Welcome to the Opening Bell, where we round up what’s been announced for WWE (Raw and SmackDown) and AEW (Dynamite and Rampage) programming for the week we’ve just begun.
WWE Raw preview – Monday, April 10, Climate Pledge Arena, Seattle
It’s interesting that Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez were in the Fatal 4-way tag team match at WrestleMania, lost, and now … are getting a shot at the titles. It’s not just us, right?
That’s exactly what’s happening this week on Raw. Becky Lynch and Lita (and especially Becky) seem to have put Damage CTRL behind them, and will now get down to the business of defending their titles. We’ll see if they can walk out of Seattle still the champs.
Cody Rhodes was all set to continue his quest to dethrone Roman Reigns, even looking like he got a new ally against the Bloodline in Brock Lesnar. That turned out to be fool’s gold when Lesnar attacked him instead of teaming with him, so the American Dream will appear on Raw to reveal his next move.
And Matt Riddle will return to in-ring action for the first time in months. His opponent will be The Miz, who seems like he’s be a challenge, but considering he lost WrestleMania matches to both Pat McAfee and Snoop Dogg, it’s fair to say the A-Lister isn’t exactly on a roll right now.
AEW Dynamite preview – Wednesday, April 12, UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena, Milwaukee
The irony of Orange Cassidy being the King of Sloth Style and then defending his title darn near every episode of AEW programming never ceases to amaze us. He’ll do it again in Milwaukee, this time trying to stop the House of Black’s Buddy Matthews from becoming a double champ.
Chris Jericho knows more than his fair share about gold, though there’s no titles on the line for his match against Keith Lee. Just, you know, Lee is a very big man who might do some real damage to him, so there’s that.
After merging his Mogul Affiliates with The Embassy, you might think Swerve Strickland has more than enough hands available to do his dirty work. But he’s still willing to take care of matters himself when needed, which is why Swerve will step in against Darby Allin in Milwaukee.
Also on the Dynamite card this week:
- Blackpool Combat Club’s Jon Moxley and Claudio Castagnoli will get their stiffest test yet when they take on Brandon Cutler and Michael Nakazawa … OK, maybe not their stiffest test, but hey
WWE SmackDown preview – Friday, April 14, Pinnacle Bank Arena, Lincoln, NE
SmackDown rolls into Lincoln this week with a man in action that somehow didn’t get to perform at WrestleMania, LA Knight. Maybe he should change his name to Lincoln Knight. Actually, that’s a horrible idea, but he will be wrestling under his current name this Friday against Xavier Woods. Yeah!
Also on tap is the return of Shinsuke Nakaumura. There have been whispers of WWE planning on giving him a big push, but those have popped up before and usually not led to much. It will be good to see Shinsuke back, regardless.
AEW Rampage preview – Friday, April 14, UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena, Milwaukee (recorded April 12)
Hey, hey, hey, what do you say? We say AEW hasn’t announced any matches for this week’s edition of Rampage just yet, so we can’t tell you what to expect.
We can advise you keep an eye on AEW’s social media accounts and Dynamite to find out.