{"id":84174,"date":"2021-02-01T14:30:28","date_gmt":"2021-02-01T19:30:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/?p=84174"},"modified":"2021-02-01T14:30:28","modified_gmt":"2021-02-01T19:30:28","slug":"preview-wwe-monday-night-raw-02-01-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2021\/02\/01\/preview-wwe-monday-night-raw-02-01-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"Preview: WWE \u2013 Monday Night RAW (02\/01\/2021)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Well, as most of you will probably be aware by now,<strong> Edge<\/strong> overcame twenty-nine other men to win last night&#8217;s men&#8217;s <em><strong>Royal Rumble<\/strong> <\/em>match.\u00a0 It was a fun <em>Royal Rumble<\/em> overall, showcasing a mixture of youth and experience that would have captivated many a crowd, should they have been in attendance.\u00a0 <strong>Bianca Belair<\/strong> won the women&#8217;s <em>Royal Rumble<\/em> match, continuing her hot run of dominance since arriving to the main roster last year.\u00a0 We must now look forward to tonight&#8217;s <strong>RAW<\/strong> &#8211; the post-Rumble RAW usually being of significance for being the show where the Rumble winners announce their <em><strong>WrestleMania<\/strong><\/em> targets.\u00a0 Let us take a look at what is in-store for tonight.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Royal Rumble Fallout\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>As mentioned, Edge and Bianca Belair reigned supreme in last night&#8217;s <em>Royal Rumble<\/em> matches.\u00a0 If there have ever been two winners more symbolic of what the<em> Royal Rumble<\/em> is about, then let us know.\u00a0 It is a pay-per-view notorious both for being a show designed to make stars, as well as a show for veterans to make shock returns.\u00a0 Therefore, the thirty-one year old Belair and the forty-seven year old Edge winning serve as inspiration to rookies and veterans alike.\u00a0 On tonight&#8217;s RAW, it is presumed they will both be in attendance to announce their <em>WrestleMania<\/em> opponents.\u00a0 This is where it gets tricky.\u00a0 Edge, since returning, has been a RAW guy.\u00a0 However,<strong> Drew McIntyre<\/strong> is the current WWE Champion &#8211; riding a wave of momentum in an almost <strong>Hulkamania<\/strong> type run.\u00a0 In short, he is the WWE&#8217;s top babyface currently and therefore doesn&#8217;t make sense as an opponent for present-day Edge; the quintessential babyface almost<em> everyone<\/em> is behind.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Bianca Belair on top of the world following Royal Rumble win: Royal Rumble Exclusive, Jan. 31, 2021\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/CztpGdDaTbw?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<p><strong> SmackDown<\/strong> has been great for months now, largely down to the <strong>Roman Reigns<\/strong> storyline and the sheer amount of talent on that brand.\u00a0 SmackDown does not need Edge the way RAW does.\u00a0 That being said, Edge is considered a SmackDown legend due to his run in the mid-to-late 2000s and perhaps wishes to return home.\u00a0 Additionally, Roman Reigns as the ultimate, despicable heel is the perfect opponent for Edge, who was once in that very role.\u00a0 Bianca Belair is very likely to remain on SmackDown, as the blue brand&#8217;s women&#8217;s division needs her far more than RAW&#8217;s.\u00a0 To add onto that, <strong>Sasha Banks<\/strong> versus Bianca Belair has become an increasingly intriguing prospect and one which is a shoe-in to take place at <em><strong>WrestleMania XXXVII<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Not Announced But Expected for Tonight&#8217;s RAW<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>&#8211; <strong>Randy Orton<\/strong> almost pulled off a big victory at last night&#8217;s <em>Royal Rumble<\/em>.\u00a0 Ultimately, Edge had his number.\u00a0 Does Orton return to his feud with <strong>The Fiend<\/strong>? Or does he return to his feud with Edge?<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; For reasons unknown, <strong>The Miz<\/strong> is still Mr. <em><strong>Money in the Bank<\/strong><\/em>.\u00a0 He had the perfect opportunity to cash in on both champions last night, but didn&#8217;t even try.\u00a0 Will we find out why?<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; <strong>Lacey Evans<\/strong> continues to play mind-games with<strong> Charlotte Flair<\/strong>.\u00a0 What is next for this rivalry?<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; One of the highlights of last night&#8217;s show was <strong>Rhea Ripley<\/strong>&#8216;s dominant performance in the women&#8217;s <em>Royal Rumble<\/em> match, where she finished second to Belair.\u00a0 Will she return to RAW tonight?<\/p>\n<p><em>Stay tuned to the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/\" target=\"_self\">Last Word on Pro Wrestling<\/a>\u00a0for more on this and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world, as well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world.\u00a0WWE fan? You can check out an almost unlimited array of WWE content on the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/watch.wwe.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">WWE Network<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Looking to talk wrestling, pro football, or any number of sports? Head on over to the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/boards\/index.php\" target=\"_self\">LWOS Boards<\/a>\u00a0to engage in conversation with fellow fans!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Well, as most of you will probably be aware by now, Edge overcame twenty-nine other men to win last night&#8217;s men&#8217;s Royal Rumble match.\u00a0 It was a fun Royal Rumble overall, showcasing a mixture of youth and experience that would have captivated many a crowd, should they have been in attendance.\u00a0 Bianca Belair won the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2482,"featured_media":84176,"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":[2,25,3],"tags":[229,224,403,686,328,58,51,47],"class_list":["post-84174","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-raw","category-wwe-universe","tag-asuka","tag-bray-wyatt","tag-charlotte-flair","tag-drew-mcintyre","tag-edge","tag-randy-orton","tag-raw","tag-wwe"],"modified_by":"Brandi Wagner","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84174","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\/2482"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84174"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84174\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84176"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}