WWE News: Six Championship Matches to Air on Raw, NXT and Smackdown Next Week

There are a lot of championships in WWE and next week on their three main television shows, they are going to have six title matches.

We already did a post on the site about “Championship Monday” on the June 22 edition of Raw with four titles on the line, but here’s a reminder of what WWE is promoting.

* Raw Women’s Championship: Asuka (c) vs. Charlotte Flair

Since Flair beat Asuka in a non-title match on Raw two weeks ago after distraction from Nia Jax, Flair gets a title shot. I get the feeling that Nia Jax is going to show up to cause a disqualification or some kind of cheap for the finish in the match. It would be a bit of a surprise if there’s a clean finish in the match. I think they’ll do a cheap finish, then do a triple threat Extreme Rules, then either Flair wins there or Asuka retains and they do Asuka vs. Flair at SummerSlam.

* Raw Tag Team Championships: Street Profits (c) vs. Viking Raiders

After several weeks of competitions, they are finally having a title match. I can see the Viking Raiders winning the titles, but I think the Street Profits will return. I think WWE has to build up a heel team to challenge these guys because right now there’s not much of a tag team division on Raw.

* Women’s Tag Team Championships: Sasha Banks and Bayley (c) vs. The IIconics (Peyton Royce and Billie Kay)

Banks and Bayley won the titles a few weeks ago, so I doubt they lose them so quickly. Plus, WWE management likely values them a lot, which is why they have been on Raw, NXT and Smackdown a lot in the last couple of weeks. I expect that to continue even though The IIconics do work well together as a team.

* WWE 24/7 Championship: R-Truth (c) vs. Akira Tozawa

It’s the comedy title that isn’t featured that much in terms of having advertised matches. A title change is possible and even if it happens, Truth will win it back soon anyway. I think Tozawa might win to put over his “ninja” gimmick and having the Giant Ninja in his corner. I don’t know. If this title went away, I would be fine with that.

That means the only title on Raw not being defending is Drew McIntyre’s WWE Title. Perhaps that will be on the line too, but for right now it is not.

In addition to that, WWE is promoting Rey Mysterio’s return to Raw to confront Seth Rollins and Ric Flair will be there to declare Randy Orton as the greatest wrestler ever. Yes, really. That’s how they are promoting it.

You can read my review of the June 15 edition of Raw right here in case you missed it. Next week’s Raw airing on June 22 was taped this past Wednesday.

There’s a big championship match on WWE NXT this coming Wednesday on USA Network.

Keith Lee will be defending his NXT North American Championship against Johnny Gargano and Finn Balor in a triple threat match.

The winner of that match will challenge NXT Champion Adam Cole in a Winner Take All, Champion vs. Champion Match on the July 8 edition of NXT. Since AEW Dynamite is airing their Fyter Fest special on July 1 and July 8, it’s a smart counter-programming move by WWE to put on a Champion vs. Champion Match on July 8. The winners are? The fans. We’re spoiled with a lot of great wrestling on Wednesday nights.

TJR Thoughts: It’s tough to predict how this will go. On one hand, I think WWE moved Finn Balor to NXT to make him a champion again, so he’s my current pick to win the North American Title and the NXT Title. However, it wouldn’t surprise me if Keith Lee kept his North American Title and then beat Cole to win the NXT on July 8. I think Cole is going to lose his title on July 8 to whoever he faces. I doubt it will be Gargano winning on Wednesday.

In addition to that, NXT has two more matches advertised for next week:

* Karrion Kross vs. Bronson Reed

* Damian Priest vs. Cameron Grimes

You can read my review of the June 17 edition of NXT right here in case you missed it. Next week’s NXT airing on June 24 was taped this past Wednesday.

There’s also a championship match on Smackdown next week with AJ Styles defending the Intercontinental Championship against Drew Gulak, who will have his friend Daniel Bryan in his corner most likely.

The reason Gulak is getting a title shot is because he beat Styles on the June 5 edition of Smackdown one week before Styles won the title in a great match with Daniel Bryan.

TJR Thoughts: It would be a surprise if Styles lost the title to Gulak. Styles lost non-title to Matt Riddle on Smackdown last night, so that could lead to Styles defending the title against Riddle at Extreme Rules, just as long as WWE feels comfortable utilizing Riddle, who has been accused of sexual assault this week.

Also on Smackdown next week, Sheamus “presents a toast” to Jeff Hardy.

You can read my review of the June 19 edition of Smackdown right here in case you missed it. Next week’s Smackdown airing on June 26 was originally going to be taped last Wednesday, but WWE postponed it due to wanting to get results for Coronavirus testing. They are expected to tape that episode of Smackdown earlier in the day on June 26.

There could be more title matches to the shows as well and we’ll keep you updated. I just thought it would be worthwhile to mention all of the title matches on WWE TV this week. I like to see it.