{"id":109655,"date":"2020-12-14T09:40:58","date_gmt":"2020-12-14T15:40:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/?p=109655"},"modified":"2020-12-14T09:40:58","modified_gmt":"2020-12-14T15:40:58","slug":"wwe-monday-night-raw-primer-12-14-a-phenomenal-nightmare-hey-boys-and-girls-time-for-a-field-trip-sheamus-vs-a-j-lana-vs-jax-hardy-new-day-vs-hurt-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2020\/12\/14\/wwe-monday-night-raw-primer-12-14-a-phenomenal-nightmare-hey-boys-and-girls-time-for-a-field-trip-sheamus-vs-a-j-lana-vs-jax-hardy-new-day-vs-hurt-business\/","title":{"rendered":"WWE MONDAY NIGHT RAW PRIMER 12\/14:  A Phenomenal Nightmare, Hey Boys and Girls Time for a Field Trip, Sheamus vs. A.J., Lana vs. Jax, Hardy &amp; New Day vs. Hurt Business"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-3086253694\" class=\"pwtor-before-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><hr \/><b>SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)... <\/b>\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?show_id=3076978&theme=light&playlist=false&playlist-continuous=false&autoplay=false&live-autoplay=false&chapters-image=true&episode_image_position=right&hide-logo=false&hide-likes=false&hide-comments=false&hide-sharing=false&hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"140px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\r\n<hr \/><\/div><h3>WWE MONDAY NIGHT RAW PRIMER<br \/>\nDECEMBER 14, 2020<br \/>\nTAMPA, FL. AT THE THUNDERDOME IN TROPICANA FIELD<br \/>\nAIRS ON FOX NETWORK, 8:00 p.m. EST<br \/>\nBY FRANK PETEANI (@FrankPeteani), PWTORCH.COM CONTRIBUTOR<\/h3>\n<p><em>Announcers: Tom Phillips, Byron Saxton, and Samoa Joe<\/em><\/p>\n<h4>Match Results and Segments from Last Week<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>Randy Orton opened the show talking about not being afraid of the \u201cFiend\u201d Bray Wyatt when Bray interrupted from the Firefly Funhouse. Bray pretended to be a game show host and even offered Friendship Fog as a prize for $49.95 (a dig at the old PPV price?). Randy demanded a match with Bray, under his Firefly Funhouse persona, even having a match with the Fiend coming up at TLC.<\/li>\n<li>Raw Women\u2019s Champion Asuka defeated Shayna Baszler in a non-title match.<\/li>\n<li>Ricochet &amp; Dana Brooke defeated Mustafa Ali &amp; Reckoning of Retribution. (Is this loss acceptable to Ali? He did previously say losing was unacceptable. Asking for my cats.) Here\u2019s Ricochet &amp; Dana in a WWE exclusive:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Ricochet &amp; Dana Brooke created their own strength in numbers: WWE Network Exclusive, Dec. 7, 2020\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/gOypsr001M0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A.J. Styles was a guest of the Miz and John Morrison on MizTV. Sheamus joined the party as well as WWE Champion Drew McIntyre. Drew said Miz\u2019s balls were in his wife Maryse\u2019s purse and he threw Miz\u2019s Money in the Bank briefcase. Miz and Morrison imitated Drew and Sheamus\u2019s accent.<\/li>\n<li>Raw Tag Team Championship co-holder Kofi Kingston (New Day) defeated Shelton Benjamin (Hurt Business). He tweaked his knee in the match, and then lost to Cedric Alexander also of the Hurt Business.<\/li>\n<li>A.J. Styles and the Miz &amp; John Morrison defeated Drew McIntyre and Sheamus in a handicap match. Sheamus accidentally Brogue Kicked Drew and was hit with A.J.\u2019s Phenomenal Forearm for the win. They were then fighting in the back only to join forces and put WWE official Pat Buck through a table. They made amends and went for \u201cpints.\u201d Here\u2019s Pat in a WWE exclusive:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Pat Buck ruined a perfectly good suit: WWE Network Exclusive, Dec. 7, 2020\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/G6GA1I8Xjww?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>U.S. Champion Bobby Lashley defeated Jeff Hardy in a non-title match.<\/li>\n<li>Randy Orton and Bray Wyatt fought to a no-contest when after Randy hit his RKO, the lights went out and the Fiend appeared. He gave Randy the Mandible Claw to close out the show.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>There was a WWE exclusive with Angel Garza who offered a rose to a mysterious woman:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Angel Garza presents rose to mysterious admirer: WWE Network Exclusive, Dec. 7, 2020\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/SoGwOWBKjhY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h4>Items Advertised by WWE<\/h4>\n<p>Tonight\u2019s edition of Raw will be the last heading into TLC, and will be the second show from the Thunderdome in its new home of Tropicana Field in Tampa, FL. This past Friday\u2019s Smackdown was the first in the series of shows. I hope everyone listened to the Smackdown Post Show on which I was a guest of Wade Keller, going two hours on a variety of topics from our great audience of callers.