{"id":107605,"date":"2022-01-05T10:00:20","date_gmt":"2022-01-05T15:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/?p=107605"},"modified":"2022-01-04T16:50:47","modified_gmt":"2022-01-04T21:50:47","slug":"monday-night-raw-royal-rumble","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2022\/01\/05\/monday-night-raw-royal-rumble\/","title":{"rendered":"Monday Night Raw Paves the Road to Royal Rumble"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>January 3\u2019s <strong><em>Monday Night Raw <\/em><\/strong>broadcast from the Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, South Carolina followed in the wake of January 1\u2019s inaugural <strong><em>Day 1 <\/em><\/strong>pay-per-view. The highly anticipated event changed the complexion of two of <strong><em>World Wrestling Entertainment<\/em>\u2019s<\/strong> most important championship races, those for the Universal and WWE Championships, respectively. With the fallout of <em>Day 1\u2019s<\/em> shocking wins and losses still swirling, the stage was set on January 3\u2019s <em>Monday Night Raw<\/em> for 2022\u2019s <em><strong>Royal Rumble<\/strong>.<\/em> The event, and its consequences further afield for <strong><em>WrestleMania 38<\/em><\/strong>, loomed large over the night\u2019s events.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Monday Night Raw &#8211; The Road Toward Royal Rumble<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Edge &amp; Beth Phoenix challenge The Miz &amp; Maryse to a match at Royal Rumble: Raw, Jan. 3, 2022\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/h24G0RiEEuQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Edge and Beth Phoenix vs Miz and Maryse<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>When <strong>Beth Phoenix <\/strong>departed the commentary team of <em><strong>NXT 2.0<\/strong>, <\/em>speculation began that she was doing so to return to <em>Raw<\/em>, to participate in the nascent feud then beginning to spark between husband <strong>Edge <\/strong>and <strong>The Miz <\/strong>and <strong>Maryse. <\/strong>This was confirmed at <em>Day 1<\/em>, when <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2022\/01\/01\/beth-phoenix-wwe-day-1\/\" target=\"_self\">Phoenix emerged in aid of Edge to menace Maryse<\/a>. Edge claimed the victory on January 1, and he and Miz had another war of words on January 3. While both Edge and Miz are giving it their level best, and are two of WWE\u2019s finest on the mic, this feud is a bloodless, heatless affair. However, the interjection of Maryse and Phoenix changes the story\u2019s complexion, somewhat. Maryse\u2019s visible fear of Phoenix is palpable and effectively comedic. With far fewer words than their significant others but to greater effect, Maryse and Phoenix are able to create palpable tension. The \u201cIt\u201d couple and the \u201cGrit\u201d couples faced off in the ring at Bon Secours Wellness Arena on <em>Raw<\/em>, making their <em>Royal Rumble<\/em> intergender tag match official.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Doudrop demands to be included in Raw Women\u2019s Title picture: Raw, Jan. 3, 2022\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/bVlzBouYmgk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Becky Lynch, Bianca Belair, Liv Morgan, and Doudrop<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>\u201cArt makes you feel,\u201d <strong>Becky Lynch <\/strong>declared to the South Carolina crowd, chalking the hatred shown her by the masses to the effect of great art upon the psyche, and dubbing herself an artist: \u201cVincent Van G.O.A.T.\u201d <strong>Liv Morgan, <\/strong>perhaps triggered by this pithy new catchphrase, strode to the ring to interrupt Lynch\u2019s paean to herself. Lynch narrowly managed to retain her Raw Women\u2019s Championship against a Morgan who, with every appearance, seems to be reaching the height of her powers. In-ring, she\u2019s confident and passionate, and she has the love of the crowd in any given venue. Morgan and Lynch traded barbs but were then interrupted by a revitalized <strong>Bianca Belair. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>2021 was the year of the \u201cEST of WWE\u201d: she won the women\u2019s <em>Royal Rumble<\/em>, challenged <strong>Sasha Banks <\/strong>for the <strong><em>Friday Night SmackDown<\/em><\/strong> women\u2019s title, and claimed it at <strong><em>WrestleMania 37 <\/em><\/strong>in <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2021\/07\/11\/sasha-banks-bianca-belair-win-espy\/\" target=\"_self\">an Espy-winning bout<\/a>. However, by year\u2019s end, she had lost the title to Lynch and was sidelined to a mid-card feud with <strong>Doudrop.