First-Time-Ever Match Announced For US Title On WWE Raw

Who will Bobby Lashley defend his US title against on Monday night's episode?

by Scott Carlson
WWE Raw Bobby Lashley AJ Styles
WWE

WWE has announced that Bobby Lashley will defend his United States Championship against AJ Styles Monday night on Raw in a "first-time-ever" match.

Amazingly, this actually will be the first time these two wrestlers have ever competed against each other in a one-on-one match. The two overlapped in TNA for several months in 2009 and have both been part of WWE since Lashley returned more than four years ago.

Still, Lashley and Styles have only been in the ring together a handful of times through the years, mostly in tag, multi-man and gauntlet matches, as well as the 2021 Royal Rumble. Their most recent in-ring intersection came in February's Elimination Chamber match for Lashley's WWE Championship, which Brock Lesnar won.

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Lashley successfully defended his US title on Monday's episode of Raw, defeating Ciampa. AJ most recently beat Miz in a no-DQ match on the same show.

Interestingly, Styles and Lashley are both currently babyfaces, which makes this a match that presumably will be a respect-based competition... unless WWE is planning to spark a shake-up with one of the characters.

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Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fortunately became a fan in time for WrestleMania III and came back as a fan after a long high school hiatus before WM XIV. Monday nights in the Carlson household are reserved for viewing Raw -- for better or worse.