Bengaluru, September 13: WWE’s flagship programme faces stiff competition this week as it goes head-to-head with NFL’s Monday Night Football.
To counter the mainstream sports competition, WWE presents a loaded episode of Monday Night Raw where a WWE Championship match will be the headliner alongside the United States Title, which will also be on the line in an open challenge.
A massive eight-man tag team match will also be on the card, while one-half of the Women’s Tag Team Champions will also be seen in a non-title matchup.
Plus, WWE Raw Women’s Champion has also been announced to be in action as the Road to Extreme Rules continues with Raw at the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts.
WWE Champion Bobby Lashley challenged Randy Orton to a fresh matchup, last week after digesting RKOs on two back-to-back occasions. The Viper agreed to it only if Lashley would put the WWE Title on the line. The All-Mighty and MVP accepted the term and confirmed it for the WWE Extreme Rules PPV event.
In an altered statement, WWE is now advertising that Bobby Lashley will defend against RAW Tag Team Champion Randy Orton on Monday’s RAW, instead. The title match originally slated for Extreme Rules PPV has now been removed from the PPV card.
A preview on the WWE’s official website mentioned that the two top superstars from the Raw roster can’t wait till September 26 to get their hands on each other.
“They don’t want to wait for WWE Extreme Rules. Bobby Lashley will defend his WWE Championship against Randy Orton this Monday on Raw!
"Raw Tag Team Champion Orton will look to add another title to his collection as he tries to capture his 15th World Championship, while The All Mighty is out for some serious payback after falling victim to an RKO two weeks in a row.
"Who will emerge as WWE Champion? Find out on Raw, live this Monday at 8/7 C on USA Network!”
Monday on #WWERaw!@fightbobby defends the #WWETitle against @RandyOrton! https://t.co/3gjdCO5CCA pic.twitter.com/6XHFZRydCl
— WWE (@WWE) September 11, 2021
It should be noted that Raw was originally supposed to feature a tag team titles match where Orton and Riddle had to defend the tag team titles against Lashley and MVP.
The latter duo injected themselves into a tag team gauntlet match and eventually won it to become new number-one contenders for the tag belts. There’s no mention of whether this title match is still intact on the show.
.@ArcherOfInfamy issues a #USTitle Open Challenge. #WWERawhttps://t.co/NjjBd3wC0x pic.twitter.com/YaVYJDzsoQ
— WWE (@WWE) September 11, 2021
Speaking of title matches, WWE United States Champion Damian Priest will host an Open Challenge, available to any member of the Raw roster.
At this point, Priest is also scheduled to defend his belt against Sheamus at Extreme Rules. In a high-stakes matchup, The Celtic Warrior defeated former WWE Champion Drew McIntyre with the help of a handful of tights to earn the challenger’s spot.
.@RheaRipley_WWE squares off with @NatbyNature. #WWERawhttps://t.co/KlfuuaY445 pic.twitter.com/qzr20VPajq
— WWE (@WWE) September 11, 2021
The unlikely ally of Rhea Ripley and Nikki A.S.H. were triumphant over WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Natalya and Tamina Snuka in a Championship Contender Match to receive a future title match opportunity from the champions.
Now Ripley is booked to compete in another non-title match against the Hart Foundation member, Natalya as she looks forward to making another statement ahead of the title match encounter.
.@MsCharlotteWWE battles @QoSBaszler! #WWERaw https://t.co/wDHfrcrnoR pic.twitter.com/4NAqsfB4vV
— WWE (@WWE) September 11, 2021
A distraction from Shayna Baszler allowed Charlotte Flair to hit a Super Natural Selection on Nia Jax to retain her Raw Women’s Championship.
This affirmed the break-up of the team of Jax and Baszler as the latter gets to compete in a non-title matchup against the champion. The Queen is already slated for her next title defense as she goes one-on-one against Alexa Bliss at Extreme Rules.
The unorthodox team of Eva Marie and Doudrop parted ways at Summerslam as the latter blasted her mentor following her loss to Alexa Bliss. The very next night, these two were supposed to square off in a match but a pre-match beatdown from Doudrop disqualified Eva from in-ring competition for that night.
Now, Doudrop is ready for a rematch as she laid down a challenge. As of this writing, Eva hasn’t accepted it and WWE has also not made it official for Raw.
The #NewDay will join forces with @KSAMANNY & @AliWWE to battle @AJStylesOrg, @TheGiantOmos, @MACEtheWRESTLER & @TBARRetribution in an Eight-Man Tag Team Showdown! #WWERaw https://t.co/VpRPowBrLj pic.twitter.com/grW0X5gR02
— WWE (@WWE) September 11, 2021
A big eight-man tag team match has been confirmed for Raw where The New Day - Kofi Kingston, Xavier Woods team up with Mansoor and Mustafa Ali to compete against AJ Styles, Omos, T-BAR, and MACE.
All these four teams participated in last week’s gauntlet and a win in tonight’s match could present them with yet another shot to the tag titles. Which teams will be able to seize the opportunity? We’ll find out on this jam-packed edition of Monday Night Raw.