WWE Raw will air live tonight on the USA Network from the Wells Fargo Center in Des Moines, Iowa.
WWE Undisputed Tag Team Championship Match: The Judgment Day’s Finn Balor and Damian Priest (c) vs. The Creed Brothers
WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship Match: Chelsea Green and Piper Niven (c) vs. Katana Chance and Kayden Carter
WWE International Championship Match: Gunther (c) vs. The Miz – If Miz loses, he will not be able to challenge for the title as long as Gunther is champion.
Omos, Dexter Lumis, and Odyssey Jones all seemingly vanished from prominent spots on WWE TV, leaving fans with little indication of their futures.
Fightful Select is reporting that Omos is off TV to keep the giant superstar’s appearances special so that he can transition into an attraction role like Brock Lesnar or in the past Big Show. Omos currently works on select Live Events against talent like Akira Tozawa. There are reportedly few pitches if any headed his way. Omos last worked a notable program with Brock Lesnar, which culminated in the opening match of Night 2 of WrestleMania 39.
Dexter Lumis is currently not injured, but not on tour. The popular NXT star is said to be ready to go whenever Creative has plans for him, but like Omos there are no plans at the moment.
One superstar that has been the subject of pitches is Odyssey Jones. Jones has reportedly been pitched as an addition to the faction of Bobby Lashley and the Street Profits, though there have yet to be any developments past the pitch stage. Jones has been on the road, working tag matches with Cameron Grimes against Austin Theory and Grayson Waller at Live Events.
Jones has actually been mentioned by Omos in the past as someone that he would like to wrestle. The future special attraction said that he feels a responsibility to his fellow giant wrestlers to help them learn to adapt to life on the road, which is often not friendly to people of their size.
Charlotte Flair appeared to suffer a knee injury during her match against Asuka on Friday Night SmackDown last week, as she was spotted yelling “my knee” at Charles Robinson who was tending to her after the match. We’ve been waiting for any kind of diagnosis in the meantime and the first bit of official news to come out is not good.
Indeed, WWE announced during this week’s show that Flair did indeed suffer a knee injury on a spot coming off the ropes and she will have to miss nine months of action.
According to a report from Pwinsider, Flair suffered a torn ACL, a torn MCL and a torn meniscus after falling from the top rope. Additionally, it is believed that she suffered a strain to her neck. While the surgery has not taken place just yet, it is expected to happen in the near future.
The timing of this couldn’t be worse, considering we’re just before the holidays and WWE is gearing up for its biggest time of the year, the Royal Rumble to WrestleMania 40 push. Flair was undoubtedly going to be a major part of both.
After LA Knight defied Randy Orton’s wishes, expressed near the beginning of Friday’s episode of “WWE SmackDown,” by coming down the ramp to thwart an attack from Solo Sikoa, WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns took matters into his own hands, smashing Knight and hitting the ring to attack Orton.
AJ Styles Returns, Attacks Roman Reigns (But Also LA Knight) On WWE SmackDown Christian Bertrand/Shutterstock BY JON JORDAN/DEC. 15, 2023 10:41 PM EST After LA Knight defied Randy Orton’s wishes, expressed near the beginning of Friday’s episode of “WWE SmackDown,” by coming down the ramp to thwart an attack from Solo Sikoa, WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns took matters into his own hands, smashing Knight and hitting the ring to attack Orton.
And then AJ Styles’ music hit.
“The Phenomenal One” emerged through the WWE Universe, dressed all in black, and hit “The Tribal Chief” with a Phenomenal Forearm. But what looked to be a simple evening up of the numbers game — as well as Styles exacting revenge by association for Sikoa’s taking him out last we saw him — turned sideways when the leader of The OC turned his attention toward Knight, obliterating him with a clothesline. Styles then exited the ring and walked past the battered Bloodline, all of whom ogled him awkwardly as he went to the back without any further interaction.
Orton, who challenged Reigns earlier in the night for the Universal Championship, looked confused as most onlookers probably felt throughout these events and once Knight came to off the mat, he looked equal parts perplexed and livid while staring down the departing Styles. Though there’s no official answer as of yet to Orton’s challenge, it seems reasonable that an Orton/Reigns bout will take place at Royal Rumble and now possibly Knight and Styles as well.
