The 946 are bringing the right feeling back to Raw – By Wrestle G

Before I begin the main section of this column, I want to address some things going on in wrestling since I’ve been away.  I left Wembley at All In in one of the most amazing feelings I’ve had as a pro wrestling fan. When Will Ospreays video package was over it genuinely felt like the first time I had EVER watched pro wrestling. The feeling of that entire stadium reinvigorated me as a wrestling fan once again.

In the coming weeks there just seemed to be bad news coming every few days in the wrestling world. We’ve had more tribute shows that we never want to see, and it’s been horrible for the wrestling world to be in Grief. Once Andy Williams passed away I didn’t feel as invigorated as I did, and by the time we got to the untimely passing of PAC I just didn’t really feel like I could get excited about wrestling anymore.

I’m not sure why but Wrestler’s deaths just hit me harder than most. Other people in entertainment I am obviously sad about, but when it’s a wrestler I just clam up. I think it’s because having immersed myself within wrestling as a fan and watched countless hours and listened to years’ worth of podcasts I understand just what a sacrifice it is to be a Wrestler. And that when leaving your family for so long the locker room becomes their second family. The Bonds forged over years over a common understanding of what they are sacrificing. So, when I hear Excalibur almost unable to speak through grief I can’t help but take a pause in my own fandom to take some time to process.

I can’t imagine how hard it’s been for the Guys and Girls across wrestling this past month, my heart goes out to them all and of course to the families and friends of all the wrestlers we have lost over the past month or so.

I have however over the past couple of weeks been finding my groove again. So, Let’s get straight into this week’s column, I got Wrestle Dream predictions first up and then some musings on the 946’s presentation.

Here we go…..

Wrestledream Predictions

Chris Jericho vs Nick Wayne

This is not a match for me. I’ve been cold on Jericho for a number of years, and I am also not completely sold on Nick Wayne. He’s good and he has a lot of upsides, but I haven’t seen anything from him yet to suggest he’s going to surpass the current level of top stars. It does make complete sense for Jericho to try and coach him through some matches and Nick will learn a lot. Jericho is the face here so he will go over this Saturday.

Winner – Jericho.

Best Of Five Match One: FTR vs. Motor City Machine Guns.

Inject this into my veins. When we had the collection of tag teams all stand in the ring during All In this is exactly the kind of fall out I wanted. Two teams going at it to see who’s the best. Toss a coin on match 1, I have an its landed on….

Winners – Motor City Machine Guns

AEW World Trios Championship Two Out Of Three Falls Match: Swerve Strickland and The New Level vs. Hangman Page and Brodido

Match of the night here. Mark it down I called that. This will be the chance for the New Level to really showcase what they can do under the new AEW freedom they will have in ring. I can see Swerve and the New Level going over here as I can’t see what you can really do keeping the Good the bad and the Ugly together.

Winners – The New Level and Swerve

AEW National Championship Match: Andrade El Idolo vs. Tommaso Ciampa.

I’m so intrigued to see what Ciampa can bring out of Andrade. Tomasso brings such a rough and solid style, and I think Andrade doesn’t get a chance to get that side of him out enough. Expect a really good match here and I can see a returning MJF costing Andrade the title.

Winner Tommaso Ciampa

AEW TBS Championship Match: Persephone vs. Hyan vs. Dani Luna vs. Queen Aminata.

I was lucky enough to catch Dani Luna at an ATTACK! Wrestling show in Cardiff back in September just before she moved to AEW, they haven’t really introduced her to audiences quite enough yet but I’m hoping this match solidifies how good I know she is. I can’t see her winning though, I think Persephone retains.

Winner – Persephone

AEW Continental Championship Match: Jon Moxley vs. Mark Davis.

Mark Davis got the big pin on Wednesday so there’s no way Moxley is losing here. Mox wins and he ‘pushes through’ that segment on Wednesday Dynamite was heartbreaking Mox deserves to retain here.

Winner – Jon Moxley

AEW World Tag Team Championship Match: The Young Bucks vs. Kevin Knight and Kyle Fletcher

More tag team wonderfulness to gorge on. The Buck have only just got the belts, and I can’t see what Kevin Knight and Fletcher would do with them. If Fletcher is in a tag team I’d rather see Aussie open reunite. But Fletcher needs to get back in the mix of singles competition to.

