WWE Raw preview (Nov. 7, 2022): Damage CTRL might have a new member just in time for WarGames

Raw airs tonight (Nov. 7) with a live show from Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. This is the first episode of Raw during the three week build towards Survivor Series, which takes place on Nov. 26

Damage CTRL might have a new member just in time for WarGames

The men and women’s WarGames matches will take place at Survivor Series in three weeks.

Asuka, Alexa Bliss, and Raw Women’s Champion Bianca Belair vs. Bayley & WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Dakota Kai & IYO SKY are the obvious core of a potential women’s WarGames match, though a few more wrestlers will need to join the fray in order to fill out the 5 vs. 5 format.

One of those additional women would almost certainly be the unhinged Nikki Cross, who helped Dakota and IYO take back the tag titles from Alexa and Asuka at Crown Jewel. Does this mean Nikki is on the cusp of joining Damage CTRL, or is she simply a useful ally in the short-term?

On the babyface side of the ledger, there will no doubt be increasing speculation about Sasha Banks and Naomi returning to WWE to join the women’s match at WarGames. But if that’s not happening, then Candice LeRae stands out as someone who definitely wants revenge on Damage CTRL.

There isn’t a lot of time to book the WarGames matches, so it shouldn’t be long before we know more about the participants.

The rest of the title scene

WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns is almost certainly getting the night off after he barely survived against YouTube star Logan Paul at Crown Jewel.

United States Champion Seth Rollins is being chased by Mustafa Ali, who beat The Miz last week. Will Ali’s eventual title match take place on Raw or at Survivor Series?

The Usos are looking to become the longest reigning WWE tag team champions in history, and all they have to do is beat New Day later this week on SmackDown to ensure the record is theirs. They also have to make sure not to show up on Raw tonight and accept any impromptu challenges for the titles. WWE says Jey Uso has a broken wrist, so perhaps we’ll receive a health update on him during the show.

Other stuff to keep an eye on

- There are two main possibilities for the men’s heel faction at WarGames: The Bloodline or The Judgment Day. The Bloodline is set up better for it since they already have five men in the group, but they don’t have a unified babyface opposition in place. The Judgment Day is on the other side of the coin, where they have plenty of babyfaces who want a piece of them (AJ Styles, Luke Gallows, Karl Anderson, Edge, maybe Rey Mysterio) but only three men in their group.

- Bobby Lashley appeared to turn heel at Crown Jewel. His alignment should become clearer tonight depending on whose ass he kicks. The ass he kicked at Crown Jewel belonged to Brock Lesnar, who likely won’t be in the building. A rematch has to be coming here, but Survivor Series might be too soon given Brock’s part-time schedule and WWE’s decision to save most of his matches for big stadium shows.

- Like Bob, Omos had a dominating performance at Crown Jewel, but he lost his match with one move at the last second. Does this mean WWE has a plan to do more with Omos going forward, or was it a matter of WWE not wanting to expose Omos’ primary weakness by asking him to sell in a match?

- JBL says Baron Corbin is a wrestling god. Corbin has tried living up to those words by beating up Dolph Ziggler, Johnny Gargano, and R-Truth. Which babyface will draw the short straw tonight?

- Per Gargano, The Miz was paying Dexter Lumis to stalk him because he’s a desperate attention-seeking celebrity wannabe. The Miz eventually stopped paying him though, and that’s why Lumis is now really trying to hurt him. Is The Miz going to sue someone for defamation after WWE aired Gargano’s tell-all interview last week?

- Matt Riddle really loves loves to walk with Elias and beat up Alpha Academy.

- Sami Zayn is super over right now. Will he be representing The Bloodline tonight with an appearance on Raw?

- Kevin Owens hasn’t been on TV much lately, which could be related to Zayn’s unexpected popularity changing plans. Now that Saudi Arabia is out of the way, look for KO to resurface on Monday night. And he would certainly be a great option to oppose The Bloodline at WarGames.

What will you be looking for on Raw?