It’s Monday. And you know what that means. The week kicks off with WWE Monday Night Raw. The final week before the 37th annual Survivor Series event. It’s set to take place from the well-known All-State Arena in the Hoffman Estates just outside Chicago, Illinois. But first, WWE Raw makes a stop not so far off north at Grand Rapids, Michigan. The Van Andel Arena. It has seen wrestling since opening its doors in 1996 and has hosted many shows, including Nitro, Collision, Raw and SmackDown.
There was one peculiar edition of SmackDown here, taped for Halloween, 2002. It had one hell of a line-up. Including Chris Benoit vs Edge, Matt Hardy vs Tajiri, future WrestleMania World title match Eddie Guerrero vs Kurt Angle, and in the main event, a match that would later headline Survivor Series 2019 for the WWE Championship: Brock Lesnar vs Rey Mysterio.
Just days before #SurvivorSeries #WarGames, @BeckyLynchWWE has a score to settle with @XiaWWE on #WWERaw! pic.twitter.com/kkEaXSwbmV
— WWE (@WWE) November 18, 2023
With that trip down memory lane traversed, let’s preview this week’s episode of Monday Night Raw.
Battle For The Man Advantage
While WCW always preferred utilizing a coin toss to determine what team would have the man-advantage for WarGames, WWE instead takes the TNA approach of having wrestlers have to wrestle for it in some way or another. For the upcoming Judgment Day vs Jey Uso/Cody Rhodes/Seth Rollins/Sami Zayn match, a tag team match is set to see who gets that advantage.
Each side must pick two men to face off. Which, well, it’s been a running theme of seeing a mix of these same eight men facing off. Who will be the 2 to fight for their side?
What of Drew McIntyre?
Last week on WWE Raw, we saw Drew McIntyre seemingly bury the hatchet with World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins. Shaking his hand and admitting that he let his anger cloud his judgment. However, it’s clear that he has not let his grudge towards The Bloodline go.
As he directly targeted Jey Uso last week as he and Cody Rhodes challenged Finn Balor and Damian Priest for the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championships. After hitting him with the Claymore, he proceeded to meet up with Rhea Ripley. Confirming that the two had struck a deal of sorts. What will the consequences be for his actions? How will the men he wound up slighting react?
No Time For Tea
Xia Li has been chasing Becky Lynch for weeks now. Only to respond “in my time” when Becky looked to accept her challenge. Pity, given that ‘The Man’ has lost the NXT Women’s Championship since. The two are finally set to face off. However, Becky Lynch has another task to work on, given she’s now scheduled to team up with Shotzi, Bianca Belair and Charlotte Flair to take on the new and improved Damage CTRL.
Battle Of The Strong Girls
Nia Jax has been back for some time now. And after both her and opponent fell short of both winning the Women’s World Championship and then a Battle Royal to challenge again, she and Raquel Rodriguez are now set to have a match after the two had an argument backstage. Who will prevail in this match of imposing women?
All that and more tonight on WWE Monday Night Raw.
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