WWE Raw July 4 Preview: 16 Man Elimination “Team USA vs. Team World” Tag Match, Ambrose vs Miz, US Title Match & more!
The following things have been advertised on WWE.com for Monday’s July 4th edition of Raw in Columbus, Ohio. Keep in mind that July 4 is Independence Day in the United States and one of the most important holidays in the year. This could be one of the least watched editions of Raw ever (at least live) because a lot of people will probably be out watching fireworks, which is a popular tradition on July 4.
16 Man Elimination Tag Team Match
The preview notes that it will be “Team U.S.A.” versus “Team World” in a 16-Man Elimination Tag Team Match. There haven’t been any names announced for the teams yet, but they could announce them on Monday prior to Raw or save it for the live broadcast.
Here’s what Dave Meltzer mentioned about the match on WrestlingObserver.com: “What that tells us is that they can isolate a member of the writing team who came up with that suggestion and find out that he ACTUALLY WATCHES WRESTLING. CMLL did that exact same match Friday night except it was Mexico vs. The World in a 16 man elimination match. It also went 51 minutes and was pretty great. Just make sure Volador Jr. and Kushida are on the world team.”
That’s pretty funny that they are stealing the idea for the match from CMLL in Mexico, but that’s how the wrestling business works.
I think in this case it’s just a way to put on a really long match (it should get 30+ minutes) and get a lot of people on the show in a unique match. I don’t mind it.
Dean Ambrose vs. The Miz in a Champion vs. Champion Rematch from Smackdown
WWE loves doing rematches of matches on Raw and Smackdown, so here we go again. Ambrose beat The Miz in the main event of Smackdown. I think it will be the same result on Monday too. I’ve been happy with how Ambrose has been booked as WWE Champion so far and I hope he’s not going to suffer a non-title loss.
Here’s my Smackdown review in case you want to read about the match they had last week.
Rusev defends the US Title against Titus O’Neil
Last week on Raw, Titus O’Neil beat Rusev by countout. This week on Raw, Rusev is going to defend the US Title against O’Neil because he earned a rematch. Their last US Title match was at Money in the Bank a few weeks ago when Rusev won clean. Since then, O’Neil has been more aggressive and has done a good job of getting in Rusev’s face.
What’s interesting is that I thought they might carry the feud to the July 24 Battleground event. That plan may have changed because Rusev had a really good US Title match with Cesaro on Smackdown where the story was that Cesaro was hurt going into the match, so it wasn’t that fair. WWE may realize Rusev vs. Cesaro is the better choice for Battleground because…well…it is.
I think Rusev will retain and Cesaro will step up as the next US Title challenger.
A former Smackdown General Manager Will Return
Here’s how WWE.com’s preview set this one up:
Once we learned that SmackDown will go live on USA Network Tuesday, July 19, former SmackDown authority figures — including Teddy Long, John Laurinaitis and Corporate Kane — have resurfaced to state why they should head up the blue brand in The New Era. Since Monday will be a celebration no one in the WWE Universe will want to miss, you can bet that at least one former GM will be looking to drop by.
If I had to guess it will be Booker T. They could pick Paul Heyman, but I think they’ll save him until Brock Lesnar’s return on July 19. Another option could be Vickie Guerrero too, but I’m going with Booker as my choice.
John Cena Seeks Revenge Against The Club
The fifth and final segment being advertised is John Cena getting revenge against AJ Styles and The Club due to their attacks against him in the last couple of weeks. I assume they will announce Cena vs. Styles II for Battleground on Monday’s Raw as well.
Good job by WWE actually advertising matches and segments several days prior to the show. They don’t normally do that. I assume they did it because they might know the audience for this show could be low and advertising stuff beforehand is a good way to get people to watch.
I’ll be back on Monday with a live Raw Deal review of the show.