Tag: RAW

Edge Tells WWE Raw Crowd He Intends To Retire Next Year In Toronto

Edge spoke to the live crowd in Toronto after Raw went off the air and said he intends to retire there next year.

Edge had a big night in Toronto, Canada on Monday. He was advertised well in advance for the show — one that was over a decade in the making — and he secured a big win over Damian Priest in the main event before his wife, Beth Phoenix helped him out against Judgment Day to close the show. While that’s what the television audience saw, there was more to the night for the live fans in attendance.

As seen in a video posted by WrestleOps, after Raw went off the air, Edge grabbed the microphone and he spoke to the fans in attendance. Toronto is Edge’s hometown and he let them know how much he appreciated them, was glad to be back, and he thanked the fans for their support. He then talked about how he grew from being a fan in this building to wrestling in front of a crowd in the same arena. He added that his intention was to retire in front of the same fans a year from now.

Edge has been quite public about how close he is to the end of his career. The recent A&E Biographies episode was about his career and he’s hinted that he’s going to be calling it a career soon. Raw might have been the first time he publicly put a timeframe on it and gave a specific place. WWE typically does this Eastern Canadian swing at the same time each year and it is likely they will be back in Toronto in August of 2023. It would make sense that he might know Toronto is the place where he wants to go out and say goodbye.

Source: TheSportster

Toxic Attraction Removed From Tag Title Tournament Due To Gigi Dolin Concussion

Fans had been waiting months for WWE to announce what it had planned for the Women’s Tag Titles after Sasha Banks and Naomi handed them over and walked out. It took Vince McMahon retiring for those plans to be put in place. A tournament to decide who the new champions will be. However, as that tournament nears its end, it has been wrought with issues.

Last Friday, as Nikkita Lyons and Zoey Stark prepared to make their main roster debuts, WWE revealed the NXT duo would not be competing in the tournament. Stark is legitimately injured, and Lyons is too apparently though whether that’s the case or not remains up in the air. Toxic Attraction replaced the pair and defeated Natalya and Sonya Deville to progress.

Three days later, the high Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jayne were likely riding after debuting on SmackDown and winning their first match has come crashing down. Right before Raw went live on Monday, WWE revealed that Toxic Attraction, who were replacements themselves, will now need to be replaced. WWE reported Dolin suffered an injury on SmackDown, and it has since been revealed (via Wrestling Observer Radio) that injury was a concussion.

It was a little unclear how exactly WWE would fill a tournament for the Tag Titles when there aren’t that many women’s teams to begin with. That reality has really hit home with yet another replacement needed. Instead of finding another team, the four duos who lost their first round bouts will get a second chance match. The Four-Way tag team bout will take place this Friday on SmackDown.

Elsewhere in the bracket, Iyo Sky and Dakota Kai booked their spot in the final on Raw last night. Raquel Gonzalez and Aliyah are the other team left in, and they will face the winner of the 4-way match. When exactly that second semifinal, and then the final, will take place is unclear. Probably not at Clash at the Castle since Sky and Kai are already booked in a different match that night.

Source: TheSportster

Johnny Gargano Returns To WWE On Monday Night RAW

Former NXT Champion, NXT Tag Team Champion, and 3-time North American Champion Johnny Gargano just made his return to the WWE last night on RAW.

Johnny Wrestling is back in the WWE!

Johnny Gargano was last on TV about nine months ago; he fought in NXT’s annual War Games match alongside LA Knight, Pete Dunne, and Tommaso Ciampa against Bron Breakker, Carmelo Hayes, Grayson Waller and Tony D’Angelo. On the following episode of NXT, Johnny Gargano bid an emotional farewell to the fans as his contract with WWE expired and he chose not to renew it.

For the past several months, Gargano’s future in wrestling was very much up in the air. He wanted to take some time off to help raise his newborn son, Quill (also known as Baby Wrestling), alongside his wife Candice LeRae. Tonight, he made his long-awaited return to the world of wrestling.

Gargano gave an impassioned speech to fans in Toronto last night about the importance of betting on yourself. Gargano said that both for his own dreams, and for his son, he wants to become a WWE champion. He was then interrupted by Money in the Bank briefcase holder Austin Theory, but Gargano swiftly dealt a superkick to his former protege and left the crowd happy.

https://twitter.com/WWE/status/1561900115526295553

WWE RAW Preview 8/22/2022, Trish Stratus Returns

WWE will take over the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, tonight with the latest installment of “WWE Raw.” The episode, which will be the first episode of “Raw” to take place at the venue since August 2019, will have an added Canadian flavor, with two Ontario-born WWE Hall of Famers advertised to be in the house. Edge and Trish Stratus

https://twitter.com/WWE/status/1561442011990958082

WWE RAW Preview 8/15/22

Tonight’s live episode of “WWE Raw” will emanate from the nation’s capital, Washington, DC, airing on USA Network at 8/7C.

