RAF 13 card locked for Miami on Sept 18
Fox Nation's 12-man Undiscovered show airs Sept 16 and sends one winner straight onto the Miami card two days later.
The RAF 13 card is set. Justin Basch posted that the card is locked and loaded for Miami on 9/18, with the matchups in the graphic attached to his post. One of the spots on it belongs to a wrestler nobody has met yet.
The RAF 13 Card is locked and loaded for Miami on 9/18.
Fox Nation announced that it is streaming "RAF Undiscovered", billed as the hunt for wrestling's next star, on September 16. Twelve wrestlers compete, one wins, and Fox Nation says the winner makes his RAF debut at RAF 13 in Miami on September 18. That is a two day turnaround from the show to the mat.
"12 wrestlers. One opportunity," Fox Nation wrote, adding that they are competing for the chance to wrestle on the biggest stage in the world.
Nomad asks what RAF is for
The Wrestling Nomad used the moment to raise the bigger question hanging over the promotion, asking whether the North Star for RAF is to pay wrestlers or to be the thing that determines who the best wrestlers in the world are. Nobody from RAF has answered him publicly in the sources here.
It is a fair thing to ask of a card that mixes established names with a reality show winner. RAF has been building toward marquee senior level freestyle matchups, including the Jordan Burroughs and Levi Haines fight at RAF 14 in Las Vegas on October 23 that we covered earlier, while also running a bracket of unknowns on cable to manufacture a debut. Those are two different businesses, and the Undiscovered slot on the RAF 13 card puts both of them on the same night.
Our take: a talent search that feeds directly into a pro freestyle card is the clearest signal yet that RAF wants audience reach as much as it wants rankings credibility, and the two goals do not always pull in the same direction.
What to watch
RAF Undiscovered streams September 16 on Fox Nation, and the winner is on the RAF 13 card in Miami on September 18.
is the North Star for RAF to pay wrestlers, or to be the thing that determines who the best wrestlers in the world are
12 wrestlers. One opportunity.