WWE’s response to the record low ratings for Raw and SmackDown this past week was to strongly tease Roman Reigns feuding with the McMahon family on this coming Monday’s episode of Raw.

On Twitter, Reigns said he would be coming to Raw this week due to unfinished business, but then WWE claimed that Reigns would not be allowed on the show due to being a SmackDown wrestler: “WWE officials have learned of Roman Reigns’ desire to appear on Monday Night Raw, but as of now, and due to his obligations as a SmackDown Live Superstar, he will not be appearing on Monday Night Raw.”

With Monday’s SmackDown house show in Corbin, Kentucky being canceled midweek, there are also likely to be others from SmackDown, particularly the Money in the Bank participants, appearing on Raw.

Raw averaged 2,158,000 viewers on Monday, the lowest in modern history aside from the Christmas and New Year’s Eve shows that both were taped and really shouldn’t count for any comparisons.

Monday’s episode is up against two NBA playoff games, the second of which is the Golden State Warriors vs. Houston Rockets, which is a major marquee game. While the NBA playoffs overall are down, the Warriors games have consistently beaten last year’s numbers and without WWE pulling out major stops, would likely put a major hit on the second half of Raw.

WWE had to come up with something, because without a good hook, there was a real risk of Raw going under two million viewers.

SmackDown won’t have that type of luxury because the Raw crew has to fly out right after the show for a card in Belfast, Northern Ireland, so they can’t use Raw talent to help the SmackDown show.