Hot on the heels of Survivor Series, Triple H said this Monday Night RAW from Glendale, Arizona would be “epic”.
Let’s get to the results:
The Last Time is Now tournament: LA Knight def. Jey Uso
WWE Tag Team titles: AJ Styles and Dragon Lee def. The New Day
The Last Time is Now Tournament: Gunther def. Solo Sikoa
Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss vs Rhea Ripley and IYO SKY: No contest
https://x.com/AlexMcCarthy88/status/1995687510702530772?s=20
Notes:
Rhea Ripley and IYO Sky opened the show looking to fight the Kabuki Warriors for the tag team belts. Alexa Bliss and Charlotte Flair entered and said not before they get a rematch. This led to the teams agreeing to face each other in the main event.
Paul Heyman and Bron Breakker got a meeting with general manager Nick Aldis with Heyman lobbying that Breakker pinned CM Punk, implying he should face the WWE world champion next.
Ivy Nile was promised a shot at Maxxine Dupri when she returns from training with Nattie.
Bayley and Lyra Valkyria were also looking for a tag title opportunity, but instead they found Asuka and Kairi Sane blaming Bayley for them losing a War Games – simply because she didn’t join them.
Next, the Judgment Day came out with Dominik Mysterio soaking in the crowd. He basically introduced the return of Liv Morgan who put everyone on notice: The Judgement Day are coming for gold.
We got a gritty training video of Maxxine in Natalya’s Dungeon. Dupri was tapping people out with the ankle lock before Nattie put her in the Sharpshooter, then slapped her for her troubles. Seems like we might be getting the Bloodsport version of Nattie.
Stephanie Vaquer talked about being open for her next challenger, Liv Morgan stepped right to her.
The Vision came to the ring. Heyman ran down the successes of all of his War Games team before announcing Breaker will challenge Punk for the title on the one-year anniversary of their debut on Netflix, January 5.
Then Breakker took the mic and went on an absolute tear with his patented intensity and sharp tongue. Excellent stuff; he ripped Rollins and Punk for being the old heads in the game and his time is now.
Logan Paul and Rey Mysterio got into it backstage over who will chase the Intercontinental title next. Mysterio got a slap off before they were broken up.
The Kabuki Warriors had the main event end in a DQ. Bayley and Lyra Valkyria tried to make an impression but the Judgement Day – Raquel Rodriguez, Liv Morgan and Roxanne Perez – arrived to destroy everyone.
Analysis:
WWE bloody love having Jey Uso in the first match or segment of the night. I can’t blame them – that entrance just gets the energy right doesn’t it?
Nobody can have a bad match with Gunther. Not a single soul on earth. My children could be walked through a top tier match with him. It’s certainly the best Sikoa match I’ve seen in a while.
We’ve thought Gunther would be the man to retire Cena all along and now he will stand across from LA Knight next week, not many minds will change.
Still a good spot for Knight; sooner or later he is going to follow the Jey Uso trajectory of getting frustrated with the traffic jam at the top of the company.
AJ Styles and Dragon Lee – who had an absolutely absurd finish to their match where a Lee double stomped Kingston as he was draped over the top rope and he popped right into Style’s waiting arms straight into a Styles Clash – want to face War Raiders next.
The women’s tag division is stacked with options right now, for once. Unlike WWE to commit to this division like this but we had five teams involved at the end of the show with dozens of world title reigns between them. That’s a very good thing, but I’m intrigued to see what kind of multi-woman match they pay it off with.
