Revealed: Why WWE Changed Raw Title Match
Why a title match was changed on WWE Raw has been revealed
Sep 20, 2023
Several changes were made to the September 18 edition of Monday Night Raw from Salt Lake City, Utah ahead of the show going on the air, including the planned match between Shinsuke Nakamura and Ricochet being moved to later in the episode to spread out the star power.
Another change saw WWE alter the planned NXT Women's Title match of Becky Lynch vs. Tegan Nox to Becky Lynch vs. Natalya. Nox instead went one-on-one against Xia Li during the Main Event taping, the match Natalya was originally booked for.
Natalya has been on the receiving end of plenty of praise following WWE Superstar Spectacle and that was seemingly the reason for the title match being changed, with Better Wrestling Experience reporting Natalya was booked to face Lynch as a "token of appreciation for her recent hard work [sic]."
Fightful Select noted they could not confirm why the NXT Women's Title match was changed but they did report that Lynch pushed for Tegan Nox to get the match on Raw. All day the plan was for Lynch vs. Nox and the match had already been laid out before WWE changed plans 10 minutes before doors opened in Salt Lake City.
The match would have been Nox's first singles match since she was drafted to Monday Night Raw earlier this year. She has only had one match on the red brand so far when she teamed with Dana Brooke in a Tag Team Turmoil Match in July. Fightful noted there had been "no significant creative plans" for Nox over the past number of months.