RAW

This past week’s episode of Monday Night Raw was very low-key and didn’t get any major pops from the audience. This is most likely because neither Champion was present on the show. Brock Lesnar did not show up as WWE Champion, but he deserves some credit because he has been in every episode of Monday Night Raw except this past week. He also gave a performance in the Royal Rumble match that lasted over 25 minutes. The missing United States Champion’s (Andrade) presence is due to his violation of the WWE wellness policy and he is not eligible to wrestle. No one can be positive, but this may be his last to return to Super Showdown.

Becky Lynch defeats Asuka and is subsequently attacked by Shayna Baszler to set up what will be a Huge Clash come WrestleMania 36 in Tampa, FL

The rivalry between Becky Lynch and Asuka that lasted over a year has been a good example of long-term storytelling. It was an excellent idea to have it come to an end because the audience’s attention span could have started to grow thin since there are no real stakes anymore. This feud produced excellent matches while it lasted, but there’s no more story to tell.

Shayna Baszler has finally made her presence known on Monday Night Raw to build for a WrestleMania encounter with The Man, as has been speculated for weeks. Baszler’s loss of her NXT Title was not only to give the NXT universe a fresh Champion but also to free her of all ties to another brand so she could solely focus on building to a ‘Mania match with Becky. It was a good segment on Monday night with Baszler attacking Lynch’s neck in Hannibal Lecter fashion, except the blood was clearly fake.

A Baszler Title victory at WrestleMania could give the WWE universe a fresh face as Raw Women’s Champion. It would also free the engaged couple of Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch to each take a hiatus from WWE for a few months after ‘Mania to recharge. They are both workhorses for the company combined with the fact that Becky will have been the face of the Women’s Division in WWE for an entire year. Shayna has been booked to have a presence like a female Samoa Joe.

Seth Rollins, Murphy & The AOP Defeat Kevin Owens, Samoa Joe & The Viking Raiders

Seth Rollins and his disciples got another cheap victory… surprise, surprise! This result was never in doubt, but it did its job of gaining more heel heat for the stable. Vince McMahon has shortened yet another name. The latest man to have his name shortened is Buddy Murphy, as he lost his first name and is now referred to as just Murphy. It will be interesting to see if he ever gets his first name back like Erick Rowan and Mustafa Ali did.

Matt Hardy Questions Randy Orton

Matt Hardy more than accomplished his job on Monday night of garnering sympathy for Edge. He was able to do this so well because the WWE universe lost both he and his brother. One can only guess what Matt’s contract situation looks like. There was some speculation that he may be going to AEW, and there still is, but he continues to make appearances for WWE. No one can be sure, but this may be his last one – Randy Orton’s attack may have given him an avenue through which to exit WWE.

Ricochet Defeats Bobby Lashley

The “One and Only” proved to Lashley without much doubt that he is the rightful number one contender to Brock Lesnar’s WWE Championship for now. However, I would be shocked if there is not a highly anticipated bout between the two former MMA fighters. Lashley has publicly stated in the past that he believes the act of coming back to WWE for another three years would be a waste of time if he isn’t booked in a match with The Beast Incarnate.

WWE has a little time to build to this match before Lashley’s contract expires in April 2021, and there is not much doubt (from me) that this will ultimately happen. This potential match has money written all over it because of the sheer size of Lesnar and Lashley. Both men are in their 40s, but it seems it could happen.

Angel Garza Defeats Cedric Alexander

Angel Garza further established his name on Monday Night Raw as a force to be reckoned with, using his innate and almost nonchalant sense of charisma. The thing he does with ripping off his pants in the middle of matches is also a hilarious touch.

Aleister Black Defeats Akira Tozawa and Disposes of him Quickly

If WWE is interested in a long-term storyline with Black as I suspect they are, management may want to book him to continue his undefeated streak all the way through the year 2020. He’s a guy who Paul Heyman is extremely high on and is looking to give every potential opportunity to succeed, along with Ricochet, Murphy, and Drew McIntyre. However, he does deserve a competitive rivalry that will intrigue fans. This will also serve to get him over with the WWE universe. Fans are growing tired of seeing him squash opponents.

Perhaps a feud with the United States Champion Andrade and his real-life wife Zelina Vega would be appropriate. It would create an avenue for him to get to that next level of stardom because fans would feel more connected to him if they knew he had personal ties in the regulatory.

