4 Ups & 11 Downs From WWE Raw (Jan 11)

2. Burn This Rivalry With Fire

Alexa Bliss Randy Orton fireball
WWE.com

Lest we think that the Randy Orton/Triple H fight was about the two of them rekindling their rivalry, we very quickly learned on Monday night that it was just window-dressing for something else.

Just minutes into a pretty standard brawl, Triple H retrieved his sledgehammer, but before he could use it, the lights started going out. Then all of a sudden, his sledge was on fire (no, seriously). The lights then shut off entirely, and when they came back up, Hunter was gone.

Orton looked around and found Alexa Bliss behind him. She held up her “pain” glove, then shot Randy with a fireball with the other hand, sending the Viper into overacting mode as he writhed in the ring while the announcers wondered if he was blinded.

Question: Who’s the villain here? Orton burned The Fiend and contemplated igniting Bliss, but then Alexa hit Randy with a fireball.

Worse, does anyone care yet? This feud has flamed out – in more ways than one – and yet it’s gonna keep going. Lucky us.

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Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.