SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
Opening Segment – HIT: This was a solid way to follow up on the women’s War Games match from Survivor Series, while pivoting some of those involved in that match onto something new – a focus on the Tag Team Championship. Despite being able to work together at the PLE, it makes sense that everything wouldn’t move forward without tension between Charlotte Flair & Alexa Bliss and Rhea Ripley & Iyo Sky. Of course those two teams would want to face the Kabuki Warriors for the Tag Titles. This set up the big main event between these two, but it was interesting that it wasn’t a #1 contenders match which would make sense by the end of the show.
Jey vs. Knight – HIT: I wasn’t sure who was going to win this match. On the one hand, I could see WWE going with Jey Uso to give him and Gunther (who would obviously win his semi-final match later) a rubber match after their World Title matches earlier this year. I could also see WWE going the opposite way with L.A. Knight getting the win to fool the fans who were expecting another Gunther vs. Jey match. I was certainly hoping for Knight to win, as I didn’t need to see Gunther vs. Jey again. The match was good, although there were a few off spots which isn’t surprising with these two. It was still good enough with a strong post-match follow up as Jey threw a fit after losing.
Judgment Day – HIT: This was a good in ring segment with Dominik Mysterio bragging about winning the Intercontinental Title from John Cena at Survivor Series and declaring himself both the greatest IC Champ and the greatest Luchador of all time. Dominik played his role perfectly. Liv Morgan was good in her Raw return. There were some definite teases of concern with Roxanne Perez over Liv’s return, but Liv played it as if she was happy to support Perez, which would also play out at the very end of the show when she seemed to endorse Perez continuing to team with Raquel Rodriguez to go after the Tag Titles.
Mystery Man – MISS: I don’t really care about the mystery man angle coming out of the men’s War Games match. The rumors are that it is Austin Theory which isn’t a great payoff if it indeed proves true. But even if it doesn’t, there wasn’t a good follow up from the babyfaces who lost that match to show anger over the interference. I get what they are going for with Seth Rollins, but I don’t think anyone is buying into it despite his history of faking injuries. And the scene when Adam Pearce talked in hush tones to a referee to try to learn what’s going on in a secretive way despite being on camera where everyone can see and hear him was just idiotic.
ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW…
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A.J. Lee vs. New Day – HIT: My only complaint about this match is that it was too short as we only saw about 6 minutes of it with the commercial break. It isn’t surprising given these four talented workers that they would have a good Tag Team Title match. It is great that AJ Styles & Dragon Lee want to be fighting Champions. They can hopefully have a long streak of successful Title defenses. This match was highlighted by the awesome ending as Lee hit the jumping double foot stomp onto Kofi Kingston’s back as he was draped across the top rope, which knocked Kofi into the air into perfect position to be caught by Styles in the Styles Clash position. That was such a cool wrestling move which didn’t involve blood, or weapons, or unnecessary dangers.
Breakker Promo – MISS: I know this seems to be getting praise, but I wasn’t as high on this very long promo from Bron Breakker. It wasn’t bad, but it didn’t leave me wanting to hear more from Breakker going forward. He stumbled a few times, but that wasn’t so bad in such a long promo. I think my real issue is that I still see Bronson Reed as more interesting in every way than Breakker, but he isn’t the chosen future WrestleMania main eventer like Breakker is. The other big issue is the end of the promo when he self referentially talked about his ability to cut a promo. Yes, speaking in interviews and cutting promos is an important attribute for a professional wrestler to have. But, that’s from a behind-the-scenes situation, not something to have wrestlers talk about on camera. All that should matter is a wrestler’s ability to win matches. So, Breakker totally lost me at the end.
Sikoa vs. Gunther – HIT: Unlike the first semi-final tournament match, this one’s outcome was never in doubt. It also went longer than I would have expected it to go. I would have taken 4 minutes off of this to give to the Tag Title match, but that doesn’t mean that this was too long. It wasn’t. It was better than I expected it to be. Gunther was obviously going to be cheered over Solo Sikoa in this match. Heel vs. heel is hard to put off, but they did it well here.
Main Event – MISS: I’m glad that this wasn’t a #1 contenders match as that would have made the Kabuki Warriors’ interference even worse. But, I can’t give big Raw main events hits when they don’t have legit finishes. I don’t care how good Flair, Bliss, Ripley and Sky performed in the match before the non-finish. It doesn’t matter in the end. I like the spotlight on the Tag Titles. I like that Bayley & Lyra Valkyria are involved. I like that Judgment Day is still involved. But, I feel that we could have gotten to the same ending of the show with an actual ending to the main event.
(Jon Mezzera is PWTorch.com’s WWE Raw Hits & Misses Specialist, providing his point of view for Raw each week. Email him at jmezz_torch@yahoo.com. Follow him on BlueSky @jonmezzera.bsky.social.)
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