Quick Takes on Strowman vs. Wyatt, MITB at WWE HQ, AEW’s Britt Baker and More

The immediate fallout from WrestleMania 36 didn't provide WWE fans with many reasons to be excited for product going forward. Thankfully, the latest editions of Raw, SmackDown and NXT were strong enough to fix that as the Money in the Bank pay-per-view fast approaches.

Five qualifying matches were held between the two shows to determine who would have the opportunity to vie for the namesake briefcases May 10. We also got a better idea of what other marquee matches will take place at the event for the WWE and Universal Championships.

To make matters more interesting, this year's Money in the Bank Ladder matches will emanate from WWE Headquarters for the first time. Regardless of how the unique concept pans out, the company should be at the very least commended for trying something new,

Amid the Money in the Bank buildup, WWE announced the releases of several Superstars on Wednesday. Although some were more surprising than others, all of them couldn't have come at a worse time, with the coronavirus pandemic limiting the amount of shows other wrestling companies can run.

Post-WrestleMania layoffs are an unfortunate staple in the company but never quite to this degree. While the current climate is an obvious factor, WWE can also be blamed for its tendency to hoard talent as a way of keeping them from signing with the competition.

In addition to discussing that proclivity, this week's installment of Quick Takes will examine the top championship feuds on both Raw and SmackDown, All Elite Wrestling's Britt Baker quickly becoming a recurring highlight on Dynamite, a monumental Money in the Bank development and more.

During these unprecedented times, WWE should be doing everything imaginable to retain the viewers' interest. It successfully did that with the Boneyard and Firefly Fun House matches at WrestleMania 36, and Money in the Bank will be no different.

Both briefcases will be fought for at WWE Headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut, starting at the ground floor of the building. The first person to reach the rooftop, ascend the ladder and claim the contract will be deemed Mr. or Ms. Money in the Bank.

It's undoubtedly something that sounds like it would have happened during the latter years of WCW and could prove to be a disaster. To the company's credit, it is attempting to make the most of these difficult times by utilizing the taped nature of its events as much as possible.

More rules should be revealed in the coming weeks, but it could have promise if executed properly. If nothing else, it will go down in history as one of the most ambitious endeavors WWE has ever embarked on, and for that alone, fans should be willing to give it a chance.

Asuka, Nia Jax, Dana Brooke and Shayna Baszler have punched their tickets to the women's ladder match while Daniel Bryan is the only one confirmed for the men's contest. It will be interesting to see how both bouts continue to take shape on Raw and SmackDown and who has the best odds of emerging victorious.

Even more exciting than Drew McIntyre finally capturing the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 36 was the plethora of fresh feuds that awaited him as champ.

From Randy Orton to AJ Styles, there were a number of viable options for WWE to choose from on the Raw roster. Ultimately, it settled on Seth Rollins, who has not been involved in the world championship picture since dropping the universal title to Bray Wyatt last fall.

Rollins made his presence felt on Monday's Raw following McIntyre's successful showing against Andrade. The pair of Stomps he delivered to The Scottish Terminator established him as an immediate threat to the titleholder and set the stage for the two to do battle at Money in the Bank.

Although he's coming off a loss to Kevin Owens at WrestleMania, Rollins is the perfect person for McIntyre to be in a rivalry with. The Monday Night Messiah is a multi-time world champion and can easily absorb another defeat or two at the hands of McIntyre.

They also proved with their strong series of matches in the latter half of 2018 that they have excellent in-ring chemistry. Expect these two to steal the show come Money in the Bank and for McIntyre to go over decisively in his first major title defense on pay-per-view.

The women's division was easily AEW's most glaring weakness upon the promotion's launch in 2019. While the level of talent was never an issue, the way the women were portrayed and their lack of character development certainly was.

AEW has made strides in recent months with its women's division, but Britt Baker in particular has emerged as the biggest star of the bunch. Despite not being as technically gifted in the ring as Hikaru Shida or Riho, Baker has honed her skills as a heel and has become one of the best parts of the program week after week.

What started as her patronizing Tony Schiavone has evolved into her unleashing all of her frustration on Shida. Their recent heated battle was Baker's best to date, and the follow-up promo she cut on her foe Wednesday was perfect.

There's no rush in getting her into the AEW Women's Championship picture, so this is a good spot for her to be in for the time being. Working with exceptionally talented competitors like Shida will only help her cause and get fans to hate her that much more in the long run.

After all, she is a legitimate dentist. With her above-average mic skills and ability to turn audiences against her, she has every tool necessary to be a top heel for years to come.

On paper, a rivalry pitting Braun Strowman against Bray Wyatt makes sense.

Strowman debuted as a member of The Wyatt Family in August 2015. It was less than a year later that he broke away from the faction and became a big star in his own right.

Aside from The Fiend's one-off attack on Strowman on an episode of Raw in October, Wyatt and Stowman haven't crossed paths since they went their separate ways. It was only inevitable they would feud over the Universal Championship, but now is not the right time.

The Monster Among Men is fresh off winning his first world title. Prior to WrestleMania 36, he had been off WWE TV since Elimination Chamber in early March, when he dropped the Intercontinental Championship to Sami Zayn.

In other words, he needs to record a handful of important victories to be built back up again, and losing the universal title as quickly as he did the intercontinental title would make it even more meaningless than it arguably already is. That's why he must win at Money in the Bank.

Then again, that would come at the expense of Wyatt, who just beat John Cena at WrestleMania. Granted, it would be Wyatt's Firefly Fun House persona eating defeat and not The Fiend, but it's a lose-lose situation.

WWE could have avoided this mess by saving the storyline for SummerSlam, but there has to be a way for the company to work around delivering a decisive finish at Money in the Bank to keep both men looking strong.

WWE's round of releases Wednesday took everyone by surprise. Not only was it terrible timing, but it was also shocking to see just how many people the company had on its active roster who were directionless.

Most of the Superstars let go were victims of negligent booking at various points in their WWE careers. Others were never given chances to be successful, and that's because WWE didn't have any aspirations of utilizing them in the first place.

That's what happens when a company signs someone simply to keep them from joining the competition.

Various names over the past year have departed WWE, and none of them, aside from maybe Jon Moxley, made much of a difference when going elsewhere. That should show CEO Vince McMahon that hoarding talent isn't benefiting anyone, especially in times like these, when those released have nowhere to go given the current climate.

It's somewhat scary to think that WWE released so many stars, yet there are still more wrestlers under contract than ever before.

Once this pandemic runs its course, WWE should get into the habit of granting more wrestlers their releases if they aren't happy with where they there on the card. Giving them their long-awaited releases during a pandemic (especially after signing them to long-term deals the year before in the cases of Karl Anderson, Luke Gallows and Mike Kanellis) isn't exactly practical.

Graham Mirmina, aka Graham "GSM" Matthews, has specialized in sports and entertainment writing since 2010. Visit his website, Next Era Wrestling, and "like" his official Facebook page to continue the conversation on all things wrestling.