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The Beast (and WWE Champion if you’ve forgotten…) Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman kick off the first edition of Raw for 2020.
In our first high of the show, Heyman proclaims that at the Royal Rumble, they will make history. Brock wants to know which Raw superstar is set to challenge him at the Royal Rumble for the WWE Title. Heyman says that nobody is man enough to do it. Paul runs down Heyman’s accomplishments, including ending The Undertaker’s WrestleMania streak.
Heyman then suggests that every Raw superstar should challenge Brock, and announced that Brock Lesnar is entering the 2020 Royal Rumble, as entrant #1, not only will he enter first, he will take the ring last, and conquer and win it all, and that that is not a prediction, it’s a spoiler. – fantastic work as always from Heyman and big presence from Brock, it’ll be interesting to see how this goes, and where they’re going with all of this.
Next, Rey Mysterio is interviewed and says that his US Title match means everything to him. He cuts a passionate Spanish promo, saying that he only has days, not years left of his career. Andrade is great but doesn’t deserve to represent the Latinos and will take his title back.
US Champion Andrade vs. Rey Mysterio is up now. It was a great match, but the ending was a bit anticlimactic for what the match was, Andrade accidentally launched Rey into Zelina, Rey is looking on distraught, apologising to Zelina, Rey gets back in the ring and walks right into a Hammerlock DDT and takes a pinfall loss, still US Champion: Andrade.
After the match, Andrade disrespectfully rips off Rey’s mask. – All in all, another high, Andrade’s future is blindingly bright, if Rey is passing the torch so to speak, Andrade is the best person to represent the Latin community.
The following segment sees Kevin Owens & Samoa Joe are interviewed and talk about how they don’t exactly “play well with others”, but in this case, they need each other, therefore, will work together. Joe says that he wants AOP & Rollins tonight, and says they have a third man. Joe “has a guy” and tells Kevin to trust him.
Seth & AOP are seen walking. Charly appears and brings up the challenge from Kevin & Joe. Rollins says that they live for challenges and are taking Raw to new levels. Seth says that he didn’t ask to be the chosen one, he says that the fans made him a visionary and messiah. Seth & AOP refer to themselves as a united front and mentions that if anyone wishes to stand up to them, they will take care of them.
– The Street Profits arrive and say that they are here to change the game. They proclaim that tonight, they will win the tag team titles. Because. They. Want. The. Smoke.
The Street Profits did not win the Raw Tag Team Titles…. The Viking Raiders successfully defended their gold against The OC and The Street Profits, a very good back and forth match, perhaps The Viking Raiders’ best match since moving from NXT… One more on the high tally.
We’re back with Kevin Owens and Joe, Owens asks Joe to tell him who their partner is so Joe says he will show him. After the break, Kevin sees who it is and smiles, claiming that Seth & AOP are in trouble. Joe tells Charly she has to wait like everyone else to see who it is.
Raw Women’s Champion Becky Lynch shows up next, she tells the world that she has been taking some time, to wonder about what kind of champion she is. She says that she basically forced WWE to give her a match with Asuka, but is sort of doubting herself. Lynch mentions that her life has changed in the last year, but thought things over during the holidays, and wondered if she should be content and avoid Asuka. A video package plays, with highlights of Asuka beating her last year at the Rumble, then on Raw a few months back, and then again at TLC. Asuka arrives and interrupts. She yells in Japanese, likely mocking Lynch as she laughs. She gets in the ring and Lynch shoves her down and leaves. – Asuka ranting and yelling in Japanese is pretty great. Another high.
We see Erick Rowan walking with his pet. Rowan runs into Mojo Rawley. Mojo asks to look in the cage, Rowan actually grants Mojo a peek, warning him not don’t tell anyone. Mojo peeks, and screams at Rowan before running away. – A silly segment, funny though, as Mojo often is.
Andrade & Vega are interviewed, holding Rey’s mask. An unmasked Rey arrives and beats down Andrade in a pretty intense and strong segment, and takes his mask back. The agents backstage show up to pull them apart. – Definitely a high, fantastic segment to further the angle and story.
Erick Rowan vs. Jeff Hawkins is next, the usual squash stuff with Rowan. A low for the evening. If they’re gonna do something with Rowan, they need to do more, this is tiring each week.
