WWE Monday Night Raw 1/11/2021

WWE Monday Night Raw 1/11/2021

Last weeks show is here with pics and gifs: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2021/01/wwe-monday-night-raw-142021.html

They showed Orton trying to challenge the various legends to fights last week.

Triple H comes out and Orton follows soon after. Orton said since Drew is out due to covid that the office sent HHH out for him. Orton said he should be given the title since he was supposed to fight Drew tonight. HHH told him to win the Rumble. Triple H said he got what Orton did with Bliss but didn't get him threatening legends. He said that made him a "no good prick". Orton challenged HHH to a fight tonight and Triple H said no. Orton said it was because Stephanie wasn't there and that Triple H was "unable to retrieve his balls from her purse". HHH then punched him. and Orton went out to the floor and said he took it as HHH agreeing to a fight later.
 

They showed Ric Flair screwing over his daughter last week. Charlotte was interviewed about it. She called Lacey classless and asked why the interviewer was interviewing her.

Lacey said Charlotte needs to chill out and said Ric wanted to be flirted with. She said Ric was charming and handsome and dedicated the match to him and blew him a kiss.

Drew talked about why he wasn't here. 

Charlotte Flair vs Lacey Evans

Flair hits some chops early and for someone who wants to teach Lacey a lesson, she doesn't seem very angry. She headscissors Lacey, bangs her head off the mat and rolls her around. Flair hits a big forearm and Ric comes out, even though we were told he is at home. We then go to break.

Back from break and Lacey headstands on the top rope and does a bronco buster to Charlotte on the bottom rope. Charlotte gets thrown into the barriers at a slow speed and Lacey does the Flair strut. Charlotte misses a yakuza kick near the ropes and is pulled off by her hair. Charlotte hits a bad exploder and kips up. Lacey is on the apron and Charlotte yakuza kicks her. they go back in and does a bad natural selection, but Ric puts Lacey's feet on the ropes when she is about to get pinned.

Ric and Charlotte argue and Ric says he isn't home and isn't staying home. Charlotte yells at him to go and Ric trips Charlotte as she suplexes Lacey and holds her legs down for the Evans win. Lacey and Ric then high five after. This was all pretty lame with a dead crowd and a very slow pace, not to mention the story is just not believable.

Lacey and Ric celebrated together and the interviewer tried to ask but they just kept walking mostly.

Keith Lee was interviewed in the back. He was asked how he would bounce back and Sheamus came in. Sheamus said he put on a good fight and offered to shake hands. Miz and Morrison then came in. They challenged Sheamus and Lee and brought up how the last time those two teamed up, Sheamus brogue kicked Lee. I didn't get this segment either. No idea why Lee would be cool with Sheamus already or be willing to team with him.

Jeff Hardy vs Jaxson Ryker with Elias

Elias said he suffered an injury while playing music and said Ryker would be taking his place. Elias' thumb was bandaged up. Ryker had control to start and Hardy hit a spinning neckbreaker. He went outside and Elias distracted him as Ryker rolled him up for the win with a pull of the tights. This was dumb.

Hardy told Elias to come in and said Elias is afraid that people will see Ryker is better than Elias. Elias told Ryker not to get involved. 

Jeff Hardy vs Elias with Jaxson Ryker

The match begins as we go to break. Coming back and Hardy gets his usual offense in with the legdrop to the stomach. Ryker hits like an F5 + Death Valley Driver combo. Hardy hits Whisper in the Wind. Elias hits a twisting brainbuster and a big knee. Hardy hits a twist of fate and a swanton from the top for the win. Okay. Elias complains about Ryker not helping him and I'm not sure what the purpose of this was.

Sheamus and Keith Lee vs The Miz and John Morrison

Lee hits a slam on Morrison and then Sheamus follows with a knee. Lee gorilla presses Morrison and throws him outside on the Miz. Sheamus then follows with a shoulder off the apron. Lee hits Morrison with a headbutt to the chest and then throws him across the ring. He shoulders him into the top rope and the top rope breaks! My gut says that was a work but who knows as we go to break.

Back from break and Miz takes control on Sheamus. Sheamus gets close to a tag but Morrison stops him and gator rolls him to the other corner. Miz charges in and gets an irish curse backbreaker. Lee gets in and does two deadlift overhead throws on his opponents, then he throws Morrison at Miz. Lee hits a spinning powerslam for 2. Lee swats down Morrison and Sheamus tags himself in. Sheamus hits a brogue kick and wins it. This was short but pretty good. Lee doesn't care though and they pound fists.

HHH was interviewed. He said he didn't come to fight. He said people like Flair paved the way for Orton and he said he would see if he (HHH) still had what it takes. He confirmed he would accept the challenge.

We come back from break and Sheamus and Lee are going at each other leading to:

Sheamus vs Keith Lee

The announcers say this is a complete 180 and they aren't lying. This is hardly Ole/Dusty 1980 though. Sheamus tries to do his chest clubs on ropes, but Lee stops him and he slaps him. Lee headbutts him. He then ties Sheamus up in the ropes and starts slapping him. Lee gets thrown out very slowly and Sheamus jumps on him from the top only to get slowly thrown into the barricade. He then falls into the time keeper's area. He barely makes it in as Lee tries to block him form getting in.

Sheamus hits Lee in the knee as he charges in. Sheamus tries for some kind of keylock. Sheamus goes up top. Lee tries to join him but gets knocked down and Sheamus hits a clothesline from the top. Sheamus goes back to the keylock. Lee picks him up and drops him down. Lee then wins it with a spirit bomb. This wasn't that good. It was slow, Sheamus hit some weak stuff and doing random keylocks in the late part of the match was just an unusual way to do this match.

