4 Ups And 10 Downs From WWE Raw (Dec 27)

by Scott Carlson

1. Putting Tag Champs Over Strong

WWE Raw Randy Orton Otis
WWE.com

There was a momentary feeling that RK-Bro defeating both members of Alpha Academy in separate singles bouts was a bad thing, but then reality kicked in: these are the tag champs. Going 50/50 with a team who isn’t even in title contention is just a WWE construct that we’ve been conditioned to accept.

Riddle defeated Chad Gable in fine fashion to open the show, and then Randy Orton had to overcome Otis, who was seemingly un-RKO-able. And Orton’s first three efforts to drop Otis failed, just drive home the point. But after Otis missed a Vader Bomb, Randy was finally able to hit an RKO and win the match, giving the tag champs some real momentum heading into Day 1 this weekend.

We even got a hug between Orton and Riddle afterward, with the two yukking it up a bit in the ring. Oh sure, the breakup will come sooner rather than later, but this was great to see.

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Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.