WWE Raw Preview and Predictions: Same Old Song and Dance

The Elephant in the Room

First of all, it’s going to be a tremendous tightrope walk for WWE this week in trying to promote Crown Jewel. In case you haven’t heard, the host country of Crown Jewel is in the news for a variety of reasons, none of them good. If you want the TL;DR version, check out John Oliver on Last Week Tonight he helpfully highlights just how bad WWE looks for going on with the show.

But on WWE Raw tonight, Michael Cole is going to be the verbal acrobat WWE needs to get the job done. As of press time, Crown Jewel is on as scheduled, despite initial reports that WWE removed it from its schedule. Of course, canceling the show is still possible, but until it’s officially gone, everyone needs to continue as if all was normal.

So the first main point WWE is promoting tonight deals with the recent reunion of D-Generation X, and their challenge to Kane and The Undertaker. Are The Brothers of Destruction going to respond to D-X before their match at Crown Jewel — if it even happens?

My guess? If anyone acknowledges the show, they’ll do like I’ve been doing so far in this preview — and like WWE has been doing since the really horrific news broke about the host country — and just not mention where the show is taking place. You know, because it’s not like the royal family of this place is going to stay scarce if and when the show goes on in a few weeks.

Additionally, Kane will most likely not appear in any capacity tonight. His “real job” as mayor of Knox County, TN, requires him to act differently than most other superstars. Even if no one mentions this country on Raw this week, do you really think Kane wants to be attached to the show during WWE’s “monitoring the situation” period?