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.