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The red brand starts off a big week in Pennsylvania by spending their Monday night on the East side of the state. Can Raw get some brotherly love from Philadelphia tonight?
The Headliner
It all comes down to this.
At midnight, when the calendar flips to Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2016, New Day’s championship reign will reach 478 days. They’ll be tied with Demolition for the longest run with WWE tag team titles. And with no show scheduled on the 13th, they’ll be guaranteed to hold the record by themselves on Wednesday.
But the powers-that-be on Raw have vowed to make them earn their place in the record books. And since they played a role in making sure their wasn’t a clear winner in the bout set-up to determine who they’d face tonight, Big E, Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods will be at a distince disadvantage as they try to seize history.
They’ve been successful beating Cesaro & Sheamus and Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson several times in the past, and shown a willingness to do whatever it takes to beat the two hard-hitting teams. They’ll have to outsmart both pairs to retain tonight, as they face the possibility they could drop the belts without being pinned or submitted themselves.
Will New Day stay positive in the face of their toughest challenge yet, and justify an historic time with the titles which has seen them be beloved, reviled and everything in between?
The title scene
Sure, Charlotte Flair accepted Women’s champion Sasha Banks’ challenge for an Iron Man match at Roadblock. But she also used her father as bait to kick the Boss’ ass in last week’s main event. Here’s hoping Sasha responds with a little less respect and a lot more violence in Philly.
Universal titleholder Kevin Owens has to defend his belt against United States champ Roman Reigns on pay-per-view (PPV) this Sunday, but is his mind on his crumbling friendship with Chris Jericho? Or has the Big Dog got the Prizefighter doubting that he can win without Y2J on his side?
Brian Kendrick got distracted by his old nemesis TJ Perkins during his shot at getting the Cruiserweight title back from Rich Swann on last week’s 205 Live... and then TJP superkicked the champ before being thrown into a barricade by Kendrick. Sounds like a recipe for a Triple Threat to me.
Other stuff to keep an eye on:
- EMMALINA! Weird name change for a hell of a wrestler who also happens to be a great-looking woman. What could go wrong?
- He’s finally gunning for revenge against Triple H for screwing him out of the title and picking a new favorite, and Seth Rollins mission to play the Game is taking him on a side-quest to face Jericho on Sunday.
- Before she embarked on a crush groovin’ trip through Florida, Lana set Enzo Amore up for a hotel room beating from her husband. Rusev does still technically owe Big Cass a match... seems like a good time for that.
- Sami Zayn all but demanded a chance to prove himself against Braun Strowman during a war of words with General Manager Mick Foley a couple weeks ago, so he got another match with Kevin Owens (much to my boss’ chagrine, Braun got the whole week off). WWE.com’s official preview for tonight is promising we’ll revisit this story. Will Sami get his wish, even if it’s the death wish Foley claims it is?
- Let’s just say the Titus Brand was tarnished by the Tussle in Texas. Can it recover?
It’s the Roadblock ‘go home’ show!
What will you be looking for on Raw tonight?