RAW In A Nutshell: Unwrapping Some Day 1 Fun

It’s time for another RAW In A Nutshell, and this week we will be unwrapping some Day 1 fun.

Why unwrapping? Well, unless you’ve been naughty, Christmas is this weekend…lots of unwrapping to be done.

And with Day 1 just a couple weeks away, RAW will be unwrapping some hype as we look forward to Day 1 fun.

What kind of fun?

Well, last week gave us a few interesting wrinkles.

For starters, Bobby Lashley is now in that WWE Championship match-now a fatal fourway.

Then, we’ve got something interesting brewing between The Miz, Maryse and Edge. Maryse will be a guest on The Cutting Edge…and that just smells like a swerve.

Or, maybe that really begins pushing us to a mixed tag match, as most of us see coming.

Beyond that, there is plenty to unpack…or, unwrap, as the case might be.

So who is up for unwrapping some Day 1 fun?

Let’s get things started, shall we? It’s time for…

RAW In A Nutshell: Unwrapping Some Day 1 Fun

Let’s unwrap this Nutshell and see what we got!

Best Match of the night:

I can’t say that I have a choice here.

Torn between Austin Theory-Finn Balor and our main event.

I will also give a nice mention to Bianca Belair and Doudrop…even though it feels like the crowd does not know how to respond to Doudrop.

Call it a toss-up.

Worst match of the night:

This one is tough, because I am admittedly prone to going after overly short matches.

And this week…there seemed to be a lot of them.

Orton and Gable could have been so much more, but it seems to have just been another step toward the end goal.

Mysterios versus AJ Styles and Omos likely gets my nod here, because of what I mention later as a botch, plus this match was also short.

Not to mention the biggest item in this match could have been done a lot better…or different. Or both.

Star of the Night

I have an unlikely call here.

How about Otis?

I mean, sure, I think Lashley and Big E worked well off of each other…but I would argue that Otis quietly had a really good RAW.

Loved him getting to shrug off multiple RKOs. You knew it was a big deal because the announce team mentioned it.

Plus, Otis screaming to Orton about how his lack of a neck would impede future RKO attempts…was both passionate and funny.

Otis had a chance once before to do something big, and WWE aborted. This, to me, tells me there is still hope.

Spot of the Night:

I’d go with Rollins’ stomp of Lashley on the steps.

Or Austin Theory’s move, which I thought was something related to a Spanish Fly, but I have no idea.

Jobber of the Night:

AJ Styles kind of got jobbed.

Holy Sh** Moment of the Night:

In theory, I think WWE wanted that to be the Omos turn on AJ.

Problem is, Omos is so green still, the turn was just…awkward.

Like, they had Omos ready to say stuff to Styles, but then the Mysterios made their entrance.

Then, he just refused to tag in, which cost them the match. Styles blew up, so Omos returned the favor.

It’s here because, well…it should have been a more significant and notable turn.

Instead, Omos got almost no discernible buzz from that turn. If WWE knew beforehand that this was how the split was going to go?

I’d bet they would have delayed it.

Botch of the night:

Not a traditional botch-this was not an “oops” as things happened live.

No, WWE planned this…

Right in what seemed to be the midst of MizTV, the Mysterio’s entrance hit and the bell rang for their tag match against AJ Styles and Omos.

I get that the match was next, but it seemed like a rather abrupt and planned interruption. It’s one thing to have someone come to the ring and crash the segment…but a whole match?

Just…weird.

LOL Moment of the night:

Is it funny, or is it sad? Or maybe it’s both.

But…the 24/7 title picture. I mean, you have Reggie, seemingly into Dana Brooke, but also staying close to the belt.

Then, R-Truth and Tozawa and Tamina now too, just meandering about waiting to have a near fall.

Noteworthy Moment:

We almost saw a Lashley turn.

Almost.

OK, maybe not almost, but we saw Big E and Lashley respect each other as much as they could, and Lashley came out of things looking more and more like a ‘tweener.

So, maybe WWE is laying the groundwork for a Lashley/MVP split? Coupled with a face turn?

Not saying it could or will happen…but it’s possible.

Overall lowlights:

The excessive amount of short matches gets tiresome.

Gable and Orton…Mysterios/Omos and Styles…Priest and Roode even.

Felt like we only got a few matches-on a three hour show-that ran anywhere near 10-15 minutes.

Overall highlights:

I enjoyed what we got out of all four men for the championship match, all evening.

Edge and Maryse was clearly a setup…Edge knew it, and Maryse name dropping Beth basically assures us that sometime between next week’s RAW and Day 1, we will see the Glamazon.

Only downside to that was that, even with Edge saying he saw it coming…he still got taken out.

After the final bell:

No, this was not the go-home show ahead of Day 1. To some extent though, it might have been.

I don’t recall RAW being taped for next Monday, but even if it is not, I figure we will see a bit of hangover from the holiday.

Meaning that this week might stand up as the better of the shows…and tonight wasn’t too bad. But it also wasn’t too great either.

Still, there was a lot to take in, especially as we continue unwrapping all the Day 1 fun.