Due to some holiday season live event scheduling from WWE this weekend and tonight, several WWE stars will be missing the live RAW show in Brooklyn, NY. WWE is holding a house show event in Allentown, PA at the same time that RAW will be emanating from the Barclays Center. Though all WWE events are marked by the term "card subject to change," which means anyone could be pulled from the house show on a moment's notice, the following stars are scheduled for the Allentown event as of this writing: Kane, Dolph Ziggler, Bray Wyatt, Erick Rowan, Luke Harper, Braun Strowman, Tyler Breeze, Tommy Dreamer, The Dudley Boyz, Paige and Charlotte. During the era of the brand split, it was very typical for WWE to run a house show event somewhere in the country at the same time RAW was occurring elsewhere. At that time, it was of course the SmackDown roster that would do so. These days, something like this isn't as common. Historically, the holiday season has seen a boom in attendance for wrestling live events. This was especially the case in the 1970s and 1980s, when it was a tradition in many regions to go the special holiday wrestling event. WWE has looked to capitalize on this tradition by billing their house shows this week as the "Live Holiday Tour." At a time when the roster is especially thin due to injuries, it will be a challenge to put together a compelling three hour edition of RAW with this many wrestlers absent from the building. However, RAW will feature the return of John Cena to television for the first time in two months, as well as an appearance by Vince McMahon, so you can bet management are expecting good television ratings for this evening's show.
