-I like when Judgement Day opens Monday Night Raw. It probably happens too often, but the faction feels like a major deal regularly and starting with them sets a tone for the show … usually. A lot of their opening promo was fine, but the pivot from seriousness championship level talk from Rhea Ripley, Finn Balor, and Damian Priest to silliness with R-Truth and J.D. McDonagh was a tough putt to sink and they didn’t sink it. Truth has a place on three hour Raw marathons, but not with a key main event level faction.
No more holiday street fights
-As for the McDonagh vs. Truth Miracle on 34th Street Fight, well, it was nearly unbearable. Michael Cole’s obnoxious and forced references to Christmas were nauseating and Truth securing a win and buying his own bizarre stipulation that he’d all of a sudden be a part of the Judgement Day team was simply too much. On principal, holiday themed street fights are detrimental to the weekly WWE product and this one followed suit.
-Becky Lynch and Nia Jax both had good nights on the microphone. Their little feud is perfect for the Day One Raw concept and feels like a big deal within that context. Are you going to the main event of WrestleMania with this? No, but that’s not what it’s trying to be either.
-Kofi Claus? Really? No. No, no, no. Bad.
The star that is Gunther
-Gunther vs. The Miz was an excellent match and the best of Miz’s career. All credit to Miz on that as he played his role well, but Gunther is a shining star. The credibility he’s built as champion with a balanced attempt at staying a heel has elevated anyone that stands opposite him in the ring. He’s a valuable commodity for WWE and one of Triple H’s successful booking efforts of the year.
-The American Nightmare Before Christmas by Shinsuke Nakamura wasn’t great. Did Vince McMahon produce that? Nakamura found his stride with recorded promos in which he spoke in his native language. Not sure why the strategy was to pivot away from that on this aside from the obvious, but lame, Christmas tie in. It’s not going to kill the Cody Rhodes vs. Nakamura feud or anything like that, but needlessly put Nakamura in a spot where he simply can’t deliver as well. Cody showed some nice fire in their brawl. Like the Jax vs. Lynch match, this will serve as a strong TV match before Rhodes moves on to his Royal Rumble run.
-We have new WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions and I’m cautiously optimistic? maybe? I don’t like the belts being taken off of Piper Niven and Chelsea Green as both fit the mold of what WWE wants these champions to be. They were strong, entertaining heels and we’ll see what impact they can have at the bottom of the card without the belts. That said, in order to grow the women’s tag division, there has to be viable teams around the show. Kayden Carter and Katana Chance are immediately lifted into a higher spot in the division because of this win and the show needs them there. Not a ton to write home about as far as the match itself is concerned. It happened and both teams needs to be crisper with their work.
-Wait, Ivy Nile vs. Rhea Ripley? It’s simply way, way to soon to run that one out there. Thumbs down.
-Who the hell is the Akira Tozawa character for? At best it’s obnoxious and at worst it’s stereotypical and racist. The Vince McMahon fog still hasn’t lifted fully I guess?
Main event stars acting like main event stars
-Seth Rollins and Drew McIntyre delivered a riveting go-home promo ahead of their Day One championship match on New Year’s Day. McIntyre was so believable telling his story of sacrifice and Rollins was equally believable in only kind of buying it. This came across as very authentic and that’s why it landed so effectively.
-Rollins has come into his own and continues to balance out the goofy outfits and presentation with serious tone and tenor. He looked like an alpha champion out there this week and he hasn’t found that spot regularly quite yet. This was a very good night for him coming off an excellent showing last week opposite CM Punk.
-Jey Uso vs. Ludwig Kaiser … happened? Not much to break down here, but if you’re reading the tea leaves, it looks like Jey vs. Gunther is a potential WWE Intercontinental Championship feud is on the horizon.
Finally a strong presentation of The Creed Brothers
-The Creed Brothers and Judgement Day delivered in a strong main event. The presentation The Creed’s received as legit fighters that rub shoulders with top MMA stars is the presentation they need. Being saddled with comedy alongside Alpha Academy and New Day hurts them. This helped a lot, but it wasn’t their time to win the titles. They are a team that the Raw audience can get behind long term and it makes sense to build to their title win over time. Plus, Judgement Day needs those titles to stay relevant and credible at the top of the show each week.