WWE Royal Rumble 2023: First Title Match for PLE announced on Raw

Bengaluru, December 6: Almost two months away in the calendar, WWE has already started builds for the 2023 Royal Rumble premium live event from last week onwards.

After the first Rumble match entrant, a title match has been confirmed for the show. Raw Women's Championship Match will be on the line at the first pay-per-view event of next year.

To determine the opponent of the title match for the champion Bianca Belair, two separate contenders match was hosted on the December 5th edition of Monday Night Raw.

In the first one of them, Bayley defeated Asuka and Rhea Ripley in a Triple Threat to become one of the contenders for the title held by Belair. Bayley pinned Asuka with her Rose Plant maneuver to secure the pin-fall win.

In the second and main event match of Raw, Alexa Bliss defeated Becky Lynch and Nikki Cross in another Triple Threat to become the second contender for Raw Women's Title.

After DAMAGE CTRL members took Lynch out of the equation by planting her through the commentary table, Bliss pinned Cross with the Twisted Bliss finisher to secure the win.

After the match, it was announced that Bayley vs. Alexa Bliss will go down, next week on RAW to determine who will face Bianca Belair for the Raw Women's Championship at Royal Rumble 2023.

This is going to be the first official match for the Rumble event set for January 28. Kofi Kingston is the only superstar who declared his entry to the 30-Man Rumble match, prior to this.

NEXT MONDAY on #WWERaw @itsBayleyWWE vs. @AlexaBliss_WWE #WWERaw Women's Championship Number 1 Contender's Match! pic.twitter.com/wu99Bqo8QF

— WWE (@WWE) December 6, 2022

In more news from Raw, Austin Theory will find out who the next opponent will be for his United States Championship. It's been officially announced that Seth Freakin' Rollins and Bobby Lashley will compete against each other, next week in a number-one contender's match for the mid-card Title shot.

Previously, Rollins declared his intention to reclaim the gold after Theory snatched the gold from him at Survivor Series WarGames. But Bobby Lashley has also been gunning for the title and the two were featured in a verbal confrontation.

The two men eventually got engaged in a brawl around the ring. Officials arrived at the ring to separate the two. The mayhem ended with WWE producer Petey Williams getting caught in an inadvertent spear from Lashley.

NEXT MONDAY on #WWERaw@fightbobby vs. @WWERollins in a #USTitle Number 1 Contender's Match! pic.twitter.com/WkBtKRGKpD

— WWE (@WWE) December 6, 2022

It was The All-Mighty who lost the US Title to Rollins a few weeks before Crown Jewel 2022 due to interference from Brock Lesnar. Then in a shocker, Theory ended up defeating Rollins and Lashley at Survivor Series WarGames to become the new champion.

There is no update on whether Theory will put his title on the line against Rollins/Lashley at Royal Rumble 2023 or not. Meanwhile, the match card for the December 12 episode of Monday Night Raw stands as follows:

- Seth Rollins vs. Bobby Lashley - United States Championship No. 1 Contender's Match

- Alexa Bliss vs. Bayley - Raw Women's Championship No. 1 Contender's Match

- Candice LeRae vs. IYO SKY