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After a successful WWE Clash of Champions pay-per-view, WWE returned to its weekly programming with RAW. WWE Champion Drew McIntyre was able to retain his title after some legends returned to help him out against The Legend Killer, Randy Orton, at Clash of Champions.
Asuka managed to retain her RAW Women’s Championship after she defeated Zelina Vega at the event, and the two women competed for the title once again on RAW this week. Andrade came out to express his anger at Vega for leaving him and Angel Garza getting injured during the RAW Tag Team Championships match a night earlier.
McIntyre looked for someone to challenge him for the WWE Championship on RAW and got a pleasant surprise at the end of the night. Kevin Owens and Aleister Black came face to face again, while The Messiah of Monday Night RAW continued to target The Mysterio Family.
In this article, we will look at the five things WWE got right on this week’s episode of RAW after Clash of Champions.
#5 Zelina Vega impresses once again on WWE RAW
At WWE Clash of Champions, Zelina Vega challenged Asuka for the RAW Women’s Championship. The two women had a decent match, and Vega impressed with her performance as she competed in her first big match at a big event.
This week on RAW, Vega got another shot at Asuka after her impressive performance a night earlier. Vega seemed more ready for The Empress in this match and wore down the Champion with some technical offence.
She worked on the RAW Women’s Champion and tried to take her down even though Asuka was the superior performer. Finally, Vega hit her with a backstabber but was unable to put the Champion away.
She lost her cool and climbed to the top of the turnbuckle to finish The Empress. Asuka caught her and locked her in the Asuka Lock to pick up the victory and retain her title.
The two women got more time to perform on RAW and this match told the story better. Vega seems to be learning from her matches, and this clearly showed in her performance. With many top Superstars away from RAW, WWE needs to build some new competitors. Vega could turn out to be a good choice.
#4 Andrade faces the wrath of Keith Lee on WWE RAW
Andrade is one of the most talented men in all of WWE, and that’s why it’s almost criminal to keep him off WWE television for long. Andrafe got a match at WWE Clash of Champions for the WWE RAW Tag Team Championships, when he teamed up with Angel Garza to take on the Street Profits.
However, Andrade lost the match after Garza was injured, and on RAW, he blamed it all on his former manager, Zelina Vega.
He issued an open challenge which was answered by Keith Lee who had nothing to do with the storyline. Lee is another man who needed to be present on this week’s RAW, and WWE gave him a chance to compete against a former NXT Champion.
The two men had a good match and El Idolo managed to ground The Limitless One for some time, but he was unable to put him away. Lee finally planted Andrade with the Spirit Bomb to pick up another big victory on the Red brand.
Andrade and Lee got some screentime on this week’s show which is a good thing. Andrade has been losing many matches, but hopefully, he’ll get a singles push again. Lee is on the rise, and he needs to dominate on RAW every week.
#3 Aleister Black and Kevin Owens go toe-to-toe on WWE RAW
Aleister Black was shown in a dark room on WWE RAW, talking about Kevin Owens and calling him a sham, claiming that he was the right man in this fight. He said that he’d make KO pay for his role in injuring him.
The Dutch Destroyer made an entrance with new music on RAW and took the fight to his opponent right away. The two men threw punches before the opening bell, and they continued to beat each other down.
The Striking Man from Amsterdam got into an argument with the referee, accidentally hitting him while the referee was trying to pull him off KO. The referee had no choice but to call for the bell to award the match to KO via disqualification.
The Prizefighter repaid Black the favour by hitting him with a Stunner before leaving. Fans had been looking forward to a match between these two men, and it seems like WWE is slowly building towards a big rivalry between these two Superstars.
We could get a big Hell in a Cell match between these two WWE Superstars which could turn out to be a good match. For now, we at least know why Black is targetting KO.
#2 Aalyah Mysterio begins to turn on her family on WWE RAW
Earlier on WWE RAW, Seth Rollins stole Murphy’s phone before “The King’s Court”. Jerry “The King” Lawler looked to get the inside scoop on The Mysterios family drama, and The Messiah was there to reveal some texts exchanged between Murphy and Aalyah Mysterio.
Murphy questioned Rollins for stealing his phone, but Dominik attacked Murphy backstage on RAW which set up a match between the two men for later in the night.
During the match, Dominik looked to do damage to Murphy and make him pay for getting close to his sister. He grabbed a kendo stick to take down The Disciple, but Aalyah arrived to beg her brother to stop. Dominik refused, following which Murphy rolled up Dominik to pick up the victory.
Murphy then made his way out of the arena to escape Dominik’s wrath, while Aalyah got in her brother’s face, and slapped him before leaving.
WWE has worked on some interesting storylines in the past, and this seems to be one that could work in the long run. We’ll have to wait and see whether Murphy and Aalyah both side with Rollins and whether there are some other plans for the two.
#1 Robert Roode returns to face Drew McIntyre on WWE RAW
Drew McIntyre defended his WWE Championship on RAW this week and he laid out an open challenge to anyone in the back for a match for it. While it seemed like Dolph Ziggler wanted to pounce on the opportunity, he revealed that the returning Robert Roode would challenge the WWE Champion.
After months away from the ring, The Glorious One returned for a huge match on the Red brand. Roode targetted the left leg of The Scottish Psychopath. McIntyre tried to break out and delivered a big Future Shock DDT, but Roode managed to kick out. Ziggler provided the distraction to allow The Glorious One to hit a Glorious DDT on McIntyre, but he could not put the WWE Champion away.
Finally, McIntyre connected with the Claymore to retain his title after a hard-fought match. It was great to watch Roode back on RAW and be involved in a big match. The two men delivered well and gave fans what they expected from both Superstars.
After the match, Ric Flair, Shawn Michaels, Christian and Big Show were shown playing cards backstage. Randy Orton appeared and switched off the lights, and he then proceeded to assault all four legends to close out the show. This feud keeps getting more and more interesting.
