WWE Raw preview (Oct. 9, 2023): It’s time for Nia Jax to prove the haters wrong

Raw airs tonight (Oct. 9) with a live show from CHI Health Center in Omaha, Nebraska. This is the first episode of Raw during the four week build towards Crown Jewel, which takes place on November 4.

It’s time for Nia Jax to prove the haters wrong

Raquel Rodriguez returned to Raw last week looking for a fight with Nia Jax, after Jax screwed her over during a recent world championship match. Raquel will get her chance for payback tonight when she battles Nia in a singles match.

The big problem for Rodriguez here is that Nia Jax has an even bigger threat on her hands in the form of Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley. Ripley was also taken out by Jax a few weeks back, and she also plans to whoop Nia’s ass. WWE is pretty clearly building towards a championship match between Ripley and Jax, which doesn’t bode well for Raquel’s chances tonight, unless the idea is to book a triple threat match.

All eyes will be on Jax tonight as she competes in her second match since returning to WWE. Her first match back against Zoey Stark was just a quick showcase for Nia that was lopsided in her favor, but tonight’s match is more likely to be a back-and-forth fight. Will Nia prove the haters wrong and show that she has improved her skills in the ring from when we last saw her in WWE?

The rest of the title scene

NXT Women’s Champion Becky Lynch could be putting her title on the line against Tegan Nox tonight, if The Man is medically cleared after tearing her arm up at NXT No Mercy.

Cody Rhodes and Jey Uso are a hot new team who just became the undisputed WWE tag team champions at Fastlane. The Judgment Day has some internal strife thanks to Damian Priest’s disdain for JD McDonagh, but I’d expect Priest and Finn Balor to get a rematch for the belts before things truly fall apart in their relationship. Will Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn also come looking for a title shot?

Intercontinental Champion GUNTHER prevailed again last week, this time surviving a hell of a fight from Tommaso Ciampa. Johnny Gargano returned after the match to save Ciampa from a beatdown at the hands of Imperium. Will we be getting the return of DIY in a match against Imperium tonight?

World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins needs a new challenger for Crown Jewel after successfully defending the gold against Shinsuke Nakamura on two consecutive premium live pay-per-view events. It sounds like Damian Priest is running out of patience waiting for the right time to cash in his Money in the Bank contract, so The Visionary will need to remain on high alert.

WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Chelsea Green and Piper Niven should try their best to avoid fighting Shayna Baszler and Zoey Stark, if the goal is to remain champions.

Other stuff to keep an eye on

- Kofi Kingston fights Ivar tonight in a Viking Rules match. There will be a bunch of Viking related props and paraphernalia scattered around the ringside area for these two guys to beat the hell out of each other with. Perhaps this will be the blowoff match for the feud between New Day and Viking Raiders. Ivar comes in with a disadvantage because his partner Erik is on the sidelines due to injury.

- Drew McIntyre is sick of weak people like Cody Rhodes who have forgiven Jey Uso for his past actions when he was part of The Bloodline. As a result, it sounds like Drew might start to do some terrible things and then sarcastically apologize so that he is automatically forgiven. This could be a pretty fun character change, as we watch Drew slowly turn to the dark side.

- Bronson Reed is winning matches again. Which babyface jabroni will he take out tonight?

- Jade Cargill showed up on the Fastlane pre-show. Will we see her again tonight on Raw? She’s rumored to be in attendance backstage, for what it’s worth.

- Chad Gable has vowed to get revenge on all the jerks who are cheating and causing Alpha Academy to lose more matches of late.

- There is guaranteed to be a ton of hype on Raw for tomorrow’s episode of NXT, which is competing head-to-head against AEW Dynamite. WWE is already bringing in the big guns like John Cena and Cody Rhodes to NXT, while also teasing an appearance from The Undertaker. Will any more main roster stars be announced for NXT during tonight’s broadcast?

- Where the f*** is Omos? Will WWE make sure to bring him back for a match at Crown Jewel?

What will you be looking for on Raw?