{"id":172282,"date":"2024-01-17T14:50:33","date_gmt":"2024-01-17T20:50:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/?p=172282"},"modified":"2024-01-17T14:50:33","modified_gmt":"2024-01-17T20:50:33","slug":"wwe-raw-hits-missees-1-15-drew-seth-exchange-imperium-new-day-ripley-lynch-exchange-womens-tag-matches-seth-vs-jinder-ivar-tozawa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2024\/01\/17\/wwe-raw-hits-missees-1-15-drew-seth-exchange-imperium-new-day-ripley-lynch-exchange-womens-tag-matches-seth-vs-jinder-ivar-tozawa\/","title":{"rendered":"WWE RAW HITS &#038; MISSEES (1\/15): Drew-Seth exchange, Imperium-New Day, Ripley-Lynch exchange, Women&#8217;s tag matches, Seth vs. Jinder, Ivar-Tozawa"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-2588648663\" 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><p><b>Opening Segment &#8211; HIT:<\/b> WWE is doing a nice job of creating different possibilities for the winner of the men\u2019s Royal Rumble. Cody Rhodes who started off this week\u2019s Raw is the most likely winner. But, you get a segment like this and you can\u2019t help but think about Drew McIntyre who interrupted Cody as a potential winner too. CM Punk is also in the conversation. I doubt The Rock will be in it, but there are fans who think he will show up as a surprise entrant to win. Strong verbal encounters like this one between Rhodes and McIntyre are working well to build the anticipation. Both Rhodes and McIntyre were good here in this back and forth. They effectively built on their history going way back to their early time in WWE and their time away from WWE, all the way to their return and where they each are now in their career.<\/p>\n<p><b>Judgement Day vs. DIY &#8211; HIT:<\/b> This was a good tag match with Dominic Mysterio &amp; JD McDonagh taking on Johnny Gargano &amp; Tomasso Ciampa. The smaller than usual crowd was certainly into DIY in a way that other recent crowds haven\u2019t been. It was good to see them in a long match like this where they show what made them so special in NXT as a team all those years ago. Mysterio and McDonagh also performed very well in this match. WWE is doing a nice job of building to DIY vs. Balor &amp; Priest for an eventual Tag Team Championship match.<\/p>\n<p><b>Gunther, Kaiser, Woods &#8211; HIT:<\/b> It was good to see Gunther back after his recent paternity leave. I don\u2019t think he will win the Rumble, but after his performance last year, he at least is a credible threat to win, so it was good to hear him declare for the match. This was a good way to follow up on the brutal beating that Ludwig Kaiser gave Kofi Kingston last week. I liked how Gunther endorsed what Kaiser did to Kofi. This led to Xavier Woods\u2019 return to challenge Kaiser. I was happy to see Woods acting in an intense and serious manner instead of his usual goofy self. The match that followed was good and the disqualification ending made sense. The brawl after was good too, with Woods escaping the attempted kick into the stairs which did so much damage to his New Day teammate last week.<\/p>\n<p><b>Ivar vs. Tozawa &#8211; MISS:<\/b> I\u2019m just not into this Alpha Academy vs. Ivar feud. Giving the joke wrestler Akira Tozawa a win over Ivar is a mistake. I don\u2019t care how much revenge Ivar gets after the match, he still lost a 2 minute match to someone who doesn\u2019t win matches. And if Tozawa is going to end up squashed by Ivar in the end, how much did he gain in the win?<\/p>\n<p><b>Ripley &#8211; Lynch &#8211; HIT:<\/b> There aren\u2019t as many strong possibilities among the women as the men for potential Royal Rumble winners. I see two, Becky Lynch and Bayley. Am I forgetting one? Either way, Rhea Ripley vs. Becky Lynch seems like a certainty for WrestleMania. WWE needs to do something about Ripley. She is so over with the fans, but still a part of the heel Judgement Day. I\u2019d like to see her break away from the group and be a babyface. A face vs. face match against Lynch can work. Their encounter here was very intriguing. It already felt like a big match, but now it feels like a huge one.<\/p>\n<p><b>Priest &amp; Balor vs. Miz &amp; Truth &#8211; HIT:<\/b> I have mixed feelings about R-Truth\u2019s and The Judgment Day. I have to admit to finding Truth amusing more often than not. I got a kick out of him giving Damian Priest a big wad of cash from the t-shirt sales which changed Priest\u2019s mind about letting him continue to pretend to be part of the faction. We got more of that at the start of this match when Truth gave Finn Balor his cut. I like that Truth didn\u2019t have any money for McDonagh. We got more of the antics here similar to last week with Truth getting confused about whether he should be working with his actual partner The Miz or his opponents. I wasn\u2019t as interested in that. I still think that Judgment Day could mean more without Truth. But, you can\u2019t argue with the merchandise sales or the crowd reactions.