Raw Preview: “Rumors” Say Tonight Will Be Big

Hey, everybody! It’s Monday! You know what happens after a Monday? That’s right–it’s Monday night. That means it’s time for Monday Night Raw. We’re on the road to the Royal Rumble, and that means WWE is finally trying to put its best foot forward with some big returns and, hopefully, a few surprises. Let’s run down tonight’s show.

We here at Wrestling Rumors report on a lot of rumors. When we report on rumors, we try to make it clear that these reports are unconfirmed, and we try to give you an idea of how reliable these sources are. WWE says Undertaker is “rumored” for Raw tonight. Let’s be clear: this is not a rumor. This is WWE advertising a returning legend. If Undertaker does not appear tonight, that will have been false advertising.

But if WWE insists on couching this as a “rumor,” then it seems likely that Taker will be on hand mostly to deliver a warning to Raw’s roster. He’s still a SmackDown guy–we think. We’re pretty sure, anyway.

Shawn Michaels, on the other hand, is accurately advertised as appearing on tonight’s show. HBK is there in part to shill his role in WWE Studios’ upcoming film, the Resurrection of Gavin Stone, but it seems unlikely that Raw would spend a whole lot of time delving into the details of the faith-based dramedy. Equally unlikely is the possibility of Michaels returning to in-ring action. So keep your expectations in check.

More substantial to the current storyline is the two-on-one handicap match which sees both Chris Jericho and Kevin Owens take on Roman Reigns for the United States Championship. Likelihood of Roman losing the title? Pretty good, depending on whether you think WWE wants to crown Reigns as a holder of multiple titles. If there was ever a right time to take the title off of the Guy and return it to the languishing midcard, now would be that moment.

Beyond that, WWE.com is mostly advertising business as usual for tonight’s show. Neville and Bayley both continue the climb toward their divisions’ respective championships–albeit in much different ways. There are still eight more slots for Raw superstars in the Royal Rumble, and an another announcement or two each night for the next few weeks still leaves room for surprises.

But let’s talk about the elephant in the room. Let’s talk about the most anticipated debut in WWE history. Let’s talk about Raw’s premier new superstar. Let’s talk about the hottest thing in wrestling: Emmalina.

She tweeted this today. Your guess is as good as mine.

httpss://twitter.com/EmmaWWE/status/818503049425588224

Raw broadcasts tonight on the USA Network at 8PM Eastern/7PM Central from the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, LA–which means it happens to be the perfect opportunity to confirm the rumored location for next year’s WrestleMania. Join us tonight for live coverage of Raw here, on Twitter, and on Facebook!