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The Manchester WWE is filming in this week ain’t in New Hampshire*, so that means you’ll have spoilers this afternoon. We’re still here to get you ready.
The Headliner(s)
Last Monday was crazy busy for Intercontinental champ The Miz. After cutting a fire promo on his Survivor Series opponent (SmackDown’s United States titleholder Baron Corbin), General Manager Kurt Angle forced him to defend his title against Matt Hardy. Then mysterious trash started showing up, and his TLC teammates all started bailing on him. Thanks goodness Bo Dallas was back in The Miztourage!
Well, actually, Curtis Axel turned out to be a much bigger help when the source of all that trash revealed himself. Well, I think he was the source... there’s some debate about whether or not Braun Strowman spent two weeks in a garbage truck or trucks... no matter. Angle wouldn’t let Miz and company head out for seafood, and that played right into The Monster Among Men’s plans.
Or was it actually the GM’s plan all along? Blue brand commissioner Shane McMahon is alleging that another attack in Baltimore - the one Kane unleashed on Daniel Bryan - was set-up by Angle. And seeing as Kurt named Strowman to his team for the red vs. blue pay-per-view (PPV) after he took out Miz, maybe the Hall of Famer had multiple schemes going last week.
Point is, there’s a lot for The A-Lister and his boss to talk about when Miz TV kicks off the show on Nov. 6... and we haven’t even addressed the return of Stephanie McMahon, the questions about the other three members of Raw’s Survivor Series men’s team or a possible invasion of SmackDown to retaliate for Shane’s putting the show #UnderSiege on Oct. 23!
The title scene
While there aren’t any defenses booked for today’s show yet, WWE.com’s official preview is again teasing the possibility of changes before Survivor Series...
One that’s definitely safe is the Universal championship, since Brock Lesnar isn’t even in the United Kingdom. He might still be laughing about the prospect of facing Jinder Mahal in Houston, but if The Maharajah loses to AJ Styles on Tuesday, he could be battling a different WWE champ. But that’s for the SmackDown preview...
Tag team champs Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins have to keep their eyes on their PPV match, when they’re not catching beatings from Kane. The Big Red Machine would seem to be on a collision course with Strowman, but with Braun otherwise engaged for Nov. 19, will the currently healthy 2⁄3 of The Shield keep trying to stop the veteran’s rampage?
She just ended one feud with another win over Mickie James, could Women's titleholder Alexa Bliss face another challenge? The rest of the Raw Women’s roster is probably busy worrying about facing Asuka or trying to decide if they want to be on Alicia Fox’s Survivor Series squad, but you never know. Maybe Nia Jax can finally get a one-on-one shot at The Goddess.
Actually, Brock’s probably isn’t the only strap that’s safe until the PPV. Cruiserweight champion Enzo Amore just found out he’ll defend his belt against Kalisto again in Houston, so he can probably focus on teaching Drew Gulak how to spell sawft between now and Nov. 19.
Other stuff to keep an eye on:
- It’s a tale as old as time: A Drifter stripped of a surname. A long-lost Olympian’s son. A guitar. A pole. If putting a musical instrument on a big stick and having them fight over who gets to use it to hit the other one doesn’t settle Elias and Jason Jordan’s feud over in-ring musical performances and illicit use of produce, nothing will.
- A roller coaster couple of weeks for Finn Bálor when he got back in the win column by beating Cesaro... then found himself being tombstone piledriven onto the stage by Kane. Hopefully now that Bray Wyatt has returned, the Irishman can get away from The Devil’s Favorite Demon and get back to preparing to put on make-up for a battle against The Eater of Worlds (cosplaying as his own imaginary sister).
- Speaking of cosplay... it’s not Halloween, so we probably won’t get to see any Southpaw characters or Rhyno in drag. Probably.
- The Destroyer is back, using big words and choking out Titus Worldwide. It’s almost like Samoa Joe was never gone.
Two weeks until Survivor Series!
What will you be looking for on Raw tonight?
* This used to say Rhode Island, because even though I saw Manchester By The Sea last year, I am not from New England, and am often an idiot. Thanks to the commenters who assisted with this edit.