Reports started popping up late last week that an NXT star might be getting moved to the Monday Night Raw brand to coincide with Matt Riddle’s jump to SmackDown. And based on his latest tweet, it looks like that star will be Dominik Dijakovic. The six-foot-seven grappler posted a photo of the United States Championship belt, indicating he’ll be the one to answer Apollo Crews’ open challenge during tonight’s episode of Raw. Crews just won the title from Andrade last week, but if Dijakovic is making his debut it could mean his run will be incredibly short.
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After spending nearly three years in Ring of Honor, Dijakovic officially reported to the WWE Performance Center in August 2017. His signing was confirmed a month later.
โ Dominik Dijakovic (@DijakovicWWE) June 1, 2020
He made his NXT television debut in May 2018, then was pulled from television for a repackaging. His run was halted by a torn meniscus in April 2019, and he was out of action until July while recovering from surgery. Since then he’s primarily feuded with Keith Lee, resulting in some excellent clashes on NXT television as well as NXT TakeOver: Portland for the NXT North American Championship. Unfortunately, Dijakovic never managed to get his hands on the gold.
Meanwhile on the Blue Brand Kurt Angle popped up this week to announce Riddle would be officially arriving on next week’s episode. The former tag team champion was written off NXT last week after losing a Fight Pit match against Timothy Thatcher.
“I’ve competed all over the world in all kinds of rings, and I’ve done it all… without shoes!” – @SuperKingofBros
The blue brand is about to become ๐ฉ๐๐ brand. #SmackDown pic.twitter.com/iPMmzxqsPn
โ WWE (@WWE) June 1, 2020
His last match on the Black and Gold brand took place on April 29 when he lost to Johnny Gargano.
Here’s the lineup for this week’s Raw as of now:
- United States Championship: Apollo Crews vs. TBA
- Seth Rollins vs. Aleister Black
- Asuka vs. Charlotte Flair
- Rey Mysterio’s “Retirement Ceremony” (hosted by Seth Rollins)
And here’s the card for WWE’s Backlash pay-per-view as of now:
- WWE Championship: Drew McIntyre vs. Bobby Lashley
- WWE Universal Championship: Braun Strowman vs. The Miz and John Morrison
- Raw Women’s Championship: Asuka vs. Nia Jax
- Edge vs. Randy Orton
