SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
Fresh off of retaining his World Heavyweight Championship last week against Bron Breakker, C.M. Punk came out this week for a promo. Punk stated that he wanted to be a fighting champion and take on anyone. In the middle of all this, he was interrupted by Judgment Day’s Finn Balor. After being called out by Liv Morgan for his lack of ambition, Finn came out to answer Punk’s challenge. As Punk had mentioned that Finn was one of the people he wanted to wrestle after he won the title two months ago, he called Finn out for not challenging him until now.
As Punk was ready to have the match then and there, Finn made a proposition to instead have their match in a place where he’ll have home field advantage. In addition to that, we had a Triple Threat Tag Team match to decide the number one contenders for the Women’s Tag Team Titles, Bron Breakker going on a rampage following his loss last week, and Gunther facing AJ Styles for the first time in this week’s main event.
C.M. Punk vs. Finn Balor
Latest developments:
Last week, C.M. Punk defended his World Heavyweight Championship against Bron Breakker. Punk took everything Breakker threw at during the match, including a clothesline from the top rope through the announce table. As Breakker was about to finish him off with a Spear, Punk hit him with a knee in mid air and followed that with the GTS to retain his title. This week as Finn Balor was backstage playing video games, Liv Morgan called him out for his lack of ambition for a championship compared to the other Judgment Day members. After Liv walked away, Finn said just you watch.
Later in the night as Punk was in the ring talking about how he’d defend his title against anyone, Finn came out to answer the challenge. Punk offered to go to the back to get changed so that they could have the match later in the night. Finn said that timing is everything and that he’s not jumping the line to face Punk because the line starts with him. He then said he’d be willing to do the match next week in Belfast, Ireland where he’ll have home field advantage. Punk agreed and apologized to the people of Belfast in advance as he claimed that they’re gonna have to watch him put their countrymen to sleep with the GTS.
Analysis:
From this segment, it’s clear that Punk’s feud with Breakker is on ice for now. In all honesty, that’s for the best as Punk’s been feuding mainly with Breakker and The Vision as a whole since WrestleMania last year. This match was perfectly set up with Liv calling out Finn earlier about his lack of ambition and him responding by challenging Punk. Both Punk and Finn showed that they have good chemistry and could pull off a great feud if given the chance to. Considering that their match next week is happening in Finn’s homeland of Ireland, this is feeling more like a one off.
Even if this does end up being a one off, at least we’re actually getting it. This is a new match we’ve never seen before and the fact that it’s happening is another sign that WWE is starting to spice things up. This scenario gives Punk a new fresh opponent and also gives Finn something major to sink his teeth into as he hasn’t really had that in a while. While no one expects him to win, he’s more than capable of putting on a quality main event that has the crowd invested. Especially with the match being in front of his hometown fans, the setting and the atmosphere will likely be what stands out from it the most.
Grade: B+
Bayley & Lyra Valkyria vs. Liv Morgan & Roxanne Perez vs. Asuka & Kairi Sane
Latest developments:
Last week, Rhea Ripley & Iyo Sky defeated Asuka & Kairi Sane to win the Women’s Tag Team Championship. This week, Rhea & Iyo came to the ring to say they were willing to take on any team before they were interrupted by Liv Morgan & Roxanne Perez. As Liv claimed that she along with Perez deserved a title shot since she technically never lost the titles, Bayley & Lyra Valkyria came out to stake their claim for deserving a title shot. Then out of nowhere, Asuka & Kairi pulled Rhea & Iyo out of the ring to attack them and that led to a brawl between all three teams. Rhea & Iyo quickly recovered and then cleared the ring of all of them.
Later in the night, Bayley & Lyra faced Liv & Perez as well as Asuka & Kairi to decide who will get a shot at the titles at Saturday Night’s Main Event. Asuka took everyone out with German Suplexes, including Bayley & Lyra simultaneously. Kairi hit an Insane Elbow onto Lyra as Asuka held her up, but the referee wouldn’t count the pin since Kairi wasn’t the legal woman in the match. Bayley then hit an Elbow Drop from the second rope onto Kairi as Lyra held her on her knee, but Asuka interrupted the count. Perez hit the Pop Rocks onto Bayley, but Kairi interrupted the count. Liv tagged in while Kairi wasn’t looking and after Kairi threw Perez out of the ring. Liv hit Kairi with the ObLIVion to get the win and a shot at the titles.
