Tonight’s WWE RAW will take place from the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee as the road to TLC continues.
For the third week in a row, WWE has not opened the day with an official preview for tonight’s show.
WWE has announced that tonight’s show will feature Seth Rollins issuing an apology to the red brand roster after last week’s apparent heel turn.
Charlotte Flair vs. WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Kabuki Warriors (Asuka & Kairi Sane) in a 2-on-1 Handicap Match has also been announced for tonight.
Last night on Raw, Seth Rollins took some shots at CM Punk in the opening segment of the show. When the crowd chanted Punk’s name during Seth’s opening address to the roster, he stated Punk just wants to sit behind a desk in Los Angeles and talk about change.
“I tried to get [Punk] here, I’m sorry,” Rollins said, while the crowd chanted for Punk. “He didn’t wanna show up. He wants to sit behind a desk in Los Angeles and talk about a change that he’s too afraid to make himself.”
There is no deal in place for a Punk vs. Rollins match as of now. According to Dave Meltzer on the latest Wrestling Observer Radio, Vince McMahon was reportedly furious that Rollins mentioned Punk.
Meltzer pointed out it is a rule that you shouldn’t push an idea of match if you can’t deliver on it. In 2015, McMahon was upset at the ending of a Steve Austin Podcast episode with Paul Heyman, because they teased an Austin vs. Brock Lesnar match that was not in the works.
Rollins has called Punk out multiple times recently on social media. Punk responded to Rollins on last week’s episode of WWE Backstage, stating, “Seth needs to stop tweeting and realize sometimes it’s better to be viewed at as the fool and shut your mouth, or open your mouth and remove all doubt.”
Later on the show while cutting a promo on Tom Arnold, Punk insinuated that Rollins was using him to stay relevant. During an interview with 101 WKQX in Chicago last week, Rollins responded to Punk and once again invited him to face him.
“The funny thing is, for me, from a guy telling me I need to look for relevancy, here’s someone who has been in the doldrums for the past few years because he got his butt kicked in the Octagon, so bad that he didn’t want to show his face anywhere,” Rollins said. “Now he shows back up on a WWE TV show, called WWE Backstage. You can say it’s a FS1 show all you want, which it is, and you might be paid by FOX, but that show doesn’t exist without our company. The company you left 5 years ago. So, say whatever you want, play it however you want. That’s what Punk always does.
“But at the end of the day, if he wants to come on our show and run his mouth about me and a company he’s had no part of for the last 5 years, then of course I’m going to stand up for us. This is a place that has given me everything that I’ve ever wanted in my life. Not only me, but it’s provided a living for my family, for people that I love, that I care about. Of course I’m going to have its back. I’m not going to let you push it around, and push me around, and act like you’re so cool. You couldn’t bust a cherry in a fruit fight, dude. I want to make some money – so, if CM Punk wants to talk all the smack in the world, I’ve invited him a million times now to come to my ring, to my domain, on live television. Where you can’t hide behind anything, no desk in LA. Come, let’s do this thing, man. Let’s fight, let’s fight it out like men.”
While speaking to Wrestling Inc. at the NXT Takeover post-event press conference on Saturday night, Triple H admitted that despite Punk appearing on WWE Backstage, a Punk return to WWE is a “long, long way.”
“I have not spoken to him,” Triple H admitted. “To be honest, we have not had that conversation. I know he’s working for FOX and it’s a bit of an arm’s length from us. All of this stuff is baby steps, when people want something so bad, it’s like they’re saying, ‘So you’re saying there’s a chance.’ That’s the moment of time that we’re in.
“Be happy that he’s on WWE Backstage and doing something with the business again. The rest of it, I’ve said it a million times, never say never. But that’s a long, long way. I know when you say that, people say, ‘they’re working us!’ Because there’s nothing that you can say that will make people think otherwise, it is what it is.”
Punk is an occasional analyst on WWE Backstage on FS1 on Tuesday nights. Punk will not be on tonight’s episode, which features Triple H.
Matt Hardy returned to WWE TV last night on RAW. He lost to Buddy Murphy in singles action.
Murphy dominated the match and easily won, which was a setup for his post-match angle with Aleister Black. Murphy called out Black for a fight but Black got the upperhand and sent him packing.
Matt has been out of regular action since brother Jeff Hardy went down with a knee injury after WrestleMania 35, when they were forced to drop the SmackDown Tag Team Titles. Matt did work the big 50-Man Battle Royal at WWE Super ShowDown in Saudi Arabia this past June.
There’s no word yet on if Matt will be a regular on RAW, but he is still listed on the SmackDown roster as of this writing. This was Matt’s first red brand match of 2019.
Matt took to Twitter after the loss and thanked fans for the support, noting that he is going through a “confusing period of life” these days.
“Thanks for all the love from around the world regarding my #RAW appearance tonight.. I AM GRATEFUL. I’m going through a tough, confusing period of life right now & I appreciate your support,” Matt wrote, also sharing a link to the third episode of his ‘Free The Delete” series on YouTube.
Thanks for all the love from around the world regarding my #RAW appearance tonight.. I AM GRATEFUL.
