WWE Raw Review: February 3, 2020

WWE Raw Review: February 3, 2020 by Felix Pichler

Opening segment and Lana vs. Liv Morgan

Randy Orton came out and received loud booes. He started by saying that he would owe everybody an explanation for what he did last week to Edge. At first, we heard “Edge” chants followed by “you suck”. As he wanted to start to explain it, he suddenly said that he couldn’t do this, dropped the mic and left the ring.

Next, the opening match of the night took place between Lana and Liv Morgan. The match didn’t take long at all as after about one minute Morgan performed her finisher for the pinfall victory. Suddenly, Ruby Riott came out and entered the ring. Just as it seemed as they would hug each other, Riott attacked Morgan. After Riott destroying Morgan with several moves, Lana also performed a Facebuster on Morgan.

Opinion: Even though it would be interesting to hear Orton’s explanation, it’s logical that they want to stretch this whole storyline a bit and besides after this segment the fans hate the Viper even more.

It was great to see the return of Riott even though it was no big surprise that she attacked Morgan. It will be interesting to watch if Sarah Logan also will get involved in this story.

Rating: B

24/7 Champion Mojo Rawley (w/ Riddick Moss) vs. Drew McIntyre in a non-title match

Before the match even started, Drew McIntyre held a little promo in which he said towards Mojo Rawley that he would Claymore Kick his head off just three seconds after putting the mic down. He recapped last week’s attack by Brock Lesnar and explained that this would show that he’s worried about McIntyre. He added that he would finally become WWE Champion at WrestleMania.

The match was immediately over as Rawley talked with Riddick Moss at ringside and just when he turned around, McIntyre hit him with the Claymore Kick.    

Opinion: The promo was well delivered by McIntyre and the fans also were absolutely hyped. This segment wasn’t very long, but it definitely worked off.

Rating: A

Kevin Owens and “the Viking Raiders” Erik and Ivar vs. Buddy Murphy and “AOP” Akam and Rezar (w/ Seth Rollins) in a six-man elimination tag team match

Ahead of this match, Charly Caruso interviewed in the backstage area Akam, Rezar and Buddy Murphy. Suddenly, Seth Rollins showed up and told them that they should get ready for their match and so they walked away. Caruso asked the Monday Night Messiah about this night’s triple threat match against Ricochet and Bobby Lashley as the winner will face Lesnar for the WWE Championship at Super ShowDown. He said that McIntyre would need to get prepared for another opponent at WrestleMania since he will face the Monday Night Messiah.

After a few minutes in the match, Ivar wanted to perform a running cross-body against Rezar at ringside. However, Rezar went out of the way and so Ivar went straight into the LED board on the side of the ring and moments later he had to be brought to the backstage area due to a shoulder injury. Meanwhile, Rollins used the moment of distraction to perform a Curb Stomp against Erik who then got pinned by Murphy. So, Owens was alone against three men.

However, he was still able to pin Murphy after a Pop-up Powerbomb. Due to that, he was then alone against Akam and Rezar. Just moments later he hit Akam with a Stunner to also eliminate him. Then, KO was able to dominate Rezar, but Rollins distracted him what allowed Rezar to perform two moves which looked like a kind of a Spinebuster which led to a successful three count.

Opinion: This match took about 22 minutes and it was really pretty good. They let Rollins and his squad look perfectly like heels while Owens showed a big heart as he was almost able to win against three men on his own.

Rating: A

Aleister Black vs. Eric Young

Ahead of the next match, Ricochet got interviewed in the backstage area as he explained that this chance to face Lesnar for the WWE Championship if he wins tonight’s triple threat match against Rollins and Lashley means everything to him.

The match between Aleister Black and Eric Young logically didn’t take long at all since after about one minute he performed the Black Mass Kick for the win. After the match, Black held a little promo in which he explained that he believes that people should be whoever they choose to be.

Opinion: Good and short match by Black. The only goal was to let him look strong and he definitely did, but nothing more to say about that.

Rating: B

Rey Mysterio vs. Angel Garza (w/ Zelina Vega)

Next, Humberto Carrillo made his entrance and followed by that Angel Garza and Zelina Vega came out. Carrillo looked confused. Vega explained that Angel Garza is the cousin of Carrillo and Garza said to Carrillo that both would know that he is the leader of their family.

Carrillo took the mic from Garza and spoke aggressively in Spanish. Vega slapped him in the face followed by an attack by Garza who also performed the Wing Clipper. They then went to the ringside where Garza set up Carrillo for the Hammerlock DDT on the arena floor as Vega pulled the ringside mat away.

