When Drew McIntyre was forced to leave his planned WWE Raw main event with Randy Orton as a result of McIntyre’s COVID-19 diagnosis, he left WWE with the need to fight to fill the void. In need of star power, WWE reached the bag of legends, which resulted in Triple H’s first fight since June 2019.
Triple H faced Orton in the main event of the night, although the fight was interrupted by the involvement of Alexa Bliss, still seeking revenge for Orton for setting fire to “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt on TLC. After setting Triple H’s hammer on fire, followed by Triple H’s disappearance, Bliss ended the night by throwing a fireball into Orton’s eyes. It was more of a strange wrinkle in one of the most original stories in recent WWE history. Now, again, fans will need to wait a week for the aftermath of the fire.
Triple H returns, Orton is hit by a fireball
Triple H was ready to open the show with a promotion in the ring when he was interrupted by Orton, who pointed out that “the office” appeared because Drew McIntyre left with COVID. Orton asked if Triple H was there to announce Orton as No. 30 for the Royal Rumble or simply give him the WWE championship. Triple H asked if, after all these years, they are now at the point of implied threats before saying that Orton impressed him when he set fire to The Fiend. That was, said Triple H, the exact thing he would have done in Orton’s position. He did not support Orton disrespecting the legends, especially Ric Flair. As tensions rose, Orton challenged Triple H not to a fight, but to a fight. Triple H said no because there is no benefit to him. Orton asked if Triple H was “unable to retrieve his balls” from Stephanie McMahon’s bag, prompting Triple H to knock him out of the ring. Later in the show, Triple H officially accepted the challenge.
Triple H vs. Randy Orton finished without competition after Alexa Bliss threw a fireball in Orton’s eyes. Triple H hit Orton with his right hand early in the game, knocking him out of the ring. The two fought until they went to the ring, where Triple H sent Orton to the ring steps. Orton hit the eye with his thumb, but was thrown at the advertisers table. After bleeding Orton, Triple H grabbed his sledgehammer and was walking towards the ring when the lights started to go out in the arena. Triple H’s sledgehammer suddenly caught fire and the lights went out completely, coming back to reveal that Triple H was gone. A distorted version of the song Firefly Fun House played before Alexa Bliss was revealed to be behind Orton. Bliss then threw a fireball at Orton’s face and Orton staggered in pain, holding his eyes as the show left.
Almost everything that involves Orton, Bliss and Bray Wyatt is a matter of personal taste. For some, it is just too mushy to see a doll catch fire and Alexa Bliss to shoot fireballs. For others, it reaches an acceptable level of entertainment. There is no real compromise with an angle like this. What little we got from Triple H vs. Orton was fun, but it’s hard not to be a little disappointed every time there is a three-hour build for a match that doesn’t quite happen, especially something like a Triple H return to the ring. That said, the fireball is a classic piece of wrestling antics, so it gets a slight bump. Serie B-
What else happened at WWE Raw?
- Drew McIntyre spoke in a short video, addressing its COVID-19 diagnosis. He said he has no symptoms and urged everyone to take the virus seriously and take appropriate measures to prevent its spread.
- Lacey Evans def. Charlotte Flair via pinfall after Ric Flair’s interference. Before the match, Flair explained that his father was at home and that there were no persistent problems, despite the fact that he had cost him a match by accident last week. Ric Flair’s music then hit during the match and he strutted into the ring. Ric shamelessly helped Evans by putting his foot on the ropes and then making Charlotte stumble to help Evans pin it. Ric and Lacey hugged and left the ring together after the match.
- Jaxson Ryker def. Jeff Hardy via pinfall with a student badge. Elias claimed his thumb was injured and he couldn’t compete, so he distracted Hardy to allow Ryker to do a very fast immobilization.
- Jeff Hardy defeated. Elias via pinfall after a Swanton bomb. Hardy called Elias to fight him, saying that he knew that Elias did not want the world to think that Ryker was better than him. Elias nodded and winked and told Ryker not to interfere. Hardy won the clean match, after which a confused Ryker told Elias that Elias told him not to help.
- Sheamus and Keith Lee defeated The Miz and John Morrison via pinfall after Sheamus hit Morrison with a Brogue Kick. The fight came after a challenge behind the scenes by Sheamus and Lee. During the fight, Lee threw Morrison in the corner, causing the upper rope to fall when the stretcher “broke”. Sheamus used a blind tag to place himself and steal the victory for his team, but Lee and Sheamus hugged and celebrated the victory together.
- Keith Lee won. Sheamus via pinfall after a spiritual bomb. The show came back from the commercial and the two were now in the singles competition. After a hard fight, Lee scored the pin and punched the floor. Sheamus slapped his hand and the two exchanged a hug.
- Drew McIntyre responded to the Goldberg challenge. McIntyre said that Goldberg was one of his heroes, but was disappointed by the legend that put words in his mouth. McIntyre said out of respect, he didn’t want to meet the challenge of a man 20 years older than him. But after Goldberg laid hands on him, his mind changed, leading him to accept the challenge.
- T-Bar def. Xavier Woods via pinfall with Open Your Eyes. Woods did not have Kofi Kingston with him, and the Retribution distraction allowed T-Bar to score the victory.
- United States Championship – Bobby Lashley (c) won. Matt Riddle by submission with Hurt Lock to retain the title. Lashley attacked before the bell, getting a head start and never really looking back before scoring a submission victory easy enough to take revenge after losing to Riddle last week. After the match, Riddle said he couldn’t beat Lashley, but he could definitely win MVP.
- Riddle def. MVP by disqualification after Bobby Lashley’s interference. MVP struggled with social clothes, but Lashley interfered as soon as Riddle started his attack. Lashley and MVP continued to attack after the bell.
- AJ Styles def. Drew Gulak via pinfall after a phenomenal forearm. Styles was talking to Adam Pearce about Pearce’s next fight with Roman Reigns at the Royal Rumble when Gulak interrupted to declare himself for the Royal Rumble fight. Pearce told him that with just 15 spots for Raw, Gulak would have to win his spot, leading to the fight. Gulak was competitive, but fell short in the end.
- Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler defeated. Mandy Rose and Dana Brooke via shipping when Baszler arrested Rose at Kirifuda Clutch. Before the match, Rose and Brooke declared for the Royal Rumble – facing none of Gulak’s resistance. Jax and Baszler won with relative ease, although Jax seemed annoyed that Baszler did not mark her for the submission.