It is time for our RAW results for December 2nd, 2024, and this one will be all about the WarGames aftermath…probably.
Also Read: 2024 Survivor Series Report Card-The Grades Are In!
Quick Results:
- Raquel Rodriguez and Liv Morgan defeat IYO SKY and Kairi Sane. Post-match, Rhea Ripley came in and went after Raquel, saving Damage CTRL.
- Dakota Kai defeats Katana Chance and Shayna Baszler to advance in the women’s Intercontinental Championship tournament. I like this choice.
- GUNTHER defeats Dirty Dom, who looked more than capable. Post-match, Finn Balor attacked the champ, which led to a title match at SNME.
- R-Truth pulls a fast one on Pete Dunne to score the win.
- Seth Rollins defeats Sami Zayn. Post-match, Drew McIntyre made his return and took out Sami Zayn.
Best Match:
There are choices, for sure. I think the best two would be Dom and GUNTHER or Seth Rollins and Sami Zayn.
Worst Match:
I am going to blame a lack of chemistry and Katana not having much recent singles work, but there were moments where the triple threat match felt a bit awkward. I didn’t hate it overall, but it wasn’t as crisp.
Noteworthy Events:
CM Punk not sharing that favor he is owed just yet, but implying he’s going to be able to call in said favors to land his one big remaining goal. That is, a WrestleMania main event.
99 times out of 100, we’d see fake security keep Punk and Rollins apart. This time? Jey Uso and Sami Zayn were first on the scene to break them up. And it led us to a Zayn-Rollins main event. And it really seems like Rollins did a heel turn, or the start of it on this very RAW.
In the back stage area, during a Pete Dunne interview, we heard the staged attack on Jey Uso. Sami was searching for the culprit, blaming Seth Rollins during their main event match. But was the man who returned to attack Zayn-Drew McIntyre-actually responsible?
Holy Sh!@ Moments:
Feels like we might be seeing yet another Judgement Day fracture? Finn and company wanted Priest and Ripley out because they bossed them around. “Judgement Day has no leaders”. Right?
And now Finn said he’d leave Priest alone but couldn’t, and just told Liv “Listen to me and everyone wins”, or something to that effect.
Sure, wrestling is all “fake”, but knowing Ripley’s orbital was allegedly legit broken, that spot shoving her “eye first” into the corner of the table was a wee bit scary.
But the biggest one tonight? The New Day 10th Anniversary celebration was anything but happy. Xavier Woods had already been trending heel. Now Kofi officially joins him. But using the returning Big E to get the heat was just crushing.
Both Kofi and Woods relentlessly ragged on their former partner, blaming him for not returning faster and for their struggles. They noted that Kurt Angle and Steve Austin and even Edge came back from broken necks. Though, to be fair, Edge retired and was out what, twice as long as E has been? Took a medical miracle for his return.
I suppose it was an interesting way to get major heat on the duo, who now seem to be on the same page. My bigger question? Does this signal that Big E is closer to cleared than not? And if so, does this start the build toward a tag match at WrestleMania? And then, if it does…who teams with E? (Odyssey Jones would be…hilarious?)
Honestly, I long ago hoped we’d at least see Big E as their manager. When he said he’d come back for that, I was excited. And I presume he wasn’t doing it sooner because WWE didn’t feel good about the even slight risk of a bump with his neck just yet.
Lowlights:
I loved the execution of the segment, but I hated how we got no awesome moment for a Big E return. The pop was mid (then again, I hate that entrance, I much prefer his New Day music with him doing the big intro). But the pop sucked and then he came back for that heartbreak.
The silver lining in my view is that he must be closer to a return than not, because this feels like it’s setting up a match.
Highlights:
Punk and Rollins get back to what we were expecting for WrestleMania 40. Drew McIntyre is back, and has at least one new target and maybe more.
Women’s Intercontinental Championship tourney is under way, and I like how we have gone so far.
This RAW helped set up SNME, and I expect we will see a couple more nice matches made between now and next Friday.
After The Final Bell:
Well, that was certainly one way to put on RAW following WarGames, wasn’t it? I don’t want to say that the New Day segment with Big E was unexpected, nor do I want to say it was bad. Woods was already a heel, Kofi wasn’t close, and now both are two of the more hated men in WWE.
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I feel like between that and Punk pointing to the sign (not there, but there in spirit) the Road to WrestleMania might already be underway, just a few RAW episodes too soon (and by a few, I mean a lot).
