WWE Raw Preview (Dec. 12, 2022): Two No. 1 Contender's Matches
This week's Monday Night Raw takes place at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee and will crown two new No. 1 contenders for the United States and Raw Women's Championships. Former champions Seth Rollins and Bobby Lashley will square off for a shot at Austin Theory's title, while Bayley will try to earn yet another shot at Bianca Belair by taking on Alexa Bliss. The only other match confirmed for the show right now is Candice LeRae vs. Iyo Sky as part of her crusade to beat every member of Damage CTRL.
Rollins vs. Lashley is virtually a toss-up as both men have been presented as dominant on the Red Brand for a good chunk of 2022. Lashley was threatened with a suspension last week after accidentally spearing WWE official Petey William during a brawl with Rollins, so it's possible that gets brought into the finish at some point. As for the women's match, there have been a few teases that Bliss is returning to her darker persona, which would likely produce a win against "The Role Model." Stay tuned for live coverage of the show.
As US Champion, Theory technically has the biggest prize Raw can currently offer. There's been plenty of criticism directed towards "A-Town Down" for his booking over the last few months, from consistently losing while holding the Money in the Bank contract to his failed cash-in attempt on Rollins to his character repackaging. And yet reports of WWE officials being high on Theory continue to emerge.
"Sometimes, people get over through defeats," Brian "Road Dogg" James, one of WWE's EVPs, recently stated on his podcast. "If you think about Austin Theory, working a bunch, having great matches, hadn't won any of them. I don't think about that. This is where I'm going to anger more people. Austin Theory is putting on some bangers. Don't you get over by having great matches? If wrestling is so good and profitable and marketable, then why isn't his ability to wrestle greatly getting him over? I would argue that it is getting him over. The kid is a stud athlete, good-looking, and can go. Sure, he's losing some matches, so has Seth Rollins, so has everybody."
"His character is getting established. He's going to put on great wrestling matches. He lost the briefcase, to me, that was the thing that kept his heat," he continued. "Now, I don't want to see him lose so much. When you have that briefcase, you can beat me every day until Sunday, but at the right time, when that champion is down on his luck just enough, here I come, and that's all you have to say in every promo. 'You got beat last week, how do you feel?' 'I feel I'm the youngest ever Money in the Bank winner and I'm going to cash this in and become the champion, how do you feel?' My point was, he's putting on great matches. I will watch next week when he has a great one, I probably know he's going to lose, but I don't care because he's going to have a great match."