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This week’s episode of Monday Night RAW opened up with the usual promo from Seth Rollins along with Murphy and the AOP which worked to set up a big eight-man tag team match for later in the night.
The night continued with several quick matches, which saw The Street Profits return to action to defeat Mojo Rawley and Riddick Moss. Moss would then turn on Rawley and win the 24/7 Championship. Aleister Black picked up another squash victory over Akira Tozawa. Angel Garza too enjoyed a quick victory during the night as he continued to gain new fans on the Red brand.
The two Royal Rumble winners did not compete during the night but were involved in separate segments which continued to build the hype around them.
At the end of the night, the heels stood tall once again as The Monday Night Messiah ruled the main event.
In this article, we will look at the 5 things RAW got right on this week’s episode.
#5 McIntyre’s hype
Montel Vontavious Porter may have bid farewell to the battlefield, but he seems to be interested in continuing his recent partnership with WWE for some time.
The veteran was back on RAW this week with a segment of the VIP lounge where his host was none-other-than Drew McIntyre.
McIntyre continued to play a crowd favorite as the Royal Rumble winner made a few jokes to get the segment going. While he had the backing of the crowd, MVP pointed out that several people were not ready to see McIntyre as the WWE Champion just yet.
The heel offered McIntyre some help in order to change the perceptions of those people, but The Scottish Psychopath wasn’t too happy with his words. He laid him out with a Claymore Kick soon after, standing tall at the end of the interview to the delight of the WWE Universe.
We’ve watch RAW push McIntyre into some squash matches recently to continue his build without getting him into a new rivalry, and this was a good change as fans will get bored of the same pattern.
#4 Garza’s impact
Looks like Angel Garza has finally been noticed by WWE. Garza was just another hot prospect until December when he defeated Lio Rush to become the new NXT Cruiserweight Champion.
While he only held the title for about a month and a half, it seems like losing the NXT Cruiserweight Championship was in his best interest.
Since then, Garza has become more lethal on NXT and has gone as far as to become a permanent fixture on RAW. Working with Zelina Vega, Garza arrived once again for his match against Cedric Alexander this week. While Humberto Carrillo tried to attack the former Cruiserweight champ before the match could begin and make him pay for his actions from last week, officials took him away.
He made quick work of Alexander which makes it obvious that the creative team are immediately invested in building the Superstar.
His match this week served its purpose as it furthered his rivalry with Carrillo and allowed him to show more of his heelish side. While it’s unfortunate to watch Alexander take the fall for Garza, it is good to watch a new face get such a major push in just two weeks.
#3 Ricochet slays a beast
WWE’s Resident Superhero is ready to battle against The Beast Incarnate at Super Showdown later this month.
While WWE does not need to convince fans that Ricochet can defeat Brock Lesnar at the show to pull off the biggest shock of the year, the creatives seem to believe otherwise.
Booby Lashley sought revenge this week as he felt he was cheated out of winning the No.1 Contender’s match last week. This was surprising as Lashley was the one pinned by Ricochet in the middle of the ring to pick up the victory while Seth Rollins was protected.
RAW tried to make Lashley as an equal to Lesnar last night but the high-flying Ricochet was able to battle out and work through the distractions by Lana. He once again picked up the victory over The Allmighty with a 630 to silence the critics.
This was probably the best match of the night and told the David vs. Goliath story that we will probably see at Super ShowDown when Ricochet faces Lesnar.
Burying Lashley to get here seems to be worrying as fans have always wanted to watch a real fight between Lesnar and The Allmighty before the two men retire.
#2 The Queen of Spades’ arrival
My prediction from earlier this week came true as Becky Lynch was attacked by the former NXT Women's Champion this week.
Lynch defended her title against Asuka once again this week to prove that her victory over The Emperess of Tomorrow was not just a fluke.
Kairi Sane provided the distractions which helped Asuka gain an upper hand as she tried to dominate the RAW Women’s Champion.
The creatives allowed Lynch to take a lot of beating and come close to losing her title before eventually getting back in the competition. A ManHandle Slam helped The Man put The Emperess Of Tomorrow away and retain her title in the process.
As she celebrated, Shayna Baszler ambushed the RAW Women’s Champion. The Queen of Spades was out of her senses as she bit Lynch in the back of the neck and came up with her face covered in blood as Lynch screamed in pain.
This was an outrageous spot that did what it needed to do and seems to have set up the match between the two women for WrestleMania 36.
#1 Orton’s actions
The most intense segment of the show which should have main evented the night saw Randy Orton come out once again and attempt to explain why he attacked Edge.
Orton gathered the strength to speak to the WWE Universe, and claimed that hurting Edge affected him more than it hurt the Rated-R Superstar.
Before Orton could continue, Matt Hardy arrived to interrupt The Viper. Hardy spoke about his history with Edge and how it was no secret, bringing the crowd back to life. The veteran made it clear that even though The Rated-R Superstar and himself were bitter rivals, his hate for Edge died the day he was forced to retire.
Orton did not listen to his words and attempted to plant thr former ECW Champion with an RKO but failed, however, he was able to strike him with another attempt and then proceeded to do the same thing to Hardy as he did to Edge.
This was another intense segment that showed why Orton has been the biggest villain in WWE for decades and no one can come at par with him. By injecting Hardy into this storyline, the creatives hit gold considering the past Hardy and Edge have and no one would have expected him to come in at this point.
The entire segment was near perfect, and the company seems to be building the storyline of the year here.
