Roman Reigns to defend the US title in a handicap match on Raw

Additional notes added by Dave Meltzer

Along with The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels returning to television, next week’s Raw will also feature a handicap match for the United States Championship.

WWE announced on Friday afternoon that Reigns would defend his US title against both Kevin Owens and Chris Jericho simultaneously on Monday’s show. Reigns has successfully defended the title against Jericho and Owens individually on Raw in recent weeks.

Reigns is also scheduled to challenge Owens for the WWE Universal Championship at the Royal Rumble at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas later this month. Jericho will be suspended above the ring in a shark cage after the ongoing storyline has seen him interfere in Owens’ matches to help him retain the title.

Three matches have also been announced for next week’s SmackDown, with John Cena making his in-ring return against Baron Corbin, American Alpha defending their tag titles against The Wyatt Family, and Nikki Bella facing Natalya.

Next week’s Raw will take place in New Orleans, Louisiana, and Dave Meltzer noted in this week’s edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the official announcement that the city will host WrestleMania 34 in 2018 is expected to be made at a press conference on Tuesday.

The show will face considerable competition as it goes against the college football championship game between Alabama and Clemson. Last year’s game drew 26.2 million viewers and the year before did 33.8 million viewers, about double what the weekly NFL game does.