5 Talking Points from Monday Night Raw, December 23-2013

The latest edition of WWE Monday Night Raw was themed for Christmas and so it involved Christmas themed matches and segments, with none of these succeeding in entertaining the fans. Only the 6-man tag team matches provided some relief. It wasn’t a good Monday Night, but it did come up with some talking points:

5. Where are the WWE Divas heading? Nowhere!

All the Divas of the WWE (except for AJ Lee) together put up one of the worst matches of this year. It was a tag match between the “Total Divas” and “Rest of the Divas,” all dressed up in Christmas costumes and yes, Total Divas won the match. The Divas simple tagged each other with everyone showing one or two moves until Natalya made Aksana tap out with her Sharpshooter. Watching the Total Divas form a chain and knock every other Diva out was embarrassing instead of entertaining. Thank God, we had AJ for commentary which was a relief during the match. Neither the audience nor the commentators were involved in the match, with Michael Cole even confusing Summer Rae for Rosa Mendes. Wow!!! The way WWE is pushing these “Total Divas” which are full of ‘talent’ like Eva Marie, the future of the company’s Divas looks ruined. Thank God we have AJ and Natalya, but two women alone can’t run the whole division, and WWE needs to address this situation.

4. WWE finally confirms Batista’s return

The speculations about Batista’s return to the WWE were brought to an end by the company itself, as they posted a teaser video during Raw featuring Batista and confirming that he will return on the January 20^th episode of Raw. He declared: “I’m tired of waiting. I’m back.” His return is earlier than expected; scheduling his return for the Royal Rumble match might have been more exciting for the fans. But with the details about his return spreading too fast, WWE might have felt that it’s better to inform everyone about his return on their own, as quickly as possible before the news gets stale and the excitement about his return wears down.

“The Animal” also tweeted after two weeks saying: “I can’t wait to get to the Cheesefest in Hoakietown and punch somebody right in the f’n face! Playtime’s over children”

3. Who will challenge the Rhodes Brothers for their Tag Titles?

All of WWE’s tag teams were involved in different matches, giving us no clear idea about who will face the Rhodes Brothers at Royal Rumble. Prime Time Players were involved in a match with The Usos, The Real Americans were up against Los Matadores, the Tag Champs faced the Wyatts in a 6-man tag match, The Shield were in the main event match with Langston, Punk and Cena, one of the tag teams, Rybaxel, didn’t even compete as a team; Axel faced Sin Cara and Ryback faced Kofi Kingston, and Show & Mysterio weren’t even in a match. This episode of Raw didn’t make it clear who will face Goldust and Cody Rhodes at Royal Rumble. But, the Rhodes Brothers’ continuous matches with The Wyatt Family, makes the Wyatts possible contenders for the tag titles. But, we’ll have to wait until the first Raw of 2014 to know who will challenge for the tag titles.

2. The Increasing Excitement in the Daniel Bryan-Wyatt Family Rivalry

The Wyatt Family and Daniel Bryan were involved in one of the (only) two good matches of the night; a 6-man tag match between The Wyatt Family, Rhodes Brothers and Daniel Bryan. The match marked the increasing character involvement of all three members of The Wyatt Family. This time Bray was involved in the match from the beginning and these 6 men together produced a great tag match. This match ensured that the feud between Bryan and The Wyatt Family continues, plus the way this match ended with The Wyatts surrounding Bryan and again giving him the option to join them, puts “The Flying Goat” in a situation where he has to either join them (who are more powerful than him) or fight them (and escape their continuous tortures) and rise as a man worthy of winning the Unified Championship. No matter how this feud ends, it will continue to entertain the viewers as long as they deliver such good matches.

1. Big E. Langston’s inclusion in the main event

Indeed, WWE is recognizing Langston’s potential to be in main event matches. Not only did Langston participate in the main event where he teamed up with John Cena and CM Punk to take on The Shield, but he also delivered a standout performance, destroying The Shield towards the end of the match. The audience really enjoyed this part of the match as there were bodies everywhere with Big E delivering clotheslines, a belly-to-belly, a double splash and later also a Big Ending. When you’ll watch this match you will realize how good Big E was in the match. This match proved Big E. Langston’s capability to deliver in big matches and now it depends on the WWE to decide whether or not to include him in more main event matches.