WWE Raw – February 10, 2020 (Review)

WWE Raw – February 10, 2020 (Review)

Happy Monday! It’s time for WWE Monday Night Raw.

Last week we got the return of Ruby Riott and no answers from a conflicted Randy Orton. This week what do we have on the docket:

Looks like we’ll have the continuing fight between Team KO and the Architects of Pain.

Though MVP did say he has had his final match in WWE, it looks like he’ll still be appearing as a personality. This makes me happy as MVP is one of the absolute best guys I’ve interacted with in the business.

And of course, a Royal Rumble rematch between Becky and Asuka.  Let’s take a look at our show


The Best of Raw

The Man, The Empress, and The New Challenger

Nice to have the ladies interrupt the gents for once.  Asuka comes out cutting a promo and this championship match is opening the show.

Match has a grapple-heavy start.  Becky lynch remains in control and as Kairi taunts on the outside Asuka knocks her off the apron with a hip attack. Though Becky is able to get a lot of offense in, Asuka is also able to look strong getting some solid roll-ups and near-falls.

Great spot with Kairi shoving Asuka out of the way so Becky hits Kairi off the apron instead.  The two continue the fight on the Apron, trading holds before Becky his Asuka with a Scorpion Death Drop.  Asuka is able to dodge a top rope leg drop and fight for an Asuka Lock. The two trade off holds between an Asuka Lock and a Disarm Her, but Becky Lynch is able to pull out an Uranage for the pin and win.

https://twitter.com/tde_wrestling/status/1227045163744276481?s=20

Post-match a wild Shayna Baszler appears to beat down Becky and take a chunk ot of the back of her neck, leaving her mouth bloodied and Becky writhing in pain.  As expected Asuka/Becky was an excellent match, and great way to bring Shayna in by surprise, but I’m curious what this new gimmick is with Shayna’s newfound literal bloodlust.  As Becky’s being led away she fights off EMS and decides to drive herself to the hospital, by stealing the ambulance.

Becky returns in the third hour driving the ambulance back from the Medical facility.  Heads directly back to the ring and calls out Shayna, promising retribution.

VIP Lounge is Claymore Country

MVP is back in-ring to host the VIP Lounge.  I can’t remember this segment, but it is easy enough to see how much charisma MVP has in his introduction for Drew McIntyre.

Drew is excited to be out there and having so much fun with pointing at the Wrestlemania sign.  MVP says not to pay attention to what’s being said behind his back, and offers his services in a managerial capacity.  Drew says he doesn’t need anybody thinking for him, talking for him, or kissing his ass.  He hits MVP with a Glasgow Kiss and follows it with a countdown Claymore to close the segment.

Let the Bodies hit Everywhere

Finally time for the advertised main event.  Match begins as Team KO prevents Rollins from starting his promo by attacking immediately.  Match starts over the break and everybody in the match playing to their strengths.  It’s kind of amusing that the two agile members of each team are Murphy and Ivar.

Samoa Joe looks very good in his return, not missing a beat, but great spot of the AoP cutting off Joe from a dive, but then Samoa Joe and Viking Raiders all tope out of the ring onto Rollins and AoP.  Owens even dives onto AoP on the outside, and Samoa Joe is able to catch Murphy on a blind tag into a Cochina Clutch.  While Murphy is tapping out, the ref is distracted, allowing Rollins to Stomp Joe and Murphy to pick up the win to close the show.

A Legacy Deleted

Randy orton once again comes out to address the crowd.  Still getting a chorus of boos, but there are some scattered cheers in there because it’s just so damn hard to hate Randy Orton.  A Wild Matt Hardy appears and the crowd chants delete.

Matt says that everybody knows the history of he and Edge which the crowd replies with Lita chants.  He talks about the history of the Hardys and Edge and Christian, gets some TLC chants as well.  Hardy’s promo is quite heartfelt.  Matt is able to dodge an initial RKO and battle Orton briefly but finally that RKO does arrive from out of nowhere.

Orton places Matt’s head on a chair and performs the one-man con-chair-to, leaving the ring, but pausing on the ramp to soak in the heat.

This does look like it may be the true end of Matt Hardy in WWE, as he tweeted “Goodbye” following the appearance.


The Mixed Bag of Raw

Sermon on the Ring

The show kicked off with Seth Rollins in ring with his Disciples and it looks like we’re really going with “Murphy” now as the new name.

