WWE Raw: Potential Spoilers, Rumors, News and Preview for August 3

A broken nose leaves the first WWE Raw of August minus one megastar, but a beast is on his way as a more-than-suitable replacement.

Brock Lesnar, sure to be enraged following his pull-apart brawl with Undertaker a few weeks ago, storms into the SAP Center in San Jose, California. He promises to be the centerpiece of the latest leg of the long road to SummerSlam.

There are ample stories for WWE to dive into beyond Lesnar vs. Undertaker, from the brewing battle between Cesaro and Kevin Owens to the tag team division's cluttered title picture.

What does the company have in mind to maximize those narratives? Who can we expect to show up on Monday night? Backstage reports, social media and James Wortman's five-point preview on WWE.com offer plenty of glimpses of what's to come.

Special Guest

For one fan, Monday's Raw is going to be the night of his life. WWE recently posted a video of Triple H and Stephanie McMahon telling a young fan that he will soon earn the title of honorary WWE Superstar.

The couple told Elijah that he will sign his contract in the ring alongside his favorite Superstar:

For him, that happens to be Stardust. So it appears that the face-painted heel will be playing nice—for a short while at least.

News, Potential Spoilers

Fans have been waiting to see Sting spring out of the darkness for the last few weeks. It may be time to stop hoping for that, though.

PWInsider (h/t Wrestling Inc) reported that WWE is not currently planning to use Sting at SummerSlam. That could just be the company's attempt to make his eventual appearance a surprise, but it looks for now like the audience will have to wait until WrestleMania for The Stinger's second WWE match.

WWE's distancing itself from Hulk Hogan after his racially charged statements has put Curtis Axel and Damien Sandow's shtick on ice.

They were previously doing a tribute to Hogan and Randy Savage, respectively, as The Meta Powers. Axel has since been wrestling in black pants rather than Hogan-themed attire, as TSR: Pro Wrestling and others have shown us.

As for Sandow, a recent video offered a possible hint of where he's headed gimmick-wise. He appeared on Xavier Woods' gaming YouTube channel as a rapper named Sizzle:

This could well just be the result of Sandow's goofing around, or it could be a sneak peek at his newest persona.

Adam Rose and Brad Maddox teased a gimmick change as well. They teamed up at recent house shows as "Beef Mode." The WWE Universe Twitter account offered a look at them, matching gear and all:

This is potentially where WWE has the directionless Rose heading. Should this duo make it to Raw, it would be the first time Maddox has wrestled on that show since 2013.

Strangely enough, there's now a better chance that we'll see Maddox in action than we will the intercontinental champion. Ryback is still dealing with a staph infection.

He posted a photo of his knee on Instagram (warning: graphic image). In the caption, Ryback wrote, "And this is the best it has looked and felt." 

It doesn't take a doctor to realize that that's not a knee one wrestles on. So expect The Big Guy to remain on the sidelines, just as United States champ John Cena will be doing.

Cena suffered a broken nose in his match with Seth Rollins last week. Anyone who saw that bloodied, swollen mess had to assume that the champ would be missing some time. WWE.com noted that doctors sent Cena to a local emergency room thanks to "quite a bit of displacement."

So it's no surprise that according to PWInsider (h/t Wrestle Zone), Cena will not be appearing on Monday's Raw.

Pro Wrestling Torch's James Caldwell noted that Cena is not advertised for the show. Lesnar, however, is set to be there. And like last week, Dolph Ziggler is advertised, although he didn't make an appearance last time around.

SummerSlam Build Continues

Cesaro vs. Owens has become SmackDown's go-to feud. That's where the animosity has most increased between these men. It's where Cesaro most recently pinned Owens in tag action, a result that left Owens incensed.

In his WWE.com preview, Wortman hinted at another collision between them, writing, "Owens will likely seek to retaliate against Cesaro on Raw, but will the end result mirror what we saw as SmackDown went off the air—with The King of Swing triumphant?"

There have also been ample hints that WWE is indeed going through with having Stardust and Stephen Amell from Arrow face off at SummerSlam in some fashion.

Stardust has mentioned The Green Arrow several times in his rants on Neville. The Neville-Stardust rivalry has been the beneficiary of WWE's graphics team's comic book-style images, which seem to suggest the welcoming of a certain TV superhero at some point.

Wortman also pointed in that direction when he asked, "Will an arrow, red or otherwise, soon pierce the icy heart of this inter-dimensional nightmare?"

Amell himself stirred up the rumors of his tangling with Stardust with a tweet mentioning the Superstar by name:

Over in the tag team division, it's unclear who is line for a title shot. Many of the squads have been trading victories of late. The announcers have played up how wide-open the race to contention is right now.

Wortman furthers that narrative, writing, "Hopefully, we'll get a clearer sense of the true pecking order in WWE's tag team division on Raw."

With about two weeks left to build and hype the SummerSlam card, it would make sense to pinpoint who will be challenging The Prime Time Players soon.

Expect Monday's Raw, though, to be heavy on Lesnar. It's not every week that WWE has The Beast Incarnate in tow, and the company is clearly selling Lesnar vs. Undertaker as SummerSlam's marquee match.

What might Lesnar and Paul Heyman do? History says that Heyman will sell the match with a top-notch promo. And one can always bet on violence from Lesnar.

It's not clear, though, if Undertaker will be around when Lesnar is dishing that out. Wortman wrote, "Whatever Lesnar has planned, The Deadman will surely be watching." That sure sounds like WWE is going to keep these two titans from locking horns for right now.

That means someone else is going to have to suffer Lesnar's wrath. And fans will be glued to the screen to watch that dismantling unfold.