Heydorn's Raw Receipt 11/25/24
The good, bad, and ugly from this week's episode of WWE Raw.
-Ok, did everyone see how Gunther walked to the ring to open Raw this week? How tremendous was that? He’s embroiled in a storyline that is rooted in him losing his confidence and the dude is able to alter his walk to the ring in order to convey that exact narrative. He’s a master.
Pop of the night
-How about that crowd pop for Damian Priest this week? He gets more and more over as each week passes by. Priest was very strong on the microphone opposite Gunther and bullied him like Gunther normally does to his opponents. The physicality was excellent and Priest got the upper hand again by putting his Survivor Series opponent through the announce table. Priest looked like a star and like a viable challenger for the world title. Very well done across the board.
-A pretty good opening tag team match between The Creed Brothers and LWO (Rey Mysterio and Dragon Lee). If nothing else, this match told you loud and clear that The Creed Brothers need to be doing more on the show every week. Maybe that’s on the horizon for them? They got a big win over a Rey Mysterio-led team this week. That’s not nothing. As for Dragon Lee and Rey, well, it’s fair to wonder whether this is the high water level for the two of them as a team.
-Real interesting to see Finn Balor dish out the “there’s no leaders in this Judgment Day group … BUT,” on the show this week. He’s obviously angling to lead. The question is whether or not anyone in the group will stop him. They don’t have a clear up and coming babyface right now to oppose Balor, unless we see big time development from Dominik Mysterio in 2025. Something to watch out for.
More IC shenanigans
-Bron Breakker vs. Ludwig Kaiser for the WWE Intercontinental Championship was cruising along nicely until it wasn’t. Sheamus interfering was expected and they did it to get to a triple threat match at Survivor Series, but I rolled my eyes. It all seems very forced as a means to simply make the triple threat. Not great. One shining part of this was Breakker. He’s getting the audience on his side more and more. Not sure he should go back to being a heel.
-I was glad to see WWE plant the seed on CM Punk and whether The Bloodline could trust him as their fifth man. The addition of Jimmy blatantly calling out the reality that “our wiseman said we could,” leaves the door open for a turn of some kind. In a storyline stocked with drama, this small nugget added even more.
-Hey! The tag team titles were actually defended! I liked this match. Yes, there was interference, but that’s how it goes with Judgment Day. The War Raiders stayed protected with the finish and had one of their best outings as a team in quite some time.
It’s a bad day, yes it is
-And The New Day implosion is on. Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston were tremendous this week. The exact fight they had was brewing for weeks and when it exploded, it felt genuine. Both guys made legitimate points and had legitimate gripes with the other. They also were both able to sting the other with those points and verbal jabs. It was emotional and personal. Ahead of next week’s New Day anniversary celebration, this was a really effective way to build tension and drama. This was by far the best segment on the show this week. Thumbs way up.
-The Final Testament and The Miz are the worst. Could you be more cartoonish than they were this week? Honestly, that’s fine for them, but they are running opposite a Wyatt Sicks faction that is more than just comedy silliness. This needs to have a more serious tone because of that fact.
All Nia
-People will find it hard to accept this, but Nia Jax is having a very nice run in WWE right now. Jax vs. Bianca Belair this week in the Raw main event was the perfect example as to why. She gets her babyfaces over. The match was hotter than it had any right to be and the reason for that was the mountain Jax builds for her babyfaces to overcome. Once Belair started to do that, the crowd popped and were invested. With Bayley getting involved, you have to think she’s the fifth woman on the babyface team now that Jade Cargill is sidelined with an injury. Not a flashy option, but it makes perfect sense.
What did you think of this week’s episode of WWE Raw? Let us know in the comments!
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