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

3. Putting Over Future Challengers

For all the criticism leveled against Seth Rollins for his Night of Champions match against AJ Styles, the inaugural World Heavyweight Champion has done his best to legitimize the title throughout the year.

That includes his interview during Monday’s Raw special. Aside from putting over the title itself, Rollins continued his burgeoning feud with the returning CM Punk, talking about how he once respected Punk, but the Second City Savior spent the past decade tearing that down. He said it would take a Herculean effort to regain that respect, but he broadened his “I hate you” criticism from a couple weeks ago to one more born of disappointment at one of his heroes.

Rollins then turned his attention to his upcoming opponent, Drew McIntyre, noting that a lot of what the Scottish Warrior has been saying lately isn’t untrue, but that doesn’t validate his actions. He reiterated McIntyre’s goals, but predicted he would still be victorious at Day One Raw, effectively giving his opponent a nod while projecting confidence.

It wasn’t earth-shattering, but these recap-style shows can often be dull placeholders, so any kind of angle advancement deserves a bit of credit.