WWE RAW HITS & MISSES 12/27: A miss for Alpha Academy, Profits and Mysterios deliver match of the night, more

RK-Bro – Alpha Academy – MISS: A feud between RK-Bro and Alpha Academy could be very good. WWE has done a nice job of protecting Otis and making him seem like a legit threat to Randy Orton. They could have some very good matches between these four wrestlers if given time, with a good story, and if Otis and Chad Gable were treated like stars. The problem is that only part of the story has been good, the matches are too short, and Gable has been treated like a loser. Gable vs. Riddle was good for 4 minutes, but that was it. It was over. Otis vs. Orton was also good while it lasted, but also only lasted 4 minutes. After building up and protecting Otis over the past several weeks, Orton beat him pretty easily and very quickly. Why not just have one match here? Orton vs. Otis could have been 10 minutes without the Riddle vs. Gable match. I did get a kick out of the hug and tease of an RKO afterwards.

Kevin Owens – HIT: As a WWE viewer who wants their shows to be better than they are, I was happy that Kevin Owens re-signed with WWE instead of going to AEW. He makes Raw better. He was the MVP (no offense to MVP) of this show. I enjoyed his interview reacting to the Big E promo. The use of those at home promos from those sent home due to Covid worked well. It was a tough situation, but that was a good way to include those guys in some way on this go home show before Day 1. But, Owens in person made the situation much better. I loved how he told Kevin Patrick to find a new name. His interaction later on in the ring with MVP was also good. His line about how he doubted that Bobby Lashley typed the text MVP was reading was hilarious. He had a good match with Cedric Alexander, although the Hurt Business situation was odd considering Lashley had brought Alexander & Shelton Benjamin back into the group a few months ago, but then they just disappeared again.

Truth & Tamina vs. Reggie & Brooke – MISS: I guess they did something different with the 24/7 geeks by having them actually wrestling instead of just doing some weird silly skit somewhere. But, the match wasn’t any good. These are hardly the best workers in WWE.

Street Profits vs. Mysterios – HIT: This was the best match of the show. It had been delayed for a few weeks, but it was good to finally see it. It was a bit chaotic and sloppy at the end which brought the quality down some. However, until that point it was a very good match so it was still easily a Hit. The Street Profits vs. RK-Bro should be a very good Tag Title match at the PPV, although I’m not sure about the face vs. face dynamic.

Styles vs. Crews – HIT: I like what AJ Styles and Apollo Crews were going for at the end of their impromptu match, but there was a scary spot in there. Luckily everyone was ok. Again, this match was brought down by that ending, but it was still good enough to get a Hit. WWE needed to cement Styles as the babyface in his feud against Omos, and this worked well to do that. They also had to make a last minute change due to Omos being sent home early. Styles’ pre-match promo could have been a lot stronger. It was just ok. But the match was pretty good, and the post-match Phenomenal Forearm on Commander Azeez worked well.

Priest vs. Ziggler – MISS: So let me get this straight. Dolph Ziggler’s plan was to provoke Damian Priest, to get him to snap, so that he loses it and gets himself disqualified? What a stupid plan. That would have made sense in a non-title match, but why do it in a title match? He won, but didn’t win the title. It was just so stupid. It doesn’t make me want to cheer for Priest like I did a few weeks ago. It doesn’t make me look forward to a rematch either.

Vow Renewal – MISS: This didn’t do much for me. This is the type of thing that I was sick of when I was sick and tired of The Miz’s act earlier this year. I didn’t get any enjoyment watching Miz and Maryse renew their vows. It was fun to see Eric Bischoff back, but it seems like there could have been a better use for him. Edge was ok in his interruption, teasing that Beth Phoenix might come out. Instead, we got the Brood’s Blood Bath (which looked more like black tar than red blood). This is an angle that seemed to peak too early and has lost all its momentum. I can’t say that I’m interested in seeing their match at Day 1.

Jon Mezzera is PWTorch.com’s WWE Hits & Misses Specialist, providing his point of view for Raw and Smackdown each week. Email him at jmezz_torch@yahoo.com.

CATCH-UP: 12/27 WWE MONDAY NIGHT RAW RESULTS: Keller’s report on Miz & Maryse renew vows, Mysterios vs. Street Profits, Orton vs. Otis, Priest vs. Ziggler, Day 1 hype amidst COVID outbreak