WWE Monday Night Raw February 1st, 2021

WWE Monday Night Raw February 1st, 2021

Last week's show is here with pics and gifs: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2021/01/wwe-monday-night-raw-1252021.html

 Drew McIntyre came out to start the show.

He pointed to the Wrestlemania sign and said we are in Wrestlemania season now.

Edge then came out. Drew thanked him for taking care of him when he first came to America. Edge asked "what is wrong with you?". Edge said he's a threat and Drew should have kicked his head off for it instead of giving him compliments.

Sheamus then came out. He said he didn't want to take the high road in all of this and wondered where Edge was the last year while Drew became champ. Drew asked if Edge was going to make his choice of which title he wanted to wrestle for or if Drew would have to make the choice for him. Edge said Drew will know when he will make his decision and said he will walk out of Wrestlemania as champion no matter who he faces. Sheamus then brogue kicked Drew which is not believable since they have been best friends for 20 years.

The backstage interviewer asked sheamus what that was about. Sheamus said he is tired of being known as Drew's friend and said he is no longer Drew's friend. He said he wants the WWE title. Drew Gulak then gave Sheamus his bags.

United States Championship - Bobby Lashley (c) vs Matt Riddle 

Lashley came out with MVP. If the rest of The Hurt Business was out here, I'd say Riddle will win this, but they aren't.

Riddle jumped on Lashley and flurried him to start. Lashley then did a big slam to him and mounted him with punches, then he really slammed him down on a suplex.

Riddle hurricanrana'd Lashley over the top then did a twisting asai moonsault on him. Riddle tried to come back in and Lashley put the Hurt Lock on him through the ropes and the ref DQ'd Lashley. Lashley then put it on him again and threw him.

Lashley then threw Riddle over the barricade and walked off. 

Bad Bunny arrived in a Bugatti. 

We came back to Riddle getting questioned and talked to by officials and a medical tech. Riddle didn't know what happened.

Orton did a promo. He said he didn't think it was possible Edge would return and win the Rumble. Orton, face fully healed now, said this is a problem as he promised Edge wouldn't return. Orton said this made him a liar. Orton said Edge won't be headlining Wrestlemania. He said there will be no mercy, compassion or main event of Wrestlemania.

Kofi and Xavier reunited. Kofi said Ali lost his mind and Woods need to get his payback tonight. He said he has Woods' back. Then Woods played his trombone.

Ali did a promo saying they welcome Kofi back and to celebrate Kofi can witness his partner getting tortured.

Xavier Woods with Kofi Kingston vs Mustafa Ali with Retribution

The went after each other early, then Woods clotheslined Ali over the top. Ali neckbreakered him as he came back in and pounded on him. Ali hit a neckbreaker and Woods mounted a comeback, diving clotheslines then did a satellite headscissors into a russian legsweep. Woods hit a spinning clothesline and Ali did a full flip sell for it. Kofi dived off of the steps then T-Bar's shoulder onto another Retribution guy and Woods snuck a pin on Ali during this to win. This was super quick with nothing much to it.

Bad Bunny and Damien Priest talked in spanish in the back.

Miz TV with Bad Bunny

We are 68 days away from Wrestlemania. It will be another 2 night event which I am not looking forward to.

Mis and Morrison put over Bad Bunny even though he ruined their Rumble for them. Miz apologized. Mr. Bunny accepted it and didn't want to apologize back. They said they heard Bunny wanted to be a wrestler and Miz said he could help with that. He took credit for training Daniel Bryan. Miz said they want help recording an album though. Bunny said he's not interested.  Bunny said he only showed up because Damien Priest wanted to be on Miz TV, then Priest came down. Priest then nailed Miz.

This lead to:

The Miz vs Damien Priest

Priest did his springboard tope con hilo onto Miz on the outside. then jumped off the top with a fist. Priest went into the post. Miz got the edge on Priest but Priest came back with some kicks and a spinning punch. Priest hit a corner elbow/shoulder then did a falcon arrow for 2. John Morrison got on the apron and argued with Priest and then ran into a Miz kick.

Miz went for his briefcase but Bunny pulled it away then nailed Morrison in the head with a microphone after Morrison gave him the briefcase. Priest then hit The Reckinoning for the win in Priest's Raw debut. There wasn't anything wrong with this but it wasn't really the spectacular debut you might want if you were Priest. They did what they could to give him the rub with Bad Bunny though.

They showed the Bliss stuff from last week and even showed Orton's massive facial burns that are now completely healed without explanation.

