Tonight’s episode of WWE RAW will take place from Laredo, Texas – airing live tonight on USA Network at 8/7C.
John Cena will be back to celebrate the anniversary of his WWE debut. Cena’s first appearance on “SmackDown” was broadcast 20 years ago today.
A Money in the Bank qualifying match is on the card and an intriguing comeback performance is being promoted for tonight’s episode of WWE “Raw”.
The following is set for tonight’s WWE RAW:
It’s not clear if Finn Balor is the new leader, but he’s certainly now a member of Judgment Day. Oh ya, and Edge has been booted from the group.
With both Damian Priest and Rhea Ripley saying it was time they shed everything that was holding them back, both decided to dump Edge as the leader of their group Judgment Day and both have sided with Finn Balor, who is now officially a part of the group.
At the onset of Monday Night Raw, it was announced that Judgment Day was going to reveal a new member. A countdown clock began and as the segment approached, it seemed like the group was going to add a member and make the faction a group of four. Instead, after Finn Balor was seemingly introduced as the newest member, everyone but Edge was in on the plan to dump him as their leader. They turned on him, sided with Balor, and Judgment Day stayed a group of three, simply swapping one member for another.
Edge said that he was excited to introduce the newest member of Judgment Day as Finn Balor. Balor came to the ring and looked like he was going to join when Priest grabbed the mic and said “We are ready to shed the last bit of limitations holding us back.” He turned to Edge and said, “Which is you.” A shocked Edge then ate a clothesline and Ripley, Priest, and Balor all attacked. Edge tried to fight back with the strength of a positive response from the crowd that was stunned to see what was unfolding, but it was no use. Edge took a Concharito for his troubles and the new version of the faction was here to stay. The former leader of the group was its patriarch no longer.
It wasn’t explained by Balor was able to convince the group to turn on their leader, especially when things were going so well for the group. The trio had just beaten Balor and his tag team partners AJ Styles and Liv Morgan the night before. One thing was for sure, it caught a number of fans off guard.
Source: TheSportster
The fallout from “Hell in a Cell” will play out on tonight’s episode of WWE “Raw.”
Cody Rhodes will give a further update on his torn pectoral muscle.
Former WWE Divas Champion Maryse is set to return to WWE programming on tonight’s “Raw”. She and The Miz are promoting the Season 3 premiere of their reality TV series “Miz and Mrs”. The show will air on Monday nights at 11 PM ET, and immediately following “Raw”.
Bobby Lashley scored a win at “Hell in a Cell”. He won a handicap match against MVP and Omos when he forced MVP to tap out to the Hurt Lock. Lashley indicated after the match that he has his sights set on the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship, currently held by Roman Reigns.
Bianca Belair is still the “Raw” Women’s Champion coming out of Sunday’s event. She pinned Asuka to win the “Triple Threat” title match that also included Becky Lynch.
WWE went back to the brand split six years ago. According to a new report, the format “is essentially done” now.
It’s been six years since WWE went back to the brand split for its main roster stars, but a new report suggests that the format will end soon.
In recent weeks, WWE has been showcasing plenty of Raw stars on SmackDown and vice versa. There is only one world championship for the male superstars (Roman Reigns is the Undisputed WWE Universal Champion) right now, and The Usos defeated RK-Bro on SmackDown last week to become the “Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champions.”
Speaking on Wrestling Observer Live (h/t Ringside News), Bryan Alvarez reported that the brand split format “is essentially done” now, pointing out that several Raw stars are going to be on this week’s edition of SmackDown. Mike Johnson of PWInsider.com recently reported that Seth Rollins, Cody Rhodes and Kevin Owens are scheduled to appear on SmackDown this Friday.
“This isn’t anything official, but the brand extension is essentially done,” Alvarez reported. “Half of the RAW crew is going to be on SmackDown Friday. Cody’s gonna be there, I think Seth is gonna be there. Edge doing whatever and it makes for a better show, as we’ve mentioned a thousand times.”
Reigns defeated Brock Lesnar in a “Winner Takes All” unified title bout at WrestleMania 38 to become the Undisputed WWE Universal Champion. He and The Usos have appeared on Raw frequently over the last two months, and RK-Bro has made several appearances on the SmackDown brand.
For the 2019 Superstar Shake-Up, Vince McMahon introduced a “Wild Card Rule” which allowed four superstars on each brand to appear on the opposite brand per week. The rule was taken out following the 2019 WWE Draft and SmackDown‘s move over to Friday nights on FOX.
