WWE Raw Preview: Stone Cold Steve Austin Returns to MSG and More for September 9

Just six days from Clash of Champions, WWE Raw returns to the hallowed halls of New York's Madison Square Garden for Monday's blockbuster broadcast, featuring the return of "Stone Cold" Steve Austin.

The Texas Rattlesnake will moderate a contract signing between universal champion Seth Rollins and Braun Strowman ahead of their pay-per-view main event Sunday night, but his return is hardly the only noteworthy happening on this week's episode.

What can you expect from an in-ring perspective and what storyline developments will provide the final hype for Sunday's WWE Network presentation?

Already Announced

• Rey Mysterio vs. Gran Metalik
• Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair vs. Sasha Banks and Bayley
• King of the Ring Semifinal: Ricochet vs. Samoa Joe vs. Baron Corbin
• Cedric Alexander vs. AJ Styles

The Four Horsewomen Explode

Bayley's heel turn at the end of last week's show was years in the making and was greeted with great enthusiasm from a WWE fanbase eager for some kind—any kind—of character development for the NXT export.

Monday, in her first in-ring performance with her new persona, the SmackDown women's champion teams with Sasha Banks to face Raw women's champion Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair in a battle of the original Four Horsewomen of NXT.

This is a dream match wasted on a go-home episode of Raw aimed at building two women's title bouts for Clash of Champions.

But why?

Why not book Lynch vs. Bayley or Flair vs. Banks and run the other two in, leaving the possibility of such a high-profile tag team match for further down the line? Or, better yet, actually slow build to the eventual reunion of Lynch and Flair after they spent the last year beating the unholy hell out of each other.

Instead, WWE Creative is content to rush it all for the sake of lazy booking, negating months of storyline potential.

Contract Signing? Oh Hell, Yeah!

AJ Styles, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson interrupted last week's contract signing between Rollins and Strowman. This week, live from an arena he raised plenty of hell in, Austin returns to moderate The Beastslayer and The Monster Among Men's latest attempt at making their upcoming match official.

With Styles slated to face Cedric Alexander elsewhere on the show, expect this segment to focus primarily on Rollins and Strowman, who desperately need a spark to generate even the slightest bit of excitement for their championship clash.

Austin is just the legend to ignite that spark.

A babyface vs. babyface match with no real rhyme or reason to exist beyond Raw needing a title match main event for the PPV, it has never been able to develop.

While it is unlikely droves of fans will flock to the network to witness the contest after Monday's show, Austin may be able to bring Strowman and Rollins together in a heat-seeking segment that creates just enough anticipation to make the match worth checking out if you're not an NFL fan.

King of the Ring Semifinal Action

Ricochet, Baron Corbin and Samoa Joe will square off in a Triple Threat match in the semifinal round of the King of the Ring tournament Monday.

The match, instigated by Joe and Ricochet's double pin a week ago, feels designed to put The One and Only over as a monster babyface ahead of the finals at Clash of Champions.

The King of the Ring tournament has produced some stellar in-ring action, including the aforementioned Joe-Ricochet match and Corbin's win over Alexander.

This should be no different.

The question is whether the match gets enough time to develop with such a jam-packed show on tap.

Considering the talent and wealth of effort put into the tournament by WWE Creative, it only makes sense that it would benefit from a longer run time and really put over whoever is booked to win it.

The New York fanbase has always appreciated a good, dramatic match. The Triple Threat formula typically breeds such a bout.