Monday Night Raw Preview 6/29/15: Brock Lesnar, Kevin Owens, Seth Rollins in Focus for July 4
The June 29, 2015 edition of WWE's Monday Night Raw will emanate live from the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C. We still have quite a few weeks until Battleground, but there is another WWE special on July 4 that Raw could build to tonight.
On the American holiday, WWE will air a live special, apparently called The Beast in the East, from Japan that features a (presumably) main event NXT Championship match between Kevin Owens and Finn Balor. Here is the rest of the rumored card, and note the curious choices on here:
Kevin Owens vs. Finn Balor for the NXT Championship
Kofi Kingston vs. Brock Lesnar
Neville vs. Chris Jericho
John Cena and Dolph Ziggler vs. King Barrett and Kane
Paige vs. Naomi vs. Nikki Bella for the Divas Championship
Cesaro vs. Diego
The Lucha Dragons vs. The New Day
You'll note that WWE has done nothing to promote many of these matches, including Lesnar's appearance fighting...Kofi Kingston? This will likely be just an excellent house show, with the exception of the NXT Championship match, which should have implications for the developmental brand going forward. But will WWE build any of these matches tonight, or will they use Raw as a way to get fans hyped for Battleground? Lesnar will not be in the building, so it will be difficult for the company to promote his presence on the show without the use of Paul Heyman.
Owens, meanwhile, remains embroiled in his feud with John Cena, which will continue in a few weeks at Battleground with their third match. But this one is for the WWE United States Championship. Is it possible Owens could walk out with the belt? Rumor has it the story between the two men will culminate at SummerSlam, so could Cena have to win his belt back in August?
Seth Rollins is still the WWE World Heavyweight Champion, and he now has his old running buddies in Kane and J&J Security to help him take out The Beast Incarnate. WWE has already announced that tonight's main event will pit Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose against Rollins and Kane, so does this mean that we won't get a 20-minute opening promo from The Authority? Probably not.
Speaking of Reigns, he is currently dealing with Bray Wyatt, who has been psychologically torturing Roman for a couple of weeks now by bringing up images of his daughter and threatening her. Will Bray interject himself into the main event tonight to mess with Reigns some more, or will Roman turn the tables?
Paige continues to wage war on Nikki Bella and Brie Bella, but the Divas Champion remains in power. Will tonight be the night that she brings up some help from NXT, maybe Charlotte, to help her put the Bellas out of commission?
As always, check back with MStars immediately after the show for a full recap of all the action. But for now, let us know your thoughts, opinions, guesses, and predictions for tonight's show in the comments section.