We are just a week away from the 2024 Royal Rumble. While the rumbling is about to begin, the gears have already been set in motion for a blockbuster night. Last week fans saw many exciting moments such as Cody Rhodes and Drew McIntyre opening the show, Becky Lynch confronting Rhea Ripley, and Seth Rollins defending his World Heavyweight Championship title against Jinder Mahal. Tonight, at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, Louisiana, let’s take a look at everything that’s going to go down right before the Rumble.
Seth Rollins opens the show
Fans are going to see Seth ‘Freakin‘ Rollins open the Monday Night Raw show this week. However, it might not be a joyous moment for everyone. Last week, Rollins got injured while defending his title against Jinder Mahal. It was later revealed that the injury was very serious and might even cause the 37-year-old star to take a break from pro wrestling. Fans were getting excited as Rollins proved to be an unstoppable machine as he kept on successfully defending his titles. Now that his injury is legitimate, the reason why he is opening the show might be to shed some light on the incident to his fans.
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The segment could go in three possible ways; a) Rollins might announce that despite this injury, he will still defend his title at the Royal Rumble just for his fans. b) He might announce that the title is now vacant and will be set as a prize for the upcoming Rumble, adding a bit of excitement to the PLE. c) Rollins will announce that he will be taking a break from pro wrestling and will accept the challenge after he is in a condition to fight.
Cody Rhodes confronts CM Punk
Since it was announced last week, fans have been very excited to see how the confrontation between the two will go down, mostly because of how contrasting the two stars are to each other. On one hand, Rhodes is a by-the-books, righteous star. On the other hand, CM Punk is a rebellious star, more akin to an anti-hero. Despite being so different, they have one thing in common.
Both the stars are writing their stories. While Rhodes has stated that he has a story to finish, Punk stated that his story is just getting started. What makes this even more exciting is the fact that both the stars were on the AEW roster once. However, they never locked horns in the AEW ring. As there is no main event match announced for tonight, this encounter might lead to Punk’s first televised WWE match since his return and that might be against Cody Rhodes.
Drew McIntyre vs Damian Priest
Fans will get to witness another new chapter on tonight’s episode of Raw. Drew McIntyre, who turned heel a few days before the 2023 edition of Survivor Series will be entering the ring to fight with The Judgment Day’s Damian Priest. This will turn out to be an interesting bout as both the stars are dominating heels at the Raw.
However, this fight right before the Royal Rumble could end up in many possible ways. One thing fans could expect is to see the stable’s unofficial member, R-Truth, stepping in to help Priest against The Scottish Warrior. However, if McIntyre does end up winning the bout, it could taint Priest’s image. Apart from that, Priest is considered an unofficial leader along with Rhea Ripley. McIntyre defeating the Archer of Infamy could mean that the 38-year-old star may demand his spot on The Judgment Day. WWE has surprised fans in the past with some shocking twists. So this might be something that fans could expect from the fight.
The Miz vs Dominik Mysterio
The Miz has been going solo on Raw for a very long time. During this time, he has faced everyone and this week, he will be facing The Judgment Day’s Dominik Mysterio.
Last week fans saw a hilarious match between The Miz & R-Truth vs Finn Balor and Damian Priest. Will R-Truth interfere in this match? And if so we’ll have to see who’s side he will be on if that does happen.
Chad Gable vs Ivar
The leader of the Alpha Academy is known to be a protective figure for his stablemates. Last week, fans saw Akira Tozawa face off against Ivar. While Tozawa was being dominated by the Norse Warrior, a little help from Maxxine Dupri helped Tozawa secure the win.
However, both Ivar and his associate Valhalla rained terror on them after losing the match. Gable wants to teach Ivar a lesson as he believes that his tyranny is getting out of hand.
Ivy Nile vs Valhalla
The motivation behind Nile’s will to fight Valhalla is the same as that of Chad Gable. In the last week’s episode, Nile saw a beaten-up Dupri tending to her wounds.
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This prompted Nile to take matters into her own hands. While Nile is trained in jiu-jitsu, it will be interesting to see whether she will be able to hold up against the Viking fighter.
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What segment are you most excited about?
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