<\/p>\n<p><b>Women\u2019s Tag Matches &#8211; HIT:<\/b> Neither of the two women\u2019s tag matches were that good this week. They were solid. They weren\u2019t Misses. Green &amp; Niven vs. Hartwell &amp; LeRae had a bit of a botched ending, but was good otherwise. But, it was too short to amount to much. Baszler &amp; Stark vs. Natalya &amp; Nox was better. It went longer and had a strong ending with Shayna Baszler forcing Natalya to tap out. What I appreciate is that WWE seems to be trying to build a women\u2019s tag division. There are some strong teams on Smackdown, and on Raw they are building a few possible challengers for Carter &amp; Chance\u2019s Tag Titles. I suspect we will get LeRae &amp; Hartwell vs. Baszler &amp; Stark next week.<\/p>\n<p><b>Rollins vs. Mahal &#8211; MISS:<\/b> I hope that Seth Rollins is ok. If he has to take off some time and recover by WM, I would be ok with that. Roman Reigns never defends his Title, so if Rollins doesn\u2019t defend at the Rumble or Elimination Chamber that will be ok. It will be very bad if he has to miss several months. It will be particularly bad due to the fact that the injury took place in this stupid, never should have happened match. This was not a good match. Jinder Mahal is not a good wrestler, and even Rollins couldn\u2019t carry him to a good match. It was overbooked with the constant interference from Indus Sher, and then Damian Priest and Drew McIntyre getting involved. They didn\u2019t even execute the interference well when Sanga couldn\u2019t correctly put Mahal\u2019s foot on the rope. At least WWE didn\u2019t go crazy and respond to all the social media buzz (thanks a lot Tony Khan) and do something very stupid. At least Rollins won.<\/p><div id=\"pwtor-222901030\" 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><i>Jon Mezzera is PWTorch.com&#8217;s WWE Raw Hits &amp; Misses Specialist, providing his point of view for Raw each week. Email him at jmezz_torch@yahoo.com.<\/i><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>RECOMMENDED NEXT: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2024\/01\/17\/20-yrs-ago-wwe-live-event-results-1-17-2004-michaels-vs-batista-headlines-plus-dudleys-booker-t-kane-orton-rvd-christian-jericho-lita-more\/\">20 YRS AGO \u2013 WWE Live Event Results (1\/17\/2004): Michaels vs. Batista headlines, plus Dudleys, Booker T, Kane, Orton, RVD, Christian, Jericho, Lita, more<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>OR CHECK THIS OUT AT PROWRESTLING.NET: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/prowrestling.net\/site\/2024\/01\/17\/booker-ts-reality-of-wrestling-renames-its-sports-arena-and-training-facility\/\">Booker T\u2019s Reality of Wrestling renames its sports arena and training facility<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"pwtor-end-article-groups pwtor-entity-placement\" id=\"pwtor-3088814251\"><div id=\"pwtor-1352672620\"><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>Opening Segment &#8211; HIT: WWE is doing a nice job of creating different possibilities for the winner of the men\u2019s Royal Rumble. Cody Rhodes who started off this week\u2019s Raw is the most likely winner. <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2024\/01\/17\/wwe-raw-hits-missees-1-15-drew-seth-exchange-imperium-new-day-ripley-lynch-exchange-womens-tag-matches-seth-vs-jinder-ivar-tozawa\/\" title=\"WWE RAW HITS &#038; MISSEES (1\/15): Drew-Seth exchange, Imperium-New Day, Ripley-Lynch exchange, Women&#8217;s tag matches, Seth vs. Jinder, Ivar-Tozawa\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":172185,"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":[52,28,27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-172282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opnionandanalysis","category-specialists_hitsandmisses","category-specialists"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2024\/01\/Screenshot-2024-01-15-at-10.35.46\u202fPM.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172282","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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=172282"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172282\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":172283,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172282\/revisions\/172283"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/172185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=172282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=172282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=172282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}