AJ Styles vs. Tozawa is next: Quick match here, with Styles mocking and teasing Orton throughout, Styles wins with an RKO. Brilliant work from AJ here, making everyone excited for Styles/Orton’s showdown. A clear high.
After the match, we see security tackling someone as they’re in the ring…
We find out that Orton is facing Styles next week – They worked great together last time, everyone is surely going to be looking forward to this encounter.
Next, we see Lashley and Lana arrive. We see the wedding official from last week. Lana says that for anyone that didn’t want them married, it is too bad. They are getting married, right now…
They do a quickie wedding and are pronounced man and wife. Lana and Lashley kiss and smile. Lana calls the official boring and says that she should be happy right now, but she’s sad. It has nothing to do with her or Bobby, it’s all the fans’ fault, those who don’t want them married. Lana says everyone should be honored to be in her presence. So many people tried to ruin this, they are all jealous and should be ashamed.
Lashley blames Rusev for ruining the wedding, saying that Rusev wasn’t man enough to keep Lana. Rusev shows up on the big screen in front of a tropical green screen. Ru says that they seem more miserable than anyone, and that he took their honeymoon on the beach. Rusev says that he has a wedding gift for them, which is a wedding album of last week’s fiasco and the bad things that happened to Mr. & Mrs. Bob Lashley.
Rusev blows them kisses and smiles. Lana & Lashley yell at him, with Lashley tensely telling Lana to shut up (Excellent stuff). He says Lana stole Ruev’s manhood and challenges him to a match next week. Rusev says the Bulgarian Brute will return next week and if there’s anything left of Lashley, Lana can have it. – It looks like we’re getting bad ass Rusev again, hopefully so, this angle started out a bit shit, but they made chicken salad out of it in the end, fucking brilliant work, so shit that it’s brilliant. It has to be a high for the sheer goofiness of it all.
WWE 24/7, 7/11, European, TV Champion (Or whatever the funny title is…) R-Truth is interviewed, Liv Morgan interrupts. She brings up Rusev vs. Lashley’s match next week and says she will be in Rusev’s corner, and that the match will be a moment to Liv for…. gorgeous pun that didn’t get the spotlight it deserved…
Charlotte vs. Sarah Logan is next. Always great to see Sarah Logan, Sarah attacks and takes Charlotte to the floor and they both brawl. Charlotte answers back, spilling over the barricade and fighting at ringside. Logan enter the ring, takes Charlotte’s robe and throws it around and wipes her feet on it.
Charlotte spears her on the floor outsifr, and whips her into the barricades. They continue to brawl at ringside and Charlotte beats her down, puts her robe on and leaves. – Not an official match in the end, but a bad ass segment that built Logan up while keeping Flair looking strong (naturally) a high once again.
Drew McIntyre vs. No Way Jose: McIntyre basically destroys members of Jose’s conga line. Drew makes quick work of Jose, Future Shock and Claymore ends it.
After the match, Drew drops Jose, then grabs a mic, working the crowd, teasing one more claymore, and nails one. Drew says that he’s always hated conga lines, but he likes the cheeseburger guy. McIntyre brings up how he has never had a world title shot. He then announces his entry for the Rumble and doesn’t care who’s in it, there will only be one… – Pretty great segment, here is hoping that WWE pull the trigger on McIntyre and make him the big star that he is damn well capable of being, ahhh we can only hope.
Aleister Black vs. Shelton Benjamin is the next match: Like Logan, it’s always great to see Shelton Benjamin! A quick match (once again) Black hits a knee strike and black mass for the win.
Following the match, Buddy Murphy shows up and beats down Black on the floor. – Great segment, glad that these 2 are continuing their feud, they work magically together.
It’s main event time… Seth Rollins and AOP are in the ring, Rollins says that he’s been chosen to lead Raw to the promise land. The fans don’t really know what’s good for them but he does. Rollins is best for them is to eliminate people that stop progress, like Owens, Joe, and whoever their partner is.
Owens and Jow unveil their tag team partner for the main event, it’s The Big Show! He’s back, to a big reaction from the crowd! It’s pretty good!
The ending of the match sees Show mow down Seth as the others are brawling on the floor. AOP surround Show, Seth enters and nails Show with a chair, resulting in a DQ. A pretty decent match for what it was, furthers the storyline well and let’s face it, it was pretty great to see Show.
Highs – 8
Lows – 1