5 Ups & 3 Downs From WWE Raw (25 Dec - Results & Review)

DOWNS…

3. Skippable Content

It’s obvious that Monday’s special was taped in advance of Christmas, despite the hosts acting as if it was taking place on December 25th itself. That’s fine.

But the interviews largely came across as forced and fake-feeling, with the likes of Becky Lynch, Jey Uso and Cody Rhodes answering really banal questions that didn’t give much insight into anything. They tried to make them relevant by focusing on upcoming opponents and trying to add gravity the events of 2023, but it felt like a poorly rehearsed Zoom call rather than a “best of” highlight show.

There were modest successes, with Seth Rollins doing a decent enough job in his interview, and seeing some of the PLE matches again was enjoyable. But too much of this felt completely skippable, with Paul Heyman’s segment acknowledging Roman Reigns serving no purpose other than to remind fans that the Tribal Chief exists. New Day’s recap was a noble failure – it probably would have worked better as something stretched out and given depth rather than 10-second glimpses of each superstar.