Powell’s WWE Raw Hit List: Jimmy Uso and Jey Uso vs. Seth Rollins and Kevin Owens in a non-title match, Becky Lynch vs. Bayley, AJ Styles vs. Sami Zayn, Dexter Lumis vs. The Miz in a ladder match, The Street Profits vs. Finn Balor and Damian Priest, Rhea Ripley vs. Akira Tozawa, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson vs. Alpha Academy

By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)

WWE Raw Hits

The Bloodline attacks: It was an attention grabbing moment when the show opened with Roman Reigns and Paul Heyman followed by the rest of the Bloodline members raising hell in the backstage area at Raw. While Reigns and Heyman were not at Raw, their pre-taped appearance sent the immediate message that this show mattered and would not be a phoned in holiday week episode (which last week’s show oddly felt like).

Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champions Jimmy Uso and Jey Uso vs. Seth Rollins and Kevin Owens in a non-title match: A very good main event. I really enjoyed the backstage segment with Rollins and Owens comically revisiting what went wrong with their friendship. It was a nice touch to address those issues rather than just have them reunite without any acknowledgement of their past. The actual match was very good and the late match run-ins by Solo Sikoa, Luke Gallows, Karl Anderson, an Austin Theory actually enhanced the match. Owens scoring the pin for his team made him more of a thorn in the side of The Bloodline, and set the table for him and Rollins to eventually get a title shot if the company wants to go in that direction. On a side note, I also enjoyed the latest verbal exchange between Rollins and Theory to set up their match for the U.S. Championship.

Bianca Belair and Alexa Bliss: A solid backstage segment. Bliss once again reacted to the Bray Wyatt logo flashing on a television behind her. In fact, it triggered Bliss’s most violent outburst yet, as she slammed a vase over the head of Belair. I don’t know if we’ll get the payoff to what’s happening with Bliss when she challenges Belair for the Raw Women’s Championship on January 2, but the angle left me looking forward to the match more than I was going in.

Becky Lynch vs. Bayley: This didn’t feel nearly as big as it should have given how long its been since these two had met in a singles match. Bayley’s character continues to feel cold, but I like that she was given a tainted win over Lynch. If nothing else, they needed to get more than one match out of this feud, and there wouldn’t have been a need for a rematch had Lynch simply won clean.

Rhea Ripley vs. Akira Tozawa: Another quality step in the process of making Ripley out to be the biggest powerhouse the women’s division has seen since Chyna. Tozawa is an undercard role player and it made sense to feed him to Ripley.

AJ Styles vs. Sami Zayn: An enjoyable match. Styles has been spinning his wheels with the rest of The OC faction, while Zayn is going to be teaming with Roman Reigns in a high profile match against John Cena and Kevin Owens. Zayn needed to win this match and I’m hopeful that Solo Sikoa’s interference will lead to a match between Sikoa and Styles.

“The Street Profits” Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins vs. Finn Balor and Damian Priest: A soft Hit. Dominik Mysterio continuing to sell the effects of Asuka’s mist a week later was good for a laugh. The actual match was solid, though I could have done without the lazy distraction finish.

Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson vs. “Alpha Academy” Chad Gable and Otis: A soft Hit for the flat Gallows and Anderson beating a team that loses far too often. Even so, it looks like Gallows and Anderson are being set up for an eventual match with the Usos, so giving them a win was logical.

WWE Raw Misses

Dexter Lumis vs. The Miz in a ladder match: The actual match played to a flat crowd that only seemed interested in tables. I did enjoy The Miz trolling the crowd by teasing that he was going to pull out a table only to drop it to garner some easy heat. But for as much television time as this feud has received, the lack of crowd interest was telling. Bronson Reed appearing at the end of the match was a pleasant surprise. But now I fear that Reed will end up teaming with Miz in a never ending tag team feud with Lumis and the miscast mouthpiece Johnny Gargano.