Tonight's edition of WWE Monday Night Raw comes to us from Des Moines, Iowa and the WWE World Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar will not be there. Lesnar wasn't at last week's show either although WWE aired an interview with him that was pre-taped. Those pre-tape promos are better than most people's in person promos, so if the plan is to do video packages about Lesnar on a regular basis then that's okay. The next time Lesnar's expected to be on Raw is September 15, which is the last Raw before WWE Night of Champions on September 21. This week on Raw, WWE is promoting a promo from John Cena. Last week we saw Cena do a promo in response to the likes of Shawn Michaels and Ric Flair doubting him while Hulk Hogan, the ultimate babyface, supported Cena. Last week's show also saw Cena decimate Bray Wyatt for about ten minutes before the Wyatt Family showed up to make it a six man tag that Cena won along with Big Show and Mark Henry. Cena's promo this week will likely be the usual promo where Cena talks about how he's never going to give up or stop fighting. It's likely that Lesnar's advocate Paul Heyman will be on Raw to address Cena. Heyman is so great at getting the crowd riling up while igniting a fire in Cena that he sorely needs. Heyman is such a great heel that it makes Cena more likable. With WWE wanting to turn Cena into a sympathetic face in this angle after he got his ass kicked by Lesnar, utilizing Heyman is the perfect way to do it. There's a chance that the Lesnar/Cena match at Night of Champions could have a No Holds Barred type of stipulation added to it just because they will need to do something to make it look different than the first match. Plus, it would allow for weapons to be used in the match, which would make it more physical. Chris Jericho's scheduled to host his Highlight Reel segment with Randy Orton on Raw as well. Neither man was on Raw last week and they don't have matches announced for Night of Champions, which is still three weeks away. Both of them could be in SummerSlam rematches even though Jericho lost to Bray Wyatt and Orton lost to Roman Reigns. Raw has felt dull for the past two weeks. Hopefully things can pick up now that we're in September and Night of Champions is getting closer.
John wrote at WhatCulture from December 2013 to December 2015. It was fun, but it's over for now. Follow him on Twitter @johnreport. You can also send an email to mrjohncanton@gmail.com with any questions or comments as well.
