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The 27/1/20 edition of Monday Night Raw was quite an interesting episode, we’re past the first big stop on the Road to WrestleMania.
Here are some highs and lows from the episode.
The show opens with the 2020 Royal Rumble winner Drew McIntyre, still reeling from the energy and the electricity from the previous night, says that it feels good to be the Royal Rumble winner, because this means that he is off to WrestleMania. He says that he knows people like to play games, but he is not wasting any time, and announces that he is challenging Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania. Drew says that he is not afraid of Brock, he mentions that he Claymore Kicked him at the RR and at WM, he will beat him properly to win the WWE Championship.
McIntyre says he’s ready for an open challenge. The Good Brothers answer him, Drew quickly wins the match, before Brock Lesnar ambushes him and drops him with a message sending F-5 – This was a passionate and thrilling opening segment, Drew had big cheers, it built him up well, Lesnar attacking him was a fantastic touch, builds Brock, gains sympathy for Drew, exciting opening segment, a high to kick off the episode.
We see Becky Lynch get interviewed later in the show, she mentions that after beating Asuka to retain her Raw Women’s Title, she sees that she is now in a different league to the rest of the division, as she always delivers on her promises and has collected every debt. Lynch says that the next ass that she beats, will be the one that she wants to. When asked about Charlotte Flair winning the Royal Rumble match, whether she may challenge her, Becky responds that if she does, it’ll be the final time. – Fantastic promo as always from Becky Lynch, it’ll be interesting to see if Charlotte does end up challenging Becky at WrestleMania, whoever faces Becky, better be ready for a new and improved version of The Man… another high.
Later in the show, Charlotte Flair makes her way to the ring for her decision on who she’ll be challenging at WrestleMania following her Royal Rumble win. Charlotte boasts about how she did what she said she would do, because she is The Queen. Flair announces that she will challenge for… a Championship… because she is still deciding.
The Kabuki Warriors come out and mockingly congratulate Charlotte’s victory, Asuka yells in Japanese, then says in English that she would have won the Royal Rumble if she was involved. We get what was a fantastic match between Asuka and Flair. The finish saw Flair lock in the Figure 8, with Asuka about to tap, before Kairi Sane flies in with an elbow for a DQ. – Another high for the segment and following match-up. It seems that Charlotte may need some help to tackle the 2 warriors? It’s the only Title she has yet to win… could we see it?
The closing segment of the episode, saw Rated R Suuuuuuuupppeeeeerrrstar Edge makes an emotional, incredible return to Monday Night Raw. Sadly no Tony Chimel (FIX THIS WWE!?) Edge looks so happy to be back, emotional scene during the show, after the hyped and excited crowd finally dies down, Edge talks about how much the crowd response means to him, he loves the “You still got it” chants. Edge asks how he is even in the middle of a WWE ring again, he brings up how he was medically disqualified from ever competing, 9 years ago.
Edge talks about how he began to feel good about himself, and asked himself one big What if? So he put himself to work, had another neck surgery, and at 46 years old, got himself in the best shape of his life, in a bid to end his career on his own terms.
He mentions that he’s older and greyer, aware that this ride may not last too long, he says that he hopes everyone will join him for however long it may last and that he is proof, that if you knock him down, he will get back up.
Randy Orton’s music hits and he heads to the ring. Orton says that it is great to see Edge back in the ring again, Randy asks what if… Rated RKO reunite one more time. The crowd erupts. Orton stuns the crowd as he drops Edge with a shattering RKO from out of nowhere. Orton brings in some chairs and begins hitting Edge. Orton places Edge’s head into a chair as if he’s about to crush his repaired neck. Orton decides to leave the ring instead, he then quickly grabs another chair and hits a devastating Conchairto, onto Edge. The crowd stunned. – Has there been a better segment in recent years? Absolutely perfect angle, an excellent rollercoaster of emotions. This gets the biggest high in some time.
It wasn’t all roses sadly, here are the thorns, aka, the lows of the episode…
Liv Morgan vs Lana: This was a super quick match, nothing of note happened, for the buzz that Liv’s return got, and the steam that this whole angle eventually picked up, a throwaway match was a silly decision, more could have been done, maybe more will be done, but for this episode, this is a low.
R-Truth regaining the 24/7 Championship – So we saw Mojo Rawley come out, and introduce Riddick Moss from NXT, as his “Offensive lineman” aka back up, this was pretty good, Rawley said he’s not going to hide anymore and will defend the Title in the ring, good enough stuff, Mojo is an underrated talent and Moss is solid enough too, so this should be a good pairing. Mojo had a quick match against No Way Jose, who came out with his conga line, dressed as a cheeseburger in said line, was R-Truth, who quickly rolled up Mojo to win the Title, Mojo basically immediately regained the Title. Did we really need that Title exchange though? Nahhh we did not…. A low.
Highs – 4
Lows – 2