SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
WWE MONDAY NIGHT RAW PRIMER
JUNE 25, 2018
SAN DIEGO, CALIF. AT VALLEY VIEW CASINO CENTER
AIRS ON USA NETWORK, 8:00PM EDT
BY FRANK PETEANI, PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR
Vader
Before I preview Raw, I find it appropriate to acknowledge the death of Leon White, most notably known to us WWE fans as Vader or Big Van Vader if you watched WCW.
I wasn’t a religious watcher of WCW back during his run in the early 1990s. I saw enough, especially some of his feud with Hulk Hogan, to know that when he arrived in WWF in 1996, it was indeed Vader Time. We lost a good one and I’m certain tonight WWE will pay tribute. Let our thoughts and prayers be with his family and friends.
Arena / Opening Thoughts
WWE will arrive in the beautiful city of San Diego, Calif. this evening, as they pull into the Valley View Casino Center for Monday Night Raw for the first time in nearly three years. Raw’s last showing in this arena was back in October of 2015. Certainly, a lot has changed in the landscape of WWE as that was pre-roster split “2.0.” The world title at the time was the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, which has since split into the Universal Championship (Raw) and the traditional WWE Championship (Smackdown). The Women’s Championship, now with separate versions on Raw and Smackdown, was still the Divas Championship. Several wrestlers who would eventually be champions of their respective divisions were not on the main roster yet including A.J. Styles, Bayley, Finn Balor, Alexa Bliss, and Jinder Mahal. It is crazy to think how much changes in just a few years in WWE.
Tonight, we continue to get ready for Extreme Rules taking place July 15, 2018. Let’s look at what WWE is advertising for this evening.
Intercontinental Championship Rematch: Dolph Ziggler (Champion) vs. Seth Rollins
Dolph Ziggler is now the Intercontinental Champion. Last week, Seth Rollins decided to have an “open challenge.” Ziggler, with Drew McIntyre in his corner, was happy to answer the call. They went on to have a match that lasted nearly 20 minutes. It included a fairly significant bump where Rollins and Ziggler tumbled over the top rope together following a failed suplex attempt by Rollins. McIntyre would later attempt to help Ziggler by jumping up on the apron and distracting Rollins. Following that, Ziggler would gain victory as he reversed a roll-up attempt by Rollins and held the tights for the three-count. Ironically, that was the same way Rollins gained victory over Elias in the previous night at Money in the Bank.
Later on, in a backstage interview with Renee Young, Rollins would make no excuses for losing the championship. Despite outside interference by McIntyre and defending the title in back to back nights, he maintained his position. He said he was invoking his rematch clause in one week which brings us to tonight, as he will challenge Ziggler for the Intercontinental Championship he held so proudly since WrestleMania. WWE confirmed this on Twitter the following night.
Thoughts: There’s a few items in play here. It’s possible Rollins is moving on from the Intercontinental Title picture to the Universal Title. The other issue is Rollins appeared to favor his knee in his match with Elias at MITB and in the match with Ziggler. Rollins missed significant time from the end of 2015-mid 2016 with a knee injury. It’s possible he may need time off, but I certainly hope it’s not the case. McIntyre stared at the Intercontinental title on Ziggler’s shoulder following the match. It will be interesting to see the dynamic between these two going forward should Ziggler retain the title. McIntyre first won the IC belt in 2009 when he was “The Chosen One.”
Multi-Man Match Buildup: #1 Contender for Universal Championship
Following a phone conversation with commissioner Stephanie McMahon, G.M. Kurt Angle announced there would be a “multi-man” match at Extreme Rules to determine the #1 contender for the WWE Universal Championship currently held by Brock Lesnar. He said WWE management agreed on when Brock would next defend his title but did not specify at what event. Nonetheless, Roman Reigns came out and made his case to be in the match. He once again claimed he was the “uncrowned Universal Champion” (I’m sorry, but this again?), and that the fans want to see a champion defend the title every week (Roman, that’s not how it works). Bobby Lashley came out next and staked his claim, telling Roman he’s been chasing Brock since “he was a pup.” Angle would tell both gentlemen they were in the match. Following all of this The Revival came out and were put in a tag match against Roman and Lashley (or “Bob” as Roman called him). The Revival came up short.
Kurt Angle tweeted out to the fans asking whom they wanted to see added. Paul Heyman had something to say about that on Twitter:
Um… how can I put this diplomatically… are we going to find out tomorrow morning that someone hacked @RealKurtAngle‘s Twitter account again? A GM who wants to have credibility, pandering to the social media multiverse as if he has any say who will end up challenging Brock?
WWE also tweeted the same question to the fans, to which Heyman responded:
To the Copywriter and / or Weekend Editor posting on @WWE‘s twitter account: Your pathetic, desperate attempt at clickbait is worthy not only of scorn, but of an immediate pink slip being issued with the now-famous sendoff, “we wish you well in all your future endeavors!”
On Sunday, Lashley sent out a tweet saying “I guess it’s hard to stay humble when you are privileged and handed everything. I will continue to GRIND and appreciate everything.” It doesn’t say to whom he’s referring, but I can’t imagine it not being Roman Reigns. There’s quite a war words from all parties already and we only have two participants!
