WWE Raw: Potential Spoilers, Rumors, News and Preview for April 25

With Payback 2016 drawing near, new blood promises to make a major impact on the April 25 edition of WWE Raw.

Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson are set to make their WWE in-ring debuts. The strife between The Vaudevillains and Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady is poised to intensify. And there's a chance that a former NXT champion makes his way to Hartford, Connecticut, to further shake up a roster filled with fresh faces. 

After the grind of the latest European tour, the WWE Superstars have to get back to work, hitting the homestretch of the build to the Payback pay-per-view.

How will all the added moving pieces fit into the Raw picture? How will the story of Shane McMahon controlling the show play out? Backstage reports, teases and the WWE.com Raw preview provide answers to those questions and more.

News, Potential Spoilers

Despite not being on the main roster, Finn Balor is generating the most buzz ahead of Monday's Raw. His recent title loss and a message to fans has left many wondering if a change in location is in store for him.

On Thursday night, Balor lost the NXT Championship to Samoa Joe at a live event in Lowell, Massachusetts. What followed created speculation aplenty. As seen in a clip shared by a fan, he told a group of NXT faithful after the event, "See you all on Monday."

That reads like a tease of him showing up on Raw. That's especially true considering that his former stablemates in Gallows and Anderson are now on the show.

Balor, though, also told fans in Poughkeepsie, New York, that he's staying at NXT. WWE has had some NXT stars pull double duty with both brands temporarily, so it's possible that he is sticking around at NXT but also appearing on Raw.  

It's a safer bet, however, that Titus O'Neil shows up instead. PWInsider.com's Mike Johnson reported, "O'Neil is scheduled to return to the road from his 60-day suspension with WWE at the 4/25 Raw taping in Hartford."

Credit: WWE.com

Despite his suspension being over last week, O'Neil didn't travel with the company to Europe. He could be reinserted into the mix now but isn't likely to be featured heavily with him not being on the Payback card.

Bray Wyatt's usual spot on the WWE stage will be available it seems. The Eater of Worlds went down with a calf injury in mid-April. New details have emerged about how much time he will miss. According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (h/t Wrestling Inc), a pulled muscle will keep Wyatt out of the ring for four to six weeks.  

So that likely means The Wyatt Family will stay on the back burner for now.

The League of Nations, meanwhile, may be splitting up soon. As Johnson noted, Alberto Del Rio "intimated the League of Nations was finishing up" in a Spanish-language interview with SoloWrestling.com.

Payback Hype

Gallows and Anderson informed the WWE world on last week's SmackDown that this Monday they would be clashing with The Usos.

There will be no shortage of bad blood in that contest. The former members of the Bullet Club stormed into Raw a few weeks ago and pounded The Usos into the mat. In addition to the issues with the high-flying brothers, fans will be looking out for how Gallows and Anderson's relationship with AJ Styles plays out.

Styles seems to be uncomfortable with the two bruisers attacking people in order to protect him. Would the duo turn on The Phenomenal One? Could Balor emerge as their leader, or will Roman Reigns be the one to start leading a squad that includes Gallows and Anderson?

WWE teased at something intriguing unfolding soon. The WWE.com preview reads, "Something tells us Gallows and Anderson have only begun to shock us, and Styles just might be in for a surprise or two himself along the way."

There will less surprise and more straight-up animosity in the Dean Ambrose-Chris Jericho narrative.

Credit: WWE.com

The Lunatic Fringe will be looking for some payback after Jericho attacked him on last week's Raw and interfered in his match on SmackDown last Thursday.  

The Raw preview hinted at a violent next chapter to the story, noting that fans should "Expect these combustible competitors to trade punches, not words. And something tells us Ambrose can't wait for another brawl."

Amore and Cassady are sure to have their own collision with The Vaudevillains, be it a verbal or physical one. 

Each team has made it to the finals of the No. 1 contender's tag team tournament. They are set to now meet at Payback with a tag team title shot on the line. On last Thursday's SmackDown, they fired insults at each other.

With Amore's talent on the mic, it won't be surprising if WWE has these two teams talk trash to each other again. Or it may be time to show off Simon Gotch and Aiden English's viciousness by having them go after their fellow NXT alumni.

Through it all, Shane McMahon may be at the helm again.

He has now run Raw for three weeks in a row, his temporary reign slowly extended into something more substantial. That has gone unchallenged so far, but that should soon change. 

The Raw preview asked, "Will The Authority arrive to put an end to Shane’s new era, or will they actually deem him 'best for business' at the helm of Raw?"

There was a similar tease last week that didn't lead to anything. One has to assume, though, that Shane-O-Mac's control can't continue without The Authority pushing back. And if Triple H and Stephanie McMahon want to recruit some new muscle for their faction, they will have plenty of promising candidates to choose from.