6 Ups & 4 Downs From WWE Raw (16 Dec - Results & Review)

2. A Wounded Dog Is A Dangerous Dog

Typically, booking a bruiser of a heel champion to sell an injury for 10-plus minutes is a recipe for disaster in wrestling.

But Bron Breakker did an admirable job working through an “injured” shoulder against Ludwig Kaiser, persevering and overcoming the wounded wing to successfully defend his Intercontinental Championship on Raw. Kaiser targeted the arm and shoulder throughout the match, constantly retaking control and thwarting Bron’s power game with strikes to the injury.

Rather than this being a “Breakker rolls around and sells the arm for 10 minutes,” they constantly went back and forth, with Kaiser attacking the shoulder and Bron fighting back with a flurry before being grounded once again. Lather, rinse, repeat. It was a simple formula that worked exceptionally well because it went against the grain of what you typically see in a WWE match.

The two had a great spot on the floor when Kaiser went for his running dropkick into the steps, but turned the corner to discover that Breakker was gone. He turned around just in time to see Bron racing around the ring himself, plowing into Ludwig to flatten the challenger. A spear using his good shoulder moments later finished Kaiser, with Bron escaping with his title reign intact.

This was a really fun match and showed that Kaiser is perfectly capable of moving up the singles ranks, while Breakker notched a different kind of title defense.