Csonka’s WWE Raw Review 12.24.18

Csonka’s WWE Raw Review 12.24.18

OFFICIAL RESULTS
– Miracle on 34th Street Fight: Elias defeated Lashley @ 12:35 via pin [**½]
– Raw Tag Team Title Match: Champions Chad Gable & Bobby Roode defeated The Revival @ 10:45 via pin [***¼]
– Finn Balor defeated Drew McIntyre & Dolph Ziggler @ 11:30 via pin [***]
– Sasha Banks, Bayley, & Ember Moon defeated Mickie James, Dana Brooke, & Alicia Fox @ 8:14 via pin [*]
– Raw Women’s Title Match: Champion Ronda Rousey defeated Natalya @ 15:45 via submission [***½]
– Heath Slater defeated Jinder Mahal @ 1:55 via DQ [NR]
– Seth Rollins defeated Baron Corbin @ 12:40 via pin [**½]

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– You can check out my top 32 matches of NOVEMBER list at this link.

– Elias plays a tune to welcome us to the show, telling us about how much Lashley sucks.

HOLY SHIT RAW IS ACTUALLY STARTING WITH A MATCH AND NOT A 20-MINUTE PROMO!

Miracle on 34th Street Fight: Elias vs. Lashley: Lio is at ringside. Lashley attacks at the bell, and works over Elias with rights. Lashley knocks him to the floor, and Elias attacks with a Christmas tree. He follows with chops and clotheslines. Elias gets a candy cane kendo, Lio steals it, but Elias runs Lashley into the steps. Post break, and Elias is in control back in the ring until Lashley cuts him off. Elias fights off Lio, but Lashley hits a spinebuster. They brawl to the floor and Lashley slams Elias onto some presents. Back in and Lashley lays in elbows, and an overhead suplex. Lashley gets another present and spills out Legos. He takes Elias up top, follows him up but Elias fights him off and into the Legos. Elias uses a fire extinguisher on Lashley and knocks Lio through a table of cookies. Elias works over Lashley, gets a bowling ball and rolls it into his nuts. Elias unwraps a cello, nails Lashley and wins. Elias defeated Lashley @ 12:35 via pin [**½] This was a solid and silly holiday match, it was fine.

– Elias spills eggnog all over Lio post match.

– We get highlights of last week’s McMahon-o-mania stuff.

Raw Tag Team Title Match: Champions Chad Gable & Bobby Roode vs. The Revival: Roode and Dash to begin. Dash looks to outwrestle Roode, tags in Dawson and Gable tags in as well. Gable takes control, grounding the action, Dawson cuts him off, but Gable fights back with arm drags and head scissors. The Revival quickly cut him off. Post break, and Dash has Gable grounded. Dawson tags in and the challengers continue the heat on Gable. Dash tags back in and double teams on Gable follow for 2. Dash takes Gable up top, but Gable locks on a hanging arm bar. Dawson stops the tag, but Gable hits a suplex and Dash & Roode tag in. Roode takes control, throwing suplexes, and dumps Dawson. The spinebuster on Dash gets 2. Gable tags back in, dash cuts off Roode, but Gable hits Chaos theory for 2. Dawson tags in, they trade pin attempts, Dash tags in and double teams follow for 2 as Roode makes the save. Roode takes out Dash, allowing Gable to cradle Dawson for the win. Champions Chad Gable & Bobby Roode defeated The Revival @ 10:45 via pin [***¼] This was a good and fun tag match, and they claimed that Dash was a actually legal, and that opens us up to a possible rematch.

– WWE stars talk about what they want for Christmas.

– They air the video on the upcoming NXT arrivals.

– We get a Kevin Owens is returning soon video.

– McIntyre says he’s going to beat these geeks and then win the Royal Rumble and main event WrestleMania.

Finn Balor vs. Drew McIntyre vs. Dolph Ziggler: McIntyre attacks right away, working over both until Balor & Dolph dump him. Dolph cuts off Balor, rakes the eyes, and hits the dropkick for 2. Balor cuts him off, dumps him, but McIntyre pulls him to the floor and slams him to the barricade and then slams Dolph onto the apron. Post break, and McIntyre is in control, grounding Balor. He lets him go and starts attacking Dolph, and covers for 2. McIntyre grounds Dolph now, dumps him and Balor gets a sunset flip for 2. Balor & Dolph look to attack, head butt by McIntyre on Dolph, but Balor fights off the powerbomb and hits the standing double stomp. The dropkick follows, Balor up to but misses the double stop, zigzag by Dolph and that gets 2. The fameasser on Balor follows, but McIntyre hits the inverted Alabama slam, sending Dolph onto Balor, for 2. Balor fires back, hits sling blade, an enziguri, but Dolph cuts him off. Superkick by Dolph, Balor hits the double stomp and dumps McIntyre. John Wooooooooooo to Dolph and the double stomp finishes it. Finn Balor defeated Drew McIntyre & Dolph Ziggler @ 11:30 via pin [***] Good match overall, and while McIntyre didn’t win, he took a lot of the match and was protected in loss while Balor picks up another win.

– Post match, McIntyre yells at Dolph but Dolph hits zigzag and bails.

– Vince McMahon announces that the women’s tag titles are coming, and next week, Ziggler vs. McIntyre in a steel cage match.