The 24/7 Championship has returned to obscurity now that it’s out of the hands of Mojo Rawley and Riddick Moss is the titleholder.

Ricochet defeats Bobby Lashley and Seth Rollins in a triple threat match to become No. 1 contender for Brock Lesnar’s WWE Championship at Super Showdown

Smart WWE fans know that Ricochet has virtually no chance of winning the WWE Championship from Brock Lesnar, but it’s still huge for him to receive an opportunity at the WWE Championship this early in his career. It obviously means Vince McMahon has a lot of faith in him as a performer, and that has to make him feel great. Ricochet will also work great with Brock because Lesnar typically puts on his best performances with smaller guys (take his matches with AJ Styles Daniel Bryan and Finn Balor in the past for example).

This decision also makes sense within the framework of the storyline surrounding the WWE Championship on Monday Night Raw. Ricochet came out a couple of weeks ago and had a confrontation with Brock Lesnar before the Royal Rumble, so this tells me that Vince McMahon and Paul Heyman among others had the idea of giving Ricochet a major push like this well before the Royal Rumble PPV. He obviously returned the favor with a low blow to The Beast, allowing Drew McIntyre to score the elimination of Lesnar with a Claymore kick.

The point is that at the end of the day Ricochet will serve as essentially a placeholder to keep Lesnar busy in Saudi Arabia (it’s nice to see that Brock is even scheduled to do anything in Saudi Arabia, but WWE probably needs him because so many other superstars are refusing to go). Secretly, in the back of my mind, I was personally hoping for Bobby Lashley to come away as the victor of the triple threat match and be the number one contender to Lesnar’s WWE Title. One of the primary reasons he came back to WWE in 2008 was because he wanted the opportunity to work in a match with Brock (as Jerry “The King” Lawler pointed out during the match).

Needless to say, it would have made little to no sense to have the Monday Night Messiah Seth Rollins become the number one contender to the WWE Championship because he has already beaten Lesnar and taken his title not once but twice in the last year.

Randy Orton’s Promo

The Viper said all that needed to be said without saying a single word – all he needed were well-timed remorseful facial expressions and body language – and drew a level of heat that probably hasn’t been experienced in WWE since Tommaso Ciampa turned on Johnny Gargano. The WWE universe was most likely so angry with Orton because there is some speculation that he may have legitimately injured Edge’s neck again, so his comeback may be over before it got a real chance to get started. It’s not wise to jump to any conclusions, but the concern is warranted considering the history.

Angel Garza defeats Rey Mysterio

This could very well be Rey Mysterio’s farewell tour before retiring from WWE (possibly at WrestleMania 36 and subsequently passing the proverbial torch to his son Dominic), especially since he teased his retirement several months ago. If so, it is clearly his intention to put over as many young Latino superstars as possible to contribute to the future of the sports entertainment industry. Angel Garza, Humberto Carillo and Andrade are all perfect candidates. It’s also genius of WWE to include Garza in the storyline while Andrade is serving his 30-day suspension for violating the WWE wellness policy.

Buddy Murphy & The AOP defeated Kevin Owens and The Viking Raiders

Kevin Owens gave a second straight very solid performance after losing a partner to injury for the second straight week (hopefully Ivar’s shoulder is alright). Samoa Joe sustained a legitimate concussion on January 27 and will presumably be out for at least a couple weeks.

Rhea Ripley challenges Charlotte Flair

It seems to be a matter of time before a WrestleMania clash between Charlotte Flair and Rhea Ripley for Ripley’s NXT Championship. This match has money written all over it, and it would also be huge for NXT to possibly acquire The Queen as its champion, even if it’s only for a few months. She would easily be the biggest star on the brand.

Liv Morgan can move on after defeating Lana

Liv Morgan will finally be able to move on from Lana and now has a more substantial and layered storyline to sink her teeth into with the return of Ruby Riott from double shoulder surgery (which is very difficult to come back from). Both stars will get the much-needed opportunity to rebrand themselves.

Asuka defeats Natalya and makes her intentions known that she will challenge Becky Lynch for the Raw Women’s Championship one more time

Asuka and Natalya had a surprisingly good match. One might wish, however, that Natalya would give matches of this quality when more is on the line – a title match, maybe. Asuka vs. Lynch for a third time is not necessary, but nonetheless it will be a welcome addition to the Super Showdown card which needs star power given that certain top superstars won’t be going.

