WWE RAW 12/9/2024: 3 Things We Hated And 3 Things We Loved

Welcome to Wrestling Inc.'s weekly review of "WWE Raw," the show that officially kicked off Saturday Night's Main Event week with three women's matches, including the main event! What is this, "NXT" and/or "SmackDown"? Naturally that means we've got some women's division takes to share with you, though the main thing we won't be talking about here is Lyra Valkyria advancing in the women's IC title tournament — mainly because we were all expecting it and we're waiting to see if she can actually close the thing out this time instead of losing in the finals. We also just had other things to discuss that hit us harder in the feels, from Damian Priest being added to the SNME card alongside Drew McIntyre and Sami Zayn, to The Wyatt Sicks eating their first loss and The New Day damn near breaking the heel heat scale.

As always, anyone who needs the objective details about everything that went down on the red brand Monday night need look no further than our "Raw" results page, while those who are interested in the opinions of the WINC staff (who watch wrestling for a living, mind you) are in the exact right place already. Here are three things we hated and three things we loved about the 12/9/24 episode of "WWE Raw."

After screwing Damian Priest out of the World Heavyweight Championship yet again at Survivor Series 2024, Finn Balor came out in the opening segment of "WWE Raw" to stake his claim on the World Heavyweight Championship. An irate Priest came out, guns a-blazing and hands a-swinging, with the rage only a man twice-undercutted could display (despite the fact that Survivor Series 2024 is approximately two weeks in the rear view mirror, which is forever ago in wrestling timeline terms, so he should really just get over it). By the time things had cooled down, General Manager Adam Pearce had approached Balor with an official decision: Balor would have the opportunity to follow through on his challenge for the World Heavyweight Championship at Saturday Night's Main Event, but the match would not be a one-on-one. No, Pearce promised, the match would be a Triple Threat: Balor versus GUNTHER versus...Damian Priest?

Didn't he lose his match for the World Heavyweight Championship two weeks ago?

Listen, I'm a Damian Priest girl — I think he is one of the stronger wrestlers on the roster, and he has been killing it with this current babyface run. However, I do think that Priest is in desperate need of something new to do with his time on "WWE Raw." He could be doing literally anything else right now: he could be entering a new feud with someone from the Judgement Day, he could be placed in a feud with someone outside of the Judgement Day, he could be doing community service — I don't know! I literally don't care what Priest does, as long as it is miles away from the World Heavyweight Championship scene. I'd even excuse an extension of his feud with Balor, although I heavily criticized it in my post-Survivor Series opinion, because it makes sense for the two of them. Getting put in another World Heavyweight Championship match when he's lost to the current champion twice now is simply inexcusable.

Speaking of the World Heavyweight Championship, GUNTHER is being made to look like the third wheel in this high-tension drama between Balor and Priest. Let me say that again: in a match for the World Heavyweight Championship, the World Heavyweight Champion is being made to look like a third wheel, an afterthought. This insanity is all because WWE insist on putting Priest into yet another World Heavyweight Championship feud. When the titleholder is reduced to a stake in a feud that would work perfectly fine as another grudge match, that means the championship has been reduced to an accessory instead of a title of honor.

If you want "Raw" to become the grudge feud brand, that's fine. Keep the titles out of it. A champion should not feel like a third wheel in any match, so don't put him in a situation where he is. Priest should not have gotten another title opportunity — if the title should even be involved in this feud in the first place. Get to the back of the line!

Written by Angeline Phu

I hate that I'm writing this right now, but I think the shine of the Wyatt Sicks has officially worn off, now that they've eaten their first loss, and Uncle Howdy himself took the pin. While I know Karrion Kross and the Final Testament's story is getting better in a lot of fans' minds, and the Wyatt Sicks' stuff with The Miz was pretty good, initially, I just couldn't get on board with this tonight. Maybe it's just me, but the Wyatt Sicks' entrance didn't even feel special tonight, just kind of there in the middle of the show. Despite Kross' character getting better (by that, maybe I just mean more menacing?) throughout the weeks, and the surprise return of Paul Ellering tonight, this story just hasn't been working for me overall.

