I hope everyone enjoyed a very happy holidays with friends and family on behalf of all of us here at the Scrum Sports.
Last night, the WWE presented Monday Night RAW, taped and canned, as the WCW announce team used to tell us, and they let the talent enjoy needed time off the road and with their own families.
The show took place on 12/24/18 from Sacramento, CA where they filmed last weeks “new beginning” Raw, after the McMahons showed up and rebooted the show, if you will.
This was sort of a continuation of new stories, but we’ll recap matches quickly, as nothing was truly progressed as we move towards the Royal Rumble in January.
Elias defeated Bobby Lashley w/ Lio Rush via pin fall in a “Miracle On 34th Street Fight” after a cello shot.
Cello, not jello, you read that right. Lashley and Rush were up to their pre-match antics and they actually delivered a very entertaining bout for fans in attendance as Elias eventually came away with the victory after producing a cello from a box. It came crashing down on Lashley’s back and that was all she wrote.
There was a spot with a bowling ball and Lashley’s lower anatomy that surely didn’t feel that good as well.
Heath Slater has a Christmas wish, he wants his good buddy Rhyno back on Raw. We’re also supposed to see Mr. McMahonta Clause later, oh boy.
Bobby Roode and Chad Gable defeat the Revival via pin fall after a rollup to retain the Raw tag team titles.
Hopefully, this is the beginning, rather than the end, of this story line. These two teams gave the fans a quality match and just when it looked as if the Revival was going to leave the broadcast with the straps, a missed Shatter Machine led to a Roode spear on Dash Wilder and Gable rolled up Scott Dawson for the three count.
The fans were red hot for this. I wouldn’t be surprised to see this one again at the Rumble with the title change and perhaps a Roode heel turn.
Seth Rollins will take on Baron Corbin in the main event. Corbin is looking for a receipt after he ate a hard right hand from Rollins on last week’s show. Corbin certainly had a bad night then, will he again tonight?
Backstage holiday celebrations featured Apollo Crews, Lucha House Party, the B-Team, No Way Jose and others.
We see the video call-up package for the NXT stars arriving soon once again.
Dolph Ziggler cuts a promo talking about how he’s had quite the year and he’s looking forward to a bigger 2019. His triple threat match with Balor and McIntyre appears to be next.
We get a promo for the returning Kevin Owens before that, and it’s fantastic. KO will see a very welcome return to Raw here in short order.
McIntyre is backstage and he talks about losing to Balor, but how he has plans to win the Rumble, heading to Wrestlemania after that. It’s very possible he does just that, I wouldn’t bet against him.
Finn Balor defeats Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre in a triple threat match via pin fall after a Coup De Grace on Ziggler.
All three men had great moments in this one, but it appears that they’ve strapped the rocket to Balor’s back and he’s headed to the moon, at least for now. Hopefully the fed realizes what a talent they have on their hands and victories over both men in as many weeks will elevate Balor into championship contention, sooner, rather than later.
McIntyre ate the Coup De Grace and was ousted from the ring. Ziggler fought valiantly to get the “W”, but he met the same fate and after Balor’s high spot, he ate the pin as well.
Mr. McMahonta Claus is napping backstage. He announces several big things in successon. We’ll see the debut of the Women’s tag titles in the new year, and that is fantastic news, if, and only if, they treat the, better then the Raw Men’s tag divisions on both shows. Featuring new titles need to see pay per view bouts and respect for the champions. We’ll see.
John Cena will be back on both Raw and Smackdown in the new year and that could be a shot in the arm for both brands with the return of the fan favorite.
Drew McIntyre and Dolph Ziggler will take their heated rivalry to the confines of a steel cage on the New Year’s Raw and the fans react positively for that. That should “steal the show” to steal a pun.
Sasha Banks/Ember Moon/Bayley defeat Dana Brooke/Mickie James/Alicia Fox via pin fall after a Bayley-To-Belly suplex on James.
Great to see Bayley snatching the pin fall for her team as the faces win again this evening. The match wasn’t long, but it delivered for time allotted. The heels were resilient, but not enough to overcame the face tandem and in the end, James took the loss to Bayley after ousting her from the gauntlet match just last week.
“The Advocate” Paul Heyman gives us a cringe-worthy version of “Silent Night” and it’s magnificent. He says that the Universal Champion is the grinch and he lambastes Braun Strowman for his failures and says Rudolph himself can’t guide Strowman to the title. That was a good line for the holidays.
Strowman is out and the segment ends with him putting antlers and a red nose on a frightened advocate. He says that at the Royal Rumble, Lesnar will “get these hands”.
Natalya is interviewed about her title match with Ronda Rousey coming up next. She’s focused and ready for it after a very difficult year, dealing with the loss of her great father. She hopes that Rousey has makeup ready after their match.
Ronda Rousey defeats Natalya via submission with the arm bar to retain the Raw Women’s Title.
This was given good time and was another great match for Rousey, thanks to Natalya’s veteran presence and instincts. They slowed the pace down and it looked as if Natalya would win it via submission after she escaped an arm bar and eventually slapped on the Sharpshooter.
Rousey got the ropes after Natalya pulled her back several times, but ultimately, a counter saw the arm bar applied and that was that.
Rousey helped Natalya to her feet after the victory in a show of good sportsmanship.
Dean Ambrose trashes Seth Rollins, calling him gullible, saying he believes in Santa and what have you. He hopes Corbin gets the victory tonight.
Heath Slater defeats Jinder Mahal via disqualification after interference from the Singh Brothers.
This was kept short, but the crowd was behind Slater. The Singh Brothers caused the DQ and Santa showed up with rights and lefts for the heels and a gore for Mahal. It appears as if Rhyno is back.
More backstage antics for the holidays featured the Ascension and Apollo Crews. It’s at least good to see forgotten faces on the show tonight.
Seth Rollins defeats Baron Corbin via pin fall with the Blackout.
Corbin gave it a valiant effort in the main event, but his roller coaster years continues after Rollins put this one away with a superkick and then the Blackout.
The reaction that Rollins’ continues to get each and every week should show the “brass” that Rollins is another guy who needs to be back in Universal Title contention, sooner, rather than later.
Corbin meanwhile tries to continue to play the foil, but falls short as we end the Christmas Eve broadcast on a high note. The faces winning all the matches this evening. We’ll probably see more of this next week before true story lines continues as we head into the new year.
