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Raw airs tonight (Mar. 28) with a live show from PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. This is the final Raw episode during the six week build towards WrestleMania 38, coming up this weekend on Apr. 2 & 3.
Vince McMahon’s meeting with Seth Rollins will change everything
Last week on Raw, Seth Rollins lost against AJ Styles in the main event and once again failed to secure a match at WrestleMania. Rollins was irate after the match and essentially threatened to hijack Raw tonight if WWE officials don’t find a spot for him at WrestleMania 38.
Seth might just get his way, because Vince McMahon sent him a text over the weekend to set up a meeting at WWE headquarters at 9 am ET, which is exactly when this post publishes. According to Wrestling Observer Live’s Andrew Zarian, the way this angle will play out is that Mr. McMahon will handpick Seth’s opponent at WrestleMania.
All signs off television point to former AEW Executive Vice President (EVP) Cody Rhodes as the guy who will face Seth at WrestleMania. Why would Vince choose him? Is Cody about to become a WWE EVP in kayfabe?
Considering how much of a headache this whole ordeal has become for Seth, maybe next year he should plan ahead better and follow Edge’s path of simply issuing an open challenge for WrestleMania in February. There are hundreds of ways for a star of Seth’s caliber to make it onto a two night WrestleMania card, and he looks like an inept fool for being unable to figure this out.
The title scene
Brock Lesnar is finally bringing the WWE championship back to Raw. Universal Champion Roman Reigns is also gracing Raw with his presence tonight. Will the two top stars in WWE exchange blows ahead of the so-called biggest WrestleMania match of all-time, or will the Tribal Chief continue dodging the Beast like a coward?
The Street Profits will battle Alpha Academy tonight before both teams challenge RK-Bro for the Raw tag team titles this weekend at WrestleMania. Meanwhile, Randy Orton and Matt Riddle have their hands full tonight when they take on SmackDown Tag Team Champions Jimmy and Jey Uso. This is a rematch from Survivor Series 2021, where RK-Bro picked up the win.
Becky Lynch is supposed to defend the Raw women’s championship against Bianca Belair at WrestleMania 38, but Bianca is out of action for an indefinite period of time following Lynch’s attack on her throat a couple weeks ago. We’re supposed to receive an update on Belair’s status tonight; I bet she’s going to have a miraculous recovery.
Queen Zelina Vega and Carmella are set to defend the Women’s tag team titles in a Fatal 4-Way match at WrestleMania 38. We’ll get a preview of that bout tonight when Vega and Carmella team up with Natalya & Shayna Baszler to take on Sasha Banks, Naomi, and Liv for Brutality.
The feud between United States Champion Finn Balor and Damian Priest has been dumped into the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, which is set to take place the night before WrestleMania Saturday. I suppose there is still a chance that a one-on-one title match between these two guys is added to one of the WrestleMania pre-shows, but it’s pretty shocking to see both of these guys potentially left out of the mix at WrestleMania. The Demon vs. Damian on the grand stage seemed like a no-brainer. Oh well.
The men’s side of the 24/7 title scene is also headed to the Andre Battle Royal. The women are unlikely to get a filler Battle Royal of their own, so Tamina and Dana Brooke will have to find a different way to get booked on one of WWE’s shows next weekend in Texas.
Other stuff to keep an eye on
- AJ Styles returned to Raw last week but was once again the victim of a chair shot from Edge. Styles doesn’t care about Edge’s motivation for turning heel, he just wants to beat the shit out of him at this point.
- Rey Mysterio goes one-on-one with The Miz tonight. The Miz stole Rey’s mask last week and it sounds like Logan Paul might actually wear it tonight.
- Kevin Owens trolled the WWE audience last week by doing a parody of Stone Cold Steve Austin’s entire shtick and teasing the return of the all-time great wrestler. Austin once again won’t be in the building tonight, so KO has free reign to continue making a mockery of the Attitude Era legend. Which poor sap will be on the receiving end of a KO stunner and beer bash tonight?
- Omos has never been pinned or submitted over the last year and is undefeated as a singles wrestler. He’s looking for someone to show courage and face him at WrestleMania 38. Former WWE Champion Bobby Lashley is rumored to return to Raw tonight; there’s a pretty good chance he’ll be the guy who gets to have a terrible match with Omos on the grand stage.
- Alexa Bliss, Doudrop, and Nikki A.S.H. are all on the outside looking in at WrestleMania 38 right now. Given their recent alliance, it’s not clear why Doudrop and Nikki didn’t attack one of the other women’s tag teams to try and join that title match at WrestleMania.
- Veer Mahaan is apparently coming to Raw next week, perhaps with a new character. That means tonight may very well be the final time we receive the “Veer is coming” teaser video that Raw has featured on a near weekly basis for the last five months.
What will you be looking for on Raw tonight?
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