Tis the season to be jolly and apparently in the land of WWE, tis the season to be prove everybody wrong and deliver us a Christmas gift, one that we’ve been wanting for years and years. A brand new WWE.
The opening segment of the show this episode featured Elias in a Christmas Hat with a gorgeous brand new black and yellow Fender acoustic and he sings an original Christmas song for us all and it was about how kids can be annoying at this time of year (they totally can.), but none are more annoying than Lio Rush and then lead everyone into a sing along outro of “Bobby Lashley sucks” – I absolutely loved it. My only criticism here this should have been released earlier, it would have been Christmas Number 1 in the charts for sure! – plus we didn’t get to hear the end of it because Glutius Maximus himself came “bowling out” to stop the song and start the match. This match? Well, in the words of good ol’ JR, “Bah Gawd! What a slobber knocker!
Elias vs Bobby Lashley w/ Lio Rush in A Miracle On 34th Street Fight
First off, just go watch this match. Find the 15-20 minutes and just go watch it. It was so much fun to watch and also really fun to see the response it got from the live crowd! This match wasn’t just your regular old run of the mill old WWE style street fight with some decorations, no no no. This was a match that featured a Kendo stick that looked like a Candy Cane, let’s call it a Kendy Cane, a cello being smashed over Lashely’s back, a reversal on the top rope that lead to Lashley falling from the middle rope onto some mother flippin’ LEGO and they stuck into his back (it was gnarly. But so awesome.) and a bowling ball being elegantly rolled from one corner to the other, squashing Bobby Lashley’s testicles on their arrival. Which is how the match ended, with Lio Rush being knocked off the ring through a table covered in various Christmas foods, Elias scoring a strike on Bob’s snowballs and then smashing him over the back with a cello and getting the 3 count! Elias wins again! Our boy is on a role! After this, Elias shoved some Christmas cookies into Lio Rush’s mouth and poured a whole bunch of eggnog on his head, put the bowl on his head and kicked him. – honestly this was sublime, guys and gals. Just go watch it if you haven’t already. You won’t regret it, I promise you.
Backstage bit
Heath Slater reads a list of Chrsitmas wishes from his kids and said they all wished for Uncle Rhyno to come back to Raw. He said he wants his best friend back too and walks away.
The Revival vs Roode and Gable for the WWE RAW Tag Team Championships
We are also informed that automatic title rematches are indeed a thing of the past. This is excellent news as it will elevate the importance of every champion and amplify the value of every championship!
But oh my word what a match! It had the crowd on their feet applauding the spots, had gasps from the audience members as they went through the match and every man looked like a superstar! This match was so closely called and it ended in controversy too as Gable reversed a tag move by the Revival and ended up winning via an Inside Cradle however, he was inside cradling the wrong man! Which means The Revival have a legitimate claim to a rematch and I am not unhappy about that!
Backstage bit
Lots of superstars tell us their Christmas wishes.
NXT Call Ups video reel
I love this so much. I know some people think it ruins the surprise and in a sense it does, but if this is Vince showing us that NXT call ups are now going to be treated like the big deal they should be, then is the surprise factor for these 6 really that important? Because Aleister Black is apparently debuting immentnely and he isn’t advertised with these 6, so the surprises are sure to still occur plus, you don’t know when these 6 will appear or where. If anything, showing teasers for them all at least gives the audience some idea as to who they are and makes them feel like a bigger deal. Everybody wins really.
Selfie-style Promo
Dolph Ziggler is reflecting on his year and says he deserves his ‘best in the world’ trophy and wants Shane McMahon to personally hand it to him, also he wants opportunity to prove he’s the best. He also wants a Netflix stand-up comedy special called “Dolph & Friends” – which I agree would be great. If you haven’t seen his appearance on Roast Battle, go check it out, he’s a savage!
Dolph Ziggler vs Finn Balor vs Drew McIntyre
Drew cuts a promo after his entrance and ends up stating that he will win the Royal Rumble – & he definitely could.
But honestly this match was awesome. So many crazy spots, Coup De Gras to break a pin, Inverted Alabama Slam onto Dolph Ziggler plus Balor won! Afterwards Drew tried to attack Ziggler but got Zig-Zagged for his trouble.
KO Return Promo
I cannot wait for KO to return, this new era will seriously make him an irrefutable ‘top guy’ I think.
Vince McMahon as Santa Claus bit
This I was split on, on the one hand everything he announced was absolute gold and I cannot wait witness every single bit of it and on the other hand Vince McMahon was utterly horrifying as Santa Claus. My 3 year old even asked me “What’s wrong with Father Christmas?”. The eye contact.. Oh, the eye contact will haunt my dreams.
