WWE Raw tonight comes to us this week from the rather arrogantly named KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Kentucky. I know KFC chicken can be pretty good, but Yum on top of it? Did it really need the onomatopoeia on top of it? Actually, the name actually refers to Kentucky Fried Chicken, KFC for short as it rather amusingly tried to run away from fried chicken branding much like WWE has done with wrestling. Apropos of the state and its parent company, Yum! Brands. Which administers KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut and is based in Louisville. The building has been a pretty frequent stop of the WWE since its opening in 2010 with a rather impressive seating capacity of 22,000. Though, this edition of Raw is set up just for 7,560 fans.
WWE Raw Tonight
Finn Balor’s Revenge
Last week, Finn Balor tried to answer Seth Rollins’ open challenge for the United States Championship. Stating he wanted to get his revenge on Seth Rollins for costing him a title. It was never really specified what he meant, but it’s a likely reference to their match at Summerslam 2016 to crown the first-ever WWE Universal Champion. Where Finn Balor won, however, due to an errand Bucklebomb against the barricade outside, Balor suffered a dislocated shoulder and was forced to vacate the title the next day.
It’s not the first time these two have fought since. They’ve even fought over the Intercontinental title as well. Now the two meet again with a third singles title standing between them. Can this match go as expected or will something happen like last week involving Bobby Lashley and Austin Theory’s failed cash-in?
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Miz Wants To Clear His Name
This is still a thing. Last week Johnny Gargano fooled The Miz with a private investigator to get him to confess that he did in fact pay Dexter Lumis to break into his house, spook him constantly in WWE, etc. All in the vain of a publicity stunt. But Miz tried to short-change Lumis.
Miz will host an edition of Miz TV, no doubt he’ll bill it as a “special edition” as he tends to, to clear his name. No doubt the crowd will be chanting “Johnny Sports Entertainer” as this story continues. Making Road Dogg quite happy.
Matt Riddle’s Latest Mismatched Partner
It would seem the days of Matt Riddle as a serious top contender of the Raw brand died off in a near instant. After his win over Seth Rollins at the Fight Pit in Extreme Rules, then failing to defeat Seth for the United States title a week later, Matt Riddle has fallen right back onto tag teams and with yet another mismatched partner in the form of the always calm but pushed into grumpy when interrupted Elias. Who made his return a few weeks ago.
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Any sign of serious Matt Riddle has vanished. Something seemingly emphasized last week when he interrupted the very serious promo exchange between The New Day and The Usos by banging on his bongos. Which is a letter over “bongs”. You know. Haha. Weed. Funny. Either all, the duo go head to head with the unsung heroes of the brand, Chad Gable and Otis, the Alpha Academy.
The WarGames Approach
We’re just a few weeks away from Survivor Series: WarGames and we’re at least aware of one WarGames match as Damage CTRL alongside the final 24/7 Champion Nikki Cross and a 5th unannounced name are set to take on the Raw Women’s Champion Bianca Belair, Asuka and Alexa Bliss with 2 members on their own side yet to be announced.
There’s another faction war brewing on the brand as AJ Styles, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson of The OC now have Mia Yim to counteract Rhea Ripley from The Judgment Day. Will we get an intergender Survivor Series Classic match? Or something else?
Finally, we’ll have to see what the fallout will be with Bobby Lashley, Austin Theory and the very questionable finale to Theory’s run as Mr. Money In The Bank after cashing in on Seth Rollins for the US title just after an open challenge and Theory losing due to Lashley’s interference.
All that and more, on WWE Raw tonight.
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