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6 Takeaways From WWE RAW (12/24)

Strowman Heyman RAW

Written by

Robert Lentini

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The December 24th episode of WWE RAW was taped last week at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, California. Here are 6 takeaways from the show:

Elias Won The Miracle On 34th Street Fight

Elias kicked off this week’s episode of RAW by singing an original Christmas song. The song poked fun at Lio Rush and that his Christmas wish was that Bobby Lashley went missing. Lashley interrupted and battled Elias in a Miracle on 34th Street Fight.

Elias knocked Lashley to the floor and bashed him with a Christmas tree several times. Lio Rush interfered and went for a Frog Splash but Elias got his knees up. Lashley battled back and sent Elias flying across the ring with a Belly to Belly Throw.

Lio slid a box full of legos into the ring and Lashley poured it onto the canvas. The crowd broke out in a “legos!” chant as Elias and Lashley battled on the top rope. Elias shoved Lashley off the turnbuckle and Bobby fell on top of the legos.

Elias sprayed a fire extinguisher in Lashley’s face and then pushed Rush off the ring apron and through a table at ringside. Elias brought a bowling ball into the ring and rolled it right into Lashley’s groin. Elias then blasted Lashley with a cello for the pinfall victory. After the match, Elias poured a bowl of eggnog over Rush’s head.

https://twitter.com/totaldivaseps/status/1077373704244473856

For a goofy gimmick match, this was actually entertaining. Elias has been one of the only consistently entertaining parts of RAW but has stuck in a feud with Lashley for what feels like an eternity. Hopefully, this was the end of that and Elias can be placed in a relevant storyline heading into the New Year.

Roode & Gable Retained In A Solid Match Against The Revival

Bobby Roode & Chad Gable defended their RAW Tag Team Championships against The Revival on tonight’s show. Gable came down to the ring in a robe like Roode and did the glorious pose alongside him.

The Revival dominated the match early and isolated Gable in the ring. Wilder perched Gable up on the top turnbuckle but Gable locked in an Arm Bar over the rope. Dawson tagged in and Gable planted him with a Suplex.

Roode tagged in and cleaned house. Gable got back in and hit Wilder with an awesome German Suplex and went for the cover but Dawson broke it up. The Revival delivered an uppercut and followed it up with a German Suplex for another near fall. Roode knocked Wilder out of the ring as Gable rolled up Dawson to retain the titles. The announcers pointed out that Gable didn’t pin the legal man at the conclusion of the match.

This was an entertaining match and I’m looking forward to seeing it again in the future. The Revival has spent the last year doing essentially nothing on RAW, so I’m not going to complain about a competitive loss. They are too good of a team not to be on the show more going forward.

Dolph Ziggler Got The Better Of Drew McIntyre

Drew McIntyre cut a promo tonight on RAW and vowed to win the Royal Rumble match and main event WrestleMania. McIntyre then squared off against Finn Balor and Dolph Ziggler in a Triple Threat match.

Finn Balor won the match after hitting the Coup de Grace on Ziggler. Drew McIntyre got pissed off and started taunting Dolph in the ring. McIntyre claimed that Ziggler has ruined everything and Dolph responded with a Zig Zag. Ziggler then rolled out of the ring and walked up the entrance ramp.

I figured that once he broke away from Ziggler, he would become dominant. That has not been the case at all on RAW as of late. It was announced that Ziggler will face Drew McIntyre in a Steel Cage match on next week’s episode of RAW. I’d like to think that McIntyre wins that match but I haven’t understood what WWE has been doing with him for weeks now.

Women’s Tag Team Titles Are Coming Next Year

Vince McMahon dressed up as Santa Claus and made a few announcements on tonight’s episode of RAW. McMahon announced that John Cena is back on RAW and SmackDown. He added that Ziggler and McIntyre will battle in a Steel Cage next week on RAW.

The biggest announcement was that women’s tag team titles will be introduced in 2019. Everyone has expected this for some time but it was officially announced tonight on RAW.

The men’s tag team divisions on RAW and SmackDown were treated terribly in 2018. On SmackDown, it was essentially the same three teams fighting over and over again. RAW’s division has been an absolute disaster. The female Superstars absolutely should have tag titles to fight for. I’ve just been watching WWE fail at building up teams on RAW and SmackDown for years now, so it is hard to get excited about more tag divisions in WWE.

Ronda Rousey Retained The RAW Women’s Championship

Ronda Rousey defended her RAW Women’s Championship against Natalya tonight on RAW. Rousey was hesitant throughout the match because she didn’t want to hurt her best friend. Natalya took advantage of that and almost won the match several times.

Ronda didn’t want to put Natalya away and Natalya capitalized on Rousey’s hesitation with a Clothesline for a near fall. Rousey planted Natalya with Piper’s Pit and followed once again hesitated.

Natalya locked in the Sharpshooter but Rousey countered into the Arm Bar for the submission victory. After the match, the two Superstars shared a hug and then Natalya raised Rousey’s hand.

https://twitter.com/totaldivaseps/status/1077402553095196678

I thought Rousey did a good job of expressing that she didn’t want to fight Natalya during the match. It did look like she let go of the Arm Bar before Natalya tapped out, which was pretty silly looking. Given that this episode of RAW was taped last week, I’m surprised they didn’t cut to a different angle or something to make the finish look better.

Braun Strowman Embarrassed Paul Heyman

Paul Heyman came down to the ring and sang a beautiful rendition of Silent Night. Heyman referred to Brock Lesnar as Strowman’s Christmas Grinch. Heyman then cut a promo and claimed that Braun prayed as a child that Santa Claus would bring him a replica title for Christmas.

Heyman said that there is no way that Santa is going to deliver the Universal Championship to Strowman at the expense of Brock Lesnar. Braun Strowman interrupted and marched down to the ring.

Strowman placed a red nose and reindeer antlers on Heyman. Braun referred to Heyman as the “red-nosed advocate” and told him to give a message to Lesnar. Strowman vowed to be healed up by the Royal Rumble and shouted that Lesnar was going to “get these hands!”.

Heyman’s performance tonight was outstanding and was easily my favorite part of the show. As of now, I’m not all that interested in another Lesnar and Strowman match at the Royal Rumble but hopefully, WWE can manufacture a storyline over the next few weeks that is interesting. Tonight’s promo was entertaining but didn’t get me excited for the Universal Championship match next month.

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