7th December Edition Of The

Monday Night Raw & Wrestling News

After opening on a very sensitive 10 bell salute tribute to Pat Patterson, complete with Vince McMahon and Triple H onstage.

Randy Orton kicked off the main 7th December Edition Of The Monday Night Raw episode by saying he’s not afraid of the Fiend, so let him in. This isn’t how you do a feud with the Fiend, Randy. You’ve got to be crying in the corner. John. Bray Wyatt’s Firefly Fun House interrupted on the titantron with the new hit gameshow Let’s Get Randy! Which coincidentally, is what I played with your mum last night. Up for grabs where the thematically appropriate Crucix, or the rotting carcass of the Friendship Frog. Orton called out Mr Rogers Bray Wyatt for a match tonight, and Bray accepted, in a genuinely bigtime feeling main event.

Raw Women’s Champion Asuka vs Women’s Tag Team Champion Shanya Baszler should be an awesome, submission style match. Instead, it’s just a backdrop to the real story here, the tiresome Nia Jax vs Lana ‘comedy’ feud. Failing to twist Asuka so much that “her boobs were on her back” - which was actually a really funny line from Nia - Shayna got distracted when Jax was hit by a HurricanLANA, and rolled up by Asuka to get pinned again. It was later announced Lana and Nia will go one-on-one next week.

Once upon a time, Reckoning was positioning herself to be Asuka’s next title challenger. Now she’s getting squashed by Dana Brooke. Again. Showing just how little WWE think of Retribution, even with the handful of weak wins they’ve recently had, Ricochet and Brooke squashed Slapjack and Reckoning in minutes. Ali screamed at both of them again and stormed off. I advise to not get emotionally invested in anything Retribution does from now on. You’ve only got yourself to blame when you’re disappointed.

Following Cedric Alexander beating Xavier Woods last week, Shelton Benjamin took on Kofi Kingston here. Because there are approximately zero other tag teams on Raw. Kofi beat Shelton easily with a Trouble in Paradise. Showing his new, more fiery persona, though, Cedric called Kofi out for a second match, which Kingston unwisely accepted given that he’d tweaked his knee. Cedric won, without any of the escalating Hurt Business dissension we saw last week.

Because that was all saved for Sheamus and Drew McIntyre. Following that age old adage Tell, Don’t Show, WWE have skipped to the end of their nicely building storyline of Sheamus and McIntyre being best buds, which will mean so much more when Sheamus finally turns heel again, to everyone saying on commentary or backstage that Sheamus is a bastard. Even Keith Lee was sucked into the nonsense, getting a lame segment where he warned Sheamus better not turn on his best pal Drew - even though Sheamus has been really nice to McIntyre. He gave him a sword. The only way this segment works is if it’s Keith Lee who turns on Drew.

We got a horrid MizTV segment with AJ Styles where they did Scottish accents, but it did get an amazing spot where Drew lobbed the Money in the Bank briefcase so hard, it broke an LED panel on the TitanTron. And then they all faced off in the latest handicap match of Sheamus and Drew vs Miz, Morrison and Styles. Because you know what Drew and Sheamus always say, ‘It’s time to bust some heads and drink some kegs.’ The match did nothing for me to take Drew vs AJ seriously - which, lest we forget, is the TLC title match - as it was mostly focused on the clear accident of Sheamus Brogue Kicking McIntyre, which led to their loss. This obviously meant Drew and Sheamus brawled in catering backstage, but they bonded over putting WWE official Pat Buck through a table, laughed and walked off. Which is actually a fun spot. It just wasn’t deserved with the segments around it.

Jeff Hardy and Bobby Lashley then had an unexpectedly great match next, with Riddle coming out to prevent MVP from interfering. It led to a really dramatic final half, which Lashley eventually won with the Full Nelson.