Raw Tag Team Championship - The Hurt Business vs Lucha House Party

MVP was on commentary. He said he never saw Lashley unleashed like he was tonight, but he liked it. He just didn't want to see him catch a court case over it though.

They announced each competitor in the match in the ring which they usually don't do for smaller matches like this.

Lince got thrown around early then did a double boot while on the ground into Shelton's face. Metallik climbed on Lince's shoulders for a hurricanrana but Shelton caught it. Lince walked up the ropes and was going to walk the top but was caught in an Angle slam. LHP did double handsprings into the ropes and knocked THB off the apron which MVP didn't like.

Back from break and Cedric hit like a pop-up Michinoku driver. Lince was in a wheelbarrow position and hit a stunner and Shelton did a gorilla press gutbuster. Lince did a cool spot where he turned a powerbomb into a snap DDT. Metallik got flipped, landed on his feet and hit a nice dropkick. Metallik walked the middle rope into a hurricanrana then Dorado springboarded off the top into Shelton, who caught him. Metallik then did a tope into both. Lince did a top rope splash then Metallik did a springboard senton for 2. Dorado was on top and Shelton walked-up the rope and kneed him, then he fell to the floor. Shelton tagged himself in, making Cedric mad and hit a paydirt for the win. There wasn't a ton of story here but it was a decent match regardless as expected with a lot of flying.

Charlotte and Asuka were interviewed. Charlotte said Lacey thinks she is learning how to play dirty, but she will see what dirty is when she steps in the ring with her. Charlotte wasn't happy her drama cost them the tag titles. Asuka said they would have won without Ric and Lacey.

Naomi and Lana did an inset promo. They said if they work together, they can make Shayna and Nia feel the glow.

Winners Earn a Title Shot - Charlotte Flair and Asuka vs Dana Brooke and Mandy Rose vs Lana and Naomi

Charlotte did a handspring into a backflip over Naomi and Naomi hit a hurricanrana on her. Naomi and Charlotte tried to dropkick each other then both did a kip up.

Nia and Shayna watched on an inset. Lana and Dana did a kick dodging spot. Dana did a handspring back elbow onto Lana and Asuka was double flapjacked. Dana tried another back handspring back elbow but Charlotte pushed her off. Charlotte did an outside to inside roll-up for 2 on Mandy. Asuka got in and german suplexed Mandy then did a sliding kick. Asuka did a 2nd rope missile dropkick and Charlotte came in with some fire. Lana did a hurricanrana to Charlotte from the powerbomb position and Naomi came in and tee'd off on Charlotte. Naomi then did a springboard kick off the ropes. Everyone started hitting finishers then Ric Flair and Lacey Evans came out when Charlotte had the upper hand. Charlotte chased them and Naomi butt bumped Asuka to win. This was pretty good for the women with a lot of action. Not much story though.

Drew was interviewed. He said families fight all the time but this time was different and he didn't know what to say. He was hurt by what happened but accepted the challenge from Sheamus.

They had a package on Carlito.

Jaxson Ryker and Elias vs Jeff Hardy and Carlito

Jeff did his usual offense early. Ryker grabbed Hardy's towel then Elias jumped on Hardy from behind. Ryker vertical suplexed Hardy. Elias hit his sitout side chokeslam on Hardy. Ryker tried a 2nd rope headbutt on Hardy but got nothing. Carlito then got the hot tag then dropkicked Ryker then did a kip up, but Ryker recovered by banging Carlito's head off the mat. Carlito backflipped out of a backdrop and hit a backstabber then Hardy won with a senton off the top on Elias in a short match. 

There was a small video on Edge and his history with Orton.

Edge said he is happy he won the Rumble, but Orton is a black cloud that hangs over his head and his families head. Edge said Orton was jealous. Edge said he would try to remove the dark cloud tonight.

Edge met up with Damien Priest in the back and they shook hands.

Alexa Bliss vs Nikki Cross

Cross was frustrated and wondered what Bliss was doing and what she wanted. Cross yelled at her a lot during the match. Bliss hit some dropkicks and stood on her as she stomped her head in. Bliss did some hopscotch into a kick.

Bliss transformed back to her old self during the match. Then she tried to hug Cross but Cross kicked her. Bliss then transformed back to the outfit she started with. Bliss then went for the Sistet Abigail but turned it into a DDT for the win. This transformation stuff is garbage and that was the whole match.

Randy Orton then came out and ignored her. 

