WWE Raw preview (Oct. 23, 2023): Sami Zayn is angry at the wrong person

Raw airs tonight (Oct. 23) with a live show from American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas. This is the third episode of Raw during the four week build towards Crown Jewel, which takes place on November 4.

Sami Zayn is angry at the wrong person

The team of Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens was abruptly broken up when KO was traded to SmackDown as trade compensation for Jey Uso. Sami is struggling to deal with the loss of his partner, and he tried to throw a guilt trip on Jey about it; Sami told Jey he needs some space because it’s Jey’s fault that Owens is gone.

Zayn’s frustration was directed at the wrong person, though, because Cody Rhodes is really the man at fault for why Sami lost his tag team partner. Cody is the guy who admittedly used all of his political stroke to get Jey Uso on the Raw roster. If he didn’t do that, Owens would still be on Raw right now chasing down tag team championship gold with his best friend.

Sami is a reasonable guy and quickly realized he was in the wrong, so he apologized to Jey. That apology caught the attention of Drew McIntyre, who thinks anybody looking for the good side of Jey Uso is being a weak idiot. Drew confronted Sami about his weakness. This didn’t go over well with Sami, setting up a singles match between McIntyre and Zayn for tonight.

Now that Sami is running solo on Raw, he wants to prove that he is good enough to be the World heavyweight champion. Drew happens to be the number one contender to Seth Rollins for that belt, so a win for Sami could go a long way towards getting him in the title mix. However, Drew firmly believes that Sami is too trusting of people and that’s why he will never be champion.

Will Seth Rollins be on hand to watch Drew and Sami go at it tonight? Will Drew resort to underhanded tactics, if needed, to score the win? Will Cody Rhodes continue to skate by without taking any of the blame for Kevin Owens being shipped off to SmackDown?

You’ll have to tune in to Raw tonight to find out the answers to some of these questions.

The rest of the title scene

Do you remember that time last week when I wrote this could be the end of Damian Priest’s run in The Judgment Day? Well I’m a moron, because Priest and Finn Balor are the new WWE tag team champions and will kick off tonight’s episode of Raw with a big celebration. Damian is then scheduled for a singles match against Jey Uso.

NXT Women’s Champion Becky Lynch defends the gold tonight against Indi Hartwell. Hartwell demanded this match because she was never beaten for the title. Hartwell has won zero matches on Raw television ever since she was called up nearly six months ago, so I really doubt that The Man is quaking in her boots. Xia Li may show up at some point here, because she’s another wrestler who never wins on TV but wants a title match against Lynch.

Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley’s singles match against Shayna Baszler last week was ruined by interference from Zoey Stark, Nia Jax, and Raquel Rodriguez. And what do you know, the champ now has to defend the belt in a five-way match against all four of these women at Crown Jewel.

Natalya and Tegan Nox really want to win the WWE women’s tag team championship, but Natalya didn’t do her team any favors after losing against Piper Niven last week. What will Nox and Natalya do to convince Raw General Manager Adam Pearce that they deserve a match against the champs?

Intercontinental Champion GUNTHER was nearly taken to the limit by Bronson Reed last week, so I’d say The Ring General has earned a night off from in-ring competition tonight. Meanwhile, GUNTHER’s henchman Giovanni Vinci steps in the ring with Johnny Gargano tonight. GUNTHER will consider Vinci a failure if Gargano is not stretchered out of the arena.

Other stuff to keep an eye on

- YouTube douchebag Logan Paul will make an appearance on Raw. He’s lined up for a title match against United States Champion Rey Mysterio at Crown Jewel. Rey is on the SmackDown roster, though, so which star from Raw will come out to interrupt Logan’s plan?

- The New Day vs. Alpha Academy is booked for tonight to see which team has the best hips in the business.

- What’s next for Shinsuke Nakamura and Ricochet after they had a hell of a Falls Count Anywhere match last week?

- Will someone make sure The Miz is treated fairly and gets time to talk on the mic tonight?

- Adam Pearce was booted out of SmackDown last week by Nick Aldis, formally kicking off a battle for brand supremacy that should be settled at Survivor Series.

- What will WWE do this week to remind us that Jade Cargill is a big F’N deal?

- Where the f*** is Omos?

What will you be looking for on Raw?