It seems last Friday’s episode of “WWE SmackDown” may be one Charlotte Flair will wish she could forget. During a match against Asuka, the 15-time women’s champion took a nasty spill off the top rope, hitting her head and landing awkwardly on her leg, leading to the match being quickly wrapped up. The injury has since been confirmed to be legitimate, and judging by WWE’s current reaction, it doesn’t appear Flair will be around any time soon. PWInsider reports that Flair has returned to her home in Florida and has been pulled off the road until further notice. As of this writing, it’s unclear how much time Flair will miss, though WWE is said to be moving quickly to determine the nature of the injuries she suffered during the match.
This will be Flair’s third absence in the past year and a half, having missed over seven months in 2022 and another two months earlier this year. However, neither absence appeared to be caused by injury — in 2022 it was attributed to her marriage to AEW star Andrade El Idolo, while her missed time this year seemed to be a planned break after her loss to Rhea Ripley at WrestleMania 39.
Should Flair miss a significant amount of time, it would throw a wrench in the current direction of the “SmackDown” women’s division, which has seen Flair, Bianca Belair, and Shotzi feuding with a revitalized Damage CTRL comprising Bayley, Dakota Kai, Kairi Sane, Asuka, and WWE Womens’ Champion IYO SKY. Alongside Becky Lynch, the trio recently defeated Damage CTRL in a WarGames match at the Survivor Series PLE.
One of the more unfortunate aspects of the WWE-UFC merger earlier this year was that it led to several within WWE, both in and out of the ring, losing their jobs this past September. And while the releases will surely still sting, with the end of December quickly approaching, many of the in-ring talents will finally have a chance to get back in the ring for another promotion.
PWInsider Elite reports that the bulk of talents let go by WWE in September are set to have their noncompete clauses expire next Thursday, December 21. Among the talents that would now be available to work for any promotion they choose are Dolph Ziggler, Mustafa Ali, Shelton Benjamin, Dana Brooke, Aliyah, Rick Boogs, Mace, Mansor, Riddick Moss, Top Dolla, Elias, Dabbo-Kato, Quincy Elliot, Yulisa Leon, Shanky, and Matt Riddle.
Many of the released WWE names have already been announcing future bookings, though so far all are for events one month after their noncompetes end. The includes Ziggler, who announced over the weekend that his first match outside of WWE would take place on January 20 in Puerto Rico, where he’ll work for the World Wrestling Council. Mace and Mansoor are set to compete at Effy’s Big Gay Brunch the same day, though they have already made one non-wrestling appearance for Deadlock Pro Wrestling this past weekend. Matt Riddle has also lined up future bookings for that month, with the controversial wrestler going down to Mexico to work for The Crash Lucha Libre on January 19.
The main broadcast kicked off with Shawn Michaels, but he was immediately interrupted by CM Punk, making his first appearance in NXT in over 10 years. They had a bit of banter, with Punk teasing that he may join NXT.
NXT North American Championship Match: Dragon Lee (w/ Rey Mysterio) def.Dominik Mysterio (c) to win the Championship.
NXT Women’s Champion Lyra Valkyria appeared on the entrance ramp, but she was attacked from behind by a returning Cora Jade, who aimed her focus on the NXT Women’s Title.
Carmelo Hayes & Trick Williams trained backstage ahead of their matches tonight. Williams told Hayes to take care of business against King, to which Hayes responded by saying that King would get his.
Carmelo Hayes def. Lexis King.
After the match, Lexis King said that he did not actually attack Trick Williams, and he thanked Hayes for the easy PLE Spotlight.
Cora Jade was interviewed saying that she was here to make a change to the Women’s Division.
Trick Williams apologized to Carmelo Hayes for getting Lexis King between them. Hayes accepted the apology and told Williams to “Whoop That Trick” tonight.
Men’s Iron Survivor Challenge: Trick Williams (4) def. DIJAK (3), Bron Breakker (3), Tyler Bate (3) & Josh Briggs (2).
Josh Briggs & Fallon Heley were met by Brooks Jensen, but Meta Four (Noam Dar, Oro Mensah, Lash Legend & Jakara Jackson) made fun of them. This led to a brawl backstage.
Steel Cage Match: Kiana James def. Roxanne Perez.
Izzy Dame attacked Perez, leading James to hit a chair-assisted Knee strike for the win.
There was a video package highlighting the participants of the Men’s NXT Breakout Tournament.
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