10 Booking Steps For WWE Raw (June 27)
Expect John Cena to have more problems with The Club on Raw...
Battleground is coming at a distinctly odd time for WWE. Mere days before the pay-per-view, the company will split the roster in two, sending approximately half to Monday Night Raw and the other to a revamped Tuesday Night SmackDown. This leaves the build for the show stilted, and it's likely to be crammed full of rematches.
The first - and most major - problem involves Roman Reigns. Suspended for 30 days, Reigns will miss virtually all of the shows before Battleground. He's still earmarked for a Triple Threat bout against both Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins, but it'll be left to that pairing to properly hype the match.
Elsewhere in WWE, John Cena is heading for another showdown opposite AJ Styles, and it looks like issues between Rusev and Titus O'Neil, as well as Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn, will continue. In the case of the United States Title picture, few wish to see Titus challenge for the belt again, making Raw the ideal place to shake things up.
Let's look at what WWE realistically could have in store for the next edition of Monday Night Raw...
10. Chris Jericho Stakes His Claim For The Battleground Triple Threat Match
On last week's Monday Night Raw, Chris Jericho approached Shane McMahon backstage and claimed he should be the top contender for the WWE World Heavyweight Title. Naturally, the heel's logic was flawed, but that was the beauty of it. The best villains are those deluded enough to believe they are owed it all.
Now that Roman Reigns will be absent for the build towards Battleground, WWE need to focus directly on Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins. That doesn't mean others can't be involved, the company can book some segments regarding a possible replacement for Roman, which is where Jericho would be coming from in this skit.
Interrupting Shane McMahon's welcome to the show, Y2J again reiterates his believe that he should be in line for a title shot. Sick of the Canadian, McMahon would then put him in a match against Dean Ambrose to prove it. Should he win, he'd be entered into the Battleground headliner.
That's a bout fans have seen a lot recently, but it's also a fine television main event, not to mention topical given Jericho's firm belief that he belongs in the title hunt.