Bray Wyatt, or perhaps Uncle Howdy, made their presence known during tonight’s WWE RAW, and seemingly caused Alexa Bliss to come up short against RAW Women’s Champion Bianca Belair with the title on the line.
Bliss and Belair wrestled back & forth for several minutes until Bliss yanked Belair to the floor by her hair, then taunted her about how the title belongs to her. A man wearing an Uncle Howdy mask then appeared behind Bliss in the crowd. Bliss sensed the man being there, so she turned around and appeared to be shook and distracted by the man and his mask. Bliss shrugged the man off, then went back to working on Belair to roll her back in the ring.
Bliss climbed up top to put Belair away with Twisted Bliss, but she was spooked again by another man wearing a Howdy mask in the crowd, right by the barrier like before. The man just stared straight ahead while Bliss climbed back down from the top turnbuckle. Wyatt’s graphics suddenly flashed on the big screen, which sent Bliss into a bit of a breakdown, almost blinding her. Bliss stumbled around the ring, then attacked the referee with a Thesz Press and punches. Bliss then hit the Thesz Press and punches on Belair, then followed Belair to the floor to launch her into the barrier. Bliss went on destroying the champ, sending her face-first into the steel ring steps. Bliss then delivered a DDT on top of the bottom part of the steps, and stood on top of the steps while looking down at Belair, who by then ha blood coming from her mouth.
Bliss went to walk out on the match but she stopped and came back, grabbing Belair for another DDT into the bottom part of the steps. Bliss then walked away again, this time making it to the stage while Belair was left at ringside, bleeding from her mouth while a referee checked on her. Medics came out with a stretcher as some fans chanted “one more time!” at Bliss. RAW went to commercial while the ringside medic checked on Belair.
Byron Saxton later interviewed Bliss backstage and asked if she lost complete control earlier in the night. Bliss said no, she actually gained control over Belair’s head-space. Bliss said now Belair knows that the only threat is Bliss, and that the title belongs with Bliss.
The first man who distracted Bliss in the mask had blonde hair, while the second masked man had dark hair. It’s likely that these were just extras wearing the masks, and not actual characters to be revealed in the storylines. As seen in the last tweet below, there was a moment where security tried to get the first man to sit down, but apparently the masked man had to remind security why he was there.
There’s no word yet on if Bliss vs. Belair will take place at the WWE Royal Rumble, or where WWE is headed with the Wyatt-Bliss storyline.
Below are several shots of tonight’s opening RAW match from the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, TN:
#WWERaw Women's Champion @BiancaBelairWWE looks for payback against @AlexaBliss_WWE in the first of our two championship matches tonight! pic.twitter.com/d1Ti5mJ3vk
— WWE (@WWE) January 3, 2023
https://twitter.com/btsportwwe/status/1610082492173647873
The EST of WWE @BiancaBelairWWE 🙌#WWERAW pic.twitter.com/v7RcLd4ahy
— WWE on BT Sport (@btsportwwe) January 3, 2023
https://twitter.com/btsportwwe/status/1610083352161157121
The EST with a little payback on @AlexaBliss_WWE!@BiancaBelairWWE #WWERaw pic.twitter.com/3lzZjBDlEV
— WWE on FOX (@WWEonFOX) January 3, 2023
Putting it all on the line!#WWERAW pic.twitter.com/5Em7egXD0t
— WWE on BT Sport (@btsportwwe) January 3, 2023
YOOOOOOOO 👀#WWERAW pic.twitter.com/P7xHqBqNST
— WWE on BT Sport (@btsportwwe) January 3, 2023
What's happening?1?#WWERAW pic.twitter.com/B002n7nKzA
— WWE on BT Sport (@btsportwwe) January 3, 2023
👀 👀 👀#WWERAW pic.twitter.com/PNVdmvvpEm
— WWE on BT Sport (@btsportwwe) January 3, 2023
Alexa has snapped!#WWERAW pic.twitter.com/SLpJf3DHZq
— WWE on BT Sport (@btsportwwe) January 3, 2023
Damn 😳#WWERAW pic.twitter.com/MVCB9qGFt5
— WWE on BT Sport (@btsportwwe) January 3, 2023
What the?!#WWERaw pic.twitter.com/zed0m55YPk
— WWE (@WWE) January 3, 2023
.@AlexaBliss_WWE has SNAPPED!#WWERaw pic.twitter.com/CVGbFYAwUZ
— WWE (@WWE) January 3, 2023
What is going on?!@AlexaBliss_WWE #WWERaw pic.twitter.com/LeZSKNPZax
— WWE on FOX (@WWEonFOX) January 3, 2023
👀!!!@AlexaBliss_WWE #WWERaw pic.twitter.com/ofehRvl4I2
— WWE on FOX (@WWEonFOX) January 3, 2023
Apparently this old geezer missed the memo and the extra in the uncle howdy mask had to remind him 💀💀 #wweraw pic.twitter.com/Jt9H9y8ma6
— Jonathan (@JthanJoestar) January 3, 2023
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