Parking Lot Mystery Leads To Surprise Return Of Dexter Lumis On WWE Raw

The element of unpredictability has seemingly returned to WWE programming under the Triple H regime.

Fans who watched last night’s “WWE Raw” are still buzzing about a bizarre backstage segment involving Kevin Owens, Doudrop, Nikki A.S.H. and a car accident in the backdrop.

The aforementioned accident occured just as Owens, in an interview with Kevin Patrick, gloated about injuring Ezekiel and sending him away on a stretcher before their match even started. Just as Owens was being interviewed, a black car in the background drove directly into a structure in the parking lot, prompting a ‘what just happened?’ reaction from Doudrop and Nikki A.S.H. who stood inches away from the site of the crash. This was followed by Doudrop, Nikki A.S.H. and several WWE officials inspecting the crashed car.

Interestingly, WWE camera crews cut back to the interview with Owens as if nothing happened in the background.

A little later, when Alexa Bliss and Asuka were interviewed at the same backstage spot, the crashed car was being loaded onto a tow truck with a bunch of police officers sprinting towards the scene.

WWE’s announcers did not acknowledge the incident at all, which added to the bizarre nature of the segment. Some believe it was done in such a way so as to leave viewers guessing and wondering about the person who caused the accident.

The main event of Raw saw AJ Styles defeat the Miz. After the match ended, a commotion began in the crowd. When the camera panned over to it, fans could see Dexter Lumis being dragged away by security. Commentary, in disbelief, questioned whether they did in fact see Dexter in the crowd.

It appears Dexter Lumis has returned to WWE.

Following the main event bout between AJ Styles and The Miz on the 8/8 “WWE Raw” episode, cameras cut to cops detaining someone that resembled Lumis.

Immediately after the segment, Indi Hartwell, the former kayfabe wife of Lumis, reacted on Twitter with a thumbs-up emoji. NXT announcer Wade Barrett also seemingly confirmed that the debuting Superstar was Lumis.

The return of Lumis has been widely expected since Triple H was appointed as WWE’s Head of Talent Relations and Head of Creative last month. Earlier on Monday, Fightful Select confirmed that WWE was interested in bringing back Lumis.

Since his WWE release last April, Lumis has kept himself busy on the independent scene under his past ring name Sam Shaw. He also appeared at the NWA’s Alwayz Ready pay-per-view back in June, where he competed in a four-way match for the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship.

Since the start of the Triple H era, the likes of IYO SKY, Karrion Kross, Scarlett and now Dexter Lumis have returned to WWE. Another former NXT Champion Johnny Gargano is rumored to return soon.

Sources: Wrestling Inc. and TheSportster

WWE RAW Preview 8/8/22

WWE RAW tonight on USA Network at 8/7C.

The road to crowning new WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions is set to begin on “Raw”. It was announced during Friday night’s “SmackDown” that a tournament for the vacant titles will begin on tonight’s episode. The titles have been vacant since the former champions Sasha Banks and Naomi walked out of WWE back in May.

WWE is promoting a United States Championship match for tonight’s “Raw”, with Bobby Lashley defending against Ciampa.

Rey Mysterio is set for another showdown against The Judgment Day’s Finn Balor

WWE Announces Women’s Tag Team Title Tournament to Start This Monday On Raw

WWE has announced that a Women’s Tag Team Title tournament will begin this Monday on Raw to crown new champions.

WWE has officially made a decision regarding the Women’s Tag Team Championships. They are not going away and, in fact, WWE has announced that a tournament to crown new Women’s Tag Team Champions will start next week on Monday Night Raw.

Michael Cole and Pat McAfee first shared the news during Friday’s episode of SmackDown, and WWE official Adam Pearce then confirmed after the show in a WWE exclusive video that the tournament would kick off this Monday night. Pearce said, “I am proud to be the bearer of some breaking news.” He added, “Beginning this Monday, live on Raw and emanating from Cleveland, Ohio, I’m happy to announce a tournament to crown brand new Women’s Tag Team Champions.” He then explained that both the Raw and SmackDown women’s rosters are in the process of putting together teams.

There will be plenty of questions heading into Raw. Who will comprise the teams? Which current stars will work together? Which stars might return? And, on the heels of Dakota Kai and Karrion Kross and Scarlett being brought back by Triple H, who else might be an unexpected entrant? One of the bigger questions will be whether Sasha Banks and Naomi are part of the tournament as rumors are swirling that WWE might have a deal in place to bring both stars back.

