Monday Night Raw Preview 5/4/15: Seth Rollins, Randy Orton, Roman Reigns Head Toward Payback

The May 4, 2015 edition of WWE's Monday Night Raw will emanate live from the Bell Centre in Montreal at 8 p.m. Eastern and will continue to build toward the Payback pay-per-view in two weeks.

Last week, we learned that the main event of the pay-per-view will be Seth Rollins vs. Randy Orton vs. Roman Reigns in a Triple Threat Match for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Rollins successfully defended the title against Orton in a steel cage at Extreme Rules thanks to interference from Kane and J&J Security. The Authority has been dealing with plenty of in-fighting recently, but Rollins has managed to weasel his way out of trouble each and every time.

Tonight, how will Orton, Reigns, and Rollins cross paths? Will Orton and Reigns team up to try to get the advantage over Rollins, or will they bicker too much and allow the cowardly champion to worm his way out of danger again? And what role will Kane play in this picture? Will he remain loyal to Rollins and the Authority, or will he finally make a clean break from them?

Bad News Barrett won the King of the Ring tournament last week over the upstart Neville, who has been dazzling fans with his in-ring work since his call up to the main roster a few weeks ago. The two men now have one win apiece over each other, so a rubber match seems almost assured. Perhaps tonight Neville will get his first chance on the microphone on Raw to set up a third match with the new king at Payback.

United States Champion John Cena and Rusev are scheduled for the final chapter in their rivalry, an I Quit Match at Payback. Cena is undefeated in this type of bout, but Rusev doesn't strike anyone as the type to utter those two words. Some fans have theorized that Rusev could win this match by threatening to hurt Lana, which would cause the heroic Cena to quit in order to spare her. WWE has certainly presented this as a reasonable possibility with the tension between Rusev and his female companion, and Lana has been soaking up the crow'd adulation recently. Could this be how Rusev regains the title, or will it simply be the final nail in the coffin for Rusev and Lana as a team?

Bray Wyatt has apparently been talking about Ryback in all of his cryptic promos the past few weeks, as the Eater of Worlds emerged last week to plant Ryback with Sister Abigail. Will Wyatt continue to target Ryback tonight? And if so, what will he do?

Dolph Ziggler is still embroiled in his feud with Sheamus, as the Show Off attacked the Celtic Warrior during the latter's King of the Ring match last week. Sheamus claims to be targeting fan favorites like Ziggler and Daniel Bryan, so what will he do to try and rearrange Ziggler's face tonight?

The tag team champions, The New Day, continue to grow into their characters in their feud with Tyson Kidd and Cesaro. The crowd hates these guys and loves Kidd and Cesaro, so this provides an excellent way for Big E, Kofi Kingston, and Xavier Woods to transition from their former selves to their new roles as heels. Kidd and Cesaro are not done going for the titles, so expect them to stay on the New Day's case tonight.

Rumors say we'll hear an update about the status of Daniel Bryan, the Intercontinental Champion, so keep an eye out for that. It's possible Bryan is severely injured once again, which would be a crushing blow to fans. Or, we could get optimistic news that would inject some life and hope into this story.

Finally, with WWE in Canada, expect references to the Montreal Screwjob and/or appearances by Bret Hart.

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.