By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
WWE Raw Hits
New Day anniversary meltdown: Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods were so heavy-handed in their criticism of Big E for not returning to the ring from a major neck injury that it lacked believability. And I’m not quite sure how bonding over badmouthing Big E would make Kingston and Woods put aside all of the negative things they said about one another the week before. Despite these criticisms, the segment still registers as a big Hit. The performances were strong, it set Kingston and Woods on a needed new path as heels, and it was truly memorable television.
Opening segment with CM Punk, Seth Rollins, Sami Zayn, and Jey Uso: The latest Punk and Rollins verbal battle was really good, but the Rollins and Zayn exchange that followed was even better.
Seth Rollins vs. Sami Zayn: This was more about the storyline than match quality. Zayn accused Rollins of attacking Jey Uso and was on the verge of striking him with a chair before Rollins talked him down. Rollins immediately caught Zayn in an inside cradle and pinned him. The post match angle with Drew McIntyre returning and dropping Zayn with a Claymore Kick closed the show on a high note. I assume that McIntyre’s character was responsible for the attack on Jey given their history. That said, it’s at least possible that it was a red herring and Rollins (or even CM Punk) will eventually be revealed as the culprit.
World Heavyweight Champion Gunther vs. Dominik Mysterio in a non-title match: An enjoyable match with Dom getting the big hope spot before Gunther destroyed him with a great chop and a powerbomb. The match was fun, but the segment was also confusing. Heel Gunther had a match with heel Dom and then heel Finn Balor attacked heel Gunther afterward to set up another heel vs. heel match for Saturday Night’s Main Event. Strange.
Dakota Kai vs. Katana Chance vs. Shayna Baszler in a Women’s Intercontinental Title tournament match: Kai’s video promo from two weeks ago seemed to resonate with the fans, so it was good to see her advance in the tournament. It’s still tough to be excited about the addition of two secondary championships, but hopefully there will be an influx of NXT talent at some point that will make the new titles more interesting.
Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez vs. Iyo Sky and Kairi Sane: A soft Hit. It seemed like the purpose for the match would be to give Sky a pinfall win over Morgan heading into their title match on Saturday Night’s Main Event. Rather, they gave Rodriguez the pin to give her a boost heading into her match with Rhea Ripley on next week’s Raw. Rodriguez running Ripley’s eye into the corner of the broadcast table looked impressive enough that the spot should have been saved for an injury angle.
R-Truth vs. Pete Dunne: An in the middle for this quick and painless match. Will you people please start chanting “Butch” at Dunne so they will stop annoying me with these sad overt attempts to elicit that response?
WWE Raw Misses
None: So much for taking the old guard approach of phoning it in post Survivor Series until the start of the new year. This was one of the better Raw shows of 2024. They packed a lot into the two hours, thanks in part to the lack of ads during most of the first hour. I’m going to miss the two-hour format.
}}Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods were so heavy-handed in their criticism of Big E for not returning to the ring from a major neck injury that it lacked believability. And I’m not quite sure how bonding over badmouthing Big E would make Kingston and Woods put aside all of the negative things they said about one another the week before. Despite these criticisms, the segment still registers as a big Hi{{
Unreal. Jason is to WWE what MSNBC is to democrats
Offer constructive criticism in a Hit for AEW and you claim I’m biased against AEW. Do the exact same thing in a Hit for WWE and somehow I’m biased in favor of WWE. Fanboy weirdo. As I’ve mentioned before, I think all cable news networks suck. But just keep on watching that network that had to pay $787.5 million for outright lying to your ignorant incel ass, Angry Mike.
I think they pretty much have to set up Gunther with heel v heel matchups because all of the main Raw babyfaces are mired in the Bloodline feud (Uso, Zayn, Rollins, Punk). He can only have so many matches against Damian Priest. The only other singles babyfaces on the Raw roster are Braun Strowman, Rey Mysterio, and R-Truth and I don’t any of them are positioned as World title contenders right now. I think they are positioning Gunther to either turn babyface or as clear “second tier champion” like Rollins was when Reigns was champ or both.
I dunno, Jason; the woods/Kingston verbal breakdown on E was over the top but The look and shock in the crowd when Kofi told E he would never be cleared was a moment I’ll remember for a while. Ouch
There’s part of me that thinks we’ll see Big E come back around Wrestlemania, or a bit later, and his partner to fight Kofi and Xavier will be Ridge Holland.