WWE’s decision to go back to the brand split in 2016 was a great success in many ways. Having differnet championship belts on each brand really helped the company build new main event stars, after all. So it’s certainly interesting to see the company basically move away from the brand split formatting and rules, at least for the time being. Instead of pushing different tag team and world championship holders on Raw, WWE has put all of its eggs into one basket here. Only time will tell if the decision to go all-in on The Bloodline’s historic push pays off over the long run.
Source: TheSportster
WWE RAW takes place tonight from the Ford Center in Evansville, In.
Sasha Banks and Naomi made headlines this week by walking out of the Raw tapings. WWE has released a statement on the matter.
More details have emerged regarding the story of Sasha Banks and Naomi walking out of last night’s edition of WWE Raw.
As previously covered here, multiple reports stated that the Women’s Tag Team Champions walked out ahead of Raw because of creative frustration. Apparently, the initial planned main event was a Raw Six-Pack Challenge to decide the challenger for Bianca Belair’s Raw Women’s Championship.
Banks was reportedly unhappy with the plans for the match, which led to her leaving the taping. Naomi decided to walk out as well, and Raw commentator Corey Graves even acknowledged it during the show. In the main event, Asuka defeated Becky Lynch to become the new No. 1 contender for the Raw Women’s Championship.
During the show, Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.com shared a statement that he received from WWE. The statement claims that the Women’s Tag Team Champions were carrying suitcases when they entered the office of John Laurinaitis.
Banks and Naomi placed their title belts on his desk and “walked out”. According to the statement, that and Naomi “claimed they weren’t respected enough as tag team champions.” WWE offered “regret” for not being able to perform the planned main event. You can read the full statement below:
When Sasha Banks and Naomi arrived at the arena this afternoon, they were informed of their participation in the main event of tonight’s Monday Night Raw.
During the broadcast, they walked into WWE Head of Talent Relations John Laurinaitis’ office with their suitcases in hand, placed their tag team championship belts on his desk, and walked out.
They claimed they weren’t respected enough as tag team champions. And even though they had eight hours to rehearse and construct their match, they claimed they were uncomfortable in the ring with two of their opponents – even though they’d had matches with those individuals in the past with no consequence.
Monday Night Raw is a scripted live TV show, whose characters are expected to perform the requirements of their contract. We regret we were unable to deliver, as advertised, tonight’s main event.
After walking out during WWE RAW this week, Sasha Banks has backstage heat, according to Dave Meltzer on the latest edition of Wrestling Observer Radio.
These feelings were passed on from people not in WWE management, but they also weren’t aware of the full situation going on. Naomi’s name was not mentioned, so it is unknown whether or not there are the same feelings towards her right now.
Since then, Sasha Banks has unfollowed all WWE-related social media accounts, including Vince McMahon. Meanwhile, a friend of Naomi’s has tweeted at length about the issue, citing creative as the problem here. Naomi was set to win the match that last night and face Belair at Hell In A Cell.
She was going to pin Nikki A.S.H. to achieve that goal, not Sasha, as had been speculated. It is believed that they wanted to focus on improving the tag team division instead. Neither woman reportedly had any safety concerns about their opponents, despite what WWE claimed.
There has yet to be a confirmed reason for why they left the show, and the exact issues that have taken place. Neither Sasha Banks nor Naomi has made a comment on the matter at the time of writing.
Sources: TheSportster and Wrestling Inc.
WWE RAW takes place tonight from the Scope Arena in Norfolk, Virginia.
Bobby Lashley locks himself inside of a steel cage with “The Nigerian Giant” Omos
RK-Bro, RAW Women’s Champion Bianca Belair, Becky Lynch, Edge, Damian Priest and Kevin Owens are also scheduled to appear.
Tonight’s WWE RAW will take place from the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, North Carolina with the WrestleMania Backlash go-home build.
The Bloodline looks to take over Monday Night Raw tonight
SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Usos and Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns are set to appear to hype their WrestleMania Backlash six-man with Drew McIntyre and RAW Tag Team Champions RK-Bro.
You can also expect the following programs to continue tonight, among others: Cody Rhodes vs. Seth Rollins, Ezekiel vs. Kevin Owens, Asuka vs. Becky Lynch, AJ Styles vs. the Judgment Day stable.
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