WWE RAW HITS & MISSES (12/14): CM Punk-Seth Rollins interaction, Maxxine Dupri’s ring aptitude, Drew vs. Jey, Bronson vs. Ivar, Nakamura vs. Cody, more

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Opening Segment – HIT: Raw got off to a good start with Jey Uso and Drew McIntyre. It was good to see Jey get his Yeet back. Their interaction was strong. McIntyre continues to do great work as a heel. I loved how he apologized for what he did to Sami Zayn last week as a way to contrast the fact that Uso has never apologized for his part in screwing McIntyre over when he was in The Bloodline. It led perfectly well into the opening match.

McIntyre vs. Uso – HIT: Speaking of the opening match, the match between McIntyre and Uso was very good as you’d expect. It was physical and intense. McIntyre got to develop his heel character in the ring with the way he cheated to win in the end. But, it wasn’t as overt as I thought it was going to be when Drew removed the turnbuckle pad. It seemed like Jey’s head was going to end up hitting the bolt to give Drew the advantage. Instead, it served as a distraction to allow a very deep eye gouge from McIntyre to Uso giving him the upper hand to hit the Claymore a moment later. The announcers were good here too. Raw has a heavy babyface to heel ratio, so a strong heel McIntyre is very necessary right now.

Ripley vs. Dupri – MISS: Clearly, Maxxine Dupri isn’t ready to be wrestling on Raw. If that was in question, this very poor showing should answer it. Rhea Ripley couldn’t do anything to carry Dupri to even a passable match, not even a very short one. At least Ripley dominated as she should, but this was ugly. If they like Dupri that much as a part of Alpha Academy’s act, then keep her our of the ring on national television until she’s had much more training and can wrestle a bunch more dark matches.

Chance & Carter – HIT: I wrote last week that WWE needed to do more to introduce this team to the Raw audience before getting them involved in the Tag Team Championship. This week wasn’t perfect, but it was a better presentation of the team. They had the fun vignette showing their personalities. These types of videos should have run for at least a few weeks before their match last week. It was good to see them getting another win this week to build them up, this one over Indi Hartwell & Candace LeRae. That match was short, but solid. The fans reaction wasn’t strong, but hopefully they can build on it. I wouldn’t go right to the Tag Title match next week.

Punk – Rollins – HIT: This was a very good segment between CM Punk and Seth Rollins. Punk chose to sign with Raw and immediately shifted the focus to winning the Royal Rumble and possibly choosing to face Rollins at WrestleMania. That is a strong possibility. Even if Punk doesn’t win the Rumble, he could still face Rollins. They are definitely pointing things in that direction. Both men were good on the mic in this confrontation. Rollins was very passionate about how WWE is HIS home, not Punk’s. For now, WWE seems to want this to be a babyface vs. babyface feud which can work. Let’s see who the fans side with. Or, do they start to paint one or the other as more of a heel? Time will tell.

Reed vs. Ivar – HIT: This was better than the first match between Bronson Reed and Ivar. It was good that this one had an actual winner and Reed was clearly the correct winner. It was a fun match to watch. It was also cool to see Reed win with the superplex instead of the tsunami. The tsunami is over, but he can win in other ways and that big superplex spot was the perfect end to this match.

Judgment Day – HIT: I am hoping that the Judgment Day beating up R-Truth is the end of their association. I do find Truth amusing in small doses, but his act wasn’t adding anything positive to Judgment Day. They need to get more of an edge back (no pun intended), so having them get rid of Truth is good since he makes their segments too goofy. The Creed Brothers coming out to make the save and show their physical dominance was a good way to end the segment.

Lynch – Jax – HIT: If Becky Lynch is going to get back to truly being The Man, and get back into the Women’s Championship picture, then getting a big win over Nia Jax is a good part of that process. Going back to their history from 5 years ago with the viral moment when Jax broke Becky’s nose is smart. Pointing out that they’ve never had a singles match against each other is also smart. Both Lynch and Jax were good in playing into that moment and what it meant for Becky, but taking a different view of that. It was well written all around.

Miz as the Guest Partner – MISS: This was predictable, but disappointing. I continue to not care about The Miz as a babyface. I don’t want to see another match between him and Gunther for the Intercontinental Championship. It is below Gunther. The actual six man tag match with Imperium taking on DIY & Miz was good. It was Hit-worthy. But, I wish it was part of a larger storyline that I was more invested in.

Nakamura vs. Rhodes – HIT: This was a very good match before the somewhat lame disqualification ending. I get the reason behind the DQ as they aren’t ready to finish the feud and want to save an actual victory for Cody Rhodes over Shinsuke Nakamura for the rematch. I was sure there would be some type of non-finish considering how early they went to this match and how much more time there is to fill before the Rumble. I doubt that they spread this out until then, but they have plenty of time for another match (with a stipulation) on a Raw in early January, and then shift focus to the build to the Rumble. I do like the idea of moving the Creeds into a higher position by having them save Rhodes. I’d much rather see them associating with him than Alpha Academy and New Day. But, it felt like it came out of nowhere. WWE could have laid the groundwork better for them to come to his aid. But, it is a minor complaint.

Jon Mezzera is PWTorch.com’s WWE Raw Hits & Misses Specialist, providing his point of view for Raw each week. Email him at jmezz_torch@yahoo.com.

OR CHECK THIS OUT AT PROWRESTLING.NET: Powell’s WWE Raw Hit List: CM Punk and Seth Rollins, Cody Rhodes vs. Shinsuke Nakamura, Drew McIntyre vs. Jey Uso, Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley vs. Maxxine Dupri in a non-title match