6 Things WWE subtly told us on RAW: Break-up in 2022 to lead to WrestleMania 38 match, Popular champion set for inevitable heel turn?

Welcome to this week's edition of things WWE subtly told us on RAW. The build-up to Day 1 officially began, with the first match of the pay-per-view card being announced.

The Mysterios picked up a win at last, Bobby Lashley got a very Brock Lesnar-esque video package hyping him up, The Street Profits defeated Alpha Academy, but none of these were the highlights of the red brand.

The main show centered around the WWE title feud involving Big E, Seth Rollins, and Kevin Owens. There was a lot of storyline progression, and the episode overall was a good one. Here's what WWE subtly told us on RAW:

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#6. RK-Bro is set to stay on top of RAW for a while...atleast

RK-Bro has constantly remained one of the highlights of RAW since 2020. The storyline between the two men began in April 2021 and has continued for over seven months.

They've now been RAW Tag Team Champions for nearly half that time, and their momentum continues. The only main problem they've faced is the relative lack of challengers on the Monday night show.

AJ Styles and Omos have been the ones with whom they've feuded until recently. That has changed to Robert Roode and Dolph Ziggler, who received a tag team title match this week.

It shouldn't come as a surprise that the match was an incredibly entertaining one. It was three veterans in the ring at their best and Riddle with an exceptional performance in his own right. The comedy mixed with the intensity makes RK-Bro a success, and the crowd reaction when they retained the tag team titles says it all.

However, not all great things last forever. RK-Bro aren't going to have a New Day type of run, or anything close to it. The reality is that they'll stay perched on top until early 2022, where the cracks will start showing, and the inevitable heel turn of Orton leads to a WrestleMania 38 match in Dallas.

As for their next challengers, The Street Profits are in prime position following their win over The Alpha Academy on this week's show.

#5. Damian Priest's change in character seems to be inevitable on RAW

Ever since Damian Priest returned on RAW after Crown Jewel 2021, his character hasn't been the same. He isn't a smiling babyface any longer and has a slightly modified look, theme song, and even character.

He's using the opportunity to bring out a more intense side of himself, and that's exactly what he did this week in his United States title defense against Apollo Crews. Commander Azeez played a big role at first, constantly trying to distract Priest.

All of this infuriated the champion, and Azeez was sent away by the referee. The expressions on Damian Priest's face were slightly comical, but it represented him going into his darker side.

He isn't a full-fledged babyface anymore, and he seems to be somewhere in between. It will be interesting to see how he taps into this new side of his character, as a heel turn seems to be getting teased every other week.

Perhaps it's the kind of character development that Priest needed on the red brand to get a step ahead.

#4. Edge's next short-term feud on RAW also took aim at AEW

Edge returned to RAW as advertised, and was seemingly drooling at the prospect of all the fresh opponents he has to face on the red brand. He name-dropped the likes of AJ Styles, Kevin Owens, Damian Priest, Big E, etc. but it was neither of those men who came out.

Instead, it was The Miz who returned to WWE after his Dancing with the Stars stint to confront The Rated-R Superstar. But he wasn't alone - he was with his wife Maryse.

It was over five years ago when she returned to WWE and helped elevate The A-Lister to a whole new level. It will be interesting to see how this feud goes, but it started off in a great way. Edge even referenced AEW in his promo, saying that there are people in other shows using The Miz's name to get a pop.

For the uninitiated, the recent promo battle between MJF and CM Punk on AEW Dynamite saw Punk refer to the former as a "less-famous Miz". Edge and The Miz had an incredible promo battle in their own right, and the segment seemed to have been WWE's answer to the CM Punk-MJF segment.

Whether it was better or not is up for debate, but the fact is we saw a promo masterclass between two incredible veterans on RAW.

#3. Liv Morgan gets one over Becky Lynch, but she's far from ready to lead the RAW Women's division

This week on RAW, we saw a massive improvement from Liv Morgan in terms of her promos. It seems like she has truly taken notice of the difference in levels between her and RAW Women's Champion Becky Lynch and has stepped up her game.

This week, Morgan stood up to Lynch and didn't look foolish in the process. The Man was more of the angry, unreasonable heel and she booked a five-on-five tag team match.

It was Liv Morgan, Rhea Ripley, Nikki A.S.H., Bianca Belair, and Dana Brooke vs. Becky Lynch, Queen Zelina, Carmella, Doudrop, and Tamina. It was a good clash that was all about the bragging rights between Big Time Becks and her challenger.

In the end, it was Liv Morgan who picked up the win for her team, standing tall before her title match against Becky Lynch next week. It's all going to go down at the start of December, but Morgan is far from ready to take Lynch's spot. That's the unfortunate reality of being a somewhat filler opponent for a strong champion.

#2. The Austin Theory-Vince McMahon dynamic on RAW

Vince McMahon has taken a special interest in RAW Superstar Austin Theory. Last week, he rewarded Theory with a WWE title shot for stealing his egg. This week, he called Austin Theory into his office and told him to watch the entire episode with him.

McMahon told Theory to see if anyone "expects the unexpected" and also reminded him that if he ever stole anything again, he would kill him. Throughout the night, we saw various short segments of interaction between the two men, constantly passing comments at any given match.

Right towards the end of the show, when Austin Theory said to "expect the unexpected", Vince McMahon looked like he was going to shake his hand and send him off for the night. Instead, he tightly slapped the young superstar, much to his shock.

He told Theory that he has a lot to learn. Now, although this was a rather odd way to use him on RAW, it said a lot. For one, McMahon rarely gets involved with a superstar on-screen unless he's fully intent on pushing them. He sees Austin Theory as a future world champion and is simply grooming him for that top spot.

The McMahon-Theory interactions may not have any long-term storyline purpose, but it seems to be constructed to get the latter over in a big way.

#1. Kevin Owens' trickery on RAW leads to a spot at Day 1

While RAW might be Monday Night Rollins from one perspective, the entire episode felt like the Kevin Owens show. For almost the entirety of three hours, WWE made Owens look like the best.

For starters, Rollins' match against Big E at Day 1 was already announced. He defeated Finn Balor clean in an incredible opening match, but it all went downhill from there.

Kevin Owens was already scheduled to face Big E in the main event of RAW, and he informed Seth Rollins that if he wins, he will be added to the WWE title match at the Day 1 pay-per-view. Rollins didn't believe him and he went to check with Adam Pearce, who confirmed that no such talks happened.

However, Sonya Deville liked the idea, and they seemed to make it happen. Owens still insisted that the stipulation was as such, and when The Visionary told Pearce to take care of it, he was shocked to learn that KO somehow tricked his way into getting the stipulation.

The main event was a masterclass performance from Kevin Owens. He riled up Seth Rollins at ringside so much and attacked him, inevitably making the former world champion interfere and assault Owens.

It was only after the announcement that Rollins realized what he did - he took Kevin Owens' bait. The disqualification win ensured that KO was added to the WWE title match, and he has officially tricked his way into actual contention.

This seems to be the company's way of potentially convincing Owens to sign a new contract as his expires in two months.