After an extremely rare week off, it’s now time for the first Monday Night Raw of 2023 with some Premium Live Event level matches slated, given Day 1 was cancelled. The event takes place in the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee. The same venue where Night of Champions 2014 took place. The event saw John Cena having to bounce back after the amazing near half hour squash at the hands of Brock Lesnar a month earlier at Summerslam. Cena won by DQ, not reclaiming the title. Let’s take a look at the card for WWE Raw tonight.
WWE Raw Tonight (2/1/23) – Full Card
TOMORROW on #WWERaw
🇺🇸 @_Theory1 defends the #USTitle against @WWERollins
👊 @BiancaBelairWWE defends the Raw Women's Championship against @AlexaBliss_WWE
📺 8/7c on @USA_Network pic.twitter.com/a9esTFmcgx
— WWE (@WWE) January 2, 2023
Close To Home
Bianca Belair is set to defend the Raw Women’s Championship against Alexa Bliss. Bianca of course is from nearby Knoxville, which may very well give her a strong near-home town reaction. Meanwhile, her opponent Alexa Bliss seems to be wrestling with an identity crisis. As Bray Wyatt’s return to the WWE has triggered some very not subtle hints that she may fall back into the very dark side she tried to abandon just one year ago. Will that say out of the way for this title match? Or will black goo pour from Alexa’s forehead in the midst of her match against The EST of WWE? Hopefully, it’s the former.
Read More: Why Gunther Is the WWE Breakout Star of 2022
Another Chance For The Architect
Seth Rollins had an unexpectedly short reign as United States Champion that seemed very welcomed by fans before it went into the hands of Austin Theory under somewhat questionable means this past November. Seth Rollins spent the last month 2022 trying to get his rematch and that happens today as he takes on “The Now”, Austin Theory. Who seems to be acting far more serious since his very blundered Money In The Bank cash-in. While he may no longer be taking selfies and such, he still did win the title in a fluke. Incentivizing the former Champion to chase after him. If anything, we hope to see a solid match take place.
What Else To Expect?
- Thanks to the rest of Damage CTRL, Bayley was able to beat Becky Lynch. Though, the result made it clear that this is not the end of the issues between these two sides. We just have to wait and see how The Man comes around.
- Bronson Reed (fka JONAH) returned to WWE 2 weeks ago, assisting The Miz in defeating Dexter Lumis to reclaim his lost money. As the re-signing spree of Triple H continues to blitz by, rumors point to many more coming back with Chelsea Green being the leading candidate. And with the Royal Rumble closing in, it will likely be a full month of surprises.
- Is The Bloodline on the slate for Raw? It seems the direction for the Royal Rumble will be Kevin Owens vs Roman Reigns. We saw the group appear last time on Raw to further that story. Perhaps we’ll see a repeat.
All that and more on WWE Raw tonight.
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