Last week's episode of WWE Raw saw the return of WWE Champion Brock Lesnar, who made the shocking announcement that not only will he be participating in the men's Royal Rumble match, but that he will be the #1 entrant. It also set up a number of matches that will take place tonight, which should settle some rivalries and offer a clearer path to the Royal Rumble pay-per-view on Sunday, January 26.
WWE Raw for 1/13/2020 will feature AJ Styles going one-on-one with Randy Orton, Aleister Black vs. Buddy Murphy, and Rusev and Lashley squaring off yet again. Fans will also get to see what's being promoted as WWE's first-ever "fistfight" match, and it will be exciting to see how that plays out.
We will update this post with live results for WWE Raw on 1/13/2020 once the show starts at 5pm PT/8pm ET.
1. Triple Threat Match: AJ Styles vs. Drew McIntyre vs. Randy Orton
Winner: Drew McIntyre. It would have been great to see AJ and Randy Orton go one-on-one, but throwing Drew McIntyre into the mix made this match infinitely more exciting and started the crowd off hot. Everyone looked great in this match, and even the sloppier maneuvers got a strong reaction from the crowd. McIntyre's Claymore Kick is very much over, though Orton managed to counter it with a dropkick at one point. Orton and Styles worked together to take McIntyre out of the equation, and back in the ring, Orton hit Styles with his own Styles Clash move for a near fall. Orton then hit AJ with an RKO, but McIntyre was able to take Orton out with a surprise Claymore Kick to pick up the victory. This match was a little on the short side, but it was exciting from start to finish.
Grade: A-
2. Mojo Rawley vs. Ricochet
Winner: Ricochet. This was the standard Raw squash match. Ricochet finished Rawley off in short time with a 630 splash. Rawley got some offense in, but it's clear at this point that he's basically just enhancement talent now. That makes it hard to get too invested in any of his matches.
Grade: C
3. Charlotte Flair vs. Sarah Logan
Winner: Charlotte Flair. This match really should have gone on longer. Building off what happened between these two on Raw from 1/6/2020, these two had a hard-hitting match and a nice brawl on the outside. Flair wound up forcing Logan to submit with the Figure-Eight Leglock in the end.
Grade: C+
4. Brock Lesnar Returns to Raw
Brock Lesnar made his return to Raw this week. He was joined by his advocate Paul Heyman, who cut the usual promo. Eventually, R-Truth made his way to the ring and there was some genuine comedy to be had with Truth misunderstanding who exactly he'd have to fight in the Rumble. When Truth realized Brock was in the Rumble, he un-declared himself from it. The inevitable eventually happened, with Lesnar attacking Truth, laying him out with a clothesline and an F5. Brock then teased going after Truth's 24/7 Championship, but opted not to. After the match, Mojo Rawley attacked Truth on the ramp, laying him out and claiming the 24/7 Championship as his own.
5. Bobby Lashley w/ Lana vs. Rusev
Winner: Bobby Lashley. Liv Morgan was supposed to be in Rusev's corner, as she has been actively involved in this storyline since the big Lashley/Lana wedding on Raw. However, she didn't show up until the end of the match. The match itself was pretty good, with Lana injecting herself at the right spots so Lashley could get the upperhand on Rusev. Rusev ended up losing, but he looked strong in defeat, as Lashley had to use multiple Spears to take him out, including an especially brutal-looking one on the floor. When Liv Morgan finally made her way to the ring, she immediately got in Lana's face. Lana threw a fan's drink at Liv, and then threw her into the barricade. This distracted Rusev long enough for Lashley to line up another Spear and pick up the victory.
Grade: B+
6. Raw Tag Team Championship Match: The Viking Raiders (c) vs. The Singh Brothers
Winners: The Viking Raiders. The Viking Raiders brought back their open challenge this week, and it was answered by The Singh Brothers. The Viking Raiders put The Singh Brothers away easily, with one highlight of the match being when two Singh brothers were thrown into each other like lawn darts. Otherwise this was just yet another squash match.
Grade: C
7. Asuka and Becky Lynch Contract Signing
As is typical of a WWE contract signing, the contract signing between Asuka and Becky Lynch ended in disaster. Asuka spit Green Mist into Lynch's eyes. The medical attention they give to Lynch at ringside really put over the Green Mist as a major threat, and it will be exciting to see how it is incorporated in their Rumble match. Lynch did a promo afterwards that was quite good as well, doing a great job of building anticipation to her match with Asuka in a couple of weeks.
8. Aleister Black vs. Buddy Murphy
Winner: Aleister Black. This was another hard-hitting bout from Black and Murphy, but far from their best match. The story here was that Murphy nearly picked up the victory on multiple occasions, only to not get the win by pure chance. For example, the referee caught Murphy pulling Black's tights at one point, and in another instance, Black was able to get his foot on the rope after being hit by Murphy's Law. The ending seemed botch, as Black hit Murphy with the Black Mass, only for Murphy to "kick out" according to the referee. However, no real kick out seemed to happen. Black then hit Murphy with another Black Mass. The ending was a shame, but the story being told was engaging and the match was high quality.
Grade: A-
9. Erick Rowan vs. Local Competitor
Winner: Erick Rowan. And this week on Raw, Rowan destroyed another jobber. This poor kid took a horrific back bump from the ring to the floor, and got in zero offense against Rowan. Rowan was able to get the pinfall after the Iron Claw. The actual match wasn't really what was important here, though. We got a bit more story development with whatever is hiding in Rowan's cage, as Rowan stuck his hand in it and pulled it out covered in blood. It will be interesting to see what's actually in the cage, but based on WWE's track record with surprise reveals like this, we have to imagine it's going to be underwhelming.
Grade: C
10. Fistfight: Kevin Owens, Samoa Joe, and The Big Show vs. Seth Rollins and The Authors of Pain
Winners: Seth Rollins and The Authors of Pain. The rules of this match were just needlessly vague. There's no reason why this couldn't have been a standard Street Fight or something and end in pinfall. The rules were that the referee had to determine when the other team was unable to compete, and the way this was determined was ridiculous if one just takes a look at any other match or WWE programming any other week. On the bright side, this match at least had some fun spots. Kevin Owens running up the ramp and flipping onto The Authors of Pain was cool to see, and we got multiple table spots. Storyline-wise, the significance here was Rollins recruiting Buddy Murphy for help, as Murphy had been sitting at ringside distraught since failing to beat Aleister Black earlier in the night. Murphy ended up saving Rollins from The Big Show, hitting him with a lowblow and eventually allowing Rollins to nail Show with the Curbstomp, which was apparently enough for the referee to call off the match.
Grade: B-
Next week's episode of Raw will feature an appearance from Brock Lesnar (for the third week in a row!), a Mixed Tag Team Match with Rusev and Liv Morgan teaming against Lana and Lashley, and what is sure to be an explosive Ladder Match as Andrade defends the United States Championship against Rey Mysterio.