Raw airs tonight (Sept. 18) with a live show from Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. This is the third episode of Raw during the five week build towards Fastlane, which takes place on October 7.
Nia Jax is getting pushed, whether you like it or not
Nia Jax returned to WWE at the very end of last week’s Raw, where she cost Raquel Rodriguez her match against Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley. Jax also beat the shit out of Ripley, finishing her off with a stiff Bonzai Drop. Based on the way this angle played out, it looks like Jax will be positioned right into a championship feud with Rhea.
Nia is a polarizing figure in the wrestling world, with many folks blaming her for injuring several wrestlers over the years, while others chalk it up to wrestling being inherently dangerous.
Whether you like her or not, though, it’s easy to see why WWE is putting her in this spot with Ripley. WWE is likely trying to hold off on a match between Ripley and Becky Lynch until WrestleMania season, and the depth of the women’s division on Raw is lacking, so that means Jax will be pushed in the coming weeks and maybe months. Jax is one of the few women who has a size advantage over Rhea, which could perhaps make her a more attractive challenger in WWE’s eyes than someone who Rhea looks like she can destroy in seconds.
Now that Nia is back, she’ll have to cut a promo explaining her motivations and what’s coming next. That will likely happen on tonight’s episode of Raw, where there’s also a good chance that Raquel Rodriguez won’t just peacefully step aside for Jax as the top contender for Rhea.
The rest of the title scene
World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins is desperate to get Shinsuke Nakamura back in the ring for another title fight, but Nakamura’s patience is driving him nuts. Shinsuke instead has a match tonight against Ricochet, following up last week’s backstage ambush. Does Seth plan to get involved in Shinsuke’s bout?
Intercontinental Champion GUNTHER was let down by Giovanni Vinci once again last week, increasing the probability that Vinci is kicked out of Imperium. Meanwhile, the champ appears to have both Chad Gable and Tommaso Ciampa gunning for his belt.
WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Chelsea Green and Piper Niven might be losing the belts very soon now that Shayna Baszler and Zoey Stark appear to be a new tag team. Shayna made quick work of Chelsea last week in a singles match. Will a singles match between Niven and Stark be on the way next?
WWE Tag Team Champions Damian Priest and Finn Balor have yet to give Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens a rematch for the belts. Part of that is because Sami missed last week’s episode of Raw, while KO was absent the week before. Will Zayn and Owens both be present tonight to book a rematch at Fastlane?
Other stuff to keep an eye on
– Cody Rhodes goes one-on-one tonight against that little shithead Dominik Mysterio, in what WWE is advertising as a rematch from Money in the Bank. JD McDonagh will probably be lurking around somewhere trying to help Dom win, but Rhodes showed last week that he can handle both of them by himself just fine.
– Drew McIntyre is one of several wrestlers on the Raw roster who aren’t happy to see Jey Uso, given Jey’s history in The Bloodline. They’ll go at it in a singles match tonight. The Judgment Day is trying to recruit Jey into their group, so they might try to screw over Drew in this match. Perhaps Matt Riddle will return to Raw tonight and be ringside to watch Drew’s back.
– The New Day and Viking Raiders will have a two-out-of-three falls match tonight on Raw. These two teams have split matches against each other in recent weeks, so now its time to find out which duo is truly better.
– Becky Lynch might have some extra swagger in her step now that she’s the NXT Women’s Champion. What will The Man have to say about her latest accomplishment? Does she plan to defend the gold on Raw going forward?
– Will The Miz somehow find a way to blame John Cena again for his latest loss to LA Knight?
What will you be looking for on Raw?
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