WWE Raw preview (Sept. 6, 2021): There’s still hope for Alexa Bliss

Raw airs tonight (Sept. 6) with a live show from the FTX Arena in Miami, Florida. This is the third Raw episode during the five week build towards Extreme Rules 2021 on September 26.

There’s still hope for Alexa Bliss

Two weeks ago on Raw, Charlotte Flair was gloating about her victory at SummerSlam when she was interrupted by Alexa Bliss, who introduced her stupid doll to The Queen. It looked like a Raw women’s championship match between Flair and Bliss was on the table for Extreme Rules.

But a strange thing happened last week; there was reportedly a bunch of backstage chaos that led to a late rewrite of the show. In other words, it was just another Monday in WWE. The end result is that Alexa Bliss was nowhere to be found on the broadcast, and Nia Jax suddenly received a huge spotlight.

Jax called her shot early in the show, declaring that she was going to splatter Nikki A.S.H., Rhea Ripley, and Charlotte Flair before the end of the night. That’s exactly what happened. Jax even defeated Flair in a non-title match to jump the line and become the clear top contender for Flair’s championship, with Extreme Rules coming up in a few weeks.

Their match was actually one of the most talked about segments of the night, because it seemingly broke down into a shoot at one point. Their were awkward slaps, punches, and butt wiggles, among other things.

WWE is following up on the buzz created by that mess and has immediately booked a rematch between Flair and Jax for tonight, and this time the title is on the line.

So what does any of this have to do with Alexa Bliss? Well now that Jax is getting the title shot tonight, that means there is still hope for Bliss to challenge for the title at Extreme Rules. So don’t be surprised if Alexa and Lilly make their supernatural presence known after (if?) Flair vs. Jax has a winner.

The rest of the title scene

As the reigning WWE champion, Bobby Lashley has a huge target on his back. Randy Orton laid him out with an RKO last week. Damian Priest called the All Mighty a coward the week before that. Goldberg wants to take the guy’s soul. Sheamus was booked in a match against him last week before plans changed. Drew McIntyre is always hanging around the periphery of the championship scene, stipulations be damned. Big E has the Money in the Bank briefcase and is a master of disguise. Perhaps tonight will shed some light on which of these men, if any, will step in the ring with Bob at Extreme Rules.

Did you know there are at least seven different teams on Raw vying to be next in line for a title match against the Raw tag team champions, Randy Orton and Matt Riddle? Seven teams will do battle tonight in a tag turmoil match. The field includes Mansoor & Mustafa Ali, the Viking Raiders, Jinder Mahal & Veer, MACE & T-BAR, Omos & AJ Styles, New Day, and Lucha House Party. The winner gets the next title match against RK-Bro. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean the championship match will take place at Extreme Rules.

Rhea Ripley and Nikki A.S.H. have regrouped from their recent failure at SummerSlam to form an odd couple tag team and pick up some wins over Shayna Baszler, who is one of the losingest women on the main roster. Those victories have put A.S.H. and Ripley in position to fight the Women’s tag team champions in a championship contenders non-title match tonight. Natalya and Tamina shouldn’t sweat the outcome of this match, because as we’ve seen with Shotzi & Nox, it will take at least three wins for the challengers to be rewarded with a title match.

Damian Priest defeated Drew McIntyre and Sheamus in a triple threat match last week to retain the United States championship. Priest is out of the equation this week - it will instead be a singles match between Sheamus and McIntyre. The winner of the match gets a championship match against Priest at Extreme Rules.

Reggie has spent the last few weeks back-flipping around playgrounds and other assorted outdoor areas to avoid all the jobbers chasing him down for the 24/7 championship. One of those jobbers gets Reggie in the ring tonight for a one-on-one championship match. Could Reggie vs. Akira Tozawa be a dark horse candidate for tonight’s main event? Of course not, but it’s fun to think about.

Other stuff to keep an eye on

- Logan Paul was on hand for a major breakup angle between Miz and John Morrison two weeks ago. It was followed up last week with Miz off television, and Morrison becoming a chew toy for Omos. Just like that, the Miz/Morrison breakup angle has lost moist of its heat.

- Eva Marie was destroyed by Doudrop before their bout officially started last week, and so technically the match never happened. Maybe things will be different this week, and we’ll finally have the privilege of witnessing Eva’s spectacular shooting star press.

- After an unusual main roster rollout that included multiple losses, Karrion Kross has transformed into Dollar Store Super Shredder and is now feasting on nobodies like Ricochet and Humberto Carrillo. Which unlucky jobber will be the next one to fall and pray?

- I think Keith Lee and Jaxson Ryker are in a race to see who can miss the most consecutive episodes of Raw.

What will you be looking for on Raw tonight?