From the WWE Rumor Mill: Top star to miss Monday Night Raw next week
What's the story?
Wrestling Inc. is reporting that WWE Intercontinental Champion Roman Reigns may miss Monday Night Raw next week. He is currently not advertised by either the WWE or the Dunkin Donuts Center's website.
In case you didn't know...
The next major pay per view for the Monday Night Raw brand will be the Royal Rumble on January 28th from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
The heart of the matter
Monday Night Raw next week will take place at the Dunkin Donuts Center in Providence, Rhode Island. Their website lists a dark match as a Texas Tornado tag team contest with the WWE Raw Tag Team Champions The Bar taking on Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose.
In addition to the Texas Tornado tag, another Braun Strowman vs. Kane match was advertised as well as the return of Brock Lesnar. With the Strowman and Kane match ending in a double count out this week, there is the potential of another match with no disqualifications to try to find the number one contender for Lesnar's WWE Universal Championship.
At the time of this writing, it is unknown why Reigns will potentially not be at Raw next week. With Lesnar returning next week and the slow build of Reigns against Samoa Joe for the WWE Intercontinental Championship at the Royal Rumble being a possibility, they could afford to give Roman the night off.
What's next?
WWE's programming on the USA Network continues with NXT's national television debut tonight with Adam Cole taking on Aleister Black. The next pay per view for the WWE takes place on Sunday with Clash Of The Champions where AJ Styles defends his WWE Championship against Jinder Mahal.
Stay tuned to Sportskeeda for any further updates on Roman Reigns potentially missing Raw next week.
Author's take
I think he's just getting the night off or has some sort of other commitment with the WWE for this Monday. There are still six weeks until the Royal Rumble; which is where I think the Reigns and Joe match happens, so Reigns missing a Raw doesn't hurt anything.
When Lesnar is not on Raw, the Intercontinental Championship is featured heavily, so with Lesnar's appearance next week, it may have afforded Reigns the night off from Raw.