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WWE had a solid episode of Monday Night RAW. 2020 has been a great year for the red brand so far, with the brand gaining a lot of momentum as the road to WrestleMania begins. Though we're not a fan of how the show ended, we can't make too many complaints.
RAW has slowly been improving in quality and during the past three weeks, there has never been an instance where we felt that RAW was dragging on more than it needed to.
Without getting too much into it beforehand, let's look at what WWE subtly told us on RAW!
#6. Ricochet gets a big push
We were speculating who could confront Brock Lesnar on the RAW before the Royal Rumble 2020 and we got our answer. It was The One and Only former United States Champion Ricochet.
Unlike last week with R-Truth, this wasn't a comedy segment. This was Ricochet confronting the WWE Champion and telling him that he wasn't scared of him despite Heyman telling him to go back where he came from.
It was one of those cases where Heyman was going against a superstar who he wants to push. If you've been reading the rumors since Paul Heyman took over, you've probably read about a "list" of superstars that he has who he intends to push.
Some of the names include Aleister Black, Buddy Murphy, Drew McIntyre, Ricochet, etc. If we've seen anything based on Vince McMahon's on-screen character in the past - it's that when he feuds with a superstar or "puts them down" on-screen - it means that he has big plans for him.
While we don't expect Ricochet to be Lesnar's Royal Rumble opponent, this confirms a huge push.
Also read: 5 reasons why Ricochet confronted Brock Lesnar on RAW before the Royal Rumble 2020
#5. Becky Lynch will get her retribution
The story of Becky Lynch and Asuka has been one of the more underrated ones in the build to Royal Rumble. She's had some of the best character work in the company - although it should be no surprise given how important she's been to RAW and WWE as a whole this past year.
We love the story about how she has "one last debt to collect" at the Royal Rumble - an attempt to beat the one woman she never has before in a singles match. Last year, as you know, they clashed for the SmackDown Women's Championship - with Asuka retaining and making Lynch tap out clean in a brilliant opener to the PPV.
This year, it's Lynch who walks in as Champion for the opposite brand and we fully expect her to walk out of it as Champion as well. The story is tailor-made for Lynch to walk out victorious.
On the go-home show, she beat Kairi Sane and was attacked by Asuka afterward. The Empress stood tall, essentially confirming that Becky Lynch will retain at the Rumble.
#4. Drew McIntyre will likely eliminate Randy Orton at the Royal Rumble
Tom Colohue rightly pointed on Twitter that Drew McIntyre has gained more momentum in three weeks of 2020 than he had in the entirety of 2019. It's one of those cases where the right booking can fix a superstar in an instant.
Not that he was "damaged" to begin with - because he was still relatively protected compared to most superstars. But we can't help but think of another example - Bayley in 2019. She had suffered from over two years of horrendous booking but it took decent booking when she moved to SmackDown and one fine night at Money in the Bank to fix all of that.
Drew McIntyre defeated AJ Styles and Randy Orton last week - pinning The Phenomenal One. This week, he faced Orton in a good match but it ended in a no-contest after The OC interjected.
After Orton and McIntyre cleared the ring, they had a tense staredown and Orton hit the RKO, after which McIntyre vowed to get one back over him. There was even a moment where Orton threw McIntyre over the top ropes, indicating that it would be an elimination at the Rumble. This makes us believe that McIntyre will be the one to eliminate Orton.
#3. Rey Mysterio vs Andrade is done - a new feud begins
Andrade and Rey Mysterio can't have a bad match and you'll have to do a lot to convince us otherwise. Their rivalry culminated in an epic ladder match where Rey Mysterio was going to win. However, Zelina Vega climbed the ladder and perched herself there, not allowing the legend to go forward and take the title.
In that time, Andrade managed to attack him and eventually, retain the title as well. That concludes their rivalry as there's no reason to keep going. Perhaps the timing isn't so bad as the road to WrestleMania begins and as it does - so does a new United States Championship feud.
Once Andrade retained, Zelina Vega decided it wasn't enough and ripped open the mat on the floor at ringside, only to be confronted by a masked man. That turned out to be the returning Humberto Carrillo, who was rumored to be Andrade's next serious feud. That's a clear direction.
#2. Is a short title reign incoming?
We had two title matches on the night - the first of which saw a title being retained and the second of which saw a title change. When Kevin Owens and Samoa Joe announced that The Viking Raiders was a part of their alliance, we expected the feud to be with AoP - but perhaps they're saving that down the line.
Instead, Seth Rollins and Buddy Murphy were the ones to challenge for the title. As expected, Samoa Joa, Kevin Owens, and AoP were all ringside for the match, causing chaos without necessarily being directly involved.
Either way, the night ended with Rollins and Murphy becoming only the second team to beat the Viking Raiders in WWE - ending their reign as Champions.
This marks Seth Rollins' sixth title reign with his fifth partner (the other four being Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns, Jason Jordan, and Braun Strowman) and we expect it to be a short one.
The Viking Raiders will likely win it back soon and the change will be used as a prop for the storyline. These kinds of reigns never last that long, to begin with.
#1. The lack of clarity in the Rusev-Liv Morgan-Lana-Bobby Lashley
storyline
It appears as though even WWE isn't sure what they're planning with the storyline that's been happening since late September. There's not a single story outside of this on RAW that has had so much time invested in it, which is why it's surprising that they keep dragging it on without any plan of an endgame.
The storyline has had various phases of reactions among fans - with outrage being the first, apathy being the second and acceptance being the third. When Rusev started gaining serious momentum at the end of last year, fans realized that there's possibly some benefit coming out of this whole fiasco of a storyline.
Liv Morgan made her in-ring return after 6 months while Lana made hers after 9. In the mixed tag team match, the expectation was that the babyfaces would win, but in a flat finish, Lashley speared Rusev to pick up the win yet again.
We're confused as to what the endgame of this storyline is and from the look of things, WWE isn't too sure either.