I’m going through a tough, confusing period of life right now & I appreciate your support. https://t.co/4HhiieVOyH
Tonight’s WWE Friday Night SmackDown will take place at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England as the Road to Survivor Series continues. The show was pre-taped on Friday.
The December 17 taping of RAW at the Tyson Events Center in Sioux City, Iowa was cancelled due to a scheduling conflict. That show was scheduled to air on December 23 as WWE talent was reportedly going to get some time off during the holidays from December 22 until December 26.
The Well Fargo Arena announced it will host two episodes of RAW on Monday, December 16, with the second episode airing the following week on the 23rd.
Below is the full announcement:
WWE Fans! Wells Fargo Arena will now host two episodes of WWE Monday Night RAW on Monday, December 16th, moving the event start time up to 5:45pm, with doors at 4:15pm. That’s two shows for the price of one! Follow the ticket link below to purchase your tickets today!
For no additional charge, fans going to the event can end up sitting through six hours of TV tapings.
WWE is taping tonight’s SmackDown and Monday’s RAW from the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England today.
WWE is using a different set for today’s double tapings, as seen in the fan tweet below. The more elaborate sets that recently debuted on RAW and SmackDown are not being used.
Vince McMahon called a backstage meeting at around 3pm ET on Monday before RAW to address the travel debacle coming out of WWE Crown Jewel.
Vince reiterated that there were no issues between the company and officials in Saudi Arabia, and that a mechanical issue prevented the plane from leaving when it was scheduled to, nothing else.
Vince opened the meeting up for questions from talents and nobody asked any questions, and nobody said anything about the story given to them on what happened in the Kingdom. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that there was a feeling that saying anything negative about the story given to them during the meeting wouldn’t do anyone good, and nobody spoke up. The Observer adds that the feeling on saying anything negative about the company’s Saudi story wouldn’t do anyone any good, was apparently the correct call.
Randy Orton said something during the meeting but he was just trying to break the tension by being funny. Vince responded and asked, “Anybody else want to just kiss my ass?”
The meeting was just about to wrap up when Triple H called out Karl Anderson for comments he made on Twitter, about who would be the locker room leader on Monday. As noted, Anderson tweeted, “Looking forward to seeing who the locker room leader is on Monday.. [popcorn emoji] [red heart emoji]”
Anderson reportedly didn’t say much of anything in response. There was apparently more heat to the Anderson situation as he and his wife also joked on Twitter about not going back to Saudi Arabia, but going back because they need a new pool or a second house. He tweeted, “Couldn’t pay me enough to go back .. Well that’s not true, I need a second pool, so…..”
Anderson’s wife responded, “2nd house!! Not a pool..but don’t ever go back AGAIN! We don’t need our daddy/papi/motherlover/absanderson/besttagteam etc. being held hostage while we’re at home worried to death [red heart emoji]”
You can see the Anderson tweets below.
WWE United States Champion AJ Styles spoke at the meeting but didn’t say much. Styles was very unhappy because the delay in the Kingdom caused him to miss one of his son’s wrestling matches. Rusev spoke some and mostly thanked Mark Carrano, WWE’s Senior Director of Talent Relations, for his work in quickly getting hotel rooms booked for everyone while they waited for a flight back to the United States. No one spoke about anything negatively, but there were some remarks about how at times during the debacle, the talents didn’t have access to Wi-Fi and were unable to contact their families.
Tonight’s WWE RAW will take place from the Nassau Coliseum on Long Island, New York with fallout from WWE Crown Jewel.
No matches have been announced for tonight’s RAW but WWE Champion Brock Lesnar is set to appear after he quit Friday Night SmackDown and said he was headed to RAW to come after Rey Mysterio.
WWE has not posted their official preview for tonight’s show as of this writing, but it’s worth noting that their events page has new WWE Universal Champion “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt, Seth Rollins, Charlotte Flair, RAW Women’s Champion Becky Lynch, and WWE United States Champion AJ Styles advertised to appear.
The arena has Rollins vs. Wyatt in a Steel Cage match advertised locally, which would be the dark main event as The Fiend is a SmackDown Superstar, plus appearances by Lynch, Styles, Flair, Randy Orton, Rey Mysterio, Drew McIntyre, Bobby Lashley, Ricochet, Aleister Black, and The Street Profits.
It’s rumored that WWE NXT Superstars will appear on tonight’s RAW to continue the Survivor Series build that began on Friday’s SmackDown with the NXT invasion angles.
Seth Rollins took to Twitter today to issue his first wrestling-related comments since losing the WWE Universal Title to “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt at last Thursday’s WWE Crown Jewel event in Saudi Arabia.
Rollins thanked Dubai Tourism for the trip he took with RAW Women’s Champion Becky Lynch, and mentioned Ringside Collectibles for the Ringside Fest event on Sunday. He also revealed that he will address his WWE future during tonight’s RAW episode from Long Island.
He wrote, “So much swirling in my head after #CrownJewel. Thank you @dubaitourism & @RingsideC #RingsideFest & all of our incredible fans for the weekend. Will address my future tonight on #Raw.”
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