Predictions for WWE Raw, SmackDown and AEW Dynamite for Week of October 5

It's time to shake things up again!

This week in pro rasslin' brings with it the start of the WWE Draft, a two-night extravaganza that starts on SmackDown, ends on Raw and most definitely does not make up for the creative shortcomings that have plagued the company in recent years.

No matter who it shuffles between shows.

While trying to predict that annual reset is nearly impossible, there is plenty else going on that will give fans an indication of what it can expect in the coming weeks and months of WWE TV.

Not to mention AEW, which has a fairly significant show of its own this Wednesday, headlined by a tribute to Chris Jericho and a Dog Collar Match for the TNT Championship between Cody and Mr. Brodie Lee.

What can fans expect from this week in sports entertainment and how might it affect the respective companies moving forward?

Take a look for yourself.

Robert Roode returned to Raw last week, losing a hard-fought main event to WWE Champion Drew McIntyre. While he may not remain in the hunt for the top prize on Monday nights, the first match announced for this week's show suggests he will be in title contention elsewhere.

Roode will team with longtime partner Dolph Ziggler and Randy Orton to battle McIntyre and The Street Profits in a Six-Man Tag Team main event.

We already know McIntyre and Orton are in the midst of an intense rivalry but look for Roode and Ziggler to stake their claim to a tag title opportunity by way of their interaction with Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins. 

And why not?

It's not like Raw has any other teams that could easily slide into the role of challenger right now.

The brand completely exhausted Angel Garza and Andrade vs. the champs and an injury suffered by the former at Clash of Champions takes that match off the table anyway. Any combination of The Hurt Business could have worked but they appear to be preoccupied by their 10,000th match with Apollo Crews.

Ziggler and Roode were not doing anything else, they have credibility as former champions themselves and they tend to hang around the upper-midcard, potentially giving Ford and Dawkins they greatest exposure in some time.

It benefits all involved and provides Hell in a Cell a tag title match on short notice, making it even more effective and sensible.

Kevin Owens made the mistake of trying to talk sense into Alexa Bliss after a month of sporadic behavior following her encounter with "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt. Doing so incited the wrath of the masked maniac, who put him down with the Mandible Claw this past Friday on SmackDown and left hand-in-hand with Bliss.

Monday, Owens invites Bray Wyatt to the Kevin Owens Show for a followup to the angle.

Given the fact that Wyatt cannot be involved with Roman Reigns right now for storytelling purposes, and Owens has nothing else better to do over on the red brand, this is actually a really intriguing use of both Superstars.

Owens has been an engaging and likable talk show host but when he is pushed to the limit and pissed off, no one can unleash fury quite like WWE's resident Prizefighter. Look for him to drop the host of the Firefly Funhouse with a Stunner on this week's flagship, further intensifying the blossoming rivalry and setting the two on a collision course at Hell in a Cell.

After all, The Fiend is a character tailor-made for Halloween and Hell in a Cell is an October pay-per-view. It only seems logical that he would be involved in some form or fashion. Owens gets him there and sets up a rare first-time showdown between former world champions.

It was fairly clear from the moment he debuted in NXT that Ridge Holland was destined to be a star with the black and yellow brand. He was accompanied by video packages and worked with Johnny Gargano right out of the gate. Last Wednesday, he returned to television, tossing Cameron Grimes around the ring.

It was his appearance on Sunday's TakeOver 31 that has some expecting a significant push imminently.

In the closing moments of the show, Holland appeared at ringside carrying the battered body of Adam Cole. He nonchalantly dumped the former champion over the guardrail and to the floor before leaving, with no explanation for his actions.

That the last thing fans saw on that broadcast, after a five-star main event between Finn Balor and Kyle O'Reilly, was Holland is an indicator of NXT Creative's huge plans for the former rugby star.

Holland will likely be involved in some sort of conspiracy to attack Cole and further the breakup of the Undisputed Era. Cole and O'Reilly have clearly been headed toward a babyface turn while Roderick Strong and Bobby Fish have remained fairly heel-ish.

Do not be surprised if Holland is revealed to be in cahoots with the latter two as some sort of new faction already set to replace the most dominant in NXT history.

Cody returns to the squared circle for the first time since losing the TNT Championship to Mr. Brodie Lee in four minutes, hellbent on erasing that humiliation and disgrace from his record. To do so, he will have to defeat the man that embarrassed him in such short order, this time in a rare Dog Collar Match.

It is an old school gimmick bout made famous by Roddy Piper and Greg Valentine at the inaugural Starrcade back in 1983, and one that carries a considerable amount of gravity with it. Can Cody and Lee pull off an appropriately brutal, violent and awe-inspiring grudge match with the gold on the line?

If the brawl between them last week is any indication, yes.

Speaking of indications, the motivation behind the match and the story told on last week's show during Cody's promise is that of redemption. The American Nightmare is not rolling into Wednesday's broadcast prepared to lose, nor will he.

Cody will defeat Lee, regain his title and leave fans wondering what it all means for a Dark Order faction that had been built up strongly for the last two months.

The Dark Order had overcome so many booking hurdles that the idea of stunting its growth by booking Cody to go over leaves one wondering what the point of featuring them so prominently of late was.

Hopefully, AEW has a contingency plan in place so that Lee and Co. do not lose momentum by way of defeat. Otherwise, Cody's win will spark questions about the long-term booking decisions being made in Jacksonville for everyone outside of The Elite.

We knew from the moment Bayley and Sasha Banks began hinting at dissension within their team that it was leading to a red-hot rivalry between them over the SmackDown Women's Championship.

Bayley's betrayal of Banks and The Boss' vengeful return has the two icons of the Women's Revolution set up for a showdown on Friday's SmackDown.

A simple blowoff on an episode of SmackDown, even if it is the start of the WWE Draft, does not feel like a setting big enough or worthy of their first match of any significance in years.

With Hell in a Cell on October 25, it makes more sense for the best friends-turned-bitter enemies to settle their differences inside the demonic structure.

Thus, Friday's match will end in some controversial fashion to set that match up.

Maybe Bayley gets herself disqualified. Perhaps Banks unleashes to the point that Bayley takes her title and walks out. Maybe a non-finish serves as the reason for a second match.

Whatever the case, the match will not be a straight-forward title defense with a definitive finish that robs fans of the Hell in a Cell match they deserve between The Role Model and The Blueprint.