Raw airs tonight (Sept. 2) with a live show from Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado. This is the first episode of Raw during the five week build towards Bad Blood, which takes place on Oct. 5 in Atlanta.
This is how Daddy Dom becomes the next Intercontinental champion
The Intercontinental championship contender’s tournament kicked off last week with Pete Dunne and presumptive favorite Jey Uso advancing out of the first round. Two more wrestlers will join them on tonight’s episode of Raw.
The first such wrestler will be determined in a 3-way match between Bronson Reed, Ludwig Kaiser, and Sheamus. Kaiser and Sheamus have been going at it for a while, while Bronson really like to squish other men with multiple Tsunami splashes. Will Sheamus pull off the win and advance to a future fight with his former friend BUTCH Dunne? Or will Bronson finally start to move in on a title now that he’s making his own opportunities in WWE?
The other 3-way tournament match on tonight’s show features Ilja Dragunov, Dominik Mysterio, and Dragon Lee. Dragon and Ilja are far more talented than Dom on paper, but those skills don’t usually translate to wins on Raw. Dirty Dom will almost certainly try to get the babyfaces to do most of the work here so he can steal the win at the very end and become an even bigger heat magnet in WWE. Will the numbers game of The Judgment Day and the LWO be a deciding factor in this match, or will General Manager Adam Pearce get in front of that by banning everyone from ringside?
Looking beyond the first round of the tournament, I’d argue that Dominik’s Guerrero blood gives him the exact tools he needs to thrive in this tournament and cheat his way to victory whenever his name is called.
Will Dominik move one step closer to becoming the next Intercontinental champion and greatest Mysterio of all-time? You’ll have to tune into Raw to find out.
The rest of the card
Jade Cargill & Bianca Belair are the new WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions, which means they are free to show up on both Raw and SmackDown going forward. They’ll take advantage of that roster flexibility by appearing on tonight’s Raw for a title celebration. I’m sure this celebration will go off just fine without any interruptions or drama.
The former champs, The Unholy Union, have a match against Damage CTRL tonight. The winning team becomes the new number one contender. Is WWE getting ready to boot Alba Fyre and Isla Dawn out of the title scene?
A 6-person tag team match of American Made (The Creeds & Ivy Nile) vs. American Alpha (Otis, Tozawa, Maxxine Dupri) is also booked for Raw. The heels could really use a win after being regularly tormented by the Wyatt Sicks this summer. Is Uncle Howdy’s crew ready to find some new targets, or are they just having too much fun going after Chad Gable and his allies?
Finally, Zelina Vega vs. Shayna Baszler is advertised for Raw. Zelina hasn’t competed since late July, when she beat Pure Fusion Collective member Zoey Stark. PFC were sore losers and decided to injure Vega’s elbow in a brutal backstage attack. Vega made her surprise return last week to attack Sonya Deville at ringside. Tonight on Raw she’ll look to get a measure of revenge against PFC in an official match.
Other stuff to keep an eye on
- Are things okay within the New Day after both Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods were eliminated in the first round of the Intercontinental championship contender’s tournament?
- Is there an update on Braun Strowman’s status after Bronson Reed Tsunami splashed him on the roof of a car?
- CM Punk thinks he’s done with Drew McIntyre after decisively finishing him in a strap match at Bash in Berlin and taking back his bracelet. Will it be Punk vs. GUNTHER for the World Heavyweight Championship at Bad Blood, or will Drew continue his obsession with Punk and do something terrible to him that leads to a Hell in a Cell match on that card?
- Will Rhea Ripley demand a rematch against Women’s World Champion Liv Morgan after she hit her with Riptide and pinned the champ at Bash in Berlin?
- What about Damian Priest? Will he focus on destroying Finn Balor after the Terror Twins beat Liv and Daddy Dom in Germany?
- Where the f*** is Omos?
What will you be looking for on Raw?
