7 Ups And 5 Downs From WWE Raw (Dec 16)
Rollins has banner night, gauntlet match dazzles, disappoints.
After a tepid, disappointing placeholder of a PPV Sunday night, WWE needed to rebound in a big way on Raw. Thankfully, the company kept it simple with a handful of storylines that moved forward nicely.
The biggest angle of the night belonged to Seth Rollins and AOP, fresh off a night off at TLC. The suited trio worked to establish themselves as the menacing heels who should be feared by the entire roster. Rollins entrenched himself as a bad guy and took a vital step by picking out a victim who is universally loved – always a smart move to get booed.
On the plus and negative sides, we got an hourlong gauntlet match to crown a United States Championship #1 contender. The match(es) were great and told a nice little story, but WWE snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, pulling the rug out from under fans after everything with a puzzling move.
And we saw The Man acknowledge her recent dive into the tag team division and her attempt to extract herself from it.
Still, Raw overall was certainly watchable and mostly entertaining. It’s a weird period with Royal Rumble more than a month away, and the Christmas week and New Year’s week shows, which tend to be less than stellar.
With that said, let’s get to it…