WWE Raw comes to us live tonight from the Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. A venue that saw WWE run Unforgiven back in 2005 when it was known as the Ford Center. Of note, the event saw Ric Flair win his final singles championship in the form of the WWE Intercontinental Championship, when he defeated Carlito. This accomplishment cemented him as a WWE Triple Crown Champion and also saw him in some rather amusing and memorable skits backstage where he would celebrate his title win with women and champagne in a limousine. Only to later amusingly Flair Flop when he exited the vehicle, his tights a little too low under the hip. Quite the encapsulation of what The Nature Boy is all about. Anyways, let’s get on to this WWE Raw card.
WWE Raw Card for October 17, 2022
Rollins vs Riddle IV
Tonight we have yet another Seth Rollins vs Matt Riddle match. Their fourth since their feud began in July. Sadly, this one is not quite as hyped up and developed as their Fightpit match at Extreme Rules just last week. However, given Matt Riddle’s victory in said match only for Seth Rollins to turn around and win the United States Championship from Bobby Lashley (we have an interesting article regarding that and Orange Cassidy here) the very next day on Raw thanks to Brock Lesnar, the match does make sense.
Riddle had defeated the now Champion just before his crowning. US and Intercontinental Championship matches have become big matches for Raw and Smackdown now under the Triple H creative regime. So while the ending might involve shenanigans, at the very least the mere fact that it’s a title match suggests that we might get another excellent match between the duo. The question is when is the match taking place, as the NFL season tends to make WWE experiment a lot with match placements. For all intents and purposes, this is the main event as far as hype for the show goes.
The Beast Is Back
Last week saw the surprising return of The Beast Incarnate, Brock Lesnar. And for the first time since the Royal Rumble, he’s separated from Roman Reigns. Ironically, it seems he’s set up to face off against the very man he faced at that Royal Rumble: Bobby Lashley. Who Lesnar attacked and cost him the United States Championship last week.
According to WWE.com The All Mighty ex-US Champion challenged Lesnar to appear on Raw tonight. A proposal Lesnar has accepted. So expect muscles, Cowboy Brock shenanigans, and an angry ex-Champion as we await to hear when this rematch will take place. And best of all for that potential rematch is the fact that it is in fact the focus. And not a distraction for Brock to keep him busy for a month. It seems this time we will get the real battle of big men these two can likely bring.
They Really Give This One Time
After nearly two months of seeing Dexter Lumis stalk The Miz, surprise him backstage, sneak into his house, crash birthday parties and other creepy things, The Miz finally gets his chance to stop this uncomfortable stalker. Who is apparently the babyface. The two face off tonight on Raw in what will be Dexter Lumis’ first match on the main roster and first match in WWE overall since April.
We Kid You Not, WWE Did In Fact Open The Forbidden Door
Hiroshi Tanahashi coined the term before facing then-AEW Champion Chris Jericho, Tony Khan then appropriated and went full WWE overhype with it to the point that it now is a part of the wrestling jargon. But believe it or not, that is in fact what has happened here. As last week saw the WWE return of The Good Brothers, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson. However, what truly makes this return shocking isn’t the fact that the current NEVER Openweight Champion got swept up by WWE. It’s the fact that he is in fact allowed to complete his scheduled New Japan dates after returning.
The last time something like this happened was when Alberto Del Rio, then AAA Megachampion, returned to WWE in 2015 and defeated John Cena for the US Championship. Initially, Del Rio and AAA insisted he would complete his AAA dates. It was not the case. However, this time, there’s a whole other regime in charge of WWE. Not to mention New Japan has in fact promoted the return of the duo on their social media. Meaning there likely a business transaction in effect.
Read More: Who Is the Longest Reigning WWE Champion of All Time?
For their first match back, the former Impact stars take on the unsung MVPs of Raw, Alpha Academy. Otis and Chad Gable. Will the Good Brothers prevail or will Gable and Otis be able to shush them and close the Forbidden Door shut? Will The Judgment Day appear in some capacity to foil the Good Brothers and continue their story with AJ Styles? Let’s see.
Also, Elias returns. How big is that beard going to be in 3 months? I guess we’ll have to tune in to this WWE Raw card to find out.
Stay tuned to the Last Word on Pro Wrestling for more on this and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world, as well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world. You can check out an almost unlimited array of WWE content on the WWE Network and Peacock.
