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.
The Wyatt Sicks continues to scare Chad Gable and make fans question their motives after appearing in the opening segment of Monday’s episode of “WWE Raw.” Money in the Bank ladder match contender Jey Uso opened up the show, but was interrupted by Gable and the pair faced off, arguing about their respective families and stables, as well as the Wyatt Sicks, before beating each other down.
Gable rolled out of the ring before Uso could hit his signature splash, but the lights in the arena went dark and the familiar piano tune signaling the Wyatt Sicks’ arrival began. The camera swung around and revealed that Uso was no longer in the ring, and smoke began filling the area. Gable hopped the barricade and started backing away into the crowd, but encountered the former Joe Gacy as Huskus the Pig, Dexter Lumis as Mercy the Buzzard, and Erick Rowan as Ramblin’ Rabbit, all backlit and menacing as Gable continued to attempt to escape. He jumped another barricade and ran up the steps of the arena, as the broadcast cut down to ringside, avoiding another implied beatdown by the stable.
Abby the Witch, formerly known as Nikki Cross, appeared in the fog and gave Michael Cole another VHS tape that was revealed to say “play me” on the side when the commentator revealed it later to the audience. Last week’s tape featured Bo Dallas seemingly holding a therapy session with himself, speaking to his Uncle Howdy character about his late brother, Bray Wyatt, whose ideas the Wyatt Sicks stable was based on.
When the taped was played on “Raw,” it showed Uncle Howdy and Dallas once again seated across from each other in what appeared to be the Firefly Funhouse. Dallas asked Howdy how much longer they were going to keep “doing this,” and why they were even there. Howdy then Dallas if he honestly believed he brought him to life, to which Dallas responded he was “destined to do this.” He told Howdy that they are the ones that “everybody wanted to forget about.”
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The most important part of the interaction came when Dallas said the other members of the Wyatt Sicks weren’t chosen, just willing, and they’ve become a family. Dallas seemed to imply that the faction is going after Gable for a reason.
“Even now, the false prophets parade, belittling their family for their own gain,” Dallas said. “It’s disgusting. They must pay for their sins.”
Howdy asked Dallas why he thought it was his responsibility, to which Dallas replied, “I am the voice of the reckoning,” and Howdy quickly responded, “I am the reckoning.”
The video then cut to Howdy and Dallas seemingly forming together, repeating the phrases, “I am nobody,” “I am all of us,” “I freed them from the cave,” and “I gave them family.” As they chanted, Howdy disappeared and fans only saw Dallas sitting in the Funhouse by himself. Howdy then reappeared and Dallas was then gone. “There you are,” Dallas’ voice said to end the video tape.
Ludwig Kaiser reportedly suffered an injury on the June 24 episode of WWE RAW, and it prompted WWE to change plans.
Kaiser faced Bron Breakker on Monday’s show, and the referee checked on him during the bout. Speaking on Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer stated that he heard that Kaiser was hurt. However, he noted that he did not know how serious the injury was. (H/t Ian Carey of F4WOnline.com)
Likewise, WrestleVotes reported that they heard that Ludwig Kaiser suffered an injury during the match. The report noted that Kaiser was scheduled to compete in the Money in the Bank qualifying match with Drew McIntyre and Sheamus on the July 1 episode of WWE RAW. WWE announced that Ilja Dragunov would be the third participant in that match.
Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful reported that there was concern that Kaiser was injured backstage on Monday.
There is concern Ludwig Kaiser is injured backstage.
— Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.com (@SeanRossSapp) June 25, 2024
The Wyatt Sicks’ resident Abby the Witch, formerly known as Nikki Cross, delivered a message to the WWE Universe from Uncle Howdy and Bo Dallas on “WWE Raw,” all while giving Chad Gable another scare. Gable was taken out backstage in an attack by the Wyatt Sicks during their debut on “Raw” last week, but was cleared to compete after suffering what looked like a head injury from the debuting faction, ultimately qualifying for the Money in the Bank ladder match by defeating “Big” Bronson Reed and Braun Strowman.
Gable — whose digital graphics could be seen glitching as he approached and entered the ring — was celebrating his victory in the ring when the lights in the arena shut off, a chilling piano tune began, and fog filled the ring. Cross crawled into the ring behind Gable, who fell down, and was backed into a corner before making his escape.
Cross then made her way out of the ring and grabbed a package ringside. She handed it off to Michael Cole, who was the only person on commentary. When the broadcast came back from commercial, Cole opened the package, which he said was addressed to his co-commentator Pat McAfee, who was not present after receiving another Wyatt Sicks scare on an episode of his ESPN show earlier in the day. The package contained a VHS tape that said “play me” on the side.
Later in the show (after somebody in production found a VCR, per Cole) the video was played for the audience. The same piano music played to start off the footage, and Uncle Howdy was shown, as the tape flashed to show the entire Wyatt Sicks faction.
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“Are you happy?” Howdy said in a distorted voice. “How have you been since the loss? Do you feel as though you have been forgotten?”
The late Bray Wyatt’s brother, Bo Dallas, who plays the Uncle Howdy character, was then shown, appearing maskless on WWE TV for the first time since he was released from the company in 2021. He told his alter ego he was “nobody.” Uncle Howdy then asked Dallas how he felt when his brother died.
“Like the most important thing in my life was taken away from me,” Dallas said. “Like nothing was ever going to matter again.”
Uncle Howdy then asked the mourning talent if he thought he was exploiting his brother’s legacy, echoing concerns expressed by many fans in the wake of the Wyatt Sicks’ debut last Monday. Dallas said that all he ever wanted his entire life was to be like his brother. He said he looked up to him and worked his entire career so he could be next to him.
“We were going to rule together. We were there. We had it,” Dallas said. “And then it was taken away from me. There is no one on this earth that feels more hurt than me from his loss. Not one person on this earth feels what I feel. What am I supposed to do? … let everyone forget about what he stood for? What he fought for? What he believed in?”
Dallas said that they made them “all remember,” to which Uncle Howdy agreed. “Yes, we did,” he told Dallas, and the camera panned to show that Dallas and his alter ego seated across from each other as the footage ended.
On the April 8th episode of WWE RAW, Liv Morgan attacked Rhea Ripley in a backstage segment which resulted in Ripley suffering a legitimate shoulder injury. She later relinquished the Women’s World Title and was written off WWE television, with an expected return timeframe of around four months.
According to a report from Fightful Select, Ripley has opted to undergo shoulder rehabilitation instead of surgery. Due to this, she may not make it back as early as expected.
With that being said, several preparations have been made so Ripley can return whenever she’s needed. It’s also possible that she could return in a non-wrestling capacity if creative decides to go that route.
While Ripley is expected to continue feuding with Liv Morgan when she returns, the specific story available at the time of her return will determine her creative direction.
Finally, it was added that the hope is that she will make an on-screen appearance in some capacity before SummerSlam 2024.
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