Raw airs tonight (June 1) with a live show emanating from Inalpi Arena in Turin, Italy. This is the first episode of Raw during the four week build to Night of Champions, which takes place on June 27. Raw has a special start time of 2 pm ET on Netflix.
WWE is already setting up Oba Femi for his next loss
The King of the Ring tournament officially begins today on Raw. The first round is all about fatal 4-way matches, with the biggest news being that Oba Femi’s name is listed on the bracket. In fact, The Ruler’s opening 4-way match takes place today,
where he shares the ring with Solo Sikoa, Carmelo Hayes, and WWE Intercontinental Champion Penta.
On paper, Femi should destroy these guys. That’s not a knock of any of them, it’s just that we’ve already seen what Oba can do to Brock Lesnar, and how it took seven F5 finishers to finally hand Oba a loss at Clash In Italy. Femi should probably run the table and dominate the entire tournament, based on how he’s been booked.
However, there’s one glaring problem with idea that Oba is the obvious King of the Ring. The winner earns a world title match at SummerSlam, and there isn’t much reason to think WWE is planning Femi vs. World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns or WWE Champion Cody Rhodes on that card. If anything, it looks like Femi’s loss at Clash In Italy was done to set up one final match with Lesnar at SummerSlam. If that’s the case, then Femi has to lose again this month during the King of the Ring tournament.
The easiest way to book Oba to lose is today’s 4-way match, where there are no disqualifications. Brock can theoretically strike again to brawl with Femi, leaving the other three guys to determine a winner amongst each other. Alternatively, Femi can bounce back from yesterday’s loss by winning his tournament match today, but then he probably has to lose a one-on-one match in a future round. That’s a little trickier to pull off without him eating another pin.
Is The Ruler going to regain his lost momentum by tearing apart Penta, Sikoa, and Melo with ease, or is he about to lose his second match in a 24 hour span? Tune into Raw today to find out.
Other stuff to keep an eye on
– Jacob Fatu lost Tribal Combat against World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns, which means he has to either acknowledge Roman as his Tribal Chief and fall in line as his servant, or GM Adam Pearce will fire him. Fatu seemed just fine with keeping his job in defeat during last week’s promo, so let’s see how eager the neutered Samoan Werewolf is to effectively join the Roman Reigns Kiss My Ass Club tonight.
– The Vision desperately needs a new member now that Logan Paul had triceps surgery, and nobody buys Austin Theory as a badass swinging that steel chair. Will Joe Hendry and Angelo Dawkins get some payback on Theory for last week’s brutal attacks, or is a new Vision member lurking in the shadows and ready to strike?
– Rey Mysterio beat Rusev last week and earned a future shot at Intercontinental Champion Penta. Will their title match go down at Night of Champions in Saudi Arabia, if Penta is bounced from the King of the Ring tournament before then?
– LA Knight is getting awfully close to crossing the line with The Usos, and he happens to be booked in a first round KOTR tournament 4-way match against Jey Uso, Royce Keys, and Finn Balor. What will happen if LA and Jey get in each other’s face tonight?
– Seth Rollins wants a rematch against Bron Breakker ASAP. Will WWE add a gimmick or stipulation to their next fight, whenever it is officially announced?
– Becky Lynch dropped the Women’s Intercontinental Championship to Sol Ruca at Clash In Italy. Will The Man make a bunch of excuses and go after Jessika Carr after her latest loss, or does she have to immediately turn the page to prepare for her Queen of the Ring 4-way match against Alexa Bliss, Chelsea Green, and Women’s World Champion Liv Morgan? What if Carr is the ref for Becky’s tournament opener?
– Is Chad Gable returning to Raw today after he unmasked to reveal himself as the Original El Grande Americano at AAA Noche de Los Grandes? Will he fare any better in WWE after having a potential match of the year this past weekend in Mexico?
– IYO SKY’s opening match in the Queen of the Ring tournament is against Giulia, Lash Legend, and Roxanne Perez. Can any of them stop her from making it to a world title match at SummerSlam?
– Who does Ethan Page have to beat to earn another Intercontinental title match? Maybe Je’Von Evans?
– Has WWE figured out what the hell they’re doing with AAA Mega Champion Dominik Mysterio? He can always win the King of the Ring tournament, where his opening round 4-way match is against Bron Breakker, Trick Williams, and Damian Priest.
– Will Danhausen and Santino Marella team up tonight to curse some poor jabroni and take them out with The Cobra?
– Where the f*** is CM Punk? Will he return to WWE in time to apologize to the government of Saudi Arabia again at Night of Champions?
What will you be looking for on Raw?
