Last year was an up and down year for Monday Night Raw. Now that we are in 2023, a lot of those wrongs can finally be righted. With a growing roster of talent, I think that a few NXT callups may have a big role to play on Monday Nights this year.
Rhea Ripley vs Bianca Belair
I think that there is a 100% chance that we see this storyline this year. With almost every other challenger beaten, Rhea is the only real wrestler left for Bianca to overcome. Bad thing for her is that she won’t.
Fans thought that Rhea had superstar written all over her before she came up from NXT. She has never gotten a chance to really show what she can do on the main roster, but this year I think that she gets her chance.
Bianca Belair has not only been holding down Monday nights for close to a year, she has been the undisputed MVP for women’s wrestling in WWE as a whole.
The crash course between these two women will most likely happen at WrestleMania. I expect for there to probably be one match between the two, where Ripley wins the title at first.
From here, Bianca will get a much-deserved break for a month or two before this feud picks back up around summer/fall time.
Finn Balor vs Cody Rhodes
I know the more natural feud for Cody would be him against Seth but I don’t think that WWE needs to rush the inevitable rematch between them.
A better way to go, especially if Cody is winning the World Championship at WrestleMania, would be to feud with Finn.
This will help Cody become more of a babyface figure because of the numbers advantage that Finn would have over him. This could cause two different situations.
One, Cody spends a lot of the year wrestling Dom and Damian before getting to Finn or two, Cody could get two guys from NXT and help give them the rub by being in a group with him.
I wouldn’t mind the championship changing hands once or twice also. In my opinion, the most interesting thing on Raw is the Judgement Day stable. I think that they should have a bigger spotlight in 2023 and being involved with Cody in the main event is just what the doctor ordered for them.
Austin Theory vs Bron Breakker vs Carmelo Hayes
This one is fantasy booking but I see both Bron and Melo coming to Monday Nights very soon.
I think that given how good these two are, that WWE will want to establish them as a big deal straight out the gate. One of the best things that WWE can have right now are beatable champions.
What does this mean? It means that the person that holds the title belongs, but it isn’t unreasonable for them to get beaten on any day. Right now, there is only one beatable champion on the main roster, and it is Theory.
This isn’t saying that he is bad, it is saying that there are more directions that they could go as far as challengers go for him.
I could see the United States Championship being hot potatoed between the three for the whole year. Of course, they will take the occasional break to wrestle other people, but it will be the one match up that everyone will want to see.
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