If that’s the case, it would explain why the tournament is happening and one has to wonder if Banks and Naomi will be the favorites to win considering the titles were last held by the duo before they relinquished the belts and walked out of Raw. Neither has been seen on WWE programming since.

WWE bringing back the championships is good news for the Women’s Division and one can only hope the tag team belts are pushed under Triple H’s creative direction. He’s been making a number of fan-pleasing decisions of late and if he makes those titles mean something, that will be another plus that the WWE Universe will be thrilled about.

Source: TheSportster

Monday’s Raw Registered The Show’s Highest Rating For More Than Two Years

Things are naturally going to start feeling pretty different now Vince McMahon has retired and Triple H is head of creative. In fact, some of those changes have already started to show through, perhaps a little earlier than expected. Monday’s Raw was effectively the first show during which The Game had full creative control since he is sort of able to hit the reset button on everything McMahon put in place following SummerSlam.

It seems a lot of fans were interested to see how a Triple H-led Raw would look. As reported by Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics, this week’s Raw pulled 2.23 million viewers. That’s the highest rating the show has achieved since the start of the pandemic. The last episode that bettered that number was on March 16, 2020. The first show of the pandemic era when fans were keen to see what exactly a Raw in an empty Performance Center looked like.

An impressive 2.433 million viewers were watching when Raw got underway, and that number naturally declined as the three-hour show progressed. Perhaps one of Triple H’s next moves will be to dial Raw back to two hours, although the amount of ad revenue generated by that third hour makes that unlikely, even without McMahon at the helm.

The good news keeps on coming for WWE when breaking down who exactly was watching Raw on Monday. Total viewership is all well and good, but that key demographic is 18 to 49-year-olds. 796,000 of those watching Raw fell into that age group, translating to a rating of 0.61. The next best rating for a show on at that time was Better Call Saul with a 0.36. Honestly, that the Breaking Bad spinoff was on at the same time just makes all of the above numbers even more impressive.

Even though some of the changes Triple H and his team have made so far have been plain to see, there still hasn’t been anything too drastic. Most will be subtle and will hopefully improve the quality of WWE’s product and increase the number of people watching on a regular basis over time. This was also the Raw after SummerSlam which is almost always guaranteed to do a good number. Now The Game needs to see if he can keep those new and lapsed fans tuning in every week.

Source: TheSportster

Becky Lynch Confirms Injury

As we noted earlier this weekend, it looked like top WWE star Becky Lynch suffered a shoulder injury during her match against Bianca Belair at SummerSlam this past Saturday. Tonight’s episode of WWE “Raw” confirmed that news shortly after reports emerged online that Lynch’s injury was legitimate. Becky appeared in a sling as she walked down to the ring in all black on tonight’s show, and through evident emotions, she told fans that she had two choices when she realized the injury had occurred: give up or keep fighting on.

That made her realize who she was deep down — not someone that needs constant validation or fancy clothes. Instead, she will focus on grit, determination, and defining what it means to be the man. Lynch promises she is starting a new era with the most impressive comeback in WWE History.

Becky would then invite Bianca Belair to the ring and express her admiration for the EST of WWE before telling her to “hold it down” while she is away. Bianca supported the idea that Becky is “The Man” and explained that she couldn’t pass up the opportunity at SummerSlam to become allies with Lynch. That’s when she was interrupted by a live feed from a backstage camera. Bayley, IYO SKY, and Dakota Kai, seemingly named “Control” as a group based on recent social media posts, were shown attacking an injured Becky in the backstage area as her arm was still in a sling. Bayley had caught her arm in the chair and was on the offense as Bianca Belair retreated from the ring and ran to make the save. IYO, Dakota, and Bayley fleed as soon as Bianca approached, leaving Bianca alone to console a hurt Becky.

https://twitter.com/BeckyLynchWWE/status/1554289194306093058
https://twitter.com/WWE/status/1554256535550935040
https://twitter.com/WWE/status/1554257246703570944

As noted, Lynch was leaving the arena at WWE SummerSlam with the medical team while keeping her arm close to her body. Lynch noticeably started favoring her shoulder after taking a Glam Slam from Belair during their WWE “Raw” Women’s Title match.

A report from Fightful said they couldn’t give a timetable on Becky Lynch’s eventual return, and it is a 50/50chance  whether or not Lynch would have to have surgery.

Becky Lynch is expected to miss at least several months of in-ring action, WWE announced via a tweet Monday.

https://twitter.com/WWE/status/1554274811098329088

Source: Wrestling Inc.