6 Ups & 4 Downs From WWE Raw (23 Dec - Results & Review)

2. No Fireworks, But A Great Sell

Sami Zayn versus Drew McIntyre at Saturday Night’s Main Event was a solid opening match, trim and efficient, a no-wasted-motion bout.

Their rematch Monday night on Raw was the opposite, a slowed-down, more grounded match that focused on Sami’s tremendous selling and comebacks, leading up to Zayn loading up for a Helluva Kick but being unable to pull the trigger due to his injured back. That allowed McIntyre to nail a Claymore for the win and remain undefeated against Sami.

As a typical WWE main event, this was certainly a different pace, as they avoided a lot of the bells and whistles and stuck to a steady drumbeat of Drew torturing Sami’s back, including a back suplex on the apron. That might have been the biggest spot of the match, save for the dueling tilt-o-whirls (a McIntyre backbreaker, and a Zayn DDT).

Afterward, Jey Uso ran down for the save again, only for the Bloodline to arrive and lay both Jey and Sami out, as Drew casually left the ring. All of this was in service of the Tribal Combat match for the Raw on Netflix debut in two weeks, which should be a big turning point in the latest Bloodline saga.

While not Earth-shattering, the new Bloodline continuing its assault of everyone in Roman Reigns’ absence should factor into the OTC’s character arc soon – his team can’t keep taking bullets for him without being acknowledged.