Results:
Elias beat Bobby Lashley (with Lio Rush) in a Miracle on 34th Street Fight
Bobby Roode and Chad Gable beat The Revival to retain the RAW Tag Team Titles
Finn Balor beat Drew McIntyre and Dolph Ziggler
Sasha Banks, Bayley and Ember Moon beat Mickie James, Alicia Fox and Dana Brooke
Ronda Rousey beat Natalya to retain the RAW Women’s Title
Seth Rollins beat Baron Corbin
The Christmas Eve edition of RAW could’ve been an absolute train wreck. So, yes, it could’ve been as bad, if not worse, then anything we’ve seen from the “red brand” over the past few months. And would you blame WWE and its tireless crew for mailing it in? They break their asses every single week, and if you weren’t aware — they taped this episode right after last week’s RAW. That’s a lot of work to put in.
Instead, what WWE delivered was a meat and potatoes, back-to-basics episode of RAW. It featured the requisite ga-ga (without going overboard), it did a solid promotional push for Royal Rumble and the new talent coming in, and it features a card of solid matches.
What more can you ask for — especially from a show that’s been barely watchable recently.
Of course, we also got the major announcement there would be WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles. Rumored for close to a year, Vince McMahon himself dropped the news. While some will criticize this move because it came on a show that historically gets lower ratings, I commend them for giving this show a bit of a buzz factor.
The idea of a women’s tag title is overdue in many respects, but we’ve finally got it in WWE. This is just going to add another fun dimension to WWE programming. I do believe putting the belts on Bayley and Sasha Banks makes the most sense. These two are integral parts of the women’s wrestling revolution in WWE, but are currently nowhere near the echelon that Charlotte and Becky are at. The prestige of being the first-ever tag champs belongs to them. Of course, I’d have them drop it to Riott Squad or The IIconics and let them go on a long chase to regain the belts. Regardless, having these belts is truly a good thing to happen to wrestling.
Speaking of buzz — kudos for them giving us a way better than expected Seth Rollins/Baron Corbin match, and a Ronda/Natalya match that told a strong story and was better than advertised.
See this is what RAW needs to do consistently. They don’t need to produce a blockbuster episode every week — what they need to do is give us a reason to care. Give us a match or two that has some juice, that has some storyline, and that’s fresh.
If you DVR-ed this show, I recommend watching it. It’s a lot of fun.