Suddenly, Rey Mysterio’s music hit and he made the save for Carrillo what then led to a match between Mysterio and Garza. After some minutes, both men were at ringside where Vega distracted Mysterio what allowed Garza to perform a Superkick. Followed by that, he gave Mysterio a Hammerlock DDT on the arena floor as he wanted to do just minutes ago against Carrillo. The ref ended the match as the bell rang due to a no-contest finish.

Opinion: They used this move to sell injuries of Carrillo and Andrade. Due to that, I’m wondering why and how long they will take Mysterio out of the shows. However, this debut of Garza was quite good as he certainly drew enough heat for a good start as a heel.

Rating: A

The Queen’s choice

Then, Charlotte Flair made her entrance and entered the ring. She started her promo as she said that everyone would want to know who she will face at WrestleMania. She explained that she held the Raw Women’s Championship multiple times and already bet Becky Lynch as well as she already won the SmackDown Women’s Championship several times and also defeated Bayley. She went on by saying that she would have love for NXT and vice versa. The Queen then added that she won all the gold ten times, but she still wants all the gold.

Suddenly, the music of NXT Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley played, she made her entrance and joined Charlotte in the ring. Ripley explained that Charlotte won the Women’s Royal Rumble but she hasn’t beaten Ripley yet. She added that she actually bet Charlotte and said that if Charlotte is going to challenge for any title and then held up her title belt. However, the Queen didn’t give her a response and left the ring.

Opinion: It’s great to see that WWE is actually planning to let Ripley defend her title against Charlotte at WrestleMania. That’s exactly what the fans want to see and it looks like we would get it.

Rating: A

Asuka (w/ Kairi Sane) vs. Natalya

Ahead of the next match, Sarah Schreiber asked Lashley in the backstage area what his plans would be before heading in the triple threat match against Ricochet and Rollins. He noted that it would be a spoiler that he will defeat Lesnar to become WWE Champion and that he then beat the holy hell out of McIntyre at WrestleMania.

The match between Asuka and Natalya took longer than expected as it took Asuka almost 12 minutes to get the win as then Kairi Sane distracted Natalya what gave the Empress of Tomorrow the chance to apply the Asuka Lock and force her opponent to tap out.

After the match, Asuka took a mic and said that she would want a rematch for the Raw Women’s Championship. Lynch’s music hit and she came out. The Man accepted the challenge as she said that she would love to beat Asuka’s ass again. Sane tried to attack Lynch from behind who saw it coming and cleared her from the ring. The Man flexed her muscles and said that she would have superpowers in the form of eyes in the back of her head.

Opinion: I don’t quite get why the match took that long and, in the end, Asuka needed the distraction by Sane when they want her to challenge Lynch for the title again. In this case, a quick squash match would have been much better.

Rating: C

Seth Rollins vs. Ricochet vs. Bobby Lashley in a triple threat match for a shot at the WWE Championship at WWE Super ShowDown

Before the main event of this episode of Raw started, Rollins entered the ring and held a promo in which he said that it’s once more time to dethrone Lesnar. He recapped that he said the exact same thing one year ago and that back then the fans cheered for him while now he gets a different reaction. He thanked the fans and explained that he became the man he is now because of them. Then his two opponents came out and the match started.

It didn’t take long at all until Murphy and the AOP came out to attack Lashley and Ricochet. Anyways, Erik and KO also appeared to clear the situation. So, we then had again a normal triple threat match. After about 13 minutes, Ricochet performed the 630 Splash against Lashley to get the pinfall victory.

Immediately after the pin, Lesnar entered the ring to hit Ricochet with an F5 before the show went off air.

Opinion: Quite a chaotic main event but it was really entertaining. I’m happy that Erik and Owens came out since otherwise, it would have been easy for Rollins to win this match. Anyways, even though I’m a huge fan of Ricochet, he is of course just in this match at WWE Super ShowDown to let Lesnar look even more dangerous ahead of his clash with McIntyre.

Rating: B

Summary

This was a quite entertaining and good episode of Raw. There wasn’t this one moment which was clearly my highlight since we had several good segments and matches. However, the PPV Super ShowDown seems a bit meaningless as the result of the biggest match on the card (Lesnar vs. Ricochet) is already now clear. Ricochet logically won’t win the match as it would make no sense. However, the fans are happy that Ricochet won this match and so that’s better than Rollins or Lashley winning this fight.

Rating: B+