Edge’s return to Raw and subsequent attack by Orton start things off. Randy comes out and says nothing, but makes weird faces and doesn’t say much without being interrupted and leaving. They were going for something deep here, but it didn’t work. Brock in the Rumble is recapped. Liv Morgan beats Lana in another bad match. Ruby Riott returns and then beats up Liv and Lana lands an X factor. They recap the giant snowstorm in Salt Lake City before they came into the city for Raw. Byron thanks the fans for showing up and being passionate about all things WWE. I’m sure it’s just a coincidence this airs after Jim Valley made a great point over the weekend about how WWE isn’t able to make an emotional connection with fans.
Mojo comes down with Riddick Moss before Drew’s Rumble win is recapped. Drew says he’ll claymore Mojo after talking about Brock and then he Claymores him and beats him immediately. Well, the role of everyone underneath Drew is to get Drew over to the main event level of WM and you can certainly sacrifice the 24/7 Champion for that. Murphy and AOP says that they work smart and they’ll take out the Viking Raiders and KO. They do just that with Razar taking out KO following two big Ron Simmons-style spinebusters in a six-man tag.
Ricochet says that he’s small, but determination will let him rise above Lashley and Seth tonight. Aleister Black squashes Eric Young with the Black Mass. Aleister says a whole bunch of words to put over Black Mass. Humberto Carrillo comes out before Zelina Vega brings out Angel Garza, who hits the Wing Clipper. He desperately needs a better finish – it’s Madison Rayne’s old one and it just looks like both people take the same ass bump. She wants him to take out Humberto with a hammerlock DDT on the floor, but Rey saves Humberto.
This leads to Rey facing Angel in a short match until Garza lands something resembling a hammerlock DDT on the floor. I like that – they’re getting this single spot over huge and that’s good. You don’t see much emphasis on a single spot like that. Charlotte comes out and says she’s held all the gold ten times. Rhea Ripley comes out and squares off with Charlotte to set up Mania. Lashley says he’ll take out Seth and Ricochet to go onto face Brock at Super Showdown. Lashley’s arm veins are just unreal for anyone, let alone someone in their ’40s. Dude’s incredible.
Asuka forces Nattie to tap to the Asuka Lock in a quick match with Asuka not letting go of the hold. Becky comes out in big shades to protect her eyes, then takes them off like an idiot. She challenges Asuka again and wants to kick her ass again. Seth, Ricochet, and Lashley features KO and the Viking Raiders taking out Seth’s goons. It’s a pretty short match with a tower of doom and Ricochet kicking Lashley down and 630ing him to win before Brock runs in and 5Fs him. Brock vs. Ricochet should be a lot of fun and will definitely elevate Ricochet more in a defeat than him just being stuck in the mid-card quagmire.
