WWE RAW PREVIEW (12/4): Announced matches, location, ticket sales, how to watch, multiple tag team matches, World Heavyweight Championship featured

When: Monday, December 4, 2023

Where: Albany, N.Y. at MVP Arena

Attendance: WrestleTix reports today that 6,799 tickets were distributed so far; arena set up for 7,145.

Time: 8:00 p.m. EST, 7:00 p.m. CST

How to Watch: USA Network – 8:00 p.m. EST, 7:00 p.m. CST

Matches & Segments Advertised

• 2-out-of-3 Falls Match: #DIY (Johnny Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa) vs. Ludvig Kaiser & Giovanni Vinci (Imperium)(Note: This was advertised on WWE.com all week but not in WWE’s official Raw preview for today.  It’s still on the website in their news section if you scroll back.)
• Shayna Baszler vs. Nia Jax
• Drew McIntyre vs. Sami Zayn
• Kayden Carter & Katana Chance vs. Tegan Nox & Natalya
• The Creed Brothers (Julius & Brutus) vs. NXT North American Champion “Dirty” Dominik Mysterio & JD McDonagh (Judgment Day)
• World Heavyweight Championship: Seth Rollins (champ) vs. Jey Uso (challenger)

Announcers: Michael Cole & Wade Barrett

Match Results & Key Segments from Last Week

• The Creed Brothers (Brutus & Julius) won a tag team turmoil match to earn the right to face Finn Balor & Damian Priest (Judgment Day) for the WWE Undisputed Tag Team Championship.
• Bronson Reed and Ivar wrestled to a double count out.]
• Nia Jax defeated Zoey Stark.
• Chelsea Green & Piper Niven defeated Natalya & Tegan Nox to retain the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship.
• Randy Orton defeated Dominik Mysterio

Key Segments from Last Week

• Randy Orton cut a promo to open the show, discussing his return and willingness to come through for his longtime friend Cody Rhodes.  He was confronted by Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley and later NXT North American Champion Dominik Mysterio and J.D. McDonagh of the Judgment Day.  He challenged Dominik to a match later in the evening.
• During an in-ring promo Cody Rhodes discussed the returns of his friend Randy Orton, C.M. Punk, and declared his entry into the 2024 Royal Rumble.  He was interrupted by a pre-taped video of Shinsuke Nakamura who revealed Cody was the one on whom he had been “waiting.”  Shinsuke then appeared in the ring and attacked Cody.
• During an in-ring promo Seth Rollins called C.M. Punk a hypocrite and mentioned how he had been discussing his next opponent with G.M. Adam Pearce.  Drew McIntyre came out and discussed their match at Crown Jewel, won by Seth.  Seth went on to say his next opponent would be Jey Uso, which earned him a Glasgow Kiss from Drew.  Drew later had a backstage conversation with Sami Zayn, where Drew told Sami they would have a match next week.
• Jey Uso and Randy Orton reconciled their differences of the past.
• Becky Lynch said she has two fights on the horizon, “one more pressing than the other.”
• C.M. Punk cut his return promo to close the show.  He said many key things including “I’ve changed” and “I’m home.”  He admitted a “wise man” told him to get everything he needed out of WWE he would have to leave, and admitted he was right.  He didn’t admit him by name, but he had to be referring to Paul Heyman, who was a long-time advocate of his and managed Punk on screen from 2012-2013.

WWE Exclusive Videos

Summary

We continue to move past Survivor Series and onto the long road to the Royal Rumble, which takes place at the end of January.  The focus will be on week-to-week television until the new year where more of that show will continue to take shape.  Tonight’s show emanates from the arena that hosted the 1992 Royal Rumble, which saw Ric Flair win the WWF Championship via winning the titular event.  It was a pivotal moment in the company’s history seeing a heel end a PPV winning a championship much less Ric Flair, a staple of Jim Crockett Promotions and World Championship Wrestling for years at the time.

Two matches were announced on Raw last week with more announced in the ensuing days.  Jey Uso gets his second shot at championship gold this year when he takes on Seth Rollins for the World Heavyweight Championship.  Jey came up short against Seth’s former Shield partner Roman Reigns for the Universal Championship at SummerSlam.  Drew McIntyre took issue when Seth advised him last week.  Drew has not been able to let go of Jey and his former Bloodline “cronies” , costing him the Universal Championship at last year’s Clash at the Castle.  Let us not forget he beat Jey cleanly two weeks ago to earn the “advantage” for he and Judgment Day in their WarGames match at Survivor Series.

On another note, with Drew, he had a backstage conversation with Sami Zayn.  Sami discussed going through the same things Drew had been through.  The Bloodline cost Sami the Universal Championship in his hometown.  Drew realized he needs to work his way back to the championship and told Sami he’s starting that journey by taking on him.

(How did Jey Uso earn a championship match?  Maybe Drew needs to talk to Jey about how he worked that out.)

Also on tap is Nia Jax vs. Shayna Baszler.  It’s probably not a time to which we want to recall, but they were multiple-time WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions during the “Thunderdome Era” in late 2020-2021.  Both were involved in the fatal five-way match for the Women’s World Championship match at Crown Jewel and have “talked smack” to each other backstage with Nia being the instigator recently.

G.M. Adam Pearce announced two tag team matches on WWE’s Instagram account.  Katana Chance & Kayden Carter take on Tegan Nox & Natalya.  Nox & Natalya came up short in their efforts to win the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship.  In addition, the Creed Brothers take on Judgment Day’s “Dirty” Dominik Mysterio & JD McDonagh.  Last week the Creeds earned the right to face Dom & JD’s cohorts Damian Priest & Finn Balor for the WWE Undisputed Tag Team Championship via winning the Tag Team Turmoil match.

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