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‘WWE Monday Night RAW’ Preview: Is Roman Reigns Still Going To ‘Battleground’ After Suspension?

By Dustin Murrell
Published on: 07:17 PST, Jun 27, 2016

John Cena was pinned by AJ Styles at WWE Money in the Bank, even if it was with a little help from The Club. On last week’s WWE RAW, John Cena almost pinned Karl Anderson before Luke Gallows and AJ Styles interrupted the match. It appears as though the feud between Cena and The Club didn’t end at Money in the Bank and will likely continue at least until WWE Battleground next month. With rumors of NXT Superstar Finn Bálor being called up to Monday Night RAW or WWE SmackDown after the WWE Draft, it’s possible he could make an appearance at Battleground to bring The Bullet Club up to four members.

Meanwhile, the much-anticipated three-way feud between former Shield-brethren Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose, and Seth Rollins continues its build towards WWE Battleground 2016, even though three-time former WWE World Heavyweight Champion Reigns was recently suspended for violating the WWE’s Wellness Policy. Luckily for Reigns, the 30-day suspension will end just days before WWE Battleground, so they are leaving the Triple Threat Match as the main event. With Reigns gone for a month, the burden of ratings will likely fall back on the shoulders of John Cena, who is fresh off of his return from injury.

Below is a deeper look at WWE.com’s official Monday Night RAW preview for June 27. Each week, the site provides the WWE Universe with some borderline spoilers in regard to the assumed events that will take place on the WWE’s flagship program, which airs live on the USA Network.

WWE Monday Night RAW Preview

As the WWE travels back through Florida, Monday Night RAW airs live from the Amalie Arena in Tampa. So close to NXT headquarters and so near to the upcoming WWE Draft, it wouldn’t be a big surprise to see some WWE NXT talent show up on WWE RAW tonight.

Could Ambrose’s instability work in his favor as champion?

Since the WWE announced on their website that Roman Reigns had been suspended for a Wellness Policy violation, it will be interesting to see how it plays out on WWE programming. Speculation runs rampant on the rumor mill as the details of the violation have not been made public. Either way, the suspension ends before Battleground, so Reigns will still be a part of the title picture until then. Will Rollins and Ambrose be able to carry the story without Reigns making television appearances?

More importantly, how will the WWE Universe react to Roman Reigns being allowed to stay in the Triple Threat Match at Battleground when he isn’t on television to promote the match? Will the WWE World Heavyweight Championship take a backseat to John Cena, AJ Styles, and The Club?

Will John Cena need backup against The Club?

The Club is playing the “numbers game” to get away with victories over John Cena and the Usos. In situations like this, the face generally brings someone on board to help him even out the numbers. While The Usos aren’t busy doing anything else right now, it seems like a Cena rub wouldn’t do them any wonders like it could do for a team less familiar to the eyes of the WWE Universe.

With the WWE Draft just around the corner and the NXT brand shipping talent to the main roster at a rapid pace, it wouldn’t be a stretch to think that Cena could bring someone up from NXT to help him combat The Bullet Club. American Alpha seems ready for a spot on the main roster, and who better to bring them on board than the leader of the Cenation, immediately involving them in a main event-worthy feud with The Club?

Is Sasha Banks our next WWE Women’s Champion?

Ever since losing the Triple Threat Match at WrestleMania 32 for the newly-rebranded WWE Women’s Championship, Sasha Banks has barely made a sound on WWE programming. Paige seems to be an afterthought, while Becky Lynch and Natalya have seemingly moved on to a program between themselves now that they both failed to take the title from Charlotte.

Everyone knows that Triple H loves Sasha Banks and Bayley, the latter of which is likely to debut on the WWE’s main roster after the WWE Draft in July. With help from Dana Brooke, Charlotte will likely hold the title for a little while longer, but you know that Triple H will want to run the Sasha Banks vs. Bayley program in front of the WWE Universe while the two women still have their amazing in-ring chemistry.

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Will The Wyatt Family put The New Day’s “Power of Positivity” to the test?

Normally, The New Day have the size advantage, being a Freebirds-style tag team championship threesome. However, The Wyatt Family are currently a three-man faction, with the possibility of Luke Harper returning and tilting the scales heavily in Bray Wyatt’s favor. With the WWE’s tag team division doing so well as of late, could The New Day’s historic reign as WWE Tag Team Champions come to an end at the hands of Bray’s minions?

Of course, this could always be little more than a feud fueled by pride. Wyatt is upset that his return was interrupted by the vivacious tag team champions, and he’s yet to make WWE gold a priority as the Eater of Worlds.

Who will gain key momentum three weeks before the WWE Brand Extension Draft?

The NFL Draft and NBA Draft are events worth watching. WWE hopes to have a draft with hype that resembles either of those drafts, as opposed to something that flies under the radar like the recent MLB Draft.

The possibilities for the WWE Draft are endless. Will John Cena continue to be the face of Monday Night RAW, or will the veteran be moved to Tuesday nights to help boost the ratings for WWE SmackDown as it goes live? Will all three members of The Shield remain on the same program, or will Roman Reigns be taken away from the WWE World Heavyweight Championship while Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose feud over the belt? And perhaps most importantly of all, who will be the General Manager running WWE SmackDown when it goes live on Tuesday nights?

Where To Watch

WWE Money in the Bank 2016 can be streamed on-demand via the WWE Network. WWE Battleground 2016 airs live on the WWE Network on Sunday, July 24 at 8:00 p.m. Eastern/7:00 p.m. Central. The WWE Battleground Kickoff Show begins at 7:00 p.m. Eastern/6:00 p.m. Central.

WWE Monday Night RAW airs live on the USA Network at 8:00 p.m. Eastern/7:00 p.m. Central, with the RAW Pre-Show airing on the WWE Network at 7:30 p.m. Eastern/6:30 p.m. Central. Replays of WWE RAW aren’t made available on the WWE Network until several weeks after the original air date. However, a 90-minute version of Monday Night RAW is available to stream on-demand the following day with a Hulu Plus subscription.

[Image via WWE]

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