Monday’s edition of Raw, the first of 2021, was Legends Night with appearances by some of the biggest stars in WWE history. Unfortunately, the involvement of the legends led to a highly unsatisfactory ending to the championship game between WWE champion Drew McIntyre and Keith Lee and a good overall show.
After McIntyre survived Lee in an incredible and hard-hitting match, Goldberg appeared at ThunderDome to launch a Royal Rumble challenge for the champion. Goldberg’s motivation made little sense in the big picture. Worse, it will tie McIntyre to a big pay-per-view event in a match that almost nobody wants to see.
CBS Sports was with you all night, bringing you recap and highlights of all the action. Read everything you need to know about the Legends Night edition of Raw.
McIntyre survives Lee, is challenged
In the middle of the show, McIntyre was talking to Sheamus backstage with Sheamus asking McIntyre to give Lee an extra kick in the head for him. The duo was interrupted by Hulk Hogan and Jimmy Hart, with Hogan giving McIntyre a motivational speech. Hogan said McIntyre reminds him of himself before the two posed together to end the segment. Lee had his own stimulating conversation with Riddle, who said to him, “New year, new champion.”
WWE Championship – Drew McIntyre (c) won. Keith Lee via pinfall to retain the title: Lee knocked McIntyre out of the ring twice in the first moments of the match. After the second time, Lee jumped McIntyre, sending him flying over the barricade next to the ring. Lee continued to dominate the action after the fight returned to the ring, playing McIntyre with ease. McIntyre finally came back with a huge belly-to-belly suplex, throwing Lee through the ring and finally hitting Lee with a powerbomb through the announcement table next to the ring. Lee landed an unbelievable Spanish fly from the upper rope, marking a near fall as the intensity continued to increase. Lee took a Claymore, counterattacked in a Spirit Bomb attempt, but McIntyre escaped before hitting Claymore for victory.
McIntyre took the microphone after the fight, but was interrupted by Bill Goldberg’s music before Goldberg reached the ring. Goldberg said that McIntyre is a great representative to be champion, but the only thing he doesn’t have is respect. Goldberg said that McIntyre sees present legends as destroyed, and that the lack of respect led Goldberg to launch a challenge for the Royal Rumble. McIntyre said it would be like fighting his father and Goldberg pushed him to the screen to end the show.
Most importantly first: The match between McIntyre and Lee was a powerful fight that showed both men and left them looking good after the final bell. As far as TV games are concerned, it was wonderful to tell an independent story and have a lot of drama, including a long final stretch. Then Goldberg happened. Goldberg’s appearance sucked up all the post-game energy. To make the whole thing even worse, Goldberg’s problems with McIntyre didn’t make sense. Where did the idea of McIntyre – who has been the final face champion – not respect the legends come from? It was taken out of nowhere to give Goldberg some kind of reason to launch a challenge and not look like a jump when being a jump would be absolutely good. Even more than all of this, however, is that there is absolutely no need for Goldberg to be involved in any match, let alone a big pay-per-view title match. It is absurd and a tired audience to grasp that WWE should be beyond with the unprecedented level of talent on its list right now. Let’s change things so that the notes are fair to all parties. Degree of play: A | Goldberg Grade: F
Randy Orton tries to sculpt his hatred
Orton was interviewed backstage and said the voices in his head were telling him to set Alexa Bliss on fire last week when the show went off the air. Orton said that in the end he couldn’t do that and showed moderation and compassion, which means that he changed when interacting with the Evil One. But, he said, he can carve out the new hatred he felt for himself and direct it to someone else. Instead of talking about The Demon, he wanted to go for a walk, find some legends and remember them because he is “The Assassin of Legend”. Orton confronted The Big Show behind the scenes, trying to incite him to a fight. Orton asked Ric Flair to take him down the hall again, but Flair argued with him, saying that he would never walk with Orton again after Orton kicked him last year. Orton came down Flair, saying that now, he is nothing but an old man.
