WWE Monday Night Raw Review: 01/12

Linus O'Howell
2 days ago
5 min read

RHIYO Start the Show, Jey Uso VS LA Knight: The Last Time is Now Tournament (Semi-Finals)

After a recap of Survivor Series: War Games, Rhea Ripley and Iyo Sky kicked off the show by celebrating their WarGames victory on Saturday! Rhea and Iyo said that whilst it was nice to win the war, they’re not done with The Kabuki Warriors yet, as they’re now setting their sights firmly on winning the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships! This brought out Alexa Bliss and Charlotte Flair, who told Ripley and Sky that they’re owed a rematch for the Tag Titles, so they need to wait in line! Ultimately, this resulted in both teams agreeing to face each other in the Main Event, and I would assume the winner of that match would get the first crack at Asuka and Kairi Sane!

Grade: C+

Ivy Nile told Adam Pearce that she wants the first shot at Maxxine Dupri’s Intercontinental Championship, before Paul Heyman made it clear to Pearce that he had nothing to do with the hooded figure at Survivor Series! Heyman also told Pearce that they have a lot to talk about regarding the fact that Bron Breakker pinned CM Punk over the weekend, and we then went into the first match of the night as Jey Uso and LA Knight clashed in the first Semi-Final of The Last Time is Now Tournament! Both Jey Uso and LA Knight are incredibly over superstars, but they haven’t always been known for being the best in-ring competitors! However, having said that, I actually quite enjoyed this match; I thought the wrestling was pretty good! The burning hammer that LA delivered was perfect, and Jey fought valiantly given he competed in WarGames less than 48 hours ago! Towards the end, it looked like Uso had the win after delivering an Uso Splash, but Knight managed to reverse the pin into a pinning combination of his own, scoring a surprise victory to advance to the Final! After the match, a stunned Jey Uso lost it, smashing things up at ringside in what was a clear sign of someone who’s very much losing it!

Grade: B

The Judgment Day Promo, AJ Styles and Dragon Lee VS The New Day: World Tag Team Championships

Adam Pearce told Bayley and Lyra Valkyria that he would keep them under consideration when it comes to deciding who would be the next challengers for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships, before The Kabuki Warriors came over as Asuka blamed Bayley for her teams’ loss at WarGames! This was funny! The Judgment Day then came down to the ring as Dominik Mysterio wanted to celebrate becoming a 2-time Intercontinental Champion, with Dominik stating that beating John Cena makes him the Greatest Luchador of All Time! Mysterio thanked everyone in The Judgment Day for helping him on Saturday, but in particular, the returning Liv Morgan! Liv then arrived to laugh about her masterful plan to beat John Cena, before Miss Morgan warned the rest of the locker room that now she’s back, The Judgment Day is firmly the biggest threat on Monday Night’s! Not only is it great to have Liv Morgan back, but I think Liv’s interactions with Roxanne Perez are already pretty fascinating!

Grade: B-

After Maxxine Dupri was seen to be being trained incredibly hard by Natalya, Adam Pearce was out for answers regarding both the mystery attacker and the fact that Seth “Freakin” Rollins was in San Diego without a sling! Interesting! Gold was then on the line as AJ Styles and Dragon Lee looked to successfully retain their World Tag Team Championships over The New Day! I have to say, AJ Styles and Dragon Lee are working really well together; their styles gel to great effect, and I enjoy watching them! The New Day are of course great; Xavier Woods in particular is a great Heel, and Grayson Waller was certainly playing mind games on the outside! Eventually, AJ and Dragon were able to get the victory to retain their Tag Team Titles, but the way they did it was absolutely incredible! Not only did Styles catch Kingston perfectly to deliver the Styles Clash, but Lee also did a ridiculous dive to the outside to wipe out both Woods and Waller! Really, really impressive ending!

Grade: B

The Vision Celebrates, Gunther VS Solo Sikoa: The Last Time is Now Tournament (Semi-Finals)

Stephanie Vaquer said she’s intrigued to see who her next challenger is going to be, and this is when Liv Morgan confronted her (that was a quick answer)! The Vision then headed down to the ring as Paul Heyman wanted to give shoutouts to all 5 men on his WarGames Team! The main point of this angle was to get a massive reaction out of Bron Breakker, after Paul Heyman confirmed that Breakker will challenge CM Punk for the World Heavyweight Championship on the One Year Anniversary Show of Raw on Netflix! Bron completely snapped, firing a massive promo which saw him take shots at both CM Punk and Seth “Freakin” Rollins, stating that he can indeed cut a promo with the big ones! Breakker ended his promo by saying he’s going to show Punk who the real Best in the World is, and I thought all of this was great – this was the best promo of Bron Breakker’s career!

Grade: B+

After Jey Uso left the arena pretty frustrated, Gunther and Solo Sikoa went one-on-one in the second Semi-Final in The Last Time is Now Tournament! Gunther and Solo have had previous encounters back in the NXT 2.0 days, and this was honestly another pretty good match! It benefited from a lot of time, but my biggest takeaway from all of this is just how much Solo Sikoa has improved! Yes, Sikoa was good in the past, but he’s great now; everything he does is quality! Of course, we already know how excellent Gunther is, with The Ring General still being the heavy favourite to retire John Cena! However, Talla Tonga tried his best not to make that happen with interference towards the end, but eventually, a low-blow behind the referee’s back from Gunther, followed by a Powerbom,b was enough for the Austrian to book a date with LA Knight in the Final!

Grade: B

Alexa Bliss and Charlotte Flair VS RHIYO

After AJ Styles and Dragon Lee got themselves another Title defense against The War Raiders next week, and Rey Mysterio had a backstage altercation with Logan Paul, it was Main Event time as Alexa Bliss and Charlotte Flair looked to earn themselves Number 1 Contenders status against RHIYO! Obviously, all four women are very talented, and I really liked the interactions and the narrative that we got between Rhea Ripley and Charlotte Flair! I’m not really sure whose idea it was to book Rhea and Iyo Sky as a Tag Team, but for now, it kind of works, especially with the crowd! However, what I didn’t like about this match was the ending, as The Kabuki Warriors just showed up to force a No Contest! Honestly, if you don’t want anyone to lose, don’t book the match! Anyway, Bayley and Lyra Valkyria then ran down to try and make the save, but they were eventually all wiped out by The Judgment Day, as Liv Morgan, Roxanne Perez, and Raquel Rodriguez stood tall with the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships aloft to close the show! Once again, another great interaction between Liv and Roxy!