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The energy on the road to WrestleMania shifted in Saudi Arabia, and unfortunately, not for the better. The infection got to RAW last night, with many questionable booking decisions, at least as far as the WrestleMania undercard goes.
With the big event in Tampa now only a month away, we're in the home stretch. Who got the most and least out of last night's show?
Winner: Drew McIntyre
Credit to WWE, the company is doing everything it can to put the Royal Rumble winner over. It's important, because Drew McIntyre wasn't a marquee name with a lot of accomplishments beforehand. His win at the Royal Rumble was somewhat unexpected.
Paul Heyman ran Drew McIntyre down and the Rumble winner came out, responding with a healthy serving of Claymore kicks to show that he was a serious contender. In those moments, he really did look like a believable threat to Lesnar, which is the important thing here.
McIntyre's build has been patient and well done. Let's see where he goes from here.
Loser: Buddy Murphy
Again, we have new tag team champions. These titles change far too frequently to be taken seriously. They also aren't involved in any marquee matches at WrestleMania. That doesn't help either.
Unfortunately, Buddy Murphy came out on the losing end of this one. Seth Rollins will move on to Kevin Owens and a likely singles match between the two of them at WrestleMania. So where does Buddy Murphy go from here? No obvious match in Tampa Bay is waiting for him now.
Maybe he'll be in some kind of faction match, but that doesn't appear to be likely right now. Unfortunately, all of Buddy Murphy's work over the past few months suddenly looks like it's going to amount to nothing.
Loser: Ricochet
After his humiliation by Brock Lesnar in Saudi Arabia, Ricochet took another loss, this time to the no-name Riddick Moss. What was the point of this, exactly? Did Vince McMahon suddenly sour on Ricochet for some mysterious reason?
Either way, things don't look good for the former NXT standout. His likely destination at WrestleMania is the Andre the Giant MeMorial Battle Royal.
Loser: Aleister Black
Speaking of dropping the ball on former NXT standouts, Aleister Black, who up to now has been handled well, was left languishing last night. We were promised Aleister Black vs. AJ Styles. What we got was him vs. Gallows and Anderson and then Styles picking the bones, handing Black his first singles loss in a while.
And for what purpose?
To build Styles for a match with a clearly over the hill Undertaker at WresltMania.
Black suddenly looks shafted. Now, there doesn't look like there's anything waiting for him at WrestleMania except the battle royal, which is a real shame. This is why WWE never builds the future.
Losers: Kairi Sane and Asuka
This is another reason why nobody takes most of WWE's champions seriously.
Couldn't Shayna Baszler have done this to Liv Morgan or Ruby Riott? Was their match last night really necessary? It would be understandable why the brass would want a showcase match with Kairi Sane, given their history together, but it clearly showed that they don't care about the women's tag team titles.
Do Asuka and Kairi Sane even have challengers heading into WrestleMania? WWE really dropped the ball on many of its talent last night. This was yet another example.
Winner: Randy Orton
Randy Orton's angle with Edge remains one of the best heading into WrestleMania. Last night, the Viper explained that he attacked his former tag team partner of long ago because he was concerned. He didn't want Edge wrestling. He had to end the return before it could get off the ground. He even said to Beth Phoenix that he cared more about her husband than she did!
This was great stuff. When Edge returns, things are going to kick into high gear quickly. This is currently the one part-time angle at WrestleMania that has real promise this year.