Randy Orton won. Jeff Hardy via pinfall after an RKO. Orton went to Hardy aggressively early, taking him outside and repeatedly banging his head on the advertisers table. Hardy fought, going on a series of offensives that took him to the top for a Swanton bomb, but Orton rolled out of the ring before Hardy could jump. Orton finally dug his fingers into Hardy’s calibrated ears and pulled, similar to what he had done with the piercings in his Hell in a Cell match in 2018. Hardy fought, but an attempt by Twist of Fate was overturned in the RKO to finish.
Orton and Hardy had a great game, as they have done many times in the past. The failure of all of this is in Orton promising to use his self-hatred to form some kind of more dangerous version of himself. He spent the show facing legends and being an idiot. Okay, this is Randy Orton. But, after setting The Fiend on fire and threatening to do the same with Alexa Bliss, walking around and being an idiot doesn’t seem to prove why he is “The Legend Killer” or becoming a more dangerous version of himself. He was aggressive against Hardy, but Orton is an aggressive fighter by nature. And the ear spot is something he has also done in the past. This seemed to slow down for Orton, which was not what was promised. Grade: C
What else happened at WWE Raw?
The new day def. The Miz and John Morrison via pinfall after Woods hit Morrison with a brilliant wizard. The Miz and John Morrison opened the show with Miz TV, only to have the segment hijacked by The New Day. Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods said that Miz and Morrison were really their guests of the new program, “New Day Talks”. After a few comings and goings, Teddy Long interrupted to tell Miz and Morrison that they would face The Undertaker, only to have Adam Pearce interrupt and Long to correct that the duo would face The New Day. Woods would hit a brilliant wizard in Morrison to mark the victory. Orton also confronted Mark Henry, who has an injured leg, telling Henry that he owes him “many receipts”.
Championship 24/7 – R-Truth defeated Andrade (c) to win the title. Andrade talked to several legends behind the scenes, boasting about his title 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and finally being overthrown by the sergeant. Slaughter, Tatanka, Mickie James and Alicia Fox. Later, Torrie Wilson sent Andrade to a room where she said she would find Cardi B. Instead, Andrade found The Boogeyman, causing him to run from the room to R-Truth, who immobilized him to win the title.
AJ Styles def. Elias via pinfall after getting into a style conflict. Jaxson Ryker tried to attack Styles with a guitar after the fight, but Omos kicked the guitar to make the defense.
Lacey Evans & Peyton Royce won. Charlotte Flair and Asuka via pinfall when Ric Flair accidentally tripped over Charlotte, allowing Royce to pin it. After the match, Charlotte got in Ric’s face and told her to stay out of her business and forced him out of the ring.
Riddle def. Bobby Lashley via pinfall with a student badge. After a solid game of comings and goings, Lashley had Riddle in The Hurt Lock, forcing the tap. The referee didn’t see the hit, but Lashley let it go. While Lashley and MVP argued with the referee, Riddle took advantage of the distraction to roll Lashley to victory. After the defeat, Lashley promised to punish Riddle the next time he gets his hands on him.
Dana Brooke won. Shayna Baszler via pinfall after countering the Kirifuda Clutch on a pin. Baszler was supposed to face Mandy Rose, but Baszler attacked her before the match, leaving her out. Dana Brooke ran to check on her partner, leading to an impromptu match with Baszler. Baszler stopped at Kirifuda Clutch and Brooke rolled to score a pin, but Baszler didn’t let go of the hold. Baszler continued to choke Brooke after the fight, but Rose ran to hit a knee before the two hit Baszler with a flapjack.
Lucha House Party def. The Hurt Business when Lynx Dorado defeated Shelton Benjamin with a crucifix. After the fight, MVP ran over Benjamin and Cedric Alexander outside the ring, telling them to be embarrassed. Alexander left after saying that he is the one winning, while Benjamin cost them the match.