On July 11, 2016, WWE will bring their weekly flagship show, Monday Night Raw from Joe Louis Arena in Detroit. This will be the first major show of the company after the Independence day edition and also the first show after Brock Lesnar’s return to the UFC. Lesnar’s return did go well and it is a big boost for WWE, but Lesnar will only come to play next during the Draft or during the road to SummerSlam.
This week, WWE will be looking to build up Battleground. The pay-per-view so far has some good momentum and WWE will be looking to pile on the same. So here are some of the things to look forward to in this week’s Monday Night Raw.
Battle Royal for IC title
Miz and his Intercontinental championship will be put under the limelight this week as WWE is all set to have a battle royal to determine the new number one contender for the championship. The superstars that will take part in the match are not yet confirmed but we could expect usual names like Big Show, Mark Henry, Darren Young, and a string of other mid carders in the mix.
Kane has been in the picture for some time now so he is a Superstar that could go into the battle royal as a favorite. Darren Young also has a chance with his new gimmick that is ready to take off.
The War is on
Till last week, John Cena was leading a one-man war against The Club. Though Cena vowed to take out the Club on his own, he got some much-needed backup from Enzo and Cass last week. WWE went on to book a six-man tag team match for Battleground involving these men. The match booked for Battleground shows how high WWE is on Enzo and Cass.
At the same time, this opens up a full-fledged stable war between the two sides. The #beatupJohnCena hashtag is almost certain to be thrown around when Raw hits televisions this week so keep an eye out for this as well.
Ryder gets his rub
Zack Ryder, who had a great moment back at WrestleMania, is all set to be inserted into a mid card championship feud on Monday Night. This week, Ryder will get a shot at the United States Champion Rusev and for some reason, it is a reason to be excited for all the Ryder fans out there.
While on paper, it might look like another squash match, but there are rumors making the rounds about Ryder facing Rusev for the United States championship at Battleground. So the match at Raw is likely to have a twist in the tale which will make the Battleground match happen.
Building up without Reigns
The absence of Roman Reigns is making life hard for the WWE creative team. Despite his absence, WWE will be putting him in the main event of Battleground and building the feud up while he is away has been a problem. WWE is doing the best they can with Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose, and since Ambrose and Rollins are two talented performers, they are giving out some interesting segments.
Rollins mentioning Reigns every now and then is WWE’s way of trying to keep Reigns relevant in his absence and it is working to an extent. Something different needs to be done this week to do this else the feud will fall into the pits of monotony.
Vince McMahon makes his return
With the draft just days away, Vince McMahon is all set to make his return to the WWE television this week. Vince, although he does not appear often, is still the best heel character that WWE have. In real life, fans are blaming Vince for everything wrong that happens in WWE as he is the guy who makes the final call. This means that Vince still has natural heat on him.
This week, Vince will be back to hype and make his intentions clear for the brand split. We could get some big announcements from Vince as WWE will be eager to create some buzz ahead of the drafts.
