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On Monday night, WWE put together a mostly exceptional edition of Raw, focused on compelling matches that had time to tell a story in the ring. But, for all the good that happened inside the ThunderDome, the show ended with a questionable segment starring Randy Orton and Alexa Bliss.
After Orton invaded the Firefly Fun House, Bliss challenged him to meet her in the ring later that night. This would lead to Bliss asking Orton to turn her on like he did at The Fiend at TLC. Fans were left with no solution to the situation as the show ceased airing with Orton holding a lit match.
CBS Sports was with you all night, bringing you recaps and highlights from all the action. Read on for everything you need to know about an action-packed edition of Raw.
Alexa Bliss Asks Randy Orton To Set Her On Fire
Bliss said she hasn’t seen The Fiend since the inferno match at TLC. She said maybe he was waiting for next week’s Legends Week on Raw, or maybe Orton just came back to his playground. She asked Orton to come to the ring, only to do play his music twice without coming into the ring. Orton then appeared inside the Firefly Fun House. As Orton kicked, threw and tore the various residents of Fun House, Bliss begged him to stop before challenging Orton to meet her in the ring later that night.
In the show’s final segment, Orton met Bliss in the ring and Orton demanded to know where The Fiend was. Bliss said it wasn’t The Fiend, it was her, before bringing a gift into the ring. She opened the gift to reveal a box of gasoline and a box of matches, placing them at Orton’s feet. Bliss then challenged Orton to do to him, which Orton did to The Fiend on TLC. Orton stood with his arms crossed as Bliss lay down in the ring. She then poured the gas on and again asked Orton to light the match. Bliss then said that Orton wasn’t really sick and demented if he didn’t light the match, before calling him “a little bitch”. She then dumped the remaining gas on her head. Orton said he was able, but hesitated because he knew Bliss wanted him to do it. The lights then went out and Orton hit the match and the show went off.
It was interesting until the end. Coming out of the air with a cliffhanger of “Did Randy Orton Set Alexa Bliss on Fire?” sucks no matter what you thought of Orton vs The Fiend ending at TLC. It was as if the writers had an idea, but no idea how to carry it out. Orton couldn’t light Bliss’ fire because, well, you can’t do that. But he also couldn’t refuse to do so because it robs him of his main character trait of being an evil and sadistic monster of a human. And then you have to deal with WWE not immediately following up on social media. They do a lot of doing their own “reporting”, but they don’t say anything about what happened? How it works? It was a particularly bad finish for an otherwise exceptional edition of Raw. Grade: D
Keith Lee hits ticket to WWE title
Drew McIntyre opened the show with an in-ring promo, talking about his incredible year in 2020 before moving on to how he would defend the title next week on Raw against the winner of the night’s game between Sheamus and Keith Lee. Sheamus interrupted to tell McIntyre he kept his word last week, not putting his finger on Lee before after their team won their six-man game before saying he and McIntyre had talked about fighting for the title for 15 years. Lee then interrupted to say that he had lost all confidence in McIntyre to go with the lack of confidence he already had in Sheamus. With both men excited, McIntyre called a referee and said they should start the game right away, but not before Sheamus hits Lee with a pair of Brogue Kicks.
Keith Lee won. Sheamus via pinfall after a spiritual bomb. It was the violent fight that was expected between these two men. Plenty of power points and heavy hitting before Sheamus’ headshots had no effect on Lee, allowing him to punch the Grizzly Magnum before a Spirit Bomb for the win, earning him a title shot next week. Later that night, McIntyre praised Lee for his intervention and said the two will fight each other in their match.
The match between Lee and Sheamus was very good, which is to be expected with two talented and athletic great men. It’s clear this story is only just beginning and it’s hard to imagine Sheamus keeping himself out of the game next week. It feels like this creates a triple threat at the Royal Rumble, but it’s not sure. That Keith Lee vs. Drew McIntyre should be an exceptional match on Raw? It seems like a guarantee. Quality: B +
What Else Happened on WWE Raw?
Gran Metalik def. The Miz via pinfall with a sunset flip. The Miz was furious that he couldn’t get his Money in the Bank contract back, resulting in a lack of focus and a big loss. All was not lost for Miz, however, as later in the series Adam Pearce returned the Money in the Bank contract, claiming that Miz was correct in saying Morrison was the one who cashed it at TLC.
Shayna Baszler beats. Dana Brooke via submission with the Kirifuda pouch. Baszler attempted to injure Brooke’s arm – and later Mandy Rose’s arm on the outside – before trying to suffocate Brooke on the outside. Brooke would fight to return only to submit to the Kirifuda cover. Baszler locked Rose in the hold after the game for good measure.
AJ Styles def. Elias via pinfall after a phenomenal forearm. Styles took issue with the fact that Elias was playing guitar backstage earlier that night, saying that Omos couldn’t listen to Mozart. This, of course, led to a game. After knocking out Drift Away, Styles took the win by hitting a phenomenal forearm.
Mustafa Ali won. Ricochet via submission with the Koji pouch. Ricochet seemed to get things going when members of Retribution caused distractions before T-Bar and Mace pulled him off the turnbuckle to the ground outside, allowing Ali to hit a splash from the top rope to the ground. Ricochet appeared to have won the match after hitting Kickback, but Mace pulled Ali out of the ring before Retribution attacked. After eliminating all of Retribution’s members, Ricochet attempted to strike a shooting star on Ali, but Ali raised his knees and locked the Koji Clutch for the win. Ali gave Ricochet another chance to join the group, but Ricochet said no and hit a facebuster before leaving the ring.
Charlotte Flair won. Nia Jax by disqualification after the intervention of Shayna Baszler. Ahead of the match, Jax and Baszler declared themselves for the Royal Rumble. During the match, Asuka gave Flair an assist by hitting Baszler with a rotating back fist to avoid interference. It worked temporarily, but when Flair had Jax in the figure-eight, Baszler slipped into the ring and locked Flair into the Kirifuda clutch for the DQ.
The Hurt Business def. Riddle, Jeff Hardy and The New Day via submission when Bobby Lashley put Hardy in the Hurt Lock. Lashley announced his participation in the Royal Rumble match as The Hurt Business cut a pre-match promo. After a run wild enough to end the match, Lashley locked Hardy in the Hurt Lock for the win. After the match, The Hurt Business continued to attack their opponents until they were pushed back, including Riddle hitting Lashley with a knee before leaving the ring.
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