The mystery backstage antics continued when Dexter Lumis was acknowledged on this week’s WWE RAW.
Last week’s RAW included a strange backstage car crash and security activity, which resulted in Lumis being held back by security in the crowd as he attempted to storm the ring after the main event, in which AJ Styles defeated The Miz in a No DQ match. On commentary, WWE acknowledged the attempted run-in and later confirmed on social media that this was Lumis.
This week’s RAW continued the angle. There were a few random segments from backstage that seemed to link to the Lumis appearance. During a segment where WWE United States Champion Bobby Lashley was warming up, Adam Pearce was seen speaking with three security officers backstage. After the commercial break, Lashley defeated Styles to win the next match and keep his title. During Styles vs. Lashley, Lumis attempted to jump the barrier close to the announcers, but the three security staff from earlier tackled him. As security came in, there was some speculation that Lumis may have been aiming for Corey Graves or the other announcers, but footage shows that he leaped the barrier and cautiously looked at The Miz, who was standing over AJ, before quickly looking around him as security rushed in.
The Miz didn’t attack Styles while he was down; instead, he stood there and watched as the three security guards tackled Lumis at the announce table. Lumis was being pulled away from the announce table by the announcers and security while Miz watched the commotion take place. As security escorted Lumis back over the barrier, RAW unexpectedly went black and turned to a commercial.
Jimmy Smith stated on commentary that Lumis attempted to make his presence known but was removed away after the commercial. Graves scoffed at the idea of Lumis and told Smith not to speak about Lumis. That was the last time Lumis was mentioned in the show.
Nevertheless, there were further random backstage antics during this week’s RAW. Early on in the program, Theory and Dolph Ziggler got into a fight backstage, and as a result, Theory defeated Ziggler in the main event’s singles match. An arm was seen in the background holding a door open during the earlier backstage altercation, which aired just before The Miz and Ciampa defeated Mustafa Ali and Cedric Alexander. Security personnel were attempting to keep Ziggler and Theory apart. While fans on social media suggested that this might have been Bray Wyatt’s hand because the hand wore a glove as Lumis does, it’s more likely that this was simply a Lumis angle.
Following Miz and Ciampa’s victory against Ali and Alexander, another backstage clip showed Drew McIntyre strolling through the backstage area on his way to the ring. Pearce and a few other officials were seen off to the side, and they appeared to be using a fire extinguisher to put out a trash can fire. McIntyre gave them an odd look and continued walking as RAW went back to commercial.
It’s unclear where WWE creative will take the Lumis storyline and the recent RAW background events, but it’s important to note that the additions and teasers is generating strong social media attention.
What WWE has in store for Lumis on the main roster is yet unknown. According to PWInsider, as of Monday morning, Lumis had not been added to the internal rosters for RAW or SmackDown.
The new storyline has also been acknowledged by Lumis on social media, as you can see below, he updated his official Twitter profile picture to a photo of him sneaking around the RAW crowd last week.
WWE released a clip of the Lumis ringside angle from this week’s RAW, as can be seen below as well. They also uploaded an exclusive, unaired video on Instagram of security escorting Lumis through the crowd at the Capital One Arena in Washington, DC, yesterday night.
It was recently revealed that Executive Vice President of Talent Relations & Head of Creative Triple H wants to bring Lumis back to the company, therefore a push for Lumis is most likely. He worked a couple events for the NWA after being released from his WWE NXT contract in April, but that was about it.
Stay tuned to PWMania.com for more.
