The week begins so it’s of course time for WWE’s Monday Night Raw. Live from the Intrust Bank Arena in Wichita, Kansas. A couple of years ago, 2020 to be exact, WWE visited the venue just before the COVID-19 Pandemic. The January 20th edition of WWE Monday Night Raw saw a couple of pretty neat things as the first match of the episode featured Andrade retaining the WWE United States Championship against Rey Mysterio.
The episode also saw Seth Rollins, amid his “Monday Night Messiah” days, alongside Buddy Murphy, defeat The Viking Raiders to win the Raw Tag Team titles. It was a peculiar period creatively for WWE. But would only get weirder when the COVID-19 Pandemic would come over a month later.
WWE Raw Tonight Full Card
It’s Rhodes vs Miz Again
It was a rather predictable outcome last week when it was announced “The American Nightmare” Cody Rhodes would appear on Miz TV, that they would end up butting heads and setting up a match. It was a matter of if it would be that same night or if they would wait a week. What’s interesting coming out of the segment is that The Miz involved Dominik Mysterio and Rhea Ripley and managed to pit the two second-generation wrestlers against each other.
As Cody seems ready for his first match following his broken arm at the hands of Brock Lesnar. Though it seems Lesnar won’t be around for a while, given Cody’s remark of him “going on his annual hibernation”. Despite that, it seems Rhodes has found someone to keep him busy while Lesnar “hibernates”. Which will likely come into play during this match with The Miz.
An Ode To PWG
The Unified WWE Tag Team Champions are set for tag team action. Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens will face two members of Imperium once again. However this time, it’s the team of Ludwig Kaiser and the Intercontinental Champion Gunther.
While Ludwig Kaiser himself never actually wrestled for Pro Wrestling Guerilla, Gunther, Zayn, and Owens did. And the idea of Owens and Zayn vs Gunther and Kaiser, who was, in fact, a tag team and represented the independent version of Imperium, RINGKAMPF, would fit perfectly in the famous independent promotion. But alas, the two teams were from different periods.
The interesting thing is that WWE seems like it’s about setting up a match for Gunther that might delve into his actual past. As Matt Riddle has expressed intent on going after the current Intercontinental Champion. It would be an extremely fitting match for Money In The Bank, which happens to take place in London. The two faced off many times for many independent promotions. But their most notable matches took place in PROGRESS Wrestling over the PROGRESS Atlas Championship. But speaking of Matt Riddle…..
The Final Qualifier For Money In The Bank
While Matt Riddle seems to be crossed between a possible match with Gunther or heading to the Money in the Bank Ladder Match, Damian Priest, his opponent to determine the last spot in said Ladder Match, is just coming off two losses to the World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins. Moreover, we saw the same kind of drama play out between Priest and fellow Judgment Day member Finn Balor as we would with The Bloodline.
What’s to become of The Judgment Day as this drama unfolds? And can Matt Riddle exploit it to get to Money in the Bank? Or will Damian Priest finally find himself on a winning route?
What’s To Become Of Rhea Ripley’s Title?
As of this writing, no announcement has been made. However on SmackDown this past Friday, Asuka’s Raw Women’s Championship was officially rebranded as the “WWE Women’s Champion”. I guess we’re supposed to ignore the bizarre “Undisputed” designation written on the physical title. This obviously raises the question of what happens with Rhea Ripley’s SmackDown Women’s Championship.
It’s become clear now that the reason these two never swapped their titles despite being on opposite brands was because of this. So it’s expected that Rhea’s title will also be rebranded in a similar fashion and may likely mirror Raw’s World Heavyweight Championship in name and design.
All that and more to come tonight on WWE Monday Night Raw.
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