<\/strong> Belair reasserted her aims on January 3, that she was most assuredly coming for Lynch and the Raw women\u2019s championship. A fray ensued, in which Morgan and Belair briefly aligned, but both fell to Lynch.<\/p>\n<p>A <em>Royal Rumble<\/em> triple threat match between Lynch and the two women who have been her bete noires since returning from parental leave in summer 2021 would be intriguing enough, but a fourth player in the race emerged: Doudrop. After accosting <strong>Adam Pearce <\/strong>and <strong>Sonya Deville<\/strong> for a shot at Lynch, she was granted a triple threat between herself, Morgan, and Belair to determine Lynch\u2019s opponent for the <em>Rumble<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Doudrop enjoyed <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2021\/06\/14\/piper-niven-debuts-monday-night-raw\/\" target=\"_self\">a breakout debut<\/a> as <strong>Eva Marie\u2019s <\/strong>prot\u00e9g\u00e9 and a well-performed program against Belair in 2021. Her character has a gutsy and organically charismatic appeal that transcends the confines of \u2018heel\u2019 or \u2018babyface\u2019: ironically, much like Lynch herself before 2021. In the form of Lynch, Belair, and Doudrop, the next wave of WWE\u2019s women\u2019s evolution is swarming Lynch\u2019s heels, ready for a shot at \u201cBigtime Becks.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Big E vs. Bobby Lashley vs. Kevin Owens vs. Seth \u201cFreakin\u201d Rollins: Raw, Jan. 3, 2022\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/N4BATUKKLiw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Big E, Bobby Lashley, Seth Rollins, and Kevin Owens<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><strong>Brock Lesnar <\/strong>and his \u201cadvocate\u201d <strong>Paul Heyman<\/strong> opened the broadcast basking in <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2022\/01\/01\/brock-lesnar-wwe-championship-day-1\/\" target=\"_self\">&#8220;The Beast&#8217;s&#8221; triumph<\/a>. Upon <strong>Roman Reigns\u2019s <\/strong>COVID-19 diagnosis, his and Lesnar\u2019s main event match for the Universal Championship was canceled, and Lesnar was inserted into the multi-man match for <strong>Big E\u2019s <\/strong>WWE Championship. Lesnar was victorious and made his return to Raw on January 3. With the title picture now drastically altered, <strong>Seth Rollins, Big E, Kevin Owens<\/strong>, and <strong>Bobby Lashley<\/strong> participated in a fatal four-way to determine who would face Lesnar for the WWE championship at <em>Royal Rumble.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Lashley was the victor of this encounter. Despite the further injustice to Big E, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wwe.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">WWE Universe<\/a> can\u2019t help but eagerly await the forthcoming encounter between \u201cThe All Mighty\u201d and \u201cThe Beast Incarnate.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>With Reigns absent, Lashley is one of the few men in WWE who can meet Lesnar on an even playing field, delivering a brutal clash of titans. They share similar physiques, skill sets, and feral personas, and real-life similarities such as a shared background in amateur wrestling and mixed martial arts. This is a promising feud. Stoking anticipation for the Lashley v. Lesnar bout will be a test in how well WWE can build momentum for a pay-per-view without Reigns in the picture, as he has consistently been since his Universal Championship reign began.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>January 3\u2019s Monday Night Raw broadcast from the Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, South Carolina followed in the wake of January 1\u2019s inaugural Day 1 pay-per-view. The highly anticipated event changed the complexion of two of World Wrestling Entertainment\u2019s most important championship races, those for the Universal and WWE Championships, respectively. With the fallout [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3715,"featured_media":107626,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2192,25,4,3],"tags":[163,459,1445,552,183,328,73,77,159,76],"class_list":["post-107605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wrestling","category-raw","category-wwe","category-wwe-universe","tag-becky-lynch","tag-beth-phoenix","tag-bianca-belair","tag-big-e","tag-bobby-lashley","tag-edge","tag-kevin-owens","tag-roman-reigns","tag-sasha-banks","tag-seth-rollins"],"modified_by":"Robbie Sutter","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3715"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107605"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107605\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/107626"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}