Winners, News And Notes As Lesnar Vs. Lashley Is Official

WWE Raw advertised fallout from WWE Day 1 after Brock Lesnar shockingly won the WWE Championship. Raw also advertised Seth Rollins, Big E, Kevin Owens and Bobby Lashley vying to be No. 1 contender. Bobby Lashley won the match, making a long-awaited dream match official as Lesnar vs. Lashley will headline the 2022 Royal Rumble pay-per-view.

After their one-on-one match was scrapped last week, AJ Styles is advertised to “clash” with former tag team partner Omos while Damian Priest defends his United States Championship against Dolph Ziggler in a rematch. This time around, if Priest lost by disqualification, the title would change hands.

Last week’s broadcast of WWE Raw garnered 1.592 million. In 2021, Raw averaged 1.756 million viewers, down 42% since 2017 when it drew 3.018 million viewers.

• December 27, 2021—1.592 million
• December 20, 2021—1.553 million
• December 13, 2021—1.574 million
• December 6, 2021—1.600 million
• November 29, 2021—1.679 million

• WWE Raw Venue: Bon Secours Arena (Greenville, SC)
• WWE Raw Tickets Distributed: 4,617
• WWE Raw Tickets Available: 309

Big Swole Calls Out AEW’s Lack of Diversity (Pro Wrestling Bits)

WWE Raw Total YouTube Viewership Last Monday—6,316,766 (Down from 6,770,481)

• Most-Viewed: Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar Vignette (1,226,362 views)
• Least-Viewed: Miz welcomes back Eric Bischoff (128,344 views)
• Median Viewership: 350,084 views

WWE Raw Results | Monday, January 3, 2022

Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman Kick off WWE Raw

Paul Heyman’s promo made it blatantly obvious that Bobby Lashley was going to become the next No. 1 Contender. Heyman underlined all the talking points that Lashley was the superior contender, noting how Lahsley didn’t take an F-5, Speared Lesnar twice and put Brock in the Hurt Lock.

Brock Lesnar trolled Roman Reigns by saying “acknowledge me.”

Though Lashley is the odds-on-favorite to win, Big E got the biggest pop of all Fatal 4-Way combatants. The Kofi-Bianca Belair-Big E role, of a world champion getting the rug pulled from under them, is a sympathetic role.

Alpha Academy def. RK-Bro

Following a promo from Riddle suggesting RK-Bro should form a hip-hop stable, Corey Graves used the entirety of this match to name-drop hip-hop groups, and I didn’t mind it.

Chad Gable continued to use his “look at that face!” tagline, this time even kissing Otis.

Alpha Academy and RK-Bro is the quintessential 50-50 feud.

Dana Brooke and Reggie def. Tamina and Tozawa—WWE 24/7 Championship

Tozawa accidentally booted Tamina in the face, only to get slapped by Tamina and pinned by Reggie. That was it, that was the entire match.

Becky Lynch, Liv Morgan and Bianca Belair Face Off

Nobody seemed 100% sure of their lines, which made for a very awkward segment with high school theater vibes.

Either WWE is phasing Liv Morgan out of its top women’s storyline on Raw, or there will be a Triple Threat. If it’s not the latter, I’d be very nervous if I was Liv Morgan.

Should Liv Morgan become the odd woman out in this three-way feud, she’ll might be a darkhorse to win the 2022 Royal Rumble.

Queen Zelina and Carmella def. Nikki A.S.H. and Rhea Ripley—WWE Raw Women’s Tag Team Championship

Carmella’s face apparatus’ get one step closer to 50 Shades of Gray with every passing week.

This crowd was not into this match at all.

This match ended when perennial “weak link” Nikki A.S.H. took the losing rollup.

Nothing screams outsider louder than when people, like Johnny Knoxville, say “The WWE.” Having said that, I’m looking forward to whatever stunt WWE has planned for Knoxville in the Royal Rumble.

The Street Profits def. Apollo Crews and Commander Azeez

After the Mysterios and The Street Profits declared for the Royal Rumble, Byron Saxton said “look what Johnny Knoxville started…” as if they wouldn’t have declared for WWE’s second-biggest event had it not been for the ingenious Johnny Knoxville.

Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins had an “every man for themselves” tease during their backstage promo, so who knows if these could be the final days of The Street Profits.

Damian Priest def. Dolph Ziggler—WWE United States Championship

Damian Priest had to cut the most robotic promo backstage. Doudrop, on the other hand, cut the best promo of her young career backstage.

Once Robert Roode got involved, it legitimately seemed like anybody’s match and that’s when the crowd really got into it. From there, these two veterans milked the crowd with nearfalls.

Vince McMahon was in yet another subpar backstage segment with Austin Theory, who was declared for the Royal Rumble.

The Miz and Maryse Appears Live

Much like his match against Edge last night, this Miz promo went on way too long. To his credit, he was able to keep the crowd engaged throughout.

Edge already has a great tag line for this mixed tag team match: The It Couple vs. The “Grit” Couple.

Omos def. AJ Styles

I couldn’t believe they were giving this match away on free television, but it looks like there will be a series of Omos wins over AJ Styles to really try to get him over.

AJ Styles was clearly guiding Omos through this match, at one point even calling off Omos’ attempt at an Irish whip.

Bobby Lashley def. Big E, Seth Rollins and Kevin Owens

With about half an hour left in the show, this figured to be a pay-per-view caliber Fatal 4-Way that fans were originally promised.

The story of this match was Kevin Owens and Seth Rollins coexisting with one double-team move after another.

There was a great wide shot where Big E and Bobby Lashley were chasing Kevin Owens and Seth Rollins, respectively, on separate staircases.

The spot of the match came when Kevin Owens dove from the section above onto Rollins, Lashley and Big E.

Kevin Owens had an opportunity to break up Rollins’ pinfall, but instead he celebrated. They’re doing everything to convince fans they won’t turn on each other.

Kevin Owens took the loss, protecting Big E and creating a crack in the armor in his alliance with Seth Rollins.

Brock Lesnar vs. Bobby Lashley at the Royal Rumble has a good chance of crashing Peacock.