Randy Orton vs Edge

 

Edge jumped on Orton to start and booted him. This wasn't too interesting early with them doing a slow brawl. Edge hit a weak edgecution for 2. Orton countered a spear with powerslam and rammed Edge into the post. Edge got thrown into the stairs and we went to break. Coming back and Orton pounded on Edge.

They fought up top and Edge hit Orton with a flying clothesline. Edge countered an RKO. Orton was on the apron and Edge speared him in the back off the apron into the barricade. They went outside and Orton backdropped Edge on the commentary table.

Orton catapulted Edge's neck in the bottom rope. Orton hit a DDT while Edge hung off the middle rope, then music played and Bliss was on the top rope. Bliss had black goo coming out of her mouth and Edge speared Orton to win.

I'm really over the Bliss/Orton stuff and this match really wasn't anything special with both guys being slow.

Overall thoughts: The Bliss, Sheamus and Flair stuff sucks. The women's match was surprisingly good otherwise and the Hurt Business stuff was good as usual. This wasn't a good episode of Raw.

WWE Royal Rumble 2021 1/31/2021

 WWE Royal Rumble 2021 1/31/2021

This show does not work with my schedule at all. I'll do the best I can though.

Pre-Show:

There was a segment with Carmella and Reginald regarding Reginald's talk with Sasha. Carmella wasn't happy about it and said he shouldn't do things without running it by her first essentially.

Charlotte and Asuka were interviewed in the back. Charlotte said she has a lot going on but knows shayna and Nia are going to cheat. Asuka says her opponents aren't ready for her.

WWE Women's Tag Team Championship - Asuka and Charlotte Flair vs Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler

Not too much of note happened early. Later on in the match, Nia got sunset bombed by Charlotte and powerbombed Asuka. Charlotte did a double natural selection on both opponents. Asuka did a butt bump off the apron onto Nia and got thrown over the announcer's table and Charlotte did a moonsault from the top that both Nia and Shayna failed to catch. Ric Flair came out and almost cost them the match and Lacey interfered too. Flair gave Lacey knucks and she nailed Charlotte, then Nia beat Charlotte for the win. This Ric vs Charlotte angle is really bad and this match wasn't anything good.

WWE Championship - Drew McIntyre (c) vs Goldberg

 Unbelievable that they are starting this show with this. Goldberg is wearing shorts. They had Goldberg come out then they did a video package about how this match came to be which was odd. They piped in Goldberg chants and besides the chants being obvious, the chants were still going on after the long video package.

Drew speared Goldberg and Goldberg threw him into the stairs. Then he speared him through the barricade before the bell rang.

Drew got in and hit a claymore. He tried another and missed and got speared twice after. Goldberg hit a jackhammer but only got 2. Goldberg missed a spear then took a claymore for the Drew win. This was short as expected but I thought Drew kicked out of too much. This was a waste for Goldberg and buried him some. 

They hugged after and Goldberg raised Drew's hands.

Sasha was interviewed. She said she will win regardless of the tricks tonight and said she will drink the champagne of Carmella's tears.

Smackdown Women's Championship - Sasha Banks (c) vs Carmella

 Sasha ran up the 2nd rope and armdragged Carmella early. Sasha and Reginald met on the apron and Sasha pulled him down, then Sasha got nailed. Carmella jumped on Sasha off of Reginald's back. Sasha got headscissor choked over the ropes by Carmella and Carmella posed outside.

Carmella put her in a chinlock. Sasha hit a meteora off the 2nd rope onto Carmella. Carmella tied Sasha's hair to the bottom rope and stomped on her. Sasha regained control and dropped double knees on her over the top rope. Carmella threw out Sasha and she landed in Reginald's arms. Then Sasha spinning headscissored him and the ref ejected Reginald.

Carmella then did a tope and did a header onto the floor. Sasha hit a delayed three amigos then Carmella got her knees up on Sasha's frogsplash. Sasha dove off the top and took two kicks from Carmella. Carmella went for something and got rolled into the Banks Statement for the Sasha Banks win.

This wasn't bad at all. The only botch was Carmella's dive but it looked cool.

Women's Royal Rumble

Bianca and Naomi were going for a piledriver and they both cartwheeled the other in a neat spot.  Shotzi debuted here in her tank. Billie Kay went up to her and Shotzi shot her cannon at her. Billie went up to Shayna with a picture of herself and Shayna punched it and hit her. Toni Storm then came out at #7 and Billie went up to her and got turned down. Toni hit a big german on Shotzi. Shayna flipped Shotzi over the top and eliminated her. Jillian returned at #8. Jillian agreed to team up with her and they worked together.

