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The last WWE RAW of the decade will take place on 31st December, and the company will make sure that it is a RAW to remember. With a major rematch set to take place between Buddy Murphy and Aleister Black as well as Lana's wedding with Bobby Lashley, WWE has left no stone unturned to make it a memorable RAW.
From 5 Superstars to get a massive push to a new program featuring Brock Lesnar, let us take a look at the 5 biggest backstage rumors that could have a major impact on tonight's show:
#5 Jerry Lawler on the 'no-touch list'
WWE Hall of Famer and current member of the RAW announce team, Jerry Lawler spoke about why he isn't allowed to return to in-ring action in WWE and why he had to walk away from the AOP attack on Samoa Joe even though he is an active wrestler outside the WWE.
Lawler stated that the company has put him on the 'no-touch' list ever since he suffered a cardiac arrest on live TV in 2012. WWE and it's medical team have advised Lawler to stay away from any sort of physical attack which is the reason that while commentators like Dio Maddin and Samoa Joe face the brunt of Superstars, The King is allowed to slip away.
Still, to this day, the people in WWE still feel like that’s not the case [Lawler being cleared to wrestle]. They keep me on the no-touch list and all of that kind of thing. We’ve talked about this before on the podcast. The doctors told Lauren, ‘We can’t clear him to go back in the ring because he’s a liability to the company.’
“If they grant my request and they say, ‘Okay, we’ll let you decide what you think is best,’ and they let me go out there and wrestle again, and then something did happen again, it would be a PR disaster for the company.”
It is safe to assume that we won't be seeing The King in any sort of an altercation either this week or any other week on RAW.
#4 Reason why Rey Mysterio lost the US Championship
The WWE Universe was left in shock when the US Championship changed hands at a WWE Live event in Madison Square Garden on December 26th, as Andrade managed to capture the title from Rey Mysterio at the event.
Andrade had won a gauntlet match on RAW a few weeks back which had given him the opportunity to face Rey Mysterio for his US Championship. Here is what Dave Meltzer of WON stated as the reason for Andrade becoming Champion:
So the gist of the Andrade win, you can tell is to get that US title programme and Rey, they will be doing stuff with Rey, but in the long run, it’s Humberto Carrillo, who has got two wins over Andrade. And so, there is the whole thing with Andrade and Zelina in there with Carrillo. And then the main programme is going to be Seth and the AOP against Rey.
They want the main programme to be Rey, Samoa Joe, and Kevin Owens against Seth and the AOP. That may not be shot on Monday, although we’ve already sort of have shot it, you know they beat up Rey at the end, they had Joe there and Kevin Owens gets beat up by them every week anyway. So you can see it all tying together already.
#3 Major push for 5 RAW Superstars
Paul Heyman has been trying his best to elevate young Superstars on RAW. Be it, Buddy Murphy or Andrade, Superstars who were earlier being overlooked are getting the spotlight on them under Heyman's new era as Executive Director of RAW.
Dave Meltzer revealed on Wrestling Observer Radio that Paul Heyman is high on 5 Superstars who will likely get major pushes in 2020:
“They have [people] that they’re trying to get over. You can see them every week. It’s Aleister Black, it’s Ricochet, it’s Buddy Murphy, it’s Charlotte Flair and it’s Drew McIntyre. They want to get these people over. They want to elevate these people. At least there’s a plan. I rather at least there’d be a plan than just this scattershot nothing where you can watch and think ‘they got no plans.’ At least there’s something going on. They’re attempting to start to build something for the future.” [H/T 411Mania]
We can expect these 5 Superstars to play a major role in the upcoming RAWs as it is clear that Heyman sees them as WWE's future.
#2 Brock Lesnar to face Kevin Owens at Royal Rumble?
There has been a lot of speculation as to who Brock Lesnar will face at Royal Rumble for the WWE Championship. While earlier speculation pointed to Cain Velasquez, it is now being stated that either Kevin Owens or Randy Orton may be facing Lesnar at Royal Rumble.
Here is what Cagesideseats stated:
If WWE doesn’t go with Cain Velasquez as Brock Lesnar’s Royal Rumble opponent, it will likely be either Kevin Owens or Randy Orton.
While both these Superstars could pose a serious threat to Lesnar, the chances of him facing The Prizefighter seem slightly higher as of now because of reports of Randy Orton suffering an injury at a recent house show.
Word coming out of the WWE house show in Hershey last night is Randy Orton suffered some sort of injury to his knee.
It has been rumored that Brock Lesnar is all set to make his return in early 2020 and we could see the build for this new feud start on Monday Night RAW this week.
#1 Future plans for Aleister Black
As previously stated, Paul Heyman is currently high on both Buddy Murphy as well as Aleister Black. The two men are set to compete on RAW this week in a rematch from their TLC contest which saw Black pick up the win.
There has been a lot of speculation regarding a possible tag team being formed with Murphy and Black, however, Meltzer explained why that is unlikely to happen:
I think the plan long-term is for Buddy Murphy to be a big heel and Aleister Black to be a big babyface. So I don’t think they are going to be in a tag team anytime soon and both be singles stars. That’s the idea, you know it will probably get, I don’t want to say probably, there is always the chance, no matter what the plan is it gets derailed. It’s pretty high percentage when it comes to new stars, things get derailed. You know, way too high a percentage. It will be interesting to see if Vince green lights it or Vince gets bored with it
(H/T: Sportskeeda)
