Raw airs tonight (December 18) with a live show from Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, Iowa. This is the fourth episode of Raw during the nine-week buildup to Royal Rumble 2024, which takes place on January 27th.
WWE needs to come up with an exit plan for GUNTHER
Intercontinental Champion GUNTHER was looking forward to finding a new challenger for his belt after defeating The Miz at Survivor Series last month. But the Ring General's stablemates at the Empire abandoned him last week during a six-man tag team match against Miz & DIY. GUNTHER will now defend the title against The Miz tonight, this time with the added stipulation that if Miz loses, he will never be able to challenge for the belt again during GUNTHER's reign.
GUNTHER's multi-match feud with Miz shows WWE struggling to find a proper exit plan for GUNTHER's reign as champion. Since breaking the record in September, GUNTHER has successfully defended his belt against mid-carders Tommaso Ciampa, Bronson Reed and The Miz. I expect GUNTHER will have to vacate the title to move up to something bigger heading into WrestleMania. The record has already been broken, so there is no obvious goal for GÜNTHER to pursue if he remains champion. It feels like he's cooled down a bit since he's dealing with a guy like Miz who can't be taken seriously as a threat, at least not considering the way both wrestlers were booked for 2023.
Maybe I'm making a bad assumption and WWE isn't even considering an exit plan for GUNTHER's championship reign. In this case, either GUNTHER will continue his mid-tier tour heading into WrestleMania, or top players like Cody Rhodes will suddenly have to be more interested in the Intercontinental Title instead of the World Heavyweight Title.
Who is the right man to dethrone Günther as champion? Could it be Jey Uso? Sami Zayn? L.A. Knight? Brock Lesnar? WWE needs to find an answer to this question. One thing we're virtually guaranteed to learn tonight is that the answer isn't The Miz. It will take a miracle for anything other than Günther to continue his record-breaking 550-day run as Intercontinental Champion and finally break free of the A-lister status.
The rest of the title scene
The Creed Brothers are on a roll and will try to win the title tonight WWE Tag Team Titles by Finn Balor and Damian Priest. The Judgment Day has been through a rough patch and is determined to remind everyone that they run Raw. Meanwhile, Julius and Brutus tried to save Cody Rhodes from Shinsuke Nakamura last week, and that could come back to bite them in the ass tonight when Shinsuke wants to get back at them for messing with his deal.
WWE Women's Tag Team Champions Piper Niven and Chelsea Green also defend their belts, this time against Katana Chance and Kayden Carter. It might be time for Chelsea and Piper to drop the belt after holding the gold longer than most people probably expected.
CM Punk is not announced for Raw tonight, which means World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins can focus all his energy on Drew McIntyre. Drew gets another title shot against Seth in two weeks. What will Rollins say when he speaks to McIntyre tonight?
Women's World Champion Rhea Ripley destroyed Maxxine Dupri last week. Ivy Nile was brave enough to stand in the way of the champion, but this strategy will end very badly for her in these weeks.
Other things to keep in mind
– Cody Rhodes and CM Punk are the two favorites to win the Royal Rumble match. Will new names be officially added tonight?
– Things didn't go well for Rhodes last week, as he once again fell victim to Nakamura's red mist. Will Cody challenge for a rematch with a condition or trick in mind?
– Becky Lynch and Nia Jax are about to settle a score from five years ago when Nia broke Becky's face. Will their match be booked for the Day 1 episode of Raw?
– Ricochet has not wrestled on Raw since his stroke in early November. Now that he's back on TV, will Ricochet return to in-ring action tonight?
– Jey Uso could use a win after losing matches to Rollins and McIntyre in recent weeks. That sounds like a job for JD McDonagh.
– The WWE website states that the “war is far from over” between Bronson Reed and Ivar.
-Where the hell is Omos?
What will you be looking for on Raw?
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