WWE Rumor Roundup: New setup for RAW debut, Becky Lynch vs Rhea Ripley, Tiffany Stratton heel run & more
(Courtesy : WWE)
Let us discuss the top rumors this week ahead of the debut episode of WWE RAW
The historic debut episode of Monday Night Raw on Netflix is now just a few hours away and speculations among fans have reached their peak. Among the anticipation, multiple rumors among fans have been circulating on social media.
In today’s edition of the rumor roundup, we look at some of the latest rumors among fans regarding the new setup for the premier episode of the Red brand, a rematch between Becky Lynch and Rhea Ripley, WWE Women’s Champion Tiffany Stratton’s heel turn, and more.
New setup for RAW Netflix premiere
The Red brand will make its historic debut on the streaming giant Netflix on January 6, this will mark the first time since the Red brand’s debut in 1993 that it will no longer be available on traditional television. The debut episode of the RAW is set for the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California.
According to reports from PWInsider, WWE is updating the Intuit Dome for RAW’s Netflix debut, featuring a 360º seating configuration, a compact entrance stage, and a redesigned announce table, promising an immersive experience for fans.
Becky Lynch vs Rhea Ripley rematch
‘The Man’ Becky Lynch has been absent from the WWE since her contract expired in June 2024. However, her recent appearance in the promo video for WWE on Netflix has signaled her return, although there has been no official word for her return as of now.
According to reports from Ibou of WrestlePurists, fans can “expect a Becky Lynch vs Rhea Ripley rematch very soon,” this probably means that the Grand Slam Champion will probably return very soon. Ripley on the other hand is scheduled to clash with Liv Morgan where the Women’s World title is on the line.
Ripley is looking to recapture the title which she never lost and had to vacate the title due to an injury caused by Liv Morgan.
Tiffany Stratton’s heel run
Tiffany Stratton recently created history when she cashed in her MITB contract on the WWE Women’s Champion Nia Jax on the 01/03 episode of Friday Night SmackDown. Stratton successfully landed the prettiest moonsault and pinned Jax to become the Women’s Champion in less than a year since her main roster debut.
According to Chris Featherstone, Stratton is not listed as a babyface in WWE’s internal roster, which means the newly crowned champion will start her title run as a heel on the Blue brand.
Hulk Hogan WWE return
WWE legend and Hall of Famer, Hulk Hogan recently shocked fans when he appeared in a promo video for Saturday Night’s Main Event which was played during the 01/03 episode of Friday Night SmackDown. Hogan’s appearance in the promo led many fans to believe that he might be returning on January 6.
Recent reports from PWInsider and Chris Featherstone have confirmed these rumors, revealing that Hogan is indeed set to appear during the premier show at the Intuit Dome.
Furthermore Fightful Select noted that WWE has been exploring the possibility of bringing in Hogan for select appearances, and his appearance on the premier show may be one of them.
Triple H reveals new commercials strategy for RAW & SmackDown
Triple H recently discussed WWE and Netflix’s stance on commercials during RAW broadcasts on the streaming platform in an appearance on The Press Box podcast.
“Look, [laughs], my guess on their part would be money is part of this. They’re paying us a lot of money. They’re in the business of making money, so they’ve got to have ad times and they’ve fit to sell things, even though it’s a subscription product. There’s other factors that go into that for them. For us, to some degree, it’s a funny thing. Sometimes, they tell us, for whatever reason, ‘Hey, you can have the entire first hour commercial-free.’
I know that nobody out there that watches the show, unless they do television, will understand this because they hear this and think, ‘That’s the most ridiculous thing ever.’ Commercial-free live television is incredibly difficult. People don’t understand that. To be able to go from, this match ends, you gotta get them out of the arena, you gotta go backstage, you gotta go to this other stuff, you gotta be ready to go on every single thing, in real time, in that moment. If something crashes, if somebody gets injured, there’s no place to go. There’s no commercial to go to.
There’s no, ‘Hey, we can go to this.’ You can only go to so many backstage segments. If they’re not ready to go, something happens and you gotta get out in the ring, if no one’s ready to go, ‘Alright, just run a package or something.’ It’s incredibly difficult to do. So having those breaks in there to some degree is helpful. There’s less commercial time. It’s going to be more manageable, at least for now. Anything can change, but at least for now. I also think this will be a work on progress for us.
The formatting is slightly different here. How we work with things is slightly different, so it’s gonna take us a minute also to get to where we feel comfortable and we feel smooth getting in and out of everything and going to where we need to go. But I think it’ll be a better experience for people. It’s just a part of what we do. It makes me laugh whenever people say, ‘There’s so many commercials this week.’ Well, same exact amount of commercials we had last week. I’ll give you that maybe we didn’t do as good of a job of managing the time in between the commercials, but it’s the same amount of commercials. We didn’t change anything. The format’s the same.” Triple H said.
Levesque outlined the challenges and logistics of live television production, particularly when it comes to managing commercial breaks. He also added that the format is still a work in progress and may take time to refine, but ultimately, the number of commercials hasn’t changed they’re just trying to manage them more efficiently.
WWE will focus on underutilized talents
The 01/03 show of Friday Night SmackDown was not just the first episode of the Blue brand in 2025 but also the first episode in the transition of the show into a three-hour format. The extended hour can be utilized by the promotion to showcase underutilized and rising talents.
According to Chris Featherstone, the promotion’s major focus for SmackDown right now is to “showcase more underutilized talent” since its transition to a three-hour format. One of the names that has been highlighted is Blair Davenport.
Late PPV buys for Survivor Series PLE
According to a report from the Observer, Survivor Series 2024 saw a surprising surge in last-minute traditional pay-per-view buys. This surge was particularly seen from rural areas, which catapulted it to the second-highest PPV buy rate of 2024, behind only WrestleMania 40.
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