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WWE RAW opened with the winning team from Survivor Series' men's Elimination match. Team RAW defeated Team SmackDown comfortably to score a perfect victory at the show. Adam Pearce offered all the five men a huge opportunity to become the #1 contender to Drew McIntyre’s WWE Championship.
Three matches were held on the night as qualifiers for the #1 contender’s triple threat match that would take place next week. Apart from that, Bray Wyatt found his next target in Randy Orton while Alexa Bliss broke all ties with Nikki Cross.
Lana got a big match against Asuka for the RAW Women’s Championship during the night, but Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler ruined it by causing a DQ. Lana then teamed up with The Empress to defeat Jax and Baszler.
The New Day defended their RAW Tag Team Championship against The Hurt Business, just a night after losing to The Street Profits at Survivor Series.
This article will look at the five things WWE RAW got right during this week’s show.
#5 The New Day retain their WWE RAW Tag Team Championships
The New Day offered The Hurt Business another shot at the WWE RAW Tag Team Champions this week following a confrontation backstage. The New Day had lost their match at Survivor Series against The Street Profits but not without putting up a fight.
Last week, Shelton Benjamin and Cedric Alexander had failed to win the titles, and therefore, it seemed like they’d win the titles on their second outing. The two men started strong and sent Woods out of the ring after some initial offense.
Kingston and Alexander got into a big fight outside the ring that led to a double count-out finish. MVP got on the mic and convinced The New Day for the match to be restarted.
The action only picked up from there on and Kingston was on fire in the second half. However, The Hurt Business once again managed to put him down and work on him, following which he fought out to make a hot tag to Woods.
He delivered some good strikes and survived an Angle Slam from Benjamin, after which he hit the Sunset Flip Bomb to pick up the victory.
The match was good and once again established The New Day as the premier tag team of RAW. While it seemed like Benjamin and Alexander would finally have gold around their waist by the end of the night, RAW did not go down that route. Instead, they have most likely taken The Hurt Business out of the Championship picture, and we could see RETRIBUTION enter the picture as early as next week.
#4 Keith Lee and Riddle get closer to the WWE Championship on RAW
Early on WWE RAW, Team RAW celebrated their victory in the middle of the ring, following which Adam Pearce announced that one of the members of the team would be the next challenger to Drew McIntyre’s WWE Championship.
While Keith Lee, Sheamus, AJ Styles, and Riddle made their case to pick up the opportunity, Braun Strowman attacked Pearce and was kicked out of the arena. Riddle then took on Sheamus in the first of the three qualifiers.
The two had an extremely physical match. The ending of the match saw Riddle roll-up The Celtic Warrior up to pick up the victory. While Riddle has a couple of great finishers like The Floating Bro and BroDereck up his sleeve, he has been picking up wins via roll-ups lately.
Next up, Keith Lee took on the United States Champion Bobby Lashley. Both men displayed their incredible strength in the ring. However, MVP’s interference cost The All Mighty the match as the referee disqualified him to award the match to The Limitless One.
While both matches were decent, the outcomes were good as both Lee and Riddle are now in the spotlight and could possibly become the #1 contender for the WWE Championship.
#3 The Firefly Fun House once again the highlight of WWE RAW
Another edition of the Firefly Fun House lit up WWE RAW this week right after Survivor Series. Bray Wyatt returned as the host to talk about friendship on this week’s episode.
Wyatt did not waste much time and once again made references to the time Randy Orton burned down the Wyatt Compound. He and Alexa Bliss then turned their attention to Nikki Cross and called her a bad friend. Wyatt wanted Bliss to end her friendship with Cross for good.
The Goddess battered Friendship Frog and then observed a moment of silence. Wyatt made fun of the entire situation, and both the Superstars warned Nikki before the segment came to an end.
While The Firefly Fun House might be twisted, the dark humor has helped RAW deliver some quality segments. Wyatt and Bliss are a pairing that has worked extremely well, and it will be interesting to see where he leads Bliss to next.
Judging by this segment, it seems like Wyatt wants to do a few more things to Bliss’ character before he is content with the final product.
#2 Alexa Bliss refuses Nikki Cross’s friendship on WWE RAW
Nikki Cross has been chasing Alexa Bliss for some weeks now, and the latter looked to "beat The Fiend out" of her former friend this week on WWE RAW. The former Women’s Tag Team Champions had a great partnership until The Fiend entered Bliss’ head, and things have been very different for Cross ever since on RAW.
A video package recapped their journey to the match, and the two former partners came face to face to settle their differences. Bliss tried to play mind games on Cross, something that showed how the association with Bray Wyatt has been working out for her.
Cross did not have any of that immediately and unloaded on Bliss. However, The Goddess caught the Cross off-guard by dropping to her knees and crying to gain some sympathy. The two Superstars embraced in the middle of the ring, following which Bliss dropped her with a Sister Abigail to pick up the victory on RAW.
After the match, Cross looked on in disbelief as Bliss walked up the ramp to end the segment. This was an excellent way to show the new side of Bliss and build on her character. What can make things even more interesting is if Cross decides to join Bliss and Wyatt following their interactions on RAW.
#1 The Fiends stalks Randy Orton on WWE RAW; AJ Styles progresses
The final match of WWE RAW saw AJ Styles take on Randy Orton in the third qualifier for next week's Triple Threat #1 Contender's match.
Styles tried to wear down The Viper with a leg lock and then trapped him in the Calf Crusher soon after.
After Orton barely made it to the ropes, both men traded blows before The Fiend appeared outside the ring to stalk Orton. The distraction caught The Viper off guard, allowing Styles to hit the Phenomenal Forearm to pick up the victory.
This was a good match that not only allowed AJ Styles to progress in the WWE Championship picture but also gave Orton his next opponent on RAW.
We’ve seen The Fiend stalk Orton for weeks now, and now it’s evident that the monstrous being is not after the WWE Championship but wants to take down The Viper of RAW instead. The feud has been in the making for quite some time now, and given the storytelling prowess of both Orton and Wyatt, this rivalry could become the highlight of Monday Night RAW in the weeks to come.
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