WWE Raw preview (Oct. 2, 2023): The Judgment Day has a war on their hands

Raw airs tonight (Oct. 2) with a live show from SAP Center in San Jose, California. This is the final episode of Raw during the five week build towards Fastlane, which takes place on Saturday (Oct. 7).

The Judgment Day has a war on their hands

Last week’s episode of Raw ended in a chaotic brawl between The Judgment Day and Sami Zayn, Kevin Owens, Cody Rhodes, and Jey Uso. Given that Survivor Series is coming up next month, there’s been a lot of speculation that this angle was a tease for the return of WarGames. Cody Rhodes has never competed in the popular gimmick match that his father created, so that would certainly be another goal to cross off his checklist during his current main event level run in WWE.

Each side has some potential in-fighting going on, with Kevin Owens refusing to trust Jey Uso, while Damian Priest wants nothing to do with JD McDonagh. JD did play a key role in helping Priest and Finn Balor retain the WWE Tag team Championship last week against Owens and Zayn, though, so he is still trying to keep his foot in the door towards eventual membership into The Judgment Day.

It sounds like Priest and Balor will have a title defense at Fastlane. Given last week’s win over Zayn and Owens, it might now be time for Rhodes and Uso to step up to the plate. Priest goes one-on-one with Uso tonight, which could lead to the Fastlane announcement.

The rest of the title scene

NXT Women’s Champion Becky Lynch puts her title on the line against Tegan Nox tonight. Nox earned this match after beating Natalya last week. This is the biggest match of Tegan’s career in WWE, and could perhaps help her remain on TV going forward if it goes well.

Intercontinental Champion GUNTHER and Tommaso Ciampa will sign a contract tonight to make their upcoming title match official. Will Ciampa have anyone watching his back to counteract Imperium’s numbers advantage?

World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins succumbed to Shinsuke Nakamura’s mind games and granted him a title match on whatever terms he wanted. Nakamura chose a Last Man Standing match at Fastlane. Meanwhile, Ricochet is on crutches after recent attacks from Nakamura. How will Ricochet play into tonight’s go-home angle?

Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley has Nia Jax squarely on her radar, though it might be getting a little too late to book their assumed title match at Fastlane. After defeating Zoey Stark last week, Jax looks to continue her dominance over the women’s tag division by taking out Shayna Baszler in a singles match tonight.

WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Chelsea Green and Piper Niven don’t have to worry about losing the belts for now, given that their top challengers (Zoey Stark & Shayna Baszler) are busy dealing with Jax.

Other stuff to keep an eye on

- Drew McIntyre will appear on Miz TV again to explain his actions after abandoning another babyface in need last week. Will The Miz change his approach towards his guest after Drew used violence to shut him up last week?

- Kofi Kingston is the babyface who McIntyre beat in a singles match last week and then didn’t save from a post-match attack by Ivar. Xavier Woods looks to pay back the Viking Raider in a singles match tonight.

- Bronson Reed has spent the last couple of weeks dominating Alpha Academy, picking up separate singles wins over Chad Gable and Otis. Will these losses begin to convince Maxxine Dupri that she needs to associate herself with better wrestlers?

- Jade Cargill is signed with WWE, and the Raw commentators will be sure to tell us all about it at some point.

- Will any wrestler with a live mic tonight decide to make a reference to Edge going to AEW?

- Where the f*** is Omos Johnny Gargano?

What will you be looking for on Raw?