Former WWE and NXT Superstar Summer Rae was backstage at last night's edition of Monday Night Raw.
This was thanks to reporting from PWInsider, who offered the following that may or may not fuel speculation considering the time of year;
"Summer Rae is backstage at tonight's Raw in Nashville, TN. We are told Rae now lives in the area, so she's local."
It's not uncommon for wrestlers to go to shows to see old friends when convenient, but the impending Royal Rumble will likely kick off some conversation about Rae (and others) possibly being part of the annual battle royals.
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It was at the 2022 edition of the show where she returned to WWE as a character for the first time since her 2017 departure. The company used her on a SmackDown prior to the supershow, and used old Total Divas clips and social media to build in a longstanding beef with Natalya as one of the key spots of the match itself.
Before then, Rae had somehow not been included in any of the women's Rumbles since the inaugural edition in 2018, nor the Evolution pay-per-view or any of the countless other events and special edition matches during WWE's slow stroll towards some parity.
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More on Rae and the Rumble's potential surprises as and when they break between now and January 28th.
Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation for nearly 10 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years.
As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 65,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast.
He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has provided in-person coverage of some of the biggest pay-per-views and Premium Live Events in wrestling history, including WrestleMania, Survivor Series, All In & Double Or Nothing in destinations such as New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live.