Randy Orton sunk to new depths this past Monday night, making a full-blown heel turn rather quickly, as he perpetrated an assault on Edge’s surgically repaired neck. This sets up what will most likely be a feud with The Rated R Superstar that culminates with Edge’s first official singles match since returning to Royal Rumble.

It’s so great to see Edge return to the ring after nearly 9 years. I along with the entire WWE universe  (and Edge himself) thought that was it as far as his wrestling career was concerned. It also now appears that Randy Orton’s rivalry with AJ Styles over the past several weeks has turned out to mean nothing. It seemed to be leading to a ‘Mania encounter for the second straight year which would have seemed redundant.

However, we can all give Vince McMahon a break on this one because he, the WWE doctors and even Edge had to have some uncertainty about getting back in the ring.

One very underrated element of the segment, however, was Randy Orton’s very believable promo right before the attack. He laid it all out there with his honest feelings about his longtime friend returning, who was instrumental in his ability to gain his footing with WWE.

It was very reminiscent of the way Kobe Bryant’s demeanor changed throughout the course of his life. As he got closer to retirement, he became more willing to express appreciation and gratitude toward the people who were instrumental to his development of The Mamba mentality. He epitomized this so well because he was relentlessly focused on the vision he intended to realize and bring into reality.

That was the only event of the night that appeared to have potential WrestleMania implications except Brock Lesnar F5-ing Drew McIntyre. Aside from that, January 27 was a fun episode of Raw that gave storylines time to breathe to begin WrestleMania season. There were the returns of MVP and Edge along with a stellar WrestleMania 34 rematch from Charlotte Flair and Asuka (although a disappointing DQ finish).

Humberto Carillo was unable to take the United States Championship from Andrade, but he was able to get some payback on El Idolo by giving him a hammerlock DDT on the exposed concrete. It was also nice to see Riddick Moss for the first time since his NXT days. He should fit very well into Mojo Rawley’s current football player gimmick, as his “offensive lineman”.

Side Note: Hopefully Liv Morgan will now be able to move on to bigger and better opponents in terms of star power after jumping over the small obstacle that is Lana by earning a victory over her. And unfortunately, Vince McMahon has waited long to have Erick Rowan make his big reveal. Since it wasn’t revealed at the Royal Rumble, no one cares anymore about what’s in the cage. It’s just a nuisance at this point.

The death of Kobe Bryant should serve as a wake-up call to everyone who hears about it. It doesn’t have to mean the same thing for everyone, but it should be a prompt for introspection for every person who is affected by it. People should use this event as an instrument to help them further their own evolution as human beings. He was not just a great basketball player (although the NBA did in fact lose a legend), he openly and humbly agreed to share about half of his life with us – all the ups and downs. That’s why so many people felt so deeply connected to him, because he was remarkably human – similar to Brett Favre in that way.

We had a Seth Rollins’ heel turn! And, as the WWE team prepares for Monday Night Raw, they have done an excellent job in the last several weeks of pre-advertising the primary segments that will be featured on each episode. This is a clear sign that Paul Heyman has a definite vision of the direction he intends to take Raw as Executive Director.

Wow… the first ladder match on Monday Night Raw in well over a decade was executed very well by both Rey Mysterio and Andrade. It’s very unselfish of Mysterio to be dedicating the end of his career to putting over other Luchadors.

This also served as a perfect way for Humberto Carillo to insert himself back into the storyline. It was a smart booking decision for WWE to have Andrade retain the United States Championship because it’s a sign that the company is looking more towards the future. This was by far the best segment of the night. It gave fans a good reason to tune in to Raw for the rest of the night and also set up another interesting story between two of Raw’s best in Andrade and Carillo.

Buddy Murphy and Seth Rollins defeated The Viking Raiders for the Raw Tag Team Championships this week. This marks the first title victory for Murphy on the main roster. And, Rollins is a tag team champion for what seems like the millionth time. It’s somewhat surprising because many fans were anticipating there would be a WrestleMania meeting between The Viking Raiders and The AOP, but it turns out that will have to happen somewhere down the road.

WWE seems to tease that there will be some dissension among Rollins’ faction as to who deserves the tag team titles – Rollins and Murphy or The AOP. This might lead to the ultimate implosion of the faction and a ‘Mania clash in April.

