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.