Seth Rollins To Defend World Heavyweight Championship On WWE RAW
As of this past weekend at Night of Champions, Seth "Freakin" Rollins is now the inaugural holder of "WWE Raw's" new World Heavyweight Championship, which it appears — somewhat confusingly — will not share a lineage with WWE's previous title of the same name. Rollins defeated AJ Styles to win the World Heavyweight Championship in the finals of a rather odd tournament, one which featured "WWE SmackDown" stars competing for a title exclusive to "Raw."
Recently, Rollins revealed that he's booked for every single "Raw" taping this month, and with that in mind, "The Visionary" has wasted no time in making it clear he'll be a fighting champion. Rollins tweeted out a simple, yet commanding message: he's throwing out an open challenge this Monday night on "Raw," and the World Heavyweight Championship will be on the line.
My man @WWEBigE was the last defender of the crown.....in November 2021?!??
Let's change that.
Open Challenge for the World Heavyweight Championship is officially LIVE for THIS Monday night in Hartford!
Line 'em up! #RAW@WWE @USANetwork
— Seth Rollins (@WWERollins) June 2, 2023
As Rollins points out in his tweet, the last time a world title was defended on "Raw" was back in November 2021, during the reign of one of the most beloved performers in WWE today, Big E. While Big E's in-ring future still remains unclear following a severe neck injury suffered in 2022, he did readily respond to Rollins' shout out, signaling his approval of the move. Interestingly, despite all the world titles Rollins has won in WWE, he's never actually held any version of the World Heavyweight Championship before, as it was previously retired in 2013, a little over a year before "The Architect" cashed in Money in the Bank at WrestleMania 31 to claim his first big prize.