Tonight’s WWE Raw from the CFG Bank Arena in Baltimore, Maryland will air live on SyFy due to USA Network’s continued coverage of the 2024 Summer Olympics.
Despite the goth pomp and spooky circumstance of their arrival a month ago, The Wyatt Sicks have largely stayed away from “WWE Raw” in the weeks since, with the exception being Nikki Cross, who has been delivering packages containing the VCR tapes that featured segments from Bo Dallas and now Erick Rowan. This week, however, Cross delivered the tape prior to “Raw’s” air time, and after Rowan’s vignette aired, the entire group appeared once again, entering a WWE ring for the first time.
Earlier in the show, Chad Gable told General Manager Adam Pearce that he had solved the mystery of Uncle Howdy’s identity, confidently proclaiming it was Dallas. He then declared he would call out Dallas in the middle of the ring. Later, Gable made one last effort to persuade Otis and the rest of Alpha Academy to re-join him, but they refused. As a result, when Dallas (minus his Uncle Howdy costume) came down the ramp to answer Gable’s challenge, he wasn’t attacked from behind by Alpha Academy — he was attacked from behind by the Creed Brothers, who haven’t wrestled on “Raw” since May.
The three continued to assault Dallas, but the late Bray Wyatt’s brother only laughed. That earned him a further beating, but as Gable and the Creeds celebrated together in the ring, Dallas (who was slumped in the corner) began laughing loudly and saying “yeah, yeah, yeah”, a reference to late former Wyatt Family member Brodie Lee, known then as Luke Harper. Gable grabbed Dallas by the ears and demanded to know what he was laughing at. Dallas responded, “There you are!”
At that point, smoke began to fill the arena and the fireflies came out as the familiar music played. The Wyatt Sicks approached the ring, and Gable and The Creeds initially took fighting stances before ultimately deciding to flee. Once the rest of his new family got in the ring, Dallas dropped to his knees and threw his arms out wide, reminiscent of his late brother.
Erick Rowan spoke in the latest Wyatt Sicks video on this week’s Raw, referencing the passing of Luke Harper and Bray Wyatt. The video aired on Monday’s show, in which Rowan was asked how he’s been and said that the last few years have been hard. He said that he used to have a family and they always had each other’s backs. But then one day he lost a brother, the person who believed in him more than anyone. He said that he kept moving and life went on, but then when he thought he had everything going,m his other brother was gone too.
Rowan said that he had no more family and didn’t want to get back up after that, but he was given hope and took a hand at his lowest point. He then said that he has a purpose now and that they would “take our broken hearts and make some beautiful art.”
Due to the upcoming Summer Olympic Games, WWE’s regular programming, including Monday Night RAW and NXT, will be affected multiple times over the next month.
This is a recurring pattern every four years for RAW, although it is expected to change in 2025 when the show moves to Netflix. In the meantime, NXT will move to The CW in the fall, as the Olympic Games will be broadcast across various NBCUniversal networks, including the USA Network.
The Wrestling Observer Newsletter is reporting that RAW and NXT will be relocated to SYFY during the Olympics for four shows: RAW on 7/29, NXT on 7/30, RAW on 8/6, and NXT on 8/7.
The Wyatt Sicks continue to terrorize Chad Gable, complete with a third VHS tape delivery to commentary from Nikki Cross/Abby the Witch, after Bo Dallas revealed why the stable was going after the Alpha Academy leader in a video segment with his Uncle Howdy alter ego last week on “WWE Raw.” Last week, Dallas called Gable a “false prophet” who was belittling his family for his own gain. This week, the stable’s front man took things a step farther, appearing on “WWE Raw” for the first time without the Uncle Howdy mask since 2019 in a backstage segment.
As Gable was fighting fellow Money in the Bank ladder match contender Jey Uso following in the first match of the night, some of the lights in the arena went out while Gable had Uso in an ankle lock. Thanks to the distraction, Uso hit a spear and got the victory, then “yeeted” to the crowd and ran back in the ramp in the dark. All the lights in the arena then went out, the jarring piano tune signaling the arrival of the Wyatt Sicks began, and smoke filled the ring with Gable still in it. Cross/Abby then rose from underneath the ring once again, and Gable followed Uso up the ramp in complete darkness while the apparation once again put the box on the commentary desk, to be played later on the show.
