WWE RAW - 5 biggest news stories: Brock Lesnar to defend WWE Title before WrestleMania, Hall of Famer issues open challenge
Hot on the heels of the Elimination Chamber event in Saudi Arabia, WWE RAW rolled into Columbia, South Carolina. This week's episode marked the 1,500th time the red-branded show has aired since its inception in 1993.
At the Elimination Chamber, Brock Lesnar bulldozed through Austin Theory, AJ Styles, Seth "Freakin" Rollins, and Riddle to reclaim the WWE Championship. Bobby Lashley was pulled from the Elimination Chamber match early in the contest due to injury, which allowed Lesnar to captialize.
Lesnar's triumph at the Jeddah Super Dome now means The Beast Incarnate's scheduled match against Universal Champion Roman Reigns will now be a Champion vs. Champion Winner Take All match. It will take place at WrestleMania 38 in Dallas, Texas at the AT&T Stadium.
Also at the Elimination Chamber premium live event, Bianca Belair overcame Rhea Ripley, Nikki A.S.H., Liv Morgan, Doudrop, and Alexa Bliss inside an Elimination Chamber match. The victory means that The EST of WWE will now challenge Becky Lynch for the RAW Women's Championship at WrestleMania 38.
The Road to WrestleMania is hotting up, and with no other major events between now and April, all the focus will be on RAW and SmackDown. Ahead of this week's show, the company announced that WWE Champion Brock Lesnar would appear, plus The Miz was set to announce a mystery tag team partner in his feud with The Mysterios.
That being said, let's take a look at the five biggest news stories coming out of WWE RAW this week.
#5 Two huge title matches set for upcoming episodes of WWE RAW
IN TWO WEEKS
#RKBro vs. #AlphaAcademy vs. @WWERollins & @FightOwensFight - #WWERaw #TagTeamTitles
@SuperKingofBros @RandyOrton @WWEGable @otiswwe https://t.co/O8eNKogn1T
The landscape is slowing altering in WWE as WrestleMania approaches. Every superstar is now vying for a spot to be on the two-night card in Dallas. The RAW Tag Team Championship and United States Championship matches are yet to be set for the Show of Shows.
But this week, we got an idea of where things might be going with those respective titles. For the United States Championship, Damian Priest defeated Shelton Benjamin on this week's episode following his successful defense against AJ Styles last week.
After the match, a confident Priest issued an open challenge to anyone who dared to step into the ring with him. This was answered by Finn Balor, and the match is set for next week with the United States Championship on the line.
Seth "Freakin" Rollins and Kevin Owens looked to carve their WrestleMania path this week by attempting to insert themselves into the RAW Tag Team Championship picture. They battled Randy Orton & Riddle in an attempt to be added to the next championship bout set to take place in two weeks.
Rollins and Owens earned their spot when Riddle succumbed to a Stunner-Stomp combo and picked up the victory. This means that when the RAW Tag Team Title is defended in a couple of weeks, it will now be a Triple Threat match between RK-Bro, Rollins & Owens and champions The Alpha Academy.