Analysis:
What we saw with all these women throughout the show is a clear example of how stacked the Women’s Tag Team Division is right now. While the segment with them at the start of the show was standard stuff, it at least accomplished what it needed to in setting up this match. While the match itself was fine, the part where the referee wouldn’t do the count for Kairi because she wasn’t the legal participant felt awkward. It threw things off a little bit and what was also odd was the fact that the referee counted moments later when Liv pinned Kairi with no problem. For all the talent in this match, it didn’t feel like the blow away match that it maybe could’ve been.
Despite the confusion, the main highlight of the match had to be the finish where Liv hit the ObLIVion onto Kairi right as she threw Perez out of the ring. She’s really found some creative ways to hit that move recently and it served as another example of how she’s the best she’s ever been in every area. It’s crazy to think that Liv didn’t like Perez at all before she got injured and now that she’s back, they’re a cohesive team that’s about to challenge for the Women’s Tag Titles. With the title match happening at Saturday Night’s Main Event combined with the fact that Rhea & Iyo just won the titles, there’s little to no chance of Liv & Perez winning the titles there. Even if they don’t win the titles right now, it’ll be fun to see how they play off each other as a team in the coming weeks.
Grade: C+
ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW…
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Stephanie Vaquer vs. Raquel Rodriguez
Latest developments:
On the December 29 Raw, Stephanie Vaquer successfully defended for Women’s World Championship in a Triple Threat match against Raquel Rodriguez and Nikki Bella. Last week, Vaquer came to the ring for an interview wearing a walking boot. She announced that she was injured but despite the injury, it wouldn’t stop her from defending her title. As she held the title up, Raquel attacked her from behind and proceeded to slam her injured ankle against the mat multiple times and then laid her out with the Tejana Bomb. Raquel was then about to put a chair on her injured angle and stomp on it before Adam Pearce and other officials stopped her.
This week, Raquel came out for an interview with Michael Cole where Cole asked her why she did what she did to Vaquer. Raquel said in response that Cole watched her get cheated out of the title night after night and yet he and everyone else has the audacity to feel sorry for Vaquer. She said she won’t stop until she gets another title shot and that once she takes the title from Vaquer, then everyone can feel sorry for her. Vaquer came out to confront Raquel before officials got in between them, and Raquel went to the back. Vaquer looked in the camera and told Raquel to come get the title before Raquel attacked her from behind again and hit her injured ankle with the title.
Analysis:
After the beating Raquel gave her last week, it was weird seeing Vaquer back already. That beating really felt like a way of writing her off the show for a few weeks, so having her come back so soon almost made what happened last week meaningless. Also, like last week, Vaquer was jumped from behind by Raquel and had her injured ankle attacked. The one thing that stood out more from this attack compared to last week’s was Raquel hitting her ankle with the title to the point where it broke. The fact that this attack happened two weeks in a row is a clear indication that Vaquer will be back in action sooner than later.
What has been accomplished in these last few segments is how believable Raquel is coming off as a killer. Not only that, but she also had great energy on the mic in this segment when she was going off about how everyone can feel sorry for Vaquer once she takes the title from her. The criticism she got from Kevin Nash combined with being around Liv Morgan and the rest of Judgment Day over the last year has really paid off for her. Her recent work has made her exactly the kind of threat that Vaquer’s needed since her title reign started. While she likely won’t win the title in this feud, she’s shown that she’s someone who will win it by the time the year is over.
Grade: B+
Bron Breakker goes on a Rampage
Latest developments:
Last week, Bron Breakker challenged C.M. Punk for the World Heavyweight Championship. Breakker threw everything he could at Punk, including a devastating clothesline from the top rope through the announce table. As he was about to finish Punk off with a Spear, Punk hit him with a knee in mid air. Punk then capitalized on this with the GTS and he retained the title. This week, Adam Pearce told Paul Heyman to send Breakker home if he showed up to the arena.
