Monday, August 17, 2015

5 Things To Expect on WWE Monday Night Raw 8/17/15



How's it going everybody? Welcome to this week's Raw preview article. It's the go-home show to the annual SummerSlam event. Tonight's Raw takes place from the home of "The Beast" Brock Lesnar, Minneapolis, Minnesota. For the first time since the Raw after WWE Battleground, both the Undertaker and Brock Lesnar will be in the same ring in the same arena. Last week we went from three matches to now eight matches on the SummerSlam card. I'll give you five things I'm paying attention to when it comes go-home show for SummerSlam and then after that I'll be giving my predictions for the PPV. Let's do this.

1.) John Cena/Seth Rollins Title vs. Title/ Face to Face 



Rollins has been doing a tremendous job building up this storyline with the absence of John Cena. Rollins as a heel champion gets better week by week which I think will play into Rollins favor once he loses the WWE Championship. Rollins had two WWE World Heavyweight Championship matches on the past two Raw's and he defeated Neville and thanks to Orton he survived Sheamus attempt at cashing in the Money in the Bank Briefcase. On Tough Enough last week Cena said that despite Triple H's expertise at odds making, he says that, he's ready to go and he'll accept Rollins challenge for SummerSlam. Cena was hosting the Today show if i'm not mistaken and I have this feeling Cena will be on Raw in Minneapolis tonight or we'll have a actual LIVE Via Satellite segment? Usually before big PPV's you have a good idea as to who will win based off of who stands over set rival on the Raw before PPV. If the Satellite segment does happen I can see Cena winning, if Cena comes to Raw and goes after Rollins and tries to seek some revenge then I see Rollins winning. Tonight is a big night for Rollins. Rollins has done the comedy shitck to bring in heat into his promos, but tonight is important for Rollins to take this match seriously and tell the people why you are the future and that your just not going to be every other guy on the roster who has a championship and then the moment you fight John Cena you lose the title. With a nice curveball would be interesting if Cena fought on Raw and he loses the United States Championship to either Cesaro or Owens. It kills two birds with one stone. You get out of this whacky scenairo with either Rollins or Cena having both the WWE and US Championship and putting the US Title on Cesaro or Owens will add major heat and interest into the Cesaro & Kevin Owens match at SummerSlam. 


2.) Family vs. Family 



You can tell that your in a microwave society when people say that Ambrose & Reigns vs. Wyatt Family at SummerSlam is a Raw or SmackDown main event match when directly 15 months ago before The Shield broke up people were perplexed that we didn't get a actual Wyatt Family & Shield feud. I get it Rollins is not in the mix and neither is Rowan, but you're going to tell me right now that this match won't steal the show on Sunday? With the bevy of Roman Reigns haters that are still out there the guy continues to put on stellar PPV matches and doesn't have the Cena esque characteristic that everybody brings up when it comes to Reigns. The Big Dog has the bad ass persona and he's just him and then of course you have Ambrose. What I like about this storyline is  not only the fact we'll be getting a massive war in Brooklyn, but at the same time during these backstage segments with Reigns & Ambrose you sense a little bit of tension with both former Shield members. Luke Harper has had alot of time to shine inside the ring with both guys since Harper rejoin the family at Battleground. We know the history of The Wyatts and Reigns & Ambrose, but what happens if Reigns & Ambrose losses again. Ambrose has been in a major slump this year and when will he reach his boiling point and snap. Reigns still trying avenge Wyatt getting in his head would a lose to his arch rival bring out a different side to Reigns? Tonight on Raw I think we'll see Dean Ambrose vs. Bray Wyatt. Hopefully they announce tonight that this match at SummerSlam will be a Brooklyn Street Fight. 


3.) The Undertaker vs. Brock Lesnar 



Both The Beast and The Deadman will be back on Raw which means ALL HELL IS GOING TO BREAK LOOSE. We know we're going to get another epic promo from Paul Heyman, but the question I have is. Is this match going to be just a regular wrestling match after that brawl we saw a few weeks ago? I expect to see all the WWE Superstars and Security guys out there in case we do have a brawl, but this storyline NEEDS TO CLOSE OUT THE SHOW TONIGHT. I'm already hooked for this match I'm just going to sit back and see what they have for us tonight. 


4.) Sheamus vs. Randy Orton? NXT? 



This match is happening at SummerSlam right? I think we'll probably see both Sheamus & Randy Orton on Miz TV tonight. NXT Takeover is this Saturday and usually before these massive specials we get some type of NXT pressence on Raw. Let me pose this question to the good people reading this piece. Who from NXT would you like to see on tonight's edition of Raw? 


5.) Raw Matches 

- Neville vs. Stardust

- Randy Orton vs. Rusev 

- The New Day vs. Lucha Dragons 

- Team PCB vs. Team Bad 

-  John Cena & Cesaro vs. Seth Rollins & Kevin Owens

- Dean Ambrose vs. Bray Wyatt 

- Ryback vs. King Barrett 



SummerSlam Predictions

- The New Day def. Lucha Dragons, Los Matadores and Prime Time Players to win the WWE Tag Team Championship 

- Team Bella def. Team PCB and Team BAD 

- Randy Orton def. Sheamus 

- Cesaro def. Kevin Owens by Countout 

- Neville & Stephen Amell def. Stardust & King Barrett 

- Ryback def. The Miz & Big Show to retain the IC Championship 

- Wyatt Family def. Roman Reigns & Dean Ambrose 

- Seth Rollins def. John Cena to retain the WWE World Heavyweight Championship 

- The Undertaker def. Brock Lesnar 


I hope you guys enjoyed this piece, Raw and SummerSlam.

Make sure to check out my SummerSlam preview show this Wednesday from 11am-3pm ET on ChicagoLandSportsRadio.com 

Follow me on Twitter @JoshLopezCSR 

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