WWE Monday Night Raw: 1/10/2022

It’s WrestleMania season! We’re officially on the road to the biggest show of the year, and it’s around this time in which the programs for both Raw and SmackDown improve in quality. Two championship matches were announced throughout the course of last week and tonight we have yet another championship announcement as Becky Lynch is scheduled to defend her Raw Women’s championship against the winner of the triple threat between Bianca Belair, Liv Morgan or Doudrop. But question is; who came out on top?

Segment 1: Bobby who?

nce again, Brock Lesnar kicked off the show! Smiling that million dollar smile with Paul Heyman, Lesnar was ecstatic to be in Philadelphia; however the celebration would cut short as Bobby Lashley and MVP made their way to the ring and confront both Lesnar and Heyman. While unfortunately the managers didn’t engage in a promo segment against each other, these two beast-like men sure had a LOT to say about the other man. Amateur wrestlers, MMA runs, dominant world championship reigns: the similarities of two men were made loud and clear. While Lashley hasn’t reached the tippy top of the mountain where Brock’s at, Lashley certainly did work his way to the top and dominated 2021 as our WWE Championship and though Lesnar was impressed, he flat out called Bobby Lashley a clone of Lesnar (and not a good one at that, according to Brock). The momentum seems to favor the current champion, but the All Mighty isn’t going to go down without giving his all. This segment and this match; it still seems surreal!

Match 1: Raw Tag Team Championships; RK-Bro (c’s) vs the Alpha Academy. (Rating: 3/5)

After successfully pinning the champions last week, Chad Gable and Otis were given the chance to face Randy Orton and Riddle for the championship belts: AND THEY ACTUALLY WON! Alpha Academy used the similar strategy of keeping Riddle away from tagging in Orton and though Orton eventually went into the match and with one shove out of the RKO, Chad Gable pushed Orton into the arms of Otis and with a powerful slam; the championships have changed hands. Even if nothing too crazy happened in the match, the titles switching hands was that shocked reaction that I wanted to see. Good way to kick off the action for the rest of the night.

Match 2: 6 Man Tag; The Street Profits and Damian Priest vs Apollo Crews and the Dirty Dawgz. (Rating: 2.75/5)

Of course we’re starting the trend of “we’re partners tonight but come the Royal Rumble, it’s every man for themselves” and that’s fine, honestly not a problem. It’s good to make some of the upper mid card wrestlers and well established tag teams feel like they’ve got a chance to win a Royal Rumble match. Nothing too insane happened, however Dolph Ziggler won the match for the heel side! Now that’s somebody that would be a really good Royal Rumble winner.

Match 3: Seth Rollins vs Big E. (Rating: 4/5)

Wow, what a match. Not only was this match amazing, but it was also an impromptu match which made it even more of a treat! Rollins seems to slowly be transitioning into more of a tweener (basically he’s not a heel/bad guy but he’s not a babyface/good guy) heading into his Universal Championship match with Roman Reigns at the Rumble payperview. Both men hit their respected signature moves with Rollins escaping the Big Ending a few amount of times up until he hit a couple of forearm shots on former champion Big E, dropping him to one knee with Seth connecting the Curb Stomp finisher for the win. Both men looked really strong, even despite Big E losing. Momentum will probably be on the former champion’s side as he’d be competing in this year’s Royal Rumble match. Hopefully he’s one of the final competitors left standing!

Segment 2: This wasn’t your brutality.

After a successful run as WWE Women’s tag team champions, it seemed that the team of Nikki ASH and Rhea Ripley had finally ran its course. Ever since dawning her superhero persona, Nikki Cross really shaped her career around. From being the lunatic that we loved in NXT as part of the SANITY group to eventually teaming up with a decorated woman in Alexa Bliss and being tag team champions with her as well, Cross not only won the Money in the Bank briefcase last year but also became Raw Women’s Champion after defeating Charlotte Flair! Sure the reign lasted up until SummerSlam, but the thought of Nikki Cross as women’s champion really seemed like a good decision; even despite the ASH character! Rhea and Nikki come out and were going to talk about competing in the women’s Rumble match and after cutting off with what Rhea had to say, Nikki was devastated to hear that her best friend thought it was best for the team to disband in order for both women to succeed on their own once more. After an emotional (and really obvious to what the end result would be) farewell to each other, Rhea stuck her first out so she and Nikki can fist bump one final time until Nikki attacked Rhea, turning heel in the process! I knew the turn was going to happen, but I expected Rhea being the one to beat down Cross in order for Nikki to retire her superhero gimmick and go back to the crazy looney SANITY gimmick she had back in NXT. Unfortunately it seems that Cross will continue her superhero gimmick, but I will say I am curious to see what’s going to be next for both women following the eventual feud.

Match 4: AJ Styles vs Austin Theory. (Rating: 3/5)

Already this was the biggest match in Austin’s career. Sure he competed in last year’s Survivor Series 5 on 5 traditional tag match and had one on one matches with the likes of Finn Bálor and Jeff Hardy, but they don’t compare to stepping in the ring with quite possibly the greatest professional wrestler in this generation, the Phenomenal AJ Styles. Yes this match ended in disqualification with Grayson Waller attacking Styles nearing the final minutes of this match but with the short amount of time they had, both competitors made it work! I wouldn’t be surprised if these two have a rematch next week, but I really am hoping that in the eventual rematch Styles puts over this young star. This would definitely elevate Theory very high if he managed to defeat someone as well established and decorated as AJ.

Segment 3: She’s back!… But not completely

Last Monday it was announced that Alexa Bliss would be making her return to the red brand! She hasn’t been seen on television since the Extreme Rules payperview last year after losing to Charlotte Flair for the Raw Women’s championship. Finally, we were going to see the Goddess once more (of at least the Alexa that Nikki teamed with, babyface who liked to drink a lot of coffee)… or so I thought. Instead she’s in a therapist’s office still with the scary female Fiend gimmick. It isn’t a problem that once upon a time Bray Wyatt’s Fiend persona and Alexa were paired together with Bliss getting her own metamorphosis to a spooky female Bray Wyatt character, but the problem is that she still kept doing the gimmick well after Wyatt’s eventual release from the company last year. Of course the idea of these segments is for the therapist to help cure Alexa and return her back to normal, but honestly it happens before the Royal Rumble or before WrestleMania. The character herself isn’t terrible, but it just doesn’t make sense having Bliss continue her character without the vessel of Bray Wyatt not being in the company anymore. He was the catalyst for her character change and without Wyatt, Alexa shouldn’t stay with the gimmick; even if she still has her cool moments.

Main Event: Number One Contender’s Match; Liv Morgan vs Bianca Belair vs Doudrop. (Rating: 3/5)

While the match itself wasn’t as amazing as I thought it would be, the shock value alone of Doudrop getting the win and her being the woman next in line for the Raw women’s championship made the match a must watch in my opinion. Sure, Doudrop won because Becky Lynch decided to get involve but Doudrop got the winning pinfall against the former contender Liv Morgan. She really has come a long way after being introduced as Eva Marie’s next protégé. From dominating NXT UK as Piper Niven to now being a possible future Raw women’s champion, I can’t wait to see where Doudrop goes from here.

Final rating: 3.75/5