Thoughts: WWE’s shows a picture of Roman and Lashley and blank silhouettes of four other wrestlers, which could indicate a six-pack challenge. I’m taking a wait-and-see approach on this situation; however, I’m of the mindset that until further notice Vince McMahon wants Roman Reigns to be the guy to topple Lesnar. It’s crazy to think that considering Roman has lost two championship opportunities this year but given the history it’s hard to think otherwise. As I talked about earlier Seth Rollins is in play depending on the outcome of his match with Dolph Ziggler. Elias touted his interest as well. I wouldn’t rule anyone out because, if you listened to Wade Keller’s podcasts with Greg Parks or Kevin Eck this past week, they pointed to Rusev being somewhat of a surprise choice to challenge A.J. Styles for the WWE Championship on Smackdown. It certainly opens up many possibilities on Raw especially if they want to elevate someone or “test the waters” with someone on the lower end of the card. Anyone from Kevin Owens right on down to Chad Gable, at least for me, is on the table.
Nia Jax-Alexa Bliss
Recently crowned WWE Raw Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss opened Raw last week with Kurt Angle discussing her victory at Money in the Bank and cashing in the contract to regain the title. Ronda Rousey would interrupt the segment, leading Alexa to eventually call her an “overhyped rookie.” In Stone Cold Steve Austin fashion, Ronda would go on the attack. She put Alexa through a table, went after Angle, and several security personnel trying to break up the situation. Initially via Twitter, Angle would announce that Ronda had been suspended for 30 days due to her actions. This was confirmed on the air.
The following morning WWE would tweet out that Nia Jax will be invoking her rematch clause and would be Alexa’s opponent at Extreme Rules for the championship. This will be the third PPV these two women will be working this calendar year, and the second time Alexa is going in as champion.
Thoughts: I would expect we see something from Nia tonight, whether she’s in the building or says something remotely isn’t certain. I would imagine we get a promo from Alexa as well, discussing last week’s situation with Ronda and her displeasure at having to give Nia a rematch. The dynamic with Ronda creates an interesting situation especially with SummerSlam looming. I’m certain Ronda and Alexa will square off at some point, whether it’s then and will Nia be involved in a triple threat possibility is something we’ll look for in the coming weeks.
Sasha Banks-Bayley Fallout
We have the ever-continuing saga between Sasha Banks and Bayley. To sum up, they tagged against the Riott Squad last week and lost. Towards the end of the match, Sasha would go to tag Bayley, but she was pulled off the ring apron. Sasha would then be rolled up by Sarah Logan for the win. This lead to Sasha and Bayley having a disagreement backstage, leading to a brawl. In another segment later on, Bayley would not give up having dialogue with Sasha. Sasha said she was done being her friend and drove off. What we see tonight hasn’t been advertised, but WWE is telling us there will be follow up to the situation.
Thoughts: I’m for long builds on things but this has crossed into the ridiculous for me. They’ve started and stopped this situation so many times and even had a few matches along the way. It’s not clear who turned if either of them even did, and both characters have been defined down so badly I’m not sure there’s any investment by the fans into this “rivalry.”
Kevin Owens and “Constable” Corbin’s Alliance
Last week Kevin Owens tagged with “Constable” Corbin in the main event. They defeated “Mr. Monster in the Bank” Braun Strowman and Finn Balor. Braun was cutting a promo in the ring talking about his MITB victory and his mission to cash in the contract and become Universal Champion. Owens interrupted Braun and tried to form an alliance, telling him he would help him in his attempt to cash in the contract. All he wanted in return was a shot at the title. Braun appeared to agree by shaking Owens’s hand, but then pulled him in and attempted his power slam only to have Owens escape. Later on, in a backstage segment which saw Owens talking to “Constable” Corbin, Braun and “his buddy” Finn Balor interrupted and requested the tag match I spoke of earlier.
Thoughts: It was reported this week that Sami Zayn would be out indefinitely due to a shoulder injury. WWE confirmed this on its Twitter account. I’m not surprised they’re featuring follow up on this alliance as Owens will not have Zayn by his side for quite some time. It’s hard to tell how long it will last if it lasts, but with their personalities it wouldn’t surprise me if they did something together for the foreseeable future.
Other Items
- Mojo Rawley got his first televised victory since coming over to Raw when he defeated No Way Jose. Don’t be surprised if he’s a candidate for the multi-man match at Extreme Rules. He did recently challenge Seth Rollins for the Intercontinental Championship.
- The B Team, Curtis Axel and Bo Dallas, imitated WWE Raw Tag Team Champions Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt on the Titantron. They still have a championship match in play.
- Jinder Mahal got back on the winning track by defeating Chad Gable. Again, either of these gentlemen could join the multi-man match as well.
- Bobby Roode defeated Curt Hawkins. While I say anyone is possible, Curt Hawkins would be a stretch to be in the multi-man match. I doubt he gets the “Jinder Mahal 2017” treatment.
- On last week’s “Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Post Show” following Raw, the on-site correspondent said the dark match was Breezango vs. The Authors of Pain. We haven’t seen AOP for quite some time since making their debut following Wrestlemania.
- Corey Graves questioned Coach on how he still has a job.
Dark Matches / Wrestlers Advertised
The Valley View Casino Center’s website has certainly not been updated. They are advertising a “massive” eight-man tag featuring Roman Reigns, Intercontinental Champion Seth Rollins (no longer champion), Braun Strowman, and Bobby Lashley vs. Jinder Mahal, Kevin Owens, Baron Corbin, and Elias. It’s not clear if the match is a dark match and is certainly not advertised on WWE.com. They also show Ronda Rousey (suspended), G.M. Kurt Angle, Raw Women’s Champion Nia Jax (she’s no longer champion), Finn Balor, and Sasha Banks. There is of course the disclaimer of “CARD IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE.”
Start time shown is 4:30 p.m. PDT with doors opening at 3:00.
Follow me on Twitter @FrankPeteani or email me at fpeteani@gmail.com
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