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s what\u2019s on tap for us tonight:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>AJ Styles brings \u201cThe Nightmare before TLC\u201d to Raw.<\/li>\n<li>Bray Wyatt set for WWE Thunderdome field trip.<\/li>\n<li>Sheamus and AJ Styles set for statement showdown.<\/li>\n<li>Lana looks to ride momentum in matchup with Nia Jax.<\/li>\n<li>The New Day &amp; Jeff Hardy set to take on The Hurt Business.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4>A.J. Styles\u2019 \u201cNightmare Before TLC\u201d<br \/>\nOne-on-One with Sheamus<\/h4>\n<p>A.J. Styles is set to challenge Drew McIntyre at TLC for the WWE Championship, and attempt to begin his third reign with the title. He was previously champion from September 2016-January 2017 and then November later that year until November of 2018. Last week as I mentioned earlier, A.J. was a guest of the Miz &amp; John Morrison on MizTV. I talked about the segment, the handicap match, and what happened afterwards between Sheamus and Drew. This week, he plans to bring the \u201cNightmare before TLC\u201d with the assistance of Miz &amp; Morrison according to WWE.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to this nightmare bit, whatever it is, A.J. goes one-on-one with Sheamus. They had a match on Raw over four years ago. Here\u2019s a clip of that match as well as a WWE exclusive with Miz &amp; Morrison:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"AJ Styles vs. Sheamus: Raw, April 25, 2016\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/iHRysfEIXWE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The Miz &amp; John Morrison need more from AJ Styles: WWE Network Exclusive, Nov. 30, 2020\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/dYmpfb61rCA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><em>Frank\u2019s Analysis: I have no idea what the \u201cNightmare before TLC\u201d means. Maybe it\u2019s a play on Tim Burton\u2019s Nightmare Before Christmas? It\u2019s not worth my time to figure it out. As far as the match goes, I expect nothing but shenanigans and a crap finish to feed the upcoming match between A.J. and Drew.<\/em><\/p>\n<h4>Bray Wyatt\u2019s Field Trip to Thunderdome<\/h4>\n<p>We continue towards a match between \u201cThe Fiend\u201d Bray Wyatt and Randy Orton at TLC. I mentioned the Firefly Funhouse episode last week and the match between Bray and Randy, with Bray in his Firefly Funhouse character. WWE has advertised in video that Bray will have a \u201cfield trip\u201d to the Thunderdome. According to their website he will be bringing Abby the Witch, Huskus The Pig Boy, and the \u201crest of the gang in tow.\u201d<\/p><div id=\"pwtor-2810205194\" class=\"pwtor-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p><em>Frank\u2019s Analysis: I\u2019m sorry but I still crack up at Huskus the Pig Boy being (I assume) a dig on Bray\u2019s previous persona, Husky Harris who was part of Nexus back in late 2010. Other than that, while I\u2019m intrigued as one would be in this feud because of the characters involved, I still don\u2019t have great expectations for the outcome. Nothing about what they\u2019ve done has made me want to see a professional wrestling match which is umm\u2026what WWE does.<\/em><\/p>\n<h4>Lana vs. Nia Jax<\/h4>\n<p>Lana is set to pair with Raw Women\u2019s Champion Asuka to face Women\u2019s Tag Team Champions Nia Jax &amp; Shayna Baszler. Late in last week\u2019s show, it was announced that Lana would face Nia one-on-one. Fortunately, the camera was near Asuka and Lana where Lana expressed fear about facing Nia. Asuka talked her up and tried to get her to believe in herself, but then Nia walked in and her confidence disappeared.<\/p>\n<p>Lana and Nia previously wrestled a one-on-one a little over a month ago. They go one-on-one again tonight.<\/p>\n<p><em>Frank\u2019s Analysis: Look, I get why people are enjoying this whole situation with Lana. She has a certain \u201ccharm\u201d and appeal. The combination of her and Asuka is funny, I\u2019ll admit it. That\u2019s the problem though. It\u2019s all about charm, appeal, and comedy. Nothing about this entire situation involves good professional wrestling. To me this is defining Asuka and Shayna down. I don\u2019t see this doing anything positive for anybody involved long-term.