The week begins and it’s time for WWE Monday Night Raw. The SEASON PREMIERE of Monday Night Raw. Now, that would sound very silly to many. As WWE takes no real breaks. However, the nature of television sees the fall season as being the peak season for major programs. It’s when all the big shows start.
So, WWE places this there too. After all, it’s when most people are watching TV. Yeah, it’s a bit silly. It’s a TV thing. But it’s also led to a rather stacked line-up for tonight. From the Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. WWE hosted Raw here on June 30th, 2008. A rather infamous show that saw Jim Ross say goodbye to the WWE Raw brand, only to be mocked by Edge.
This led to Batista attacking him and CM Punk cashing in his first Money In The Bank and winning his first of five World titles in WWE (excluding the ECW World title) and starting a rather uneventful run for him as Champion.
TOMORROW on the SEASON PREMIERE of #WWERaw:#TheJudgmentDay gets their chance to reclaim the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Titles from @CodyRhodes and Jey @WWEUsos 👀🔥
📺 8/7c on @USANetwork pic.twitter.com/gTTEKovQmu
— WWE (@WWE) October 15, 2023
Fastlane Rematch
At Fastlane, Cody Rhodes and Jey Uso ended abruptly the Undisputed Tag Team title run of The Judgment Day, defeating them in the opening match. Then they went and got absolutely sloshed. But the rematch is set for tonight. As Rhea Ripley continues to express frustration in Damian Priest’s recent shortcomings. Though as of late, JD McDonagh has also been getting angry looks from the group. Will Jey and Cody retain or will the boys make Mami happy once again?
Big Boys In Action
Gunther continues his line of TV title defenses and this time has a literally big challenger in Bronson Reed. The former NXT North American Champion won a 4 Way match last week to win this opportunity and let’s face fact. If these two are cut loose, it will be amazing. Gunther’s abilities at this point are no secret.
While Bronson has been in a bit of a start/stop situation since returning to WWE, those who have seen his work in Impact! Wrestling and New Japan Pro Wrestling, where he managed to defeat Kazuchika Okada, know that we could be in for a very exciting treat tonight on WWE Raw.
An NXT Feud Revisited
Given the current landscape of the women’s division, it’s doubtful that we’ll truly get to see what these two were able to do in NXT years ago. But it’s still worth remembering. Shayna Baszler was a dominant NXT Women’s Champion until the December 18th, 2019 edition of NXT where the two met in a fantastic main event where Rhea Ripley won the title, celebrated with the crowd coming into the ring and NXT netted their first of two clean-sweep ratings victories over AEW Dynamite for the duration of the Wednesday Night War.
It was without a doubt one of the bigger highlights of that period for NXT. Will Raw be able to recreate that magic? It’s sadly doubtful. Rhea’s Women’s World title is not on the line while Raquel Rodriguez and Nia Jax are also entwined in this story. So, a short burst cut short by interference may be the likely scenario for tonight.
Can Ricochet Rise?
Ricochet has not had a very good few years in WWE. However, since his feud and match with Logan Paul, there seem to be hints of potential for him. He and Shinsuke Nakamura have been involved with each other since Money In The Bank. And things have slowly escalated.
Especially after Nakamura’s heel turn and feud with World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins. As the two continue to butt heads, we now get what seems to be a big-time pay-off match. As they go one one-on-one in a Falls Count Anywhere match. It will be Shinsuke’s second hardcore match in 2 weeks, a rather peculiar and uncharacteristic trivia note for the King Of Strong Style. Ricochet has not had a televised victory since last June. It just so happened to have been a victory over Shinsuke Nakamura.
We also have Piper Niven, one-half of the WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions taking on Natalya. As Natalya and new friend Tegan Nox seem keen on going after the Tag Team titles. Plus, Kevin Owens has been traded to SmackDown. Will this affect Sami Zayn? All that and more on tonight’s “Season Premiere” edition of Monday Night Raw.
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