July the 4th might be a special day for the United States, but as far as wrestling fans are concerned, it is yet another day where they will get to see WWE’s Monday Night Raw. Unlike the recent episodes, expect WWE to bring out some patriotic stuff this time around considering that they will be delivering the show on Independence Day.
This, however, is a bad thing for them also, as the viewership for the show is likely to get a huge hit. Despite this risk, WWE is keeping their best foot forward to make sure that they are putting together a strong show. Here are some of the things you could expect from the show.
Another Champion vs. Champion match
Dean Ambrose is the reigning WWE champion and is all set to face off against Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns for the championship at Battleground. Thanks to the absence of Reigns, WWE covered the whole scenario with AJ Styles and John Cena last time around.
But this time around, they are going with The Miz, who crossed paths with Ambrose in SmackDown recently and produced an entertaining segment.
They even had a match at the show and WWE is all set to replicate this on Monday Night Raw. The Champion vs. Champion dynamic has a ring to it, but Ambrose perhaps deserves better booking as a champion.
War Banks!
Finally, after months of teasing, Sasha Banks is finally in the title picture. Last week, Sasha teamed up with Paige to defeat Dana Brooke and Charlotte. It was a good win for the champion and it helped to elevate her status in the roster.
WWE just needs to continue booking Sasha similarly and slowly let her reach a position from where she could take over the championship from Charlotte.
We could expect some strong booking for Sasha this week around and we will have to wait and see if Paige will stick around or not for the whole thing. If not, Sasha will get the entire limelight which is a good thing.
The Cena-Club saga continues
As mentioned in the last slide, it was Cena and AJ Styles that filled the gap for Reigns last week. Both Cena and Styles ended up being unsuccessful in their title ventures thanks to interferences from each other.
But it was The Club that got better of John Cena last time around and he got a vicious beating as well. This week, Cena could be out to seek revenge.
With it being Independence Day, expect the Cenation leader to deliver a typical patriotic speech before he gets into business. The Club could come up with some anti-USA rant considering that they are billed as ‘great team from New Japan’.
16-Man Independence Day special
As a special for the Independence Day, WWE will be bringing a 16-Man tag team elimination match with Team USA on one side and Rest of the World on another side.
So WWE has the task of lining up 8 Americans and 8 Non-Americans for the match and all those Americans have to be babyfaces while the non-Americans have to be heel.
It might sound like an easy task but it isn’t.
The likely superstars that could end up in Team America are John Cena, Dolph Ziggler, Goldust, R-Truth, Apollo Crews, Jack Swagger, Titus O’Neil and maybe a surprising Darren Young. Meanwhile, on the other side, we have possibilities like the entire former League of Nation Members, Kevin Owens, and Chris Jericho.
Although likes of Sami Zayn and Cesaro would be eligible it would be interesting to see if they are included.
Who is coming back?
For the past few weeks, WWE has been bringing back former general managers as a build up for the brand split. This week also, they are advertising something similar for the show and some interesting names are being thrown into the mix.
The most notable among the lot are Hulk Hogan and Kurt Angle.
According to the latest rumors that are going around, WWE is still in good terms with Hogan and now that his name is cleared after the Gawker lawsuit, they would not mind bringing him back into the limelight.
And it would be a no-brainer to bring back the Olympic Gold medalist on Independence day as well.
