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Last night was a busy edition of Monday Night RAW, with surprise appearances, debuts, solid wrestling, and storyline advancement. Quietly, the Red Brand has been shaking off its demons of the last few years and becoming a very good show again, probably due to Paul Heyman's influence. With the Rusev/Lashley stuff appearing to be over, I can't say that there's a bad angle on the show at all right now, which is an accomplishment in itself. This is in stark contrast to what's happened on the blue brand since the move to FOX and the draft.
Anyway, we're about eight weeks out from WrestleMania. Who got the most and least out of last night's show with that in mind?
Winner: Randy Orton
Instead of coming out and cutting a generic heel promo, Randy Orton had nothing to say about his brutal attack on Edge last week. He just couldn't find the words.
This is how you keep intrigue in what's already a red hot angle.
These legends matches at WrestleMania the last few years haven't been that great. Randy Orton vs. Edge promises to buck the trend if the two of them can keep this up.
Randy Orton will find the words eventually, but until then, we'll just have to wonder what they are.
Meanwhile, all eyes will be on Edge, because we can rest assured that he has the words to describe the situation!
Well done to everyone involved in this angle. There are still two more months to go before the finish line, but by now, we should trust that Paul Heyman and his crew backstage have the right direction planned out. How nice a thing it is to say that about WWE, which hasn't been trustworthy in recent years, and isn't on SmackDown.
Winners: Ruby Riott and Liv Morgan
The second big angle of the night happened when Ruby Riott made her surprising return after countless months out of action. After a fairly pedestrian match between Lana and Liv Morgan, the former Riott Squad leader came out and attacked her previous comrade.
And just like that, Liv Morgan is in a much more interesting storyline than whatever she was doing in that train wreck with Rusev, Bobby Lashley, and Lana.
Ruby Riott, for her part, made quite the impression upon her return. Let's just see how it goes between these two.
Winner: Drew McIntyre
Drew McIntyre looked poised, connected with the crowd, and got his finisher over as a fast, sudden death impact move last night. We'd call that a good evening by any standards, but in McIntyre's case, it was especially important since he has a WWE title match at WrestleMania. So far, he's rising to the occasion of that spot.
By branding Lesnar a coward for attacking him from behind last week because he's a fraid of the Claymore kick, Drew McIntyre put another spin on this story, which already seems a lot more intense than the story with Seth Rollins and the Beast last year.
Winners: AOP
While Seth Rollins and Buddy Murphy have been put over in this story, the former NXT tag team champions, AOP (Authors of Pain), have lingered in the background as the muscle. That changed last night, when Rezar won the match for his team with a pair of spinebusters.
How the team of Kevin Owens and the Viking Raiders responds remains to be seen, as does the overall direction of this story, but it's making everyone involved interesting. AOP is now at the best they've been since NXT, as are the Viking Raiders, who are finally doing something other than squashing jobbers.
So far, so good.
Loser: Aleister Black
One squash match was fine, but we're now heading into the territory of the WWE brass not knowing what to do with Aleister Black as WrestleMania moves closer. The former NXT Champion said he was coming for everybody, but we still need to find out what, if anything, is waiting for him.
In other words, he needs a real feud with a formidable opponent. Buddy Murphy, who he defeated three times, is quickly gathering more momentum than him right now. Let's hope Paul Heyman has something up his sleeve.
Winner: Angel Garza
Now it makes sense why Angel Garza lost the Cruiserweight championship at Worlds Collide, because he made his main roster debut last night, defeating Rey Mysterio, albeit by disqualification. The crucial factors, though, were that he had Zelina Vega as his manager and he took the fight to the legend, looking great in his first match on the big stage.
When Andrade returns, things are going to get more interesting still. We'll just have to see how Raw treats Garza in the long term, but so far, so good.
Winner: Rhea Ripley
If you didn't think the WWE brass was super high on Rhea Ripley before, you better think that now.
The NXT Women's Champion showed up unexpectedly last night and begged Charlotte Flair to use her Royal Rumble win to challenge her.
This is unlikely, of course, even though it would be a far more interesting match than Charlotte vs. Becky or Bayley again.
What is undeniable is that the brass already eyes Rhea Ripley as a big star on the main roster. When she inevitably comes up later this year, probably after SummerSlam, she has a big future in store for her.
Loser: Asuka
Asuka defeated Natalya in convincing fashion last night, but unfortunately, she's still embroiled in this feud with Becky Lynch, which is only ever going to see her eat another loss and get further beaten into the ground.
It's obvious that this is just filler, and while it would be OK in a big setting like the Royal Rumble, it happening on a minor pay per view is just too much.
The result is not only that Asuka will look bad, but the women's tag team titles will stay idling, as she and Kairi Sane won't have a big defense. That probably guarantees that they'll go into WrestleMania as champions and escape battle royal hell, but the brass will need to do a lot to heat up the women's tag team title match there.
Winner: Ricochet
Ricochet defeated Seth Rollins and Bobby Lashley to earn the right to face Brock Lesnar at Super Showdown. It's obvious filler. I have a better chance of walking on Mars next Tuesday than Ricochet has of winning, but it's a big step up for him nevertheless compared to what he was doing before, meandering for months.
It's a good opportunity for Ricochet to show what he can do in a main event setting. Brock Lesnar tends to have his best matches against smaller opponents as well, and we know Ricochet will bump and sell for him like a madman.
Hopefully it will earn the former North American Champion some more credit and a greater push in the future.
