewal of their rivalry, so that option seems the most likely. WWE could also easily give a big win to Sheamus and score a rematch of his acclaimed Clash at the Castle 2022 match with GUNTHER, or go buck wild and find a way to let Mysterio win, which would be a completely different direction from GUNTHER's other world title feuds. There's also always the possibility that a different wrestler could find their way into this match by hook or by crook, and CM Punk has been talking about championship aspirations of late. It really is a blank slate; whoever wins the match on Monday's "Raw" will indicate which of many potential directions WWE has opted to go.

Similarly unclear is the situation surrounding Women's World Champion Liv Morgan, whose long-running feud with Rhea Ripley was reportedly set to continue at Crown Jewel via a singles match between Ripley and Morgan's enforcer, Raquel Rodriguez, while Morgan faced Jax in the women's Crown Jewel title match. However, with Ripley having seeming suffered a legitimate injury with no known time table for return, WWE creative might need to pivot. While the likes of Zelina Vega and Lyra Valkyria are available, the most likely option is probably IYO SKY, who could participate in tag matches with Morgan and Rodriguez alongside Kairi Sane and is basically the only other member of the "Raw" women's roster with championship pedigree. As a result, SKY would be the only viable replacement for Ripley if the plan was to take the belt off Morgan, which would presumably result in the belt being defended again with something resembling regularity. But if I'm being honest, WWE's solution to this problem will probably be to just not have Morgan defend the title again until Ripley is ready to come back.

Written by Miles Schneiderman