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.
Pat McAfee missed last night’s WWE Raw due to a reported family emergency.
Raw took place in Indianapolis, where McAfee lives and hosts The Pat McAfee Show. Despite this, McAfee was absent from the commentary team. The Miz filled in briefly alongside Michael Cole, who handled most of the commentary alone.
According to PWTorch, McAfee’s absence was due to a “legitimate last-second family emergency.” McAfee has not yet commented publicly on the situation.
Speculation arose that the storyline might explain McAfee’s absence as being caused by the Wyatt Sicks. This group, which debuted on Raw last week, had caused disruptions on The Pat McAfee Show, leading some to connect the dots.
“My normal broadcast colleague Pat McAfee, not here tonight,” Cole announced at the start of Raw. “I’m not going to read too much into that.”
It’s unclear if McAfee’s absence will be integrated into the Wyatt Sicks storyline. During Raw, a mysterious box was delivered to the commentary desk, containing a VHS tape featuring Bo Dallas/Uncle Howdy talking about Bray Wyatt’s death.
After covering for McAfee, The Miz competed in the main event, where he and R-Truth lost the World Tag Team titles to Finn Balor and JD McDonagh of Judgment Day.
Yesterday on The Pat McAfee Show, Pat announced that his Father-In-Law had passed away.
“… Yesterday was a day that is obviously a day that will be remembered forever in our family because my father-in-law passed away unexpectedly after the [talk] show ended yesterday in a hospital here in Indianapolis, Indiana,” McAfee explained on “The Pat McAfee Show.” “He had been in the hospital fighting an infection, and on Friday, we were told that he was probably going to be discharged by Sunday. They had figured it out, and he was going to be okay. So we are all in high hopes with incredible optimism, and then yesterday, literally as the show is ending, my wife calls me and says that I have to get to the hospital because there had been an emergency.”
Wrestling fans in Indianapolis, Indiana, will have plenty to look forward to in the coming years, as WWE is bringing three of its tentpole events to the city. According to a press release put out by the company and the Indiana Sports Corp on Monday morning, the 2025 Royal Rumble and future WrestleMania and SummerSlam shows will emanate from the city as part of a unique partnership.
The first event to hit Indianapolis will be next year’s Royal Rumble, which is scheduled to take place from the Lucas Oil Stadium. No dates have been confirmed for the other premium live events at the time of this writing, but everyone involved is excited about WWE bringing three of its biggest shows to the city.
“We are excited to bring this groundbreaking partnership to Indianapolis and our state,” said Patrick Talty, President of Indiana Sports Corp. “For over four decades, our city’s sports strategy has brought in millions of visitors and priceless hours of international brand-building media coverage. This partnership with WWE continues to push that strategy forward in new and exciting ways. We look forward to welcoming the WWE Universe to our community and state and showing them all that Indy has to offer.”
The company will host “Raw,” “SmackDown,” and “NXT” live events across Indiana in the forthcoming months, but no dates have been confirmed yet. Similarly, WWE and the Sport Corp plan on introducing a collaborative program that will ensure the city benefits from the partnership after the announced shows are over.
While some of the announced Indianapolis shows remain shrouded in secrecy, other cities are already bracing for WWE’s biggest events. WrestleMania 41 has been confirmed for Las Vegas and SummerSlam 2026 is scheduled to emanate from the U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
This group includes the real-life versions of Ramblin’ Rabbit, Huskus The Pig, Mercy The Buzzard, and Abby The Witch, with Nikki Cross playing the role of Abby and Joe Gacy playing Huskus. Eric Rowan and Dexter Lumis are also part of the group.
Cross and Gacy took to social media to share their reactions.
While much of the audience in Corpus Christi and those watching along at home were likely anticipating an Uncle Howdy return, since the countdown clock that was propped up recently expired as “WWE Raw” hit the air, a different surprise kicked off the show as “Burn it down!” blared over the speakers. Seth “Freakin'” Rollins returned to WWE television for the first time since playing sacrificial lamb for Cody Rhodes at WrestleMania, quickly reminding the WWE Universe that this was still Monday Night Rollins.
After expressing his happiness to be back, Rollins quickly got down to business, stating his immediate intentions of reacquiring the WWE World Heavyweight Championship he lost to Drew McIntyre at WrestleMania, and eyeballing the Money In the Bank briefcase now hanging from high above the ring as the premium live event takes the “next up” place on WWE’s calendar. But before he could get into any briefcase aspirations, the current World Heavyweight Champion Damian Priest hit the ring, showing respect for Rollins before stating that “Raw” is no longer Monday Night Rollins but rather All Rise for El Campeon.
The two men jawed back and forth, with Priest reminding Rollins that he was the first to challenge for his then-newly created World Heavyweight Championship, and admitting that he lost then because Rollins was better. That, however, is not the case now, according to Priest, and ultimately, he told “The Architect” that he didn’t need to worry about ladders or briefcases and instead, challenged him to a championship match at Money In the Bank.
The wait is over, and the stable paying homage to Bray Wyatt’s ideas and memory, which appears to be officially named “Wyatt Sick6,” arrived at the end of “WWE Raw” on Monday. The faction waited until the end of the night, though the countdown on the website which held the main clue to their debut date ended right as “Raw” began. The teases began right at the beginning of the broadcast, however, with glitches appearing during the “Then, Now, Forever, Together” opener and continued through various segments throughout the night.
Following Jey Uso’s victory over Finn Balor and Rey Mysterio in a Money in the Bank qualifier, the lights in the audience went dark, followed by the lights over the ring. Piano music began playing softly and a door appeared backlit on the stage. When the door opened, someone came slowly crawling out of it, down the dark ramp. The figure appeared to be Nikki Cross, and she crawled toward Wyatt’s signature lantern on the ramp. Cross pointed behind her, and the camera went through the door, and focused on various crew members and wrestlers laid out in the back, including Paul “Triple H” Levesque, “Raw” General Manager Adam Pearce, William Regal, Shane Helms, and TJ Wilson.
The first figure seen was presumably Erick Rowan, wearing a rabbit mask and holding a mallet that said “help.” The camera continued to gorilla position, where more people lay strewn all over the floor, with lights popping and smoke filling the area. The camera focused on a person in the corner in a buzzard mask, presumably Dexter Lumis, then someone else in a pig-like gas mask, potentially Joe Gacy. Previous clues on a Twitch stream from a QR code led many fans to the identities of the faction members, which had previously been reported by Pro Wrestling Insider.
Chad Gable was also seen taken out, with blood coming from his forehead. The camera then panned toward Uncle Howdy, who walked past Gable and the other figures followed him through the door onto the stage back to Cross. Howdy grabbed the lantern and the group posed as the copyright logo came up to end the broadcast. Howdy said “We’re here” and blew out the lantern to end the show.
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