<\/em><\/p>\n<h4>Six-Man Tag Team Match: Jeff Hardy &amp; Raw Tag Team Champions New Day vs. the Hurt Business<\/h4>\n<p>Following last week\u2019s matches, Jeff Hardy will pair with New Day (Kofi Kingston &amp; Xavier Woods) to take on the Hurt Business trio of Shelton Benjamin &amp; Cedric Alexander &amp; U.S. Champion Bobby Lashley.<\/p>\n<p>It was announced during the week that New Day would defend the tag titles against Cedric &amp; Shelton at TLC. They recently come up short against New Day but do hold a non-title victory. Kofi\u2019s knee was \u201cinjured\u201d during the match against Shelton last week, which led to losing to Cedric one-on-one. Nothing is on the books for the U.S. title at TLC, but it\u2019s possible Hardy could be slotted into challenging Lashley for the title. Here\u2019s Kofi talking about his knee injury in a WWE exclusive:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Kofi Kingston provides an injury update: WWE Network Exclusive, Dec. 7, 2020\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/xxP3Umd93rw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><em>Frank\u2019s Analysis: This is a good six-man tag, but that\u2019s not the point. This is another example of the same people currently feuding fighting in different variations of matches every week. It feels like New Day and the Hurt Business have been fighting forever. Hardy and Lashley are possibly just getting started, but they\u2019re combining their match last week into the New Day-Hurt Business feud.<\/em><\/p>\n<h4>Other Expectations and Final Thoughts<\/h4>\n<p>It probably won\u2019t happen until Vince McMahon is no longer in charge, but I wish WWE would change their formula for Raw and Smackdown. I enjoy the AEW a lot better, where people high on the card wrestle different people lower on the card and have clean finishes. You rarely see non-finishes and you\u2019re rewarded for watching the matches. In WWE, the same people fight every week in different variations of matches, and therefore when they get to the \u201cbig match\u201d it doesn\u2019t feel special. Sure, you can say I\u2019m pretty much quoting Todd Martin when he talks about this on the Fix, but I thought it long before he said it, and he\u2019s 100% right. I\u2019m sure you have people out there saying \u201cwell why do you still watch?\u201d It\u2019s not about me, it\u2019s about the millions that have dropped off through the years and will probably never come back and watch. Ask them why they STOPPED watching.<\/p><div id=\"pwtor-154599045\" class=\"pwtor-content-1 pwtor-entity-placement\"><!-- Tag ID: pwtorchcom_test_300x600 -->\r\n<div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __300x600\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p><em>Follow Frank on Twitter @FrankPeteani. Thank you for reading!<\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"pwtor-end-article-groups pwtor-entity-placement\" id=\"pwtor-1899645678\"><div id=\"pwtor-1799091319\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\nTHANK YOU FOR VISITING<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>WWE MONDAY NIGHT RAW PRIMER DECEMBER 14, 2020 TAMPA, FL. AT THE THUNDERDOME IN TROPICANA FIELD AIRS ON FOX NETWORK, 8:00 p.m. EST BY FRANK PETEANI (@FrankPeteani), PWTORCH.COM CONTRIBUTOR Announcers: Tom Phillips, Byron Saxton, and <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2020\/12\/14\/wwe-monday-night-raw-primer-12-14-a-phenomenal-nightmare-hey-boys-and-girls-time-for-a-field-trip-sheamus-vs-a-j-lana-vs-jax-hardy-new-day-vs-hurt-business\/\" title=\"WWE MONDAY NIGHT RAW PRIMER 12\/14:  A Phenomenal Nightmare, Hey Boys and Girls Time for a Field Trip, Sheamus vs. A.J., Lana vs. Jax, Hardy &amp; New Day vs. Hurt Business\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":109661,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,52,4354,27,5893,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-109655","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-prowrestlingnews","category-opnionandanalysis","category-raw-primer","category-specialists","category-tvprimers","category-news_wwe"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2020\/12\/20201211_MatchGraphic_Raw_feedcard_DrewMc_AJ_Monday-a1bb053971b7190c39fa66407a49337e.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109655","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109655"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109655\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":109662,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109655\/revisions\/109662"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109661"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}