When Michael Cole threw to the video from the commentary desk later in the night, Dallas delivered a monologue to the camera about his new family. He said he took in those that “no one wanted,” the discarded and forgotten. He said he gave them a purpose.
“They are so happy you remembered them,” Dallas said, as the video cut from the Firefly Funhouse characters to those who portray them behind the masks. Huskus the Pig was officially revealed to be the former Joe Gacy; Mercy the Buzzard, Dexter Lumis; Rambling Rabbit, Erick Rowan; and Abby the Witch, Nikki Cross.
“For grief is the price we pay for love,” Dallas can be heard saying as the video cut between characters. “So now we must set the captives free, so they need no master.”
The video of Dallas then kept cutting to show him as Uncle Howdy as he delivered the line, “Do you think we are sick?” and the over-modulated voice of Howdy from the tapes of weeks prior responded, “Yes, I do.”
“Then sick is what we’ll be,” Dallas said.
After the video, the broadcast cut to Gable backstage with “Raw” General Manager Adam Pearce. Gable lamented to Pearce that he was being targeted by the Wyatt Sicks, to which Pearce responded, “If they’re coming after you, did you stop and think why that might be?” Gable said he would deal with the Wyatt Sicks himself. Pearce turned to walk into his office, where he found Dallas waiting for him. The last thing viewers saw was Pearce walking into his office and shutting the door.
Former Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley returned to “WWE Raw” on Monday following Dominik Mysterio and champion Liv Morgan’s mixed tag team victory over the LWO’s Rey Mysterio and Zelina Vega. Ripley had been out of action due to injury at the hands of Morgan, and was forced to vacate her championship. Prior to Ripley’s departure, Morgan declared her “Revenge Tour,” and after she won the championship from Becky Lynch at Crown Jewel, she set her sights on Ripley’s boyfriend, Dominik. Earlier in the night, Judgment Day’s Damian Priest was seen backstage taking a phone call, and asked whoever was on the line (presumably Ripley) where they were, foreshadowing her return to TV.
Dominik was initially reluctant to team with Morgan, who once again got him into compromising positions through the show, but they managed to pick up the win after Morgan threw a chair in the ring to distract the referee, then helped Dominik knock Rey from the top rope, allowing Dominik to hit the frog splash and get the pin, his first victory over his father. Dominik impulsively hugged Morgan in the ring before pushing the women’s champion away, but Morgan jumped into his arms, knocking them both down with Dominik on top. At long last, Dominik seemed about to give in to Morgan’s seduction efforts — which was when Ripley’s music hit, causing both Dominik and Morgan to go wide-eyed with terror.
Ripley stormed down the ramp while Morgan scurried off through the crowd, leaving Dominik in the ring to face “Mami.” The USA Network feed cut off before the segment could be resolved, but footage from after the cameras went dark show Ripley speaking angrily to Dominik before storming right back out of the ring and up the ramp, while a hapless Dominik attempts to follow her and explain himself. Interestingly, a video posted to WWE’s social media afterward shows Morgan watching the confrontation from behind the curtain before turning away with a smile on her face.
WWE will be transitioning through various programming changes in the near future, with “WWE Raw” heading to Netflix come January 2025 as well as “WWE Smackdown” moving to the USA Network and “WWE NXT” going to CW in October. However, according to Chief Content Officer and Head of Creative Paul “Triple H” Levesque, “NXT” leaving the USA Network will not be the only change coming to the gold brand later this year.
Speaking at the Money in the Bank 2024 post press conference, “The Game” went into detail about WWE planning ahead toward making more changes to “NXT” in the fall. He also explained that, over time, the audience will see various differences to “Raw” and “SmackDown” as we inch closer to December.
“We are just getting started. I really feel like that. We got a whole fall thing coming up with CW for NXT. Which by the way Shawn is just killing it right… Whether that’s talent development, recruitment, NXT in general. I can’t say enough good stuff about it. I’m in awe of what they’re doing down there… When they move to CW, when SmackDown makes the move to USA, when Raw makes the move to Netflix. We’re just getting rolling. We’re lining up all this stuff that’s gonna happen. A lot of the changes you see now, we are slow rolling things out. When we get to the fall, when we get to the winter, there’s gonna be a lot.”
Triple H also expressed how excited he is about John Cena returning to the ring for a full year after announcing his retirement at Money in the Bank. Furthermore, he stated how grateful he is to be running creative with the current talent on the WWE roster.
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