Raw airs tonight (June 29) with a live show emanating from Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey. This is the first episode of Raw during the five week build to SummerSlam, which takes place on the weekend of August 1. Raw has a special start time of 6 pm ET on Netflix. That’s because WWE is also taping the July 3 episode of SmackDown right after Raw goes off the air.
King Oba Femi’s choice at SummerSlam is a no-brainer
Oba Femi is WWE’s new King of the Ring, and now gets to choose between challenging either WWE Champion Sami Zayn or World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns at SummerSlam. It’s been teased that The Ruler will make his decision official on tonight’s episode of Raw.
This should be a very easy choice for King Oba to make. If his main goal is to win a top championship in WWE as soon as possible, then picking Sami Zayn is a no-brainer. Roman Reigns has a whole family of henchmen backing him up, including his personal assassin / lap dog Jacob Fatu. We all saw how it was nearly impossible to beat Roman for the title (1300+ day reign) the last time he had the numbers advantage of The Bloodline, and that it took run-ins from legends like John Cena and The Undertaker to make it happen.
Meanwhile, Sami Zayn is the extreme underdog (heel?) who was never supposed to win the WWE championship. Some people think he won’t even make it to SummerSlam with the belt around his waist. Look what Oba Femi did to Brock Lesnar; if King Femi wants to win championship gold ASAP, then the choice between Reigns and Zayn couldn’t be any easier to make.
But what if that isn’t Femi’s goal? What if it’s more important for him to prove he’s the biggest star wrestler in WWE right now? What if he wants the most prestigious victory that he can possibly get at SummerSlam? Well in that case, the choice is equally easy to make. Just choose Roman Reigns. If King Oba wants to replace Roman and Cody Rhodes as the face of WWE, then beating Sami Zayn won’t cut it. He needs to go whoop Roman’s ass and destroy The Bloodline to become the new world heavyweight champion at SummerSlam. It’s an obvious choice to make.
I don’t know which of these factors is more important to Oba Femi, but we’ll know as soon as he makes his very easy choice for SummerSlam. There’s no need to delay it any longer.
Then again, one variable that may come into play tonight is Brock Lesnar’s potential return to WWE. Lesnar is a staple at SummerSlam, and he may want a piece of Femi’s ass on that weekend. Could The Beast show up on Raw to interrupt Oba’s no-brainer decision with seven more F5s?
Which champion will King Oba Femi choose to fight at SummerSlam? Tune into Raw to find out.
The rest of the card
That little shithead Dominik Mysterio got into a spat with Chad Gable last week and said he owes an apology to the king of the luchadores. Chad wanted to fight him, but Dirty Dom said he’ll fight JD McDonagh instead. Gable vs. McDonagh will likely go down tonight on Raw.
Roman Reigns is scheduled to be on Raw tonight. Will Jey Uso warn his Tribal Chief that Oba Femi is unlike anybody he’s ever faced before? How will the OTC treat Jey after he failed to deliver on winning the King of the Ring tournament? After LA Knight rejected Solo Sikoa’s offer to join forces against Reigns, will the megastar foolishly try to take on The Bloodline all by himself tonight?
Other stuff to keep an eye on
– Seth Rollins is ready to move on to bigger and better things in WWE after finishing off Bron Breakker and The Vision at Night of Champions. A title match against Roman Reigns seems like the thing he wants the most, but what’s his backup plan if King Oba Femi chooses Roman instead?
– What does the future of The Vision look like after Breakker’s devastating loss to Rollins? Is Paul Heyman ready to return to Raw and make major changes to his faction, or even disband it altogether? Will Heyman put out any feelers to see if Roman Reigns’ attempt to reunite The Bloodline includes room for a Wise Man?
– IYO SKY defeated Women’s World Champion Liv Morgan at Night of Champions to become the new Queen of the Ring. SKY immediately challenged Morgan to a rematch at SummerSlam, this time with the title on the line. Liv’s priority right now needs to be reversing Danhausen’s curse, otherwise she has no chance to keep her belt in the rematch. Does she have enough human monies to convince Danhausen to make the curse go away? Or will the curse be the thing that finally brings Stephanie Vaquer back to WWE?
– Becky Lynch is probably returning to Raw any week now, with SummerSlam right around the corner. Who does she want to work with at WWE’s biggest party of the summer? Could this be her long-awaited singles match against corrupt referee Jessika Carr?
– Now that the Street Profits are the new world tag team champions and The Vision is in disarray, how soon will WWE creative go back to forgetting that Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins exist? Are Jimmy and Jey Uso interested in bring this championship back home to The Bloodline?
– Lyra Valkyria’s heel turn on Bayley last week was so unexpected that she may have even shocked herself. Will Valkyria explain her actions tonight? Is this a potential SummerSlam match, or is it more appropriate for an upcoming episode of Raw or Saturday Night’s Main Event on July 18?
– The future of lucha libre must not be very bright, since WWE loves to say Dragon Lee is the future of lucha libre every time he loses. Ethan Page is the man who beat him last week, which means he’s probably in line for a rematch against Intercontinental Champion Penta. If that’s the case, what kind of scheme will All Ego come up with to make sure this time he beats Penta for the gold?
– Where does Joe Hendry fit into the picture now that he’s back on Raw? Does he get to make fun of that dweeb Austin Theory as well as injured YouTube douchebag Logan Paul?
– Do Otis and Akira Tozawa have anything to say for themselves after Maxxine Dupri kind of forced them to not accept Chad Gable’s apology last week?
– Women’s Intercontinental Champion Sol Ruca (probably?) needs an opponent for SummerSlam. Who could it possibly be?
– As I mentioned at the top of this post, Raw has an earlier start time than normal because WWE is also taping SmackDown afterwards. That means the SmackDown roster is in the building. Will any of them grace Raw with their presence tonight? Will Raw GM Adam Pearce remember that he should probably get one of them back in the recent trade for Finn Balor?
– Where the f*** is CM Punk? There’s a rumor that he’ll return on next week’s episode of Raw in Chicago. Does he need brand new ring gear to accommodate his sudden body transformation?
What will you be looking for on Raw?
