WWE Raw built around Edge addressing his shocking return and what that meant for his future.
WWE Raw’s fallout show from the 2020 Royal Rumble proved to be an eventful one, which is all it could have been given the fact that both the men’s and women’s Royal Rumble winners came from the red brand. Drew McIntyre wasted no time in challenging Brock Lesnar while Charlotte will opt to take her time in selecting a champion.
Edge was also advertised as part of a show-long storyline of the Rated R Superstar announcing whether or not he was back full time. In a spirited promo, Edge said he came back so he could end his career on his terms. He name-checked Randy Orton, Roman Reigns, AJ Styles, Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens, Aleister Black and Matt Riddle, noting he hoped to see them down the road.
Edge ultimately admitted he didn’t know how long this would last before saying he had grit and if you knock him down, he gets back up. The segment—and broadcast—ended when Randy Orton interrupted.
An emotional exchange between the two ended with Orton—who said Edge is family to him—proposing that Rated RKO get back together. The emotional moment wouldn’t last long as Orton hit Edge with an RKO outta nowhere and struck him with a steel chair. Orton teased Pillmanizing Edge’s neck, to the tune of visceral disgust in the AT&T Center, before backing down and instead performing a con-chair-to.
Last week’s edition of Raw garnered 2.380 million viewers for the Royal Rumble go-home show. Up from 2.030 million viewers.
WWE Raw Viewership—Last Five Weeks:
- January 20, 2020—2.380 million viewers
- January 13, 2020—2.030 million viewers
- January 6, 2020—2.385 million viewers
- December 30, 2019—2.439 million viewers
- December 23, 2019—1.835 million viewers
WWE Raw Key Competition:
- The Bachelor
From the Forbes WWE Vault:
WWE Total YouTube Viewership for WWE Raw this past Monday: 6,950,281 (Down from 8,255,844 views)
- Most-Viewed: Liv Morgan and Rusev vs. Lana and Bobby Lashley (1,524,594 views)
- Least-Viewed: The Monday After the Weekend Update (122,308 views)
- Median Viewership: 679,754
Estimated Attendance for WWE Raw in “A City”: 9,235
Average WWE Raw Ticket Price at the AT&T Center: $74
Estimated Live Gate for WWE Raw: $683,390
WWE Raw Results: Monday, January 27, 2020
Drew McIntyre def. The O.C.—Two-on-one Handicap Match
Tonight’s Raw saw another announce team shakeup with Tom Phillips, Jerry Lawler and Byron Saxton. WWE Raw’s announce team is beginning to remind me of an NFL team in search of a starting quarterback.
Few questioned WWE’s decision to have Drew McIntyre win the Royal Rumble, but just to be sure, they’re about to put him over not one, but two former Raw tag team champions.
AJ Styles’ injury is bad news any way you look at it, but The O.C. maintaining any type of relevancy by WrestleMania relies strictly on Styles’ health.
Fans were even more excited to count “one...two...three” now that WWE is serious about this McIntyre push.
Rey Mysterio def. MVP
I know MVP isn’t here for long, but he hasn’t aged a day and can cut a better promo than most of this locker room. Why not kick the tires a little more?
The impetus of this match was that MVP’s son is apparently a huge fan of Rey Mysterio. This is that Kevin Owens-John Cena storyline all over again, but the babyface version.
Aleister Black def. Local Competitor
There was about 90 seconds where I legitimately thought Aleister Black was going to win last night’s Royal Rumble, and my gut told me “it’s too early, but it just might pay off.”
It took almost a year for Aleister Black to realize he needs to be knocking on peoples’ doors instead of the other way around. Character development.
Seth Rollins and Buddy Murphy def. Samoa Joe and Kevin Owens
Samoa Joe and Kevin Owens took extra precautions to make sure AOP wouldn’t interfere, and the more they made Seth prove they wouldn’t, the more Joe and Owens seemed like they were afraid to compete in this match.
While attempting to explain this storyline to a heel-leaning Jerry Lawler, Tom Phillips said “King, remember last week on Raw?” It was the first time he said that sentence to The King, and it won’t be the last.
Watching this match, and the endless punishment Buddy Murphy took, gave me a bad feeling about his ceiling despite how much Paul Heyman may love him.
Becky Lynch cut a promo about how good she is and just about anybody else would have been a heel in that promo.
Andrade def. Humberto Carrillo
If Humberto Carrillo doesn’t make good on this opportunity for the United States Championship, if he receives another shot the ring announcer should take control of this situation and say “listen, Humberto, this is WWE. There are plenty of other championships.”
Byron Saxton referred to Andrade as a “certifiable a-hole [sic],” in a term that would look obnoxious on a t-shirt.
Andrade’s mystery submission hold (seen above) is too unique to not have a name.
It didn’t matter how hard these two worked these fans decided they didn’t care and they were sticking to it, although Carrillo’s attempt to end Andrade’s career did help.
Charlotte Flair def. Asuka by Disqualification
It was at this point in the show that I realized the WrestleMania 36 sign might be the biggest sign yet.
Of all the clips WWE’s Twitter channel could have tweeted out pertaining to this segment, it chose a very sloppy suplex that was soundly roasted by the comment section.
Throughout this whole match, I couldn’t tell whether Byron Saxton, Jerry Lawler or Charlotte Flair was a heel.
Charlotte kicking the pint-size Kairi in the face was no way to endear her to this crowd.
Mojo Rawley def. No Way Jose—WWE 24/7 Championship
Mojo Rawley hiring an offensive lineman to protect his WWE 24/7 Championship is a brilliant idea because it gives him time to run away if his lineman loses.
I have a feeling Mojo Rawley and Riddick Moss aren’t going to be nearly as fun as R-Truth and Carmella.
Liv Morgan def. Lana
It would be nice to at least get a backstory of the romance that ultimately resulted in this match.
It’s a small sample size but Liv Morgan seems to have improved in her time away.
Erick Rowan def. Local Competitor
Erick Rowan really needed a Drew McIntyre-type two-on-one squash to undo the damage form his eight-second Royal Rumble appearance last night.
Edge Addresses his WWE Future
Edge was promoted better than the man who won the Royal Rumble, and that guy beat two people at once tonight.
This promo felt like the complete reverse of his retirement promo. The only thing the two segments had in common was the positive crowd reaction.
“You still got it” is the pro wrestling version of “good for you!”
If DDP Yoga had anything to do with Edge’s miraculous recovery, we’ll never know due to DDP’s relationship with AEW.
I can’t remember the last time I was this excited for a potential Randy Orton WrestleMania match.