.@VinceMcMahon, oh…er… #SantaClaus, has a few AMAZING announcements to make on #Raw! pic.twitter.com/gBXs8YWURe

— WWE (@WWE) December 25, 2018

Sasha Banks, Bayley, & Ember Moon vs. Mickie James, Dana Brooke, & Alicia Fox: James and Moon to begin. They work into some back and forth, Fox tags in but Moon hits a suicide dive onto James. Post break, and the heels are working over Moon. James goes for repeated covers, Brooke tags in and grounds Moon, Moon slowly fights back but Brooke cuts off the tag. Moon fights her off and tags in Bayley. She runs wild to almost no reaction, tags in Banks and they work over James and dump Brooke. Banks hits a REEEEEEEEEEEEEEALLY shitty looking meteora, Moon flies in with the eclipse on Fox, Bayley tags in and the backstabber and Bayley to belly finishes it. Sasha Banks, Bayley, & Ember Moon defeated Mickie James, Dana Brooke, & Alicia Fox @ 8:14 via pin [*] This was not good, it was disjointed as all hell, the crowd didn’t care and was sloppy at times.

– The Riott Squad attacks post match, laying out the babyfaces.

Celebrating the Holidays with Paul Heyman: Heyman sings a special version of Silent Night, talking about Brock beating Braun. He then introduces himself, and reminds us that Brock will defend against Braun at the Rumble. Heyman then tells a story about a baby monster who wanted a replica title, but now wants the real thing. Heyman says that won’t happen at the expense of Brock, all Braun will get is a lump of coal. Braun arrives, no sling but still wrapped up. Heyman begs off with holiday wishes while Braun decorates him as Rudolph Braun tells Heyman to tell Brock that he’ll be 100% at the Rumble and Brock will get these hands. That, that was a segment.

Raw Women’s Title Match: Champion Ronda Rousey vs. Natalya: They lock up and work to the ground. Back to the feet, they lockup and work into some counters before Natalya grounds things. Rousey back to the feet, hits a shoulder tackle and they lock up. Natalya again looks to ground things, but Rousey counters and looks for an arm bar, but transitions to a triangle variation. Rousey hits a throw, grounds things and covers for 2. Natalya now takes her down, but Rousey works a body scissors. She transitions to a guillotine, but Natalya counters with a suplex, but Rousey fights off the sharpshooter, sending Natalya to the floor. Post break, and Natalya posts Rousey and rolls her up for 2. Natalya grounds things with a body scissors, and then follows with a suplex for 2. Natalya locks on a sleeper, Rousey fights out and runs into a clothesline for 2. The abdominal stretch follows, but Rousey escapes only to run into a dropkick and Natalya covers for 2. The suplex follows and that gets 2. Rousey fires back, lays in strikes and hits a throw and knee strike for 2. Natalya hits the rolling lariat and that gets 2. Rousey fights off the sharpshooter sand hits Piper’s pit but Natalya counters the arm bar and gets the sharpshooter, Rousey fights, rolls out and gets the arm bar and Natalya taps. Champion Ronda Rousey defeated Natalya @ 15:45 via submission [***½] This was a very good and enjoyable match, with good work and a good layout. I liked the story that they were hesitant to start before really amping it up.

– We get a Sami Zayn is returning soon video package.

Heath Slater vs. Jinder Mahal: The Singhs are at ringside. Mahal attacks right away, taking early control. Santa arrives and throws out gifts. Slater makes the comeback, but the Singhs run in for the DQ. Santa hits the ring and makes the save. Santa gores Mahal, and it’s a Christmas miracle, as Santa is revealed to be Rhyno. Heath Slater defeated Jinder Mahal @ 1:55 via DQ [NR] Merry Christmas Rhyno.

– Next week…

NEXT MONDAY: @HEELZiggler & @DMcIntyreWWE go one-on-one INSIDE a #SteelCage! #RAW #RAWChristmas pic.twitter.com/5b3QyEkymT

— WWE (@WWE) December 25, 2018

ALSO NEXT WEEK: @JohnCena returns to #RAW and #SDLive! pic.twitter.com/IWHc6qCALF

— WWE (@WWE) December 25, 2018

Baron Corbin vs. Seth Rollins: Rollins attacks at the bell, dumps Corbin and follows with a suicide dive. They brawl on the floor until Corbin cuts him off. Back in, Corbin powders, and Rollins hits another suicide dive. Back in and Rollins follows with rights, heads up top but Corbin knocks him to the floor. Post break, and Corbin has Rollins grounded. Corbin follows with the Bossman clothesline for 2. Corbin then follows with ground and pound, slowing things to a crawl as he works that shitty half nelson deal he and Mahal love. Rollins fires back, hits the blockbuster, and he follows with rights and sling blade. Rollins now does the deal with a falcon arrow for 2. He sets, but Corbin counters the blackout into deep six for 2. Corbin takes Rollins up top, follows him up, but Rollins slides out and hits an enziguri. He flies back in but hits the chokebreaker for 2. Rollins avoids a charge, Corbin posts himself and the blackout finishes it. Seth Rollins defeated Baron Corbin @ 12:40 via pin [**½] This was an overall solid main event, but there was really no drama involved.

– End scene.

– Thanks for reading.

~GLORIOUS~

6.0

The final score: review Average

The 411

Tonight’s Raw wasn’t bad and was a better than expected holiday episode that was heavy on wrestling and provided some good matches. It was solid.