Winners – The Young Bucks

AEW Women’s World Championship Match: Mercedes Mone vs. Thekla.

Thekla must be in the running for most improved in 2026 her whole demeanour has been entertaining, and I think she is the one in the division who has gained the most from Toni Storm being on the sidelines.

Mercedes has only just won the title, and I may have held this match off until at least Dynasty in February. But now we are here Mercedes is retaining but Thekla will be able to talk her way out of this loss being damaging.

Winner – Mercedes Mone

Clockwork Carnage AEW World Championship Match: Will Ospreay vs. Samoa Joe vs. Mike Bailey vs. Adam Copeland vs. Konosuke Takeshita vs. Kazuchika Okada vs. Ricochet vs. Darby Allin

I’ll be honest I’m not sure anyone knows how this is going to go down. I thought way back when that the casino gauntlet battle royal was a poor concept on paper, but it ended up being one of my current favourite match types. I hope this match goes the same way.

I expect a lot of off shoot feuds to be created off the back of this match and of course my boy Will Ospreay will retain.

Winner – Will Ospreay

Now onto the main section of this weeks column……

The 946 have the Keyes to success

If there is one huge criticism I have about all of Wrestling on TV across a multitude of companies is that it has gotten completely predictable. Yes you get great matches these days, the production is top notch and at times you get big stars announced in advance. But it all feels very passive these days. The matches tend to follow a pattern based on where the storyline is and where its going. Maybe it’s my misty eyed nostalgia coming through but I always felt that for the longest time Raw in particular was such a can’t miss show because there was always something going on. Even in its darkest days during the mid-2000’s there were times when you felt an air of unpredictability, like someone could show up at any time or that there would be some sort of wild set piece that you could gawp up.

At present I know I’m going to watch Raw, Dynamite, Smackdown, Collision and the format will be very by the numbers. Do I love the fact that the standard of a lot of the matches is far higher than they ever have been I worry we are coming to a bit of a saturation point where we are desensitised to bangers coming out every week on free television.

I hadn’t realised where my slight dissatisfaction was coming from until a few weeks ago when Royce Keyes stormed the Raw ring with OPM. There had been no leaks about the group and so their presence elicited an actual shocked response in me. I thought they looked great together and Keyes seemed immediately more comfortable. And While their presentation isn’t the most original (there are huge Shield and Death Rider vibes to them!) as they hit the ring and continued their beatdown there was an energy coming off the screen that hadn’t been there for such a long time.

Fast forward a week and we had the awesome throughline of the night where Jaida Parker showed up to turn on Jey Uso and align herself back with her NXT brothers. These segments showed to me that backstage angles and stories when done correctly add soe much to storylines and shows. By the end of the night Jaida seemed like a bigger stage and the 946 looked like they were a step ahead of the bloodline.

Then the big one, having blacked out his social media after months of either not being used or being second fiddle to Trick Williams and Baron Corbin we saw Carmelo Hayes make his surprise debut of the newest member of the 946. In new attire he too looked like he belonged alongside everyone, it was yet another reason to pop in your living room. The tone is now set every time the 946 are around there is now an air of expectation of where things will go, will we see another wild brawl? Will we see them finally get their ass kicked? Will we see another new member added? (Damian Priest anyone?) We don’t know what’s coming next and that’s a good thing.

I’ll be intrigued to see how the momentum can be kept up here on Raw. Historically the HHH booking era sees people start hot have an angle and then completely dissipate, I’m very cautious of that happening here but let’s hope I’m wrong. I’m realistic in that I know we are far removed from the Zamboni crashing through the stage era of wrestling, but just some more angles where we get some elevated entertainment would be nice. I hope the 946 is the start of a slight philosophy change.

But as always, what say all of you? Do you like the current format of TV? Have you enjoyed the presentation of the 946 thus far? Let me know in the comments below.

Thanks for reading and enjoy your wrestling this weekend.

Until next time,

Cheers,