It also deserves to be mentioned how clever WWE is being by directly using Seth Rollins’ deep interest in determinism and other philosophical concepts of that nature in storyline. It’s very clever of the company to use superstars’ own private interests to make storylines feel more personal.

WWE employed a smart strategy by protecting two favorites to win to the men’s Royal Rumble match by orchestrating a finish to the Drew McIntyre – Randy Orton match. Both superstars came away looking strong by not taking a loss (Roman Reigns is still the favorite).

It’s great to see Ricochet getting the spotlight he deserves again after many weeks of being almost forgotten about. He got an opportunity to star in a major segment of the show with The Beast Incarnate Brock Lesnar (who will enter the Royal Rumble match at number one).

WWE fans shouldn’t expect Vince McMahon to book another Aleister Black-Buddy Murphy match for Royal Rumble. Given that it would be the fourth one-on-one encounter between the two men, it would seem a little redundant at this point. It provides even less credibility to the feud that Black has won each of their encounters with a swift Black Mass.

Judging purely by the match itself, one would think Aleister was being portrayed as being unequivocally superior to Buddy in the ring. However, WWE clearly has major plans in 2020 for Murphy, since he aligned himself with the Monday Night Messiah Seth Rollins and The AOP. This will clearly be the dominant faction on Monday Night Raw for the foreseeable future, probably until someone steps up to them at WrestleMania 36.

Yet another layer has been added to “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt’s story, and he doesn’t even need to be involved. The Monday Night Messiah is leading a cult-like faction akin to The Wyatt Family from several years ago, and his demeanor is similar to that of Bray Wyatt during that time.

The somewhat heelish nature of Buddy’s character may have more potential to be guided in the right direction from an alliance with Rollins than anyone else on the roster.

On another note, Aleister Black’s very enigmatic personality would make him an excellent candidate to provide a foil to The Undertaker at ‘Mania. He would make for a perfect opponent for Taker because he could pass the torch to Black. The young star is also more than capable of carrying nearly the entire match, which is a prerequisite any of The Undertaker’s opponents at this stage in his career.

Paul Heyman maintained the strong booking of Drew McIntyre this week, having him pick up a victory against two very credible opponents in Randy Orton and AJ Styles. He is also continuing to show off his very likable personality and gradually getting over with the WWE universe.

Becky Lynch is gripping fans by adding an intriguing level of vulnerability to her character. She is making herself extremely relatable heading into her Raw Women’s Championship match with Asuka. Unfortunately, WWE at the moment doesn’t seem to care too much about this rivalry – but Becky is certainly putting her 100% effort into it and that is to be applauded.

Hopefully, Ricochet can build momentum again in 2020 with a strong showing in the Royal Rumble match because he has clearly lost a significant amount of momentum since the summer of 2019. Fortunately for him, it is still salvageable.

The storyline between Rusev, Lana, Bobby Lashley, and apparently now Liv Morgan is working even though it’s not my cup-of-tea. Morgan got a nice pop from the WWE universe. Vince McMahon is capitalizing on the fact that the drama of soap operas can be very captivating and entertaining.

The what’s-in-the-cage question regarding Erick Rowan will likely be answered at Royal Rumble. Vince McMahon likes him very much and would like to continue his push so fans will be seeing more of him.

It may be high time Brock Lesnar uses his nearly God-like status within WWE to be unselfish and ensure the future of the company by putting over a young star–it’s long overdue. Personally, I love Lesnar and the uncomfortable silence he generates from the WWE universe provides a feel to WWE events that no other superstar does. He just shouldn’t be a world champion and hold titles hostage if he is not going to defend them on a regular basis.

WWE keeps him around and featured to the degree that he is because Vince McMahon obviously views him as a major draw. Unfortunately, this does not show much in WWE’s key business metrics like TV ratings or WWE Network subscriber count. The faith from the company in Lesnar is certainly there, but hard evidence is lacking.

One must admit that WWE has exponentially grown as a company since the return of The Beast in 2012 with him being featured in a very prominent role during that entire period. Because of this, it’s reasonable to conclude that there’s some major mainstream appeal to his presence as much as some fans may not want to admit.

It’d be fantastic for WWE to book a Messiah vs. Messiah match at ‘Mania between the Monday Night Messiah Seth Rollins and the Messiah of the backbreaker Roderick Strong. These two men are fully capable of putting on an instant classic with just about anyone. The return of The Big Show was also a fantastic surprise, and he looks great.

