WWE Great Balls of Profile preview: Brock Lesnar defends title against Samoa Joe

WWE’s pay-per-view bandwagon rolls into Dallas, Texas on Sunday night as the stars of Raw combine

Brock Lesnar defends his title on Sunday evening

WWE’s pay-per-view bandwagon rolls into Dallas, Texas on Sunday night as the stars of Raw combine for the bizarrely-titled Great Balls of Fire event.

Social media has had a field day since WWE announced the name of the show a number of months ago – so called, according to Raw’s General Manager Kurt Angle in a recent interview, purely because it’s amusing to head honcho Vince McMahon.

But promotional nonsense aside, Raw has assembled an intriguing card which is headlined by the returning WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar, who makes his first big defence of his championship since winning it at Wrestlemania in April as he goes against Samoa Joe.

The former NXT Champion is enjoying his biggest push by far since being promoted to the main roster and although it looks unlikely he’ll be de-railing Lesnar for the gold on this occasion, WWE would do well to ensure he’s at least given a good go of it on Sunday.

Ever since Lesnar was squashed more than once by 50-year-old retiree Goldberg last November, attempts to legitimise the former UFC Champion’s dominance of WWE have been wisely avoided – the likes of Joe have been able to get their licks in, so to speak, and I can’t help but think it makes for a better show to know that there are viable contenders for his crown. With that in mind let’s hope Joe pushes him hard on Sunday night; it could well be the making of him.

Another highlight on the night will be the 30-minute Iron Man match for the tag team titles as Sheamus and Cesaro defend against The Hardy Boys. Just quite what these four innovators will come up with now they have a solid half-hour to work with is anyone’s guess, but it won’t be the kind of affair that’ll have you reaching for the remote.

A stacked card continues with the latest instalment in the feud between Roman Reigns and Braun Strowman. Don’t get me wrong; for two huge guys, this pairing are without question some of the best athletes WWE has to offer, but this is a rivalry that’s now starting to drag and is awaiting a conclusion pretty sharpish. Signs are that this will be the case on Sunday with Reigns pushing for a shot at whoever wins the Lesnar-Joe bout.

The unstoppable Neville puts his Cruiserweight title on the line against Akira Tozawa in another championship match, while Alexa Bliss looks to meet the challenge of Sasha Banks as her Raw Women’s Championship is up for grabs.

Another prolonged feud in The Miz and Dean Ambrose continues to roll on in Texas as the pair clash for Miz’s Intercontinental championship. Miz has seen his momentum given a real shot in the arm in recent weeks thanks to his association with Curtis Axel and Bo Dallas – a move which has conversely given television time to two of Raw’s most underrated stars.

After the oft-teased split between Enzo Amore and Big Cass finally materialised on Raw a few weeks back, these two go head-to-head in a singles match. Cass undoubtedly has the bigger future as a singles star in the company but Enzo has received some impressive backing from WWE’s live crowds and it wouldn’t hurt to see him strike first blood in what will be a string of matches between the two.

Notable by his absence on this card is Fin Balor – we can only hope this is merely a temporary thing as his work with Elias Sampson has brought something new and fresh to what can be a stale Raw product at times. And yet, conversely, WWE seems to have gone from the sublime to the ridiculous – from having so few matches on a card that they’ve needed to pad and fill a pay-per-view, having seven matches on the main portion of this show will take some doing if they’re to avoid cutting things short in a number of places. Goodness, gracious… well, you know.