Victoria returned at #10. The Iconics reunited here and Royce did a widow's peak, then Victoria did it too. The Riott Squad eliminated Billie Kay, playing off their temporary alliance. Rhea Ripley came in at #14. Shayna did a hanging choke on Victoria then dropped her to eliminate her.  Ruby was trying to german Royce off the apron then Bayley slid under her and powerbombed her to eliminate her. Liv Morgan tried to hurricanrana Bayley over but Royce superkicked her and she fell out.

Torrie Wilson came in at #17. Everything she did looked awful. Dana Brooke got powerbombed on the apron by Rhea and was eliminated. Lacey Evans came out to Flair's music and wore his purple robe. Charlotte beat the crap out of her for it with the robe's feathers going everywhere. Royce was flipped backwards over the ropes and took a nasty split out. Mickie James came in at #19. Nikki Cross came in at #20. Alicia Fox came out at #21 and they called her a legend. R-Truth followed her out as he was being chased. He yelled "Wrong Rumble", realizing this wasn't the men's Rumble. Truth batted off the various people going after his title then during it Fox pinned him and became the 24/7 champ. Fox was eliminated soon after and pinned by Truth, who regained his 24/7 title.

Dakota Kai came in at #23. Dakota Kai took a nasty face bump on the apron from Rhea. Reginald caught Carmella and stopped her elimination. He apparently did it again but the camera's missed it and Tamina superkicked him in the face when she entered at #25. They gave Tamina and Rhea their own hoss vs hoss spot.

Naomi was eliminated but her body touches and her feet didn't. Naomi grabbed Bianca's long hair then pulled herself up with it. Lana came in at #26. Alexa Bliss came in at #27 and how that will work I am not sure. Bliss got beat down and the lights started changing. She teased changing forms but Rhea eliminated her. Well, that's one way out of that.

Ember Moon came in at #28. Tamina and Nia met up and Shayna wanted Nia to nail her and Nia refused. Then they went at it anyway and Shayna and Nia eliminated Tamina. Nia then threw horrible shots at Shayna and then eliminated her. Nia rushed at Lana and Lana ducked and eliminated her, then Natalaya came out at #30.

Shayna and Nia beat up Natalya on her way down then went back in and started nailing people. They left after throwing Natalya in. Natalya turned on Lana and threw her out and we get a final four of Charlotte, Rhea, Bianca and Natalya. Bianca took out Natalya who took a wild bump out. Bianca and Rhea teamed up to eliminated Charlotte. Bianca and Rhea did a dumb spot where they both hung on the rope getting close to touching and I think both of Bianca's feet actually touched. They both flew at each other trying to do something like a hair whip at the same time and went splat. Bianca ended up lariating Rhea out to win.

Look, this was a women's Royal Rumble. The girls are sloppy and  there for their gender only. There were your usual bad and ugly spots here but some of the returns and spots were interesting. It was hardly anything special workrate wise.

Bianca was interviewed after. She said she showed everybody and was legit crying. She then pointed at the Wrestemania sign and swung her hair around. 

Miz and Morrison went up to Bad Bunny in the back. Miz said they should collab. Bunny wasn't interested. Miz ripped Booker T saying he wasn't relevant and Booker T popped up behind him. Booker did his "Tell me you didn't just say that" line and they wished Miz luck.

They went back to the Royal Rumble kick-off desk. Truth said he has seen Foxes and this should be called the Royal Rumble farm. Rosenberg said he saw Cena and told Truth to look that way, then he low blowed him and pinned him.

WWE Universal Championship - Last Man Standing - Roman Reigns (c) vs Kevin Owens

 

They flurried on each other to start and takes a pop-up powerbomb soon after. Owens gets thrown into the steps on the outside and takes a big spear. Romans bangs him in the shoulder with the steps and a little later, Owens bangs his head off the steps and the monitor boards. Owens goes up into the stands  and Roman follows to bang his head off the monitors.

Someone left chairs up on the stands and they use them on each other. Owens gets thrown off high from the stands and through the tables on the floor, but Owens makes the 10 count. Owens stumbles around the Thunderdome. Then Roman RUNS HIM OVER with a golf cart out of nowhere. Super Kevin is okay though and gets back up and Roman tees off on him. Roman makes a comment to look to the skies for Owens' grandfather and Owens flips out. Roman gets slammed on an announcers' table then Owens jumps off boxes onto him on the table.

