Raw airs tonight (April 22) with a live show from Schottenstein Center in Columbus, Ohio. This is the third episode of Raw during the four week build towards Backlash, which takes place on May 4 in France.
Becky Lynch is back just in time to win the women’s championship
Rhea Ripley was forced to vacate the Women’s World Championship last week due to injury. As a result, there will be a Battle Royal tonight to determine the new champ. Here’s at least a partial list of the women who are expected to compete for the gold:
- Becky Lynch
- Liv Morgan
- Nia Jax
- Maxxine Dupri
- Chelsea Green
- Natalya
- Katana Chance
- Indi Hartwell
- Zoey Stark
- Kayden Carter
- Candice LeRae
- Shayna Baszler
- Tegan Nox
- Piper Niven
- Ivy Nile
Becky Lynch was rumored to be taking time off from WWE following her loss to Ripley at WrestleMania 40, but her quick return has plenty of people predicting The Man will win this match and become champion. However, WWE might not pull the trigger on that decision if the reports are true that Becky’s contract is ending soon and she has yet to sign a new deal.
Liv Morgan and Nia Jax stand out as the next top names in the field. Jax was pushed heavily late last year into early this year and could seamlessly fill in a role as a transitional champ for a couple of months. However, Liv is the one who is getting all the heat for Ripley’s injury and it makes sense for her to be champ whenever Ripley is about to return.
Everyone else appears to be longshots, but the fact that WWE is booking a Battle Royal to determine a new champion opens the door for some fluky shenangians to take place to help an underdog escape with the gold. For example, there’s no way in hell Chelsea Green or Maxxine Dupri could beat Becky Lynch or Nia Jax in a singles match, but maybe one of them can hide under the ring for a while during this Battle Royal and show up at the end to toss someone out.
Who do you think will be crowned the new world champion when all is said and done? Give us your predictions in the comments below, Cagesiders.
The rest of the card
World Tag Team Champions The Miz and R-Truth defend their fancy new belts against Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano. DIY are pretty clearly the better wrestlers, so perhaps Awesome Truth will need to rely on a few tricks to keep the gold.
Andrade and Ricochet team up for a match against Dominik Mysterio and JD McDonagh. JD and Dirty Dom are essentially The Judgment Day’s B-squad, who are usually there to lose matches like this when a babyface like Andrade is being pushed. However, if WWE is planning a future match between Andrade and Ricochet, perhaps there will be a miscommunication here that leads to their downfall.
Finally, former Intercontinental Champion GUNTHER returns to WWE television for the first time since his historic title reign ended at WrestleMania 40. Will GUNTHER make excuses for his loss or take it out on the rest of Imperium? Which babyface does he plan to target next?
Other stuff to keep an eye on
- Chad Gable snapped last week after failing to beat Sami Zayn for the Intercontinental championship. Chad turned heel after the match and beat the crap out of Sami in front of the guy’s family, even though he knows how traumatizing that can be for the family. Gable should explain himself tonight, and if Zayn confronts him looking for payback, don’t be surprised if The Creeds show up to do something about it.
- Sheamoose ate Too Many Pies during his time on the injured list, but he’s been sleeping at the gym trying to get his body back into peak shape. After last week’s successful return and win over Ivar, the Celtic Warrior will look to keep the momentum going and pick up another victory to raise his spot on the WWE Draft board. The draft officially begins later this week on SmackDown.
- Cody Rhodes basically said goodbye to Raw last week and endorsed Jey Uso as the top babyface to root for on Monday nights. Uso went on to defeat Finn Balor in a match, sending the message that he’s ready to fight Damian Priest for the World Heavyweight Championship at Backlash. What kind of message will Damian send back to Jey tonight?
- It looks like Candice LeRae’s new attitude finally rubbed off on her tag team partner Indi Hartwell, who resorted to cheating in order to score a win over Ivy Nile and Maxxine Dupri.
- CM Punk is scheduled to appear on both nights of the WWE Draft. Will Drew McIntyre cut a promo on him tonight threatening to end his career when he sees him, or will Drew lay low for another week while awaiting Punk’s return?
- There’s a new mystery campaign going on similar to the White Rabbit. What kind of glitch or secret message is coming our way tonight, and will it give any more clues pointing to the return of Uncle Howdy or Alexa Bliss?
What will you be looking for on Raw?