Seth Rollins is again outstanding in his use delivery of his promo, showing why he’s so fitting in this heel role.  It is kind of funny that Murphy is wearing the new Rollins shirt, while AoP get their own shirts and Rollins has none.

Kevin Owens comes out to interrupt and Rollins offers him the role of Martyr, but KO declares that he isn’t alone and once again brings back the Viking Raiders. Once a brawl ensues between the the Disciples and Team KO, Samoa Joe shows up out of nowhere to put a cochina clutch on Seth Rollins as the ring gets cleared.

Celebrating is interrupted by Becky Lynch, which is nice to see happen during a men’s segment.  Should be a solid match tonight, but this segment didn’t have anything outstanding, though nothing of poor quality either.

Family Matters

Cedric Alexander gets the jobber entrance to compete against Angel Garza and his shiny shiny pants.    Zelina introduces Angel as a man’s man and he is interrupted by Humberto Carrillo who delivers two of the best spinebusters I’ve seen in a while.

Good way to get Carrillo’s heat back as the match begins as planned.  Cedric getting in a good amount of offense, but can’t get past Garza and his Wing Clipper.  Short and did a lot to build Garza and Carrillo, just wish it hadn’t come at the expense of Cedric Alexander.

Ruby Riott Speaks

Ruby Riott backstage being interviewed about Liv Morgan.  Says Liv is always going to be a follower and Ruby must put her in her place, and Liv will strike when Ruby says so.

Not sure exactly what to think of this. They did mention Liv although they seem to have dropped the angle with Lana, but I’ll be patient and let this play out, I’m just glad for Ruby Riott’s return.

Raw is Rhea

Rhea Ripley is giving an interview backstage but Sarah Logan interrupts her, though Ripley is dismissive of Sarah Logan.

Logan goes out to the ring and calls out Rhea Ripley, upset about her dismissive attitude.  Charlotte interrupts before the match and walks out.  Ripley is clearly in control of the match and keeps her eyes on Charlotte as she squashes Sarah Logan quickly with a boot, dropkick, and Riptide.

Rhea demands an answer, but Charlotte brings up the very good point that we don’t even know if Rhea will still be the NXT Women’s Champion.


The Worst of Raw

Gone in 60 seconds

Tag match between Street Profits and Mojo Rawley/Riddick Moss.  Crowd clearly wants the Smoke and the Street Profits and call out Mojo as hiding behind Riddick Moss despite claiming the 24/7 title is not for cowards.  Also claim Mojo rides Gronk’s coat-tails.

Very brief match where the Street Profits destroy Riddick Moss and Mojo doesn’t bother to go in and break up the pin.  Riddick Moss rolls up Mojo after the match and runs off as 24/7 champion.

Ricochet’s Brock Lesnar Simulation Match

Bobby Lashley working out backstage with Lana who is wearing a very 90s glitter dress.  Lashley is taking on Ricochet later tonight ready

Ricochet gets a pre-match promo to say that there’s nobody that will stop him from getting to Super Showdown.  The match is standard fare between the two, the agility and athleticism of Ricochet on display against Lashley’s size and strength.  Ricochet is able to win by backflipping out of a superplex and delivering a 630.

I know this is to build Ricochet for Super Showdown, but one must wonder how long the Lana/Lashley angle will continue.

Back in Black Mass

Aleister Black makes his way to the ring to face Akira Tozawa.  Incredibly short segment that ends with a Black Mass following limited offense from Tozawa.

Black cuts a promo alluding to himself as Lucifer and as a caged animal that everybody else is trapped in a cage with.  Another Aleister Black segment and I can’t help but to wonder what the end game is, there seems to be no momentum yet they are keeping him strong.


Overall Rating for the Show (From best to worst: RawSome, Cor, AvRAWge, Poor and RawFul)

There were things to like about this Raw.  Despite the unusual neck bite spot, the passion and fire from Becky Lynch throughout the night kept me invested in her story.  Becky and Asuka also had Match of the nigh on Raw, but that should come as no surprise.  Other matches on this show were fun, but most suffered from the inherent problem that they don’t seem to move the stories or product forward.  With Super Showdown coming up, it feels like creative hit a snag as they promote an overpriced house show.

This week’s Raw was AvRAWge

Follow WrestleTalk on Twitter to stay up-to-date with all the latest wrestling news.

4 years ago by Wrestle Talk

Trending

Get the latest wrestling news straight to your inbox

By submitting this form, you are consenting to receive marketing emails from WrestleTalk