Lee offers his fist after and Sheamus hugs him. What in the hell is this booking?

Drew McIntyre does a promo. He said Goldberg was one of his favorites as a kid. Drew said "never meet your heroes in person as they will always let you down". Drew said Goldberg let him down and let his his own legacy down. Drew said Goldberg knows nothing about being WWE champion and said he would accept his challenge. He said Goldberg challenging him is like Goldberg challenging himself in his prime. Drew said Goldberg was next at the Rumble.

Matt Riddle was in the back. He said his match with Lashley will be like when he goes to his favorite pizza place and gets a great pizza. We then saw he was talking to Lucha House Party. Lince said to watch his back against The Hurt Business tonight and Riddle said it was physically impossible.

Xavier Woods vs T-Bar

T-Bar said in a promo that he will twist his body into the shape of his trombone. T-Bar knocks down Woods with a shoulder. T-Bar then hits a huge lariat. Woods hits a jawbreaker and some chops. Woods hits an enzugiri and dropkicks T-Bar all the way out of the ring. Woods dropkicks him through the ropes and they go back in. T-Bar pulls on Woods' arm at the ropes then he does his reverse fireman's carry to a knee in the face for the win. They did more to put Woods over here than T-Bar. 

Orton was interviewed. He said HHH knows him better than anyone else. He says he has a new found hatred for himself and said he will direct the hate at HHH.

WWE United States Title - Riddle vs Bobby Lashley

Riddle argues with MVP in the ring and gets jumped before the bell. Should be a DQ and Riddle should just ask for the match to be delayed a week. Riddle gets thrown hard and speared in the corner hard. Riddle gets like thrown on the top rope and bounces and falls outside hard. Riddle busts his lip or mouth open during this.

Lashley gets put into the post then Riddle nails Lashley with a knee as he gets up. Riddle then hit a corkscrew moonsault off the second rope to Lashley on the outside. Riddle went for a springboard off the second rope but got rock bottomed hard. Riddle then taps to the Hurt Lock in a quick one.

Riddle grabs the mic after. He said he couldn't beat Lashley tonight but could beat MVP. This is the 2nd time we saw this angle on the show.

Riddle vs MVP

We immediately go to break and come back. MVP is wearing his collared shirt and pants here and hits the ballin' elbow. MVP hits some forearms and takes a high kick. Bobby messes with Riddle and gets kicked for it then Riddle hit a corkscrew moonsault on MVP. Lashley then jumped in, speared him and beat him down for the DQ. Bobby hits a reverse STO on Riddle and MVP kicks him hard in the ribs.AJ Styles was with Adam Pearce in the back. He said he can't be thrown out with Omos out there and said Pearce could be facing him at Wrestlemania if he beats Roman Reigns. Drew Gulak then declares himself for the Rumble. Pearce said you can't just enter yourself and Gulak said AJ did(as did others which no one cared about). Gulak said AJ blew his WWE title oppurtunity, implying he doesn't deserve another one. AJ asked who Gulak beat and Gulak had a flash drive. Pearce said he will Gulak in the Rumble if he beats AJ.  Omos then appeared and stared down Gulak. I had a lot of problems with this segment. Multiple people entered themselves in the Rumble and nobody cared and now suddenly they do with Gulak. The original people entering themselves made no sense and Pearce not allowing Gulak to also makes no sense.

Gulak gets a Royal Rumble spot if he wins - Drew Gulak vs AJ Styles

No entrance for Gulak. Both guys try to dropkick each other to start. Gulak hits a fallaway slam into a bridging pin and tiger driver's AJ.  Drew gets put in the electric chairs and rolls it into a pin attempt and AJ grabs a pele kick out of nowhere. They talk about Gulak punching his ticket for the Rumble and Saxon says he is getting his ticket punched right now as AJ flurries him. AJ catches Gulaj's foot on the ropes and Gulak gets thrown over the top hard. Gulak looks at the floor and Omos puts his foot in front of his face. AJ hits the phenomenal forearm and wins it. Another real quick match but they made the most of it.

They do a video package on Goldberg. 

Lee meets HHH in the back. He said HHH has been there for him and he's there for him tonight. He offers to do a 3rd match tonight but HHH declines, saying he made the mess and will clean it up.

Shayna Baszler and Nia Jax vs Mandy Rode and Dana Brooke

The Blondes did an inset. They said the best way to push someone out is in the Royal Rumble and declared for it. We just had a segment on how you can't do that...even though someone did. WWE has to be trolling at this point.

Shayna goes for the arm of Mandy early and Nia hits Dana with a body block.  Nia splashes her in the corner. Baszler and Rose go at it and Rose flapjacks her then does a kip up. Then she flurries on Rose and does a pumping knee. Nia pulls her out and headbutts her, then samoan drops her in the ring. Shayna hits her backbreaker and does a choke on Rose to win after tagging herself in. This is the 2nd time this happened tonight too.

Randy Orton vs Triple H

Triple H really should get destroyed here and quick. He hasn't wrestled for a long time and he's old. HHH hits a punch and Orton goes out. Orton gets back in and hits some punches, then HHH does the same thing to him. Orton gets thrown into the steps and his face is bleeding. HHH then throws him into the barricades. HHH drops Orton on the broadcast table then he gets his sledgehammer outside.  

The power starts to go out and HHH's sledgehammer catches on fire. HHH then disappears as the lights go off and then back on. Alexa Bliss then appears in the ring and stares at Orton. She then shoots Orton in the face with a fire beam. The announcers say Orton might be blind.

Overall thoughts: What a rotten show. Logic issues up and down, repeat finishes and a stupid sci-fi ending. This sucked.