SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
WWE announced before the start of Raw that a new #1 contender to the WWE Title would be determined on Monday’s Raw. Included were multiple singles matches leading to a four-way match in the TV main event.
WWE Raw TV News & Notes 10/26
– Roman Reigns won a #1 contender fatal four-way match to receive the next WWE World Title shot against Seth Rollins. Reigns topped Dolph Ziggler, U.S. champion Alberto Del Rio, and IC champion Kevin Owens in the TV main event.
– Five of the seven matches of the show were centered on WWE Title contendership. There were four qualifying matches featuring match winners from Sunday’s Hell in a Cell PPV, which led to the four-way main event.
There was also a six-man tag match with the “loser’s bracket” from Hell in a Cell – King Barrett & Sheamus & Rusev beat the Dudleys & Ryback.
The other match was a six-Divas tag match – Team Bellas beat Divas champion Charlotte, Paige, and Becky Lynch. Afterward, Paige did a full-fledged heel turn on Charlotte and Becky, setting up Paige as the likely next title challenger to Charlotte.
– “Stone Cold” Steve Austin made an unannounced backstage appearance. After The Miz played Austin in the “WWE 2K16” video game, Austin surprised Miz and the audience by appearing live running down Miz. Austin is the cover-star for this year’s franchise WWE video game due out this week.
– Tyler Breeze made his Raw TV debut. Breeze, joined by Summer Rae, sat ringside during Ziggler’s #1 contender qualifying match against New Day’s Big E.
– Bray Wyatt’s explanation for taking out The Undertaker after the HIAC main event is that he lusts for power and he must go through Taker to receive power. He then plans to use this power to conquer Roman Reigns. The implication was Bray is not done with Reigns, who beat Bray in a HIAC match at Sunday’s PPV.
Kane then appeared as Big Red Kane to defend his fictional brother’s honor. Kane was taken down by the Wyatts, then carried out of the arena like Taker at the end of the HIAC PPV. This was Kane’s lone appearance the night after losing the WWE Title match against Seth Rollins.
– Rollins and The Authority opened the show with a promo glowing about Rollins’s title reign and accomplishments. Reigns interrupted the promo to stare down Rollins, which is also how Raw ended with a stare down between champion and new challenger.
The other original Shield member, Dean Ambrose, made a backstage appearance giving Reigns a pep-talk after he won his qualifying match and before the four-way #1 contender main event.
– Announced for Thursday’s Smackdown is a Halloween theme episode.
Great RAW this week. Show hasn’t been good for a month or so but they kicked it off well after a strong PPV.
Lana, Kane, and Ric Flair were all scheduled for this weekend’s Austin Comic Con but all are now off the card. Its surprising the WWE wouldn’t send anybody since the Austin Comic Con is one of the biggest and well attended.