That aside, He announced some truly wonderful schtuff – he announced that John Cena is back on Raw and SmackDown, next week we will get McIntyre vs Ziggler in a steel cage match and on top of all that, finally, we are going to see the birth of the Women’s Tag Team Championships! That’s some stuff to be excited about!
Mickie James, Dana Brooke & Alicia Fox vs Ember Moon, Sasha Banks & Bayley
This match was , these women brought it! The match had some crazy sells and bumps! You can so tell they’re pumped for the tag titles! Botched Meteora aside, it was followed up by an insane Eclipse and then a Backstabber into a Bayley to Belly for the win. It was great! But the Riott Squad showed up and attacked the Babyfaces at the beginning. Ruby Riott for MITB winner in 2019, Liv and Logan will get the tag belts too no doubt and then The Squad will reign supreme!
Paul Heyman promo
He cut his usual promo with his usual shtick but.. Strowman interrupted him and put a red nose and antlers on Heyman. Then told him to tell Lesnar that he’s gonna ‘get these hands’ at the Rumble. Bit weird, bit needless.
More wishes
This time we see Breeze say he wants Dango back and Ariana Grande tickets and we also have Alexa Bliss say She wants Santa to give Bayley a personality, Banks some humility, Nattie is a post cause and Ronda some good makeup. Catty and cruel. I liked it.
Ronda Rousey vs Natalya Neidhart for the WWE RAW Women’s Championship
Once again, these ladies tore the house down. I loved this match. I loved the story telling throughout, the friendship between these two is coming out but the desire to won trumps that friendshio it seems. Nattie took a hilarious tumble through the ropes at one point too. This was a real showcase of Ronda and Nattie’s technical abilities between the ropes. Nattie got nasty after frustration struck and it just made for a real cool dynamic with these two friends fighting it out. Rousey was holding back a lot. But it didn’t take long before Rousey got Rowdy. She delivered some devastating shots to Nattie, she hit the Piper’s Pit and hesitated on the Armbar – got turned into a Sharpshooter and Rousey almost tapped, but somehow reversed the Sharpshooter into the Armbar.. Nattie tapped. They hugged it out after the match.
Ambrose Backstage Promo
Best promo of the Night! He wasn’t looking at the camera, he was talking to Rollins, but he wasn’t there. He was wishing him all he deserves.. sinister.
Sami Zayn return promo
I’m excited to see him too.. But he said he’s not missed it one bit since being out injured. He’s liked the time off and is in no rush to return. That sucks. But hopefully he finds his love for it again soon.
Heath Slater vs Jinder Mahal w Sunil Singh and Samir Singh
Half way through the match some guy dressed as Santa came out giving gifts to the crowd, but when Slater got jumped Santa got in the ring and helped Slater! Then he revealed himself as Rhyno! Rhyno is back! Who doesn’t love that?
Seth Rollins vs Baron Corbin
This was a great match. Fairly straight forward. Rollins dominated most of the match and ended it with a Stomp. Nice end to Raw, I loved it and a Babyface stands tall at the end too.
Conclusion
9/10 🌟
Well, sh!t. What an incredible Raw! I felt positive about this ‘New Era’ thing before, but now I’m super psyched about it! It’s honestly gone from me dreading watching 3 hours of poorly scripted, salt-in-the-wound bull and then reviewing it for hours after to being incredibly excited for next week again. Like A kid at Christmas, you could say. This Raw was such a pleasure to review and I cannot wait to see what happens next week.
Match of the Night: Spoilt for choice yet again, it’s weird. But for the sheer bravery going into a match like a Miracle On 34th Street Fight and willingly going into a spot involving falling onto frickin’ LEGOS deserves every single bit of praise it can get. Fair play to Bobby Lashley for that spot. Like, that totally cut him open too. Ouch! But that match was exactly what I wanted to see without me even knowing it! Absolutely spectacular.
Annoyance of the Night: I honestly can’t think of one. I loved it. Absolutely loved it. Maybe the Paul Heyman and Braun Strowman thing? Just seemed a little pointless but it wasn’t really annoying.. This is a reallt good sign though. I can’t find a fault in this. Let’s just hope it continues.
Thank you all so much for stopping by again if you’re a regular reader and if you’re not then thank you for taking the time out to have a little gander, I appreciate every single one of you, please feel free to comment, like and share and make sure to Too Sweet that follow button on the Twitter machine @KayfabeToday. Peace and love to one and all! ✌🏻💚
- CB