The main event saw Orton take on Mr Rogers Bray Wyatt. It’s a testament to the character and lore Wyatt has created, that them wrestling two weeks out from the pay-per-view significantly enhances the build rather than undermines it, because he’s made you believe Bray and The Fiend are two separate characters. Instead, it gives the effect of Randy wrestling a minion to get to the Big Boss. This was the most babyface Wyatt has possibly ever wrestled in his latest gimmick, having a really fun bit of throwing to commercial on Bryon Saxton’s headset too. The lights cut out for the finish, but geniously - because he’s a smart wrestler, not one who panics and looks around when entrance music hits - Orton awesome hit an RKO before they were completely in pitch black. But I bet he wished he had those stupid night vision goggles now, because when the lights came back on, the Fiend was now underneath him - who sat up and choked him with the Mandible Claw in an awesome cliffhanger. I can’t believe I’m saying this after their House of Horrors match, but I really hope they’ll have a cinematic Firefly Fun House bout at TLC. As a normally worked match between them could be very boring.

What did you think of 7th December Edition Of The Monday Night Raw show? Let us know in the comments about 7th December Edition Of The Monday Night Raw show. But overall just not fun.” I agree. The Fiend vs Orton stuff was very strong, and the Lashley vs Hardy match was surprisingly good. But the rest of the episode felt very long, with clunky booking, short matches and Retribution. This week’s Raw is Poor.

Wrestling News

Goldberg Return Leaked

Let’s play everyone’s favourite new end of year game - I Can’t Believe This Happened in 2020. Goldberg squashed The Fiend for the WWE Universal Championship in Saudi Arabia. Which was dumb. As usual, Vince McMahon’s mind was subject to significant change in the months leading up to WrestleMania 36. It was originally meant to be Fiend vs. Roman Reigns for the title. But Goldberg popped such a big ratings number in a random interview segment on SmackDown, WWE decided to bring him back, beat the Fiend for the title to defend it against Reigns at Mania in a Battle of the Spears. That didn’t happen though, because of Reigns understandably choosing not to work during the initial stages of the pandemic. And the match was changed to Goldberg vs. Braun Strowman instead. But as we’ve seen with WWE and Vince McMahon over the years, if something doesn’t first succeed, they’re going to ram it into the ground until it does. Wrestle news reporting that Roman Reigns vs. Goldberg is one of the discussed plans for WrestleMania 37 at the moment. However, this is just a contingency plan, as WWE are still hopeful that the WrestleMania main event will be Roman Reigns vs. The Rock for the Universal Championship. Roman vs. Rock makes the most sense on paper, with Reigns’ new character being focused on the Samoan dynasty and him being the head of the family’s table - a table that The Rock is also sat at eating all the pancakes. However Roman Reigns vs. The Rock at Mania, “depends on a variety of factors including COVID and Rock's movie schedule.” It would also be a much better tonal fit for the Hollywood WrestleMania in LA - which is rumoured to be pushed back to 2022. But Goldberg isn’t the only potential replacement for The Rock, adds Big E, who is a current bookie’s favourite to win the men’s Rumble match, and Daniel Bryan, who is currently scheduled to face Roman for the title at the Royal Rumble, have also been discussed for the match, as has WWE Champion Drew McIntyre - with WWE higher ups being “impressed” with the match they had at Survivor Series last month.

Controversial WWE Star Returns

Despite reports over the weekend that he could be released from the company soon, Jaxson Ryker returned to WWE TV last night as part of Main Event, where he’s now teaming with Elias. Because… they both have long hair and beards? According to Sean Ross Sapp on Fightful Select, the pairing is a “dry run” to see if they worked together before officially pitching it to Vince McMahon. This follows Ryker’s former stablemates in… oh what was their name? Whatever it was, also returned to TV this past week as the new Midcard Vortex with Baron Corbin. The group was ditched earlier this year when Ryker lived the gimmick a little too much, tweeting out praise for Donald Trump during the Black Lives Matter movement. This might also be the new gimmick that Elias teased on social med-FORGOTTEN SONS. It was the Forgotten Sons. Remembered now.