WWE’s Monday Night Raw was bumped off the USA Network this week due to the ongoing 2022 Winter Olympics. The Red Brand instead aired its latest episode from Denver on the Syfy Network and featured the Alpha Academy’s Quiz Bowl, another promo exchange between Becky Lynch and Lita, Seth Rollins and Kevin Owens vs. RK-Bro and a number of matchups that teased the upcoming Elimination Chamber pay-per-view in Saudi Arabia. Unfortunately, even with the advertised limited commercials, the show brought in its lowest viewership since 2008 with 1.387 million viewers. Its 0.36 rating was not the lowest in the show’s history, though it is close.
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Next week’s Raw will also air on Syfy, as will the next two episodes of NXT on Tuesday nights. WWE has already confirmed a United States Championship match between AJ Styles and Damian Priest along with an appearance from Brock Lesnar ahead of Elimination Chamber. Will Raw be able to bring in more viewers next week or will the downward cycle continue? Stay tuned for live coverage of Raw next week.
The Raw side of the Elimination Chamber lineup is headlined by a six-man Elimination Chamber match for the WWE Championship involving current champ Bobby Lashley, Lesnar, Styles, Riddle, Rollins and Austin Theory. Lashley gave an interview with Bleacher Report this week and argued about the prestige of the WWE Championship.
“I think it is [on the same level as the Universal Championship]. What company do we work for? WWE. I have the WWE Championship,” Lashley said. “To me, I don’t see anything bigger than that. I understand [Brock] wanting to go against Roman, I’m not taking anything away from Roman because I think Roman is at the top of his game. I think he’s really transcending anything he can do. I give credit where credit is due.”
“If Roman didn’t catch COVID, then me and Brock would’ve been headlining WrestleMania next year because him and Roman were deep in their custody battle, I guess,” he added. “Who’s going to win Paul [Heyman] at the end of the day? I think that’s what really matters more than winning the title, that’s what it seems like. With that being said, what people have to understand is I’ve pinned both Brock and Roman, and that’s something you can’t take away from me.”