During a match later in the night pitting Bronson Reed & Austin Theory against Dragon Lee & Penta, Breakker ran to the ring and hit Lee with a devastating Spear to have the match end on a disqualification. Breakker then Speared Penta and was about to Spear Lee again before Pearce came out to stop him. Breakker hit Lee with another Spear while Pearce was arguing with Reed for hitting Penta with a Tsunami, and then Pearce turned Breakker around to yell at him. Breakker grabbed Pearce and threw him against the turnbuckle before Reed, Theory, & Logan Paul got in between them. Several moments later backstage, an angry Pearce told Breakker that he was suspended indefinitely.
Analysis:
After Breakker failed to win the title last week, this is exactly the way he needed to act coming out of that loss. Of all the Spears he’s hit on people, the Spear Breakker hit on Lee in the aisle way has to rank towards the top. In addition to the hard-hitting Spears he dished out, his confrontation with Pearce also stood out from this segment. Although issues have been teased between them in the past, it never escalated to the point it got to here. In all the time Breakker’s been around, this was the most intense and scary that he’s ever looked.
While Pearce did suspend him, it’s clear that he’s going to be back by the Royal Rumble. One way he could be brought back is by the technicality of Pearce putting his hands on him first as Heyman pointed out. With the momentum he’s had since turning on Seth Rollins, this really does feel like Breakker’s year. Despite losing to Punk last week, how he came off here proved that his momentum is still only growing. From the way things are looking now, he’s a shoe in to win the Royal Rumble.
Grade: A
Gunther vs. A.J. Styles
Latest developments:
At Saturday Night’s Main Event, Gunther retired John Cena by forcing him to tap out. In the weeks since, Gunther has constantly gloated about how he made Cena tap out like a little b*tch. Last week as he was in the ring gloating again about what he did to Cena, AJ Styles came out to interrupt. As Gunther once again said that he made Cena tap out like a little b*tch and did the “you can’t see me” gesture in the face of Styles, Styles slapped him. Later backstage, Gunther demanded to Adam Pearce that he get a match against Styles this week and Pearce made it official.
In this week’s main event, Styles trapped Gunther in the Calf Crusher until Gunther slammed his head multiple times against the mat to escape. Gunther attempted a Powerbomb, but Styles escaped and put him in the Calf Crusher again. As Styles had him in the hold in the middle of the ring, he let go as he felt Gunther tap out. The referee didn’t see the tap out and as he was letting the ring announcer know that the match would continue, Gunther hit Styles with a low blow. He then capitalized on this with a devastating Powerbomb onto Styles to pick up the win.
Analysis:
As predicted in last week’s review, this match was just the first one in a series between these two. Although it looked awkward at first when Styles let go of the Calf Crusher as it didn’t look like Gunther tapped, it all made sense when they showed Gunther tap in the replay. That combined with how Gunther low blowed Styles behind the referee’s back were effective ways of giving him more heat as this feud progresses. Even before the finish, this was an excellent main event that showed what these two are capable of together. Everything that happened here gave us plenty of reasons to be invested in a long term feud between Gunther and Styles.
More than likely, there’s going to be at least two more matches that take place in this feud. With no real need to rush it, the second match could happen on the Raw after the Royal Rumble or possibly Elimination Chamber. After that, the best place for their final match to happen would be WrestleMania. In that final match, Styles could put his career on the line and that could potentially be where he officially retires. Until then, there’s plenty of juice from this feud that can be squeezed out.
Grade: A
Je’Von Evans vs. Bravo Americano
Latest developments:
In his first official match as part of the Raw roster, Je’Von Evans went one on one with Bravo Americano this week. Bravo took the advantage with an Airplane Spin, but was too dizzy afterwards to pin Evans. As Bravo then went to the top rope, Evans met him up there and hit him with a Spanish Fly. Evans capitalized on this with an impressive OG Cutter to pick up the win. El Grande Americano attacked Evans after the match but as he and the other Americanos surrounded Evans as he stood on the railing, Evans jumped over the announce table to escaped from the Americanos before they could do more damage.
Analysis:
After Evans officially signing with Raw last week wasn’t even broadcast on the show, this showcase for him here more than made up for that mistake. Evans looked very impressive here and getting wins like this is exactly what he needs to be doing for the foreseeable future. Other than the final moments, what stood out most from Evans here was how he was able to escape from the Americanos once they had him surrounded. Now that he’s defeated both Rayo & Bravo Americano, El Grande Americano will likely be his next opponent. From this first match, it’s clear that fresh faces like Evans are exactly what the show has needed.
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