WWE books the card for Raw next week

Next week’s episode of Monday Night Raw will be the first time WWE has to go up against Monday Night Football this year, and that could have something to do with the decision to move up the Bobby Lashley vs. Randy Orton WWE championship match. Said match was made official for Extreme Rules later this month just one week ago.

There are still advertisements for that match taking place at the pay-per-view in Columbus on Sept. 26 on WWE.com, so it’s at least possible WWE is just planning on double dipping here. They could also be planning to have Lashley & MVP challenge Orton & Riddle for the Raw tag team titles at that show.

We’ll have to stay tuned for all that.

For now, Lashley vs. Orton will take place on Raw next week as one of five matches the promotion announced for the show. The others:

• Charlotte Flair vs. Shayna Baszler in a singles match. This comes after Flair vs. Alexa Bliss was made official for Extreme Rules but the Raw women’s champion is still dealing with Baszler/Nia Jax.
• Damian Priest issues and open challenge for the United States championship. He’s currently scheduled to wrestle Sheamus for that title at Extreme Rules.
• The New Day & Mustafa Ali & Mansoor vs. AJ Styles & Omos & T-BAR & MACE in eight-man tag team action.
• Rhea Ripley vs. Natalya. For whatever reason, WWE has seemingly gone away from the idea of Shotzi & Tegan Nox challenging Natalya & Tamina for the women’s tag team titles and pivoted to Ripley and her new partner, Nikki A.S.H.

That’s the show as it stands right now.

Sound exciting?