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WWE RAW delivered its final episode before 2020 Clash of Champions which is scheduled to be held on Sunday. While RAW had been building up towards the matches for the event pretty well, the final episode helped them build a few more challenges for its champions at Clash of Champions.
On the show, Andrade and Angel Garza became the #1 contenders to the WWE RAW Tag Team Championships once again. The two men defeated the teams of Seth Rollins and Murphy, and Dominik Mysterio and Humberto Carrillo.
Drew McIntyre competed against Keith Lee as the Limitless One looked to replace Randy Orton for Sunday’s WWE Championship match.
Asuka was ready to find out who she’d face at Clash of Champions, while Apollo Crews became the #1 contender to the United States Championship.
One of the biggest matches announced for the night was scheduled to be held during RAW Underground as SmackDown’s Braun Strowman geared up to compete against newcomer Dabba-Kato.
In this article, we will look at the five things WWE RAW got right on the episode before Clash of Champions.
#5 WWE tries to rebuild Braun Strowman on RAW
Earlier on WWE RAW, Kevin Owens had Shane McMahon on The Kevin Owens Show. It was evident that their past issues were not completely behind them as KO continued to do a good job of carrying on past rivalries.
McMahon hyped up the match between Dabba-Kato and Braun Strowman for later in the night and introduced Kato to the ThunderDome for the first time.
KO was not far behind, and he introduced Strowman to the RAW brand to have a face-off against his RAW Underground opponent.
The two men had to be kept apart for RAW Underground which was set to take place later in the night. While Kato tried to take down The Monster Among Men, he was no match for his size and experience. Ultimately, Strowman went on to win the contest.
After becoming the WWE Universal Champion at WrestleMania 36 and then losing the title to Roman Reigns, Strowman does not have any rivalries on the Blue brand.
RAW Underground could end up being the perfect place to keep The Monster Among Men busy and rebuild his character as a dominant force in WWE. He could get some good opportunities if he is booked well on RAW Underground.
#4 Zelina Vega defeats Mickie James on WWE RAW to earn her spot for Clash of Champions
After the match between Mickie James and Asuka ended inconclusively last week, Zelina Vega stepped up to take on James for a shot at Asuka’s RAW Women’s Championship at Clash of Champions.
James reiterated this week that she did not quit the match last week, and looked to bag another chance by defeating Vega on this week’s RAW.
Vega was the smaller woman in the fight but her agility, and submission holds, helped her keep the multi-time Champion grounded for extended periods. She managed to deliver the Backstabber to James to pick up a hard-fought victory.
Later in the night, Vega attacked The Empress during her match against Peyton Royce which ended in a disqualification. She escaped before the RAW Women's Champion could do any damage to her.
These two segments allowed Vega to jump into the RAW Women’s Championship scene after being the manager of Andrade and Angel Garza for a long time. It’ll be interesting to see how she performs on the pre-show of Clash of Champions against one of WWE’s best Superstars.
#3 WWE reveals the members of RETRIBUTION on RAW before Clash of Champions
This week’s WWE RAW kicked off with Tom Phillips informing the WWE Universe that the company had offered RETRIBUTION contracts with the company. The faction was in the ring and ther identities were finally revealed - Mercedes Martinez, Dominik Dijakovic, Mia Yim, Dio Maddin, and possibly Shane Thorne.
RETRIBUTION continued to lay down the same warnings for WWE and RAW as they had done before, following which The Hurt Business interrupted them and admitted that they were not afraid of a faction hiding behind masks.
Several more RETRIBUTION members then arrived as The Hurt Business suffered a beatdown. This showed that the five-member faction may not yet be complete or has some backup waiting to take over.
While many parts of this entire segment did not make sense, one thing WWE did right was going ahead and revealing the men and women in RETRIBUTION. Things were becoming more and more obvious as weeks passed by, and the excitement had waned.
With fans knowing the members of RETRIBUTION, they may now focus on what they’re doing rather than trying to figure out who’s behind the masks.
#2 RETRIBUTION get a taste of their own medicine on WWE RAW
Later on WWE RAW, the three male members of RETRIBUTION, namely Slapjack (either Shane Thorne or a Casey Jones rip-off), T-Bar (Dominik Dijakovic), and Mace (Dio Maddin) battled The Hurt Business’ Bobby Lashley, Cedric Alexander, and Shelton Benjamin.
T-Bar and Mace got a chance to show off their incredible strength against Alexander and Benjamin before Lashley got into the match and started dominating the competition.
The United States Champion built momentum, but RETRIBUTION hit the ring to attack the men once again and draw a disqualification.
Finally, the RAW locker room united as Drew McIntyre led the troops in a battle against the heels. They cleared the attackers, following which the WWE Champion fell prey to another attack.
This was a decent segment that built RETRIBUTION in the ring while The Hurt Business also got a chance to make their case. What did not make sense was why WWE was using it’s premier heel faction on RAW to help draw more heat towards the new heel faction.
Anyway, the action wasn’t the best but it allowed RETRIBUTION to make their first mark in the ring together and show the WWE Universe what they’re capable of. It’ll be interesting to see how the company books the men and women in the weeks to come.
#1 Randy Orton returns on WWE RAW to protect his spot for Clash of Champions
After last week’s match between Drew McIntyre and Keith Lee was interrupted by RETRIBUTION, the two men got a chance to settle their differences in the ring once again on RAW this week.
With a huge opportunity on the line, Lee was not willing to let go easily, while the WWE Champion looked to make a statement against RAW’s newest Superstar.
Both men gave each other a tough fight, as The Limitless One caught McIntyre right in the jaw with a forearm. The WWE Champion managed to counter a couple of Spirit Bomb attempts, following which he hit the Claymore Kick on the former WWE NXT Champion.
As he closed in on the victory, Randy Orton arrived and delivered a chair shot to McIntyre for the disqualification. He also took out Lee with the Punt to draw more heat towards himself while ensuring that the fans knew that he’d be just fine for his match at Clash of Champions.
Later in the night, as McIntyre led the attack against RETRIBUTION, The Viper struck again and hit him with the RKO.
This was one of the strongest ways to build towards Sunday’s big match, and it seems like Orton has the momentum heading into the Ambulance Match that could earn him his 14th World title.