Kevin climbs on top of a fork lift and does a senton off of it through a table on Roman. There were clearly crash pads though.  They go to the stage and Roman spears Owens through the LED boards. Owens survives the count by rolling off the stage. Owens burns his arm on a light. Roman grabs handcuffs and they pound on each other with Roman winning. Owens comes back with a stunner and cuffs Roman to a light pillar. The ref starts counting as Roman is down and Roman throws the ref into the lights, knocking him out.

Heyman comes out and unlocks Roman and takes him a good 3 minutes to do it. During this, another ref comes out and won't count, blowing the whole spot. Reigns then guillotine sleepers Owens on the ground and wins.

They did too much here and couldn't really sell it like they should have then the ref blew the match by not counting.  I'm not sure where Owens goes from here since he has lost multiple times and I'm not sure that even if the ref thing was intentional that it would be enough for this one to continue.

Royal Rumble

 

 

Edge enters at #1. Orton is #2 and Edge runs up the ramp after him. Orton's face is now fully healed. They fight outside the ring and Sami comes in at #3 before they get in. Mustafa Ali comes in and they triple team Edge. Jeff Hardy is in at #4. Orton RKO's Sami and Ali, then is speared by Edge. Orton and Edge go at it again outside and Edge ddt's Orton on the table which doesn't break. Ziggler in at #6.

Carlito makes his return, Nakamura enters and Sami is thrown out by the New Day. Ali eliminates Xavier Woods and Big E throws him out over it. Ricochet entered and did a springboard twisting dive on a few people. Elias eliminated Carlito.

Damien Priest comes in at #14. They show Orton getting healed up in the back. Miz comes out and destroys Bad Bunny's DJ equipment which turned Miz face to me, because that song sucked. Miz held up Ziggler and Morrison springboard kicked him. Bad Bunny then comes out and Damien Priest eliminates Miz and Morrison. Bad Bunny then jumps off the top rope onto them. Kane came in at #18. He chokeslammed multiple people and eliminated Ziggler and Ricochet. Daniel Bryan was happy to see Kane and offered a hug, then after the hug, Kane chokeslammed him. Kane and Priest then went face to face and Priest eliminated Kane.

Corbin eliminated Nakamura. Otis came in at #20 and threw around everyone, then did his worm elbow on Priest. Corbin then took him out though. Dominik Mysterio came in at #21 and eliminated Corbin as Crobin swore revenge. Lashley came in at #22 and eliminated Dominik and Priest. Lashley and E had a hoss spot. The Hurricane came in at #23. He tried to chokeslams on Lashley and E and was thrown out hard.

Christian returned at #24. He helped eliminate Lashley. Edge and Christian hugged. Riddle wanted in and they beat him up. Christian rolled backwards and Edge caught him and dropped him on Riddle. AJ came out at #25 as Edge hits the 42 minute mark. Rey came in at #26 and they did a very blatant shill of a beer company. AJ almost went out but Omos pushed him back in.

Omos grabbed E from the floor and pulled him out, then threw him over the announcers table. Sheamus came in at #27. Rey tried a 619 on AJ but Omos grabbed his legs and threw him at the barricades. Cesaro came in at #28. Sheamus tried to make friends with him again and Cesaro giant swinged him. Seth Rollins came back at #29. Strowman then came in at #30.Braun threw AJ outside but Omos caught him. Braun took out Sheamus and Cesaro, then he threw out AJ on the side Omos wasn't at.

Riddle and Daniel Bryan got two little sections. Rollins eliminates Daniel Bryan. Riddle and Rollins had a nice section and Riddle ended up getting curb stomped out on the apron and was eliminated. Rollins, Braun, Christian and Edge were the final four. Rollins told Braun they are the future and Braun really powerbombed him. Braun took a 2v1 and ran through Edge and Christian. Braun tries to eliminate Braun, Christian helps then Christian and Braun both get eliminated. Edge then eliminates Rollins...but Randy Orton returns to the match after never being eliminated. Edge then dumps him out seconds later  to win which was kind of dumb. Edge wins from the #1 spot.

This wasn't a bad Rumble. Not a great one but there wasn't anything too bad here.

Overall thoughts: Good show. It wasn't perfect but it had a lot of totally fine stuff without too much bad stuff. There wasn't anything too bad except for the ref botch on Owens/Reigns.