He said there’s one title he has never held, and now that he’s on Raw, he wants the WWE Title. He said he has nothing but love for Rey, but he is a two-time NXT Champion, a two-time Intercontinental Champion, and the first-ever Universal Champion. He listed the titles he has won and he said he’ll do anything to win the WWE Title one more time. He said it’s been a while since they’ve seen “eye to eye” (a reference to their previous feud). Rey Mysterio interrupted and said clearly Seth’s vision is impaired after being bashed by Edge. Seth proposed a title defense against him. He said he went through hell on Thursday, and he earned his stature on Smackdown, and he wants to know if Big E will be like Roman Reigns or will he be a fighting champion. Big E said he lost to Edge, so he goes to the back of the line. Seth entered the ring and acted obnoxious, including his cackling. Seth Rollins’ theme played and he walked out. He asked who among the influx of new wrestlers are coming for his title. Big E tipped his hat to Drew for making him better today than he was a week ago.
The crowd started a “Let’s Go Astros” chant. Big E then welcomed everyone to Raw, including boy and girls and cats and dogs. Smith said, “They say you’re not a champion until you defend the title, and Big E was pushed to the limit at Crown Jewel.” No mention of Drew McIntyre specifically. Cory Graves touted the energy in the crowd and said they’d see new faces all night long.
Jimmy Smith said everything changes with the season premier. They went live to the arena with pyro blasting as the video backdrop labeled it the “Season Premiere” of Raw. Some of those names are obviously preliminary or lower-mid-card wrestlers, but no Kross, Theory, and Otis could be indicative of Vince McMahon being more cold on them than perhaps expected, and there were no surprises featured where it’d be a sign of more of a sign of confidence and a big forthcoming push than expected.) (Keller’s Analysis: If you can read into that opening theme for Raw at all, since thought presumably goes into who appears in the opening to a degree what order and how often, there were no appearances Gable Steveson, Reggie, Chad Gable, Otis, Ryker, Tozawa, T-Bar, Nox, Drake Maverick, R-Truth, Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode, Tamina, Mia Yim, Cedric & Shelton, Dana Brooke, Queen Zelina, Doudrop, Austin Theory, or Karrion Kross. Styles & Omos, Carmella, the Mysterios, Kevin Owens, Rhea Ripley, The Street Profits, Bianca Belair, Nia Jax, Becky Lynch, Seth Rollins, Riddle, Bobby Lashley, Randy Orton, John Morrison, Miz, Alexa Bliss, some repeats, Bearcat Lee, Damien Priest, more repeats, Edge, Finn Balor, more repeats. They opened with scenes of Downtown Houston and then the Raw opening aired featuring the new roster line-up. SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN).Ĭommentators: Jimmy Smith, Byron Saxton, Corey Graves