Drew McIntyre is clearly letting loose with personality and is getting over with fans as a babyface in a major way. This is the one dimension of his personality that he has lacked over the years, and the sky is the limit in 2020 if he can continue to harness this element. The Claymore Kick while holding the mic on Monday was a nice touch as well.

It’s also worth noting that a face turn for McIntyre would make him a viable candidate to win the Royal Rumble and face Brock Lesnar for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 36. I not saying this will happen by any means – it probably won’t – but it’s a beautiful piece of fantasy booking.

The Women’s Division in WWE has lost a bit of steam since Ronda Rousey left the company after WrestleMania 35. She is due to return at any time after nine months away. Since then, Becky Lynch has been as hot as ever in terms of her character. She is deserving of every opportunity she gets as a result of finding the perfect gimmick.

One has to miss the time when Bobby Lashley was working with Lio Rush. The Man of the Hour significantly elevated Lashley’s status within WWE, compensating for his believability issue on the microphone.

Side Note: There was also a development in the “Eric Rowan – What’s in the Cage” storyline that creates intrigue and makes fans start to care about what’s in the cage. Now that Mojo Rawley (a superstar with slightly more credibility) freaked out over what was in the cage, this adds another key element to the story. Now people are now afraid of whatever is in there. This story might go somewhere rather than being just another time-filler on Raw.

There were two Pay-Per-View-worthy matches on the show this week:

• Andrade vs. Ricochet, and;
• Aleister Black vs. Buddy Murphy

Andrade will most likely retain the United States Championship against Rey Mysterio next week and WWE may want to book a rematch between him and Ricochet for Royal Rumble since the two men have obvious chemistry in the ring.

The final Raw segment of the decade was a painful one to get through indeed. Hopefully, this doesn’t hurt Bobby Lashley’s credibility too much, and what a chaotic way for Liv Morgan to return to WWE TV.

Highlights: Drew McIntyre showed some personality, Randy Orton gained some sympathy from the WWE universe, Samoa Joe found his niche at least for the foreseeable future until Royal Rumble, aligning himself with Kevin Owens, and a match between Becky Lynch and Asuka has officially been set for Royal Rumble.

Raw and NXT clearly represent the future of WWE while SmackDown is the home of more established superstars and announcers like Greg Hamilton, Michael Cole, Corey Graves, Roman Reigns, Daniel Bryan, The Miz, The Fiend Bray Wyatt, Bayley, and King Corbin.

WWE is clearly ready for 2020.

One thing I have loved about following WWE throughout the past decade is that storylines and products are still basically the same – superstars rotate, management changes and storylines shift but… there’s a “consistency” to it that is oddly comforting.

The storylines that will take Raw into the new decade are: The relationship and possible marriage between Bobby Lashley and the narcissistic Lana (it appears the WWE creative team is transitioning Rusev away from this storyline so he can move on), Becky Lynch’s obsession with redeeming herself after discovering that Asuka has her number, Humberto Carillo, Andrade and Zelina Vega.

The OC will continue to feud with The Viking Raiders while AJ Styles is busy with Randy Orton. The latter of these might continue all the way into ‘Mania season, where Orton and Styles could end up facing each other for the second straight year at the Showcase of the Immortals.

The Seth Rollins storyline is garnering much attention as expected, with The AOP as his henchman. A strong main event will be booked for the traditionally low-rated Christmas episode of Monday Night Raw featuring a United States Championship match between Rey Mysterio and Seth Rollins.

Side Note: I’ve seen Ricochet display his ridiculous amount of endurance before with other companies, so it’s nice to see WWE give him the opportunity to showcase himself. Deonna Purrazzo also got her opportunity out of nowhere, but nonetheless it’s very encouraging. Liv Morgan will also most likely be reintroduced at the very beginning of 2020.

 

I didn’t forget about Buddy Murphy and Aleister Black. Their rivalry has most likely been put on pause because of Black’s broken nose suffered at TLC.

Seth Rollins’ gradual shift in character to the dark side has been about as well-executed and well- thought out as WWE creative could have planned. This is Reality Era-style booking because the premise of the story is deeply rooted in the way Seth conducts himself, particularly on social media.

He sticks out his neck for the company he loves. WWE is doing its absolute best to take full advantage of that; and if you asked me, creative’s doing an excellent job. The subplot with Mojo Rawley served to provide a healthy dose of comic relief during the development of a relatively serious storyline.

This Rollins heel turn will also go a long way in establishing The AOP as top villains in the company, potentially getting a title opportunity sooner rather than later against The Viking Raiders for the Raw Tag Team Championships. The feud between Seth Rollins and Kevin Owens was also escalated this week and even though no match between the two at TLC was announced, it would be reasonable for one anticipate a verbal altercation at the very least.

WWE seems to be re-establishing the friendship between Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch; it will also immediately result in them receiving a Women’s Tag Team Title match against The Kabuki Warriors. Vince McMahon reportedly would like both Asuka and Kairi Sane to work singles programs with Becky Lynch in the future, so it will go a long way toward establishing their credibility by working a match with The Man.

Congratulations to Batista on being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. He and Triple H were probably the two most badass superstars of the decade from 2000-2009. Batista’s final match against Triple H at WrestleMania 35 was probably the most well-executed final match I’ve ever seen because he clearly wasn’t hampered during the match or burned out from his career; and it showed because he was still able to give a great performance.

It’s not very much of an upset for Humberto Carillo to beat Andrade. Humberto’s incredible, and Andrade’s booked like a star but for whatever reason hasn’t picked up a lot of signature victories of late.      

It was refreshing to see The Viking Raiders face an actual tag team rather than a couple of enhancements, but they still dominated. It was a little peculiar to see the Street Profits conduct a backstage segment right after that beatdown.

Several matches were confirmed for the TLC Pay-Per-View, including the previously mentioned Women’s Tag Team Championship match, Buddy Murphy vs. Aleister Black, the finally divorced Rusev vs. Bobby Lashley, and most likely AJ Styles vs. Randy Orton.

Orton cost AJ his focus in a United States Championship match against Rey Mysterio because he was looming as an ever-present threat to RKO him outta nowhere. All Orton did was go from messing with Ricochet’s head to doing the same thing with Styles; bottom line, it’s entertaining.

This was an entertaining episode, just a few too many matches. A few of them are decently entertaining and serve to establish a superstar’s dominance for the foreseeable future. However, seeing that many in one three-hour show becomes a bit repetitive.

Seth Rollins is developing a new wrinkle to his character that is very perplexing yet intriguing and marketable as a result of his encounter about a month ago with “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt. He seems to be playing the role of a character who cannot seem to get over with the WWE universe no matter what he does.

This level of unpredictability regarding Seth’s character could potentially lead Monday Night Raw to gain more viewers each week because it will constantly have the WWE universe wondering whether he will be a heel or face every week. However, it feels organic because his character seems to still be very genuine and his actions don’t seem to be with malicious intent. He is just being very blunt with people, maybe a little too much, and I along with many others can relate to that personally.

Lana started off the night with Kevin Owens by using her chaotic personality and somewhat annoying voice to make a surprisingly entertaining mess out of the first segment. One almost has to have sympathy for Bobby Lashley because of the predicaments Lana seems to drag him into, like getting arrested this week. Who knows? Maybe this storyline will organically lead to him turning face.

AOP is on a tear. There is always the possibility they could align with Seth Rollins and create a new Shield. Another reason for this (besides the fact that just last week when they attacked Kevin Owens, they chose to leave Seth alone) is because AOP used to wear the same vests that the Shield wore back in their heyday. They discarded that attire for whatever reason.

Maybe I misheard it, but I think Kevin Owens cussed on Raw. I love it! Edgy programming!

Randy Orton seems to have turned reluctantly into a face. He has expressed to WWE management how he really prefers to be a heel. Unfortunately, Monday Night Raw needs faces. There are already plenty of heels on the Raw side of the roster, with guys like Brock Lesnar, Bobby Lashley, Drew McIntyre, along with Seth Rollins sometimes playing the role of a heel.

Raw dwindled a little bit in the face department, so they needed an established superstar like Randy Orton to turn face right now. Apart from the three main who competed in the six-man tag match this week, you’d be hard-pressed to find many other faces on Monday Night Raw. Orton’s impending rivalry with AJ Styles will seemingly begin at TLC, and Drew McIntyre next in line after that.

It’s so great to see The Kabuki Warriors finally being treated somewhat similarly on the main roster to how they were in NXT (separately). They are both obviously talented enough to deserve a push like this. The spotlight they are being thrust into doesn’t seem too big at all for either of them.