This could also be because there are obviously now better opponents for the Wyatt Sicks to be going after if they're going along the lines of people breaking trust with their "families." By this, I mean the New Day, though, it's definitely a bit too soon, since their breakup with Big E just happened last week. Even if the Final Testament feud is just getting the Wyatt Sicks through until the New Day story can be done at a better time, they still shouldn't be taken losses. At all. Period. This stable was once so hyped up and exciting, and their debut was one of, if not the best debuts in wrestling this year, and they've felt squandered for a few weeks, now. Tonight really sealed the deal for me that they don't feel special anymore, and I absolutely hate that, because everything was working so well and was so involved before this.

Maybe I would feel a bit better if someone else other than Howdy took the pin, especially from Kross himself. WWE could even make that into an interesting story if say, Joe Gacy or Dexter Lumis took the pin. They could run a story with Howdy not being angry, just being disappointing, showcasing some of the inner workings of the Wyatt Sicks itself in some kind of spooky promo. Come to think of it, I'm not sure if its the lack of spooky promos, more lore via QR codes or what, but I find myself less and less excited about the Wyatt Sicks every week.

Written by Daisy Ruth

Liv Morgan vs. Dakota Kai was a match that made complete and total sense on its own. Morgan is feuding with Kai's Damage CTRL stablemate, IYO SKY. She and her crony, Raquel Rodriguez, recently beat SKY and fellow Damage CTRL member Kairi Sane. Kai has advanced to the semifinals of the Women's Intercontinental Championship tournament, and though her opponent has yet to be determined, the match to determine it involves Rodriguez, who should probably be the favorite to win. So yes, we get Morgan vs. Kai. I understand that. That makes sense.

So why does the match finish involve Pure Fusion Collective, who are feuding with ... nobody? I can't think of a storyline reason for them to attack Kai, aside from the fact that they're mad she won last week instead of Shayna Baszler, but Baszler didn't even get pinned in that match. And yeah, Zoey Stark is also in the IC tournament match with Rodriguez, by why would she be targeting Kai as though she's already won it? Why not go after Rodriguez herself, or the other member of the triple threat, Kayden Carter?

The whole thing raised my eyebrows a little bit and made me think that maybe the decision was made for Stark to advance, because otherwise I don't see what the point of this was. And even if that was the point, it's still a terrible way to build toward a Kai vs. Stark match. Normally you'd want to order things where Stark wins her match first, and then you build to her match with Kai, not vice versa. Doing it this way is confusing, potentially telegraphs Stark's win next week, and inserts Pure Fusion Collective into a feud they really have nothing to do with and will probably just make more boring. And if Stark doesn't win next week, I have zero clue what we're doing here, because the last thing anyone needs is meaningless PFC appearances leading to nothing.

Written by Miles Schneiderman

I thought Seth Rollins' promo to talk his s*** on CM Punk tonight was extremely effective after Punk's sit-down interview aired. It was a great juxtaposition with Punk basically saying once again that he doesn't think about Rollins at all, but revealing Rollins wanted him to train him, allegedly for free, back in the day. It went well with Rollins calling out Punk for everything he had said and done regarding WWE in the years leading up to his return. What also made it effective was that neither man got involved in the other's promo and there was no beatdown, which we get ever-so often with these feuds.

Rollins admitted that Punk did help get his foot in the door at WWE and they were friends, but Punk left out the part where when he walked out of WWE, he ghosted any of his friends who were still involved with the company. The way a usually goofy, and still dressed pretty goofy, so that made this all the better, Rollins seemed dead serious and the fact that this is likely the truth really got me invested in everything he was saying. His final blow at Punk before Sami Zayn's music hit was excellent – he said he's done the one thing Punk could never do, main event WrestleMania.

Zayn coming out after the pair fought in the main event of "Raw" last week to apologize for thinking Rollins could be the one to lay out Jey Uso backstage fit well here. His music hit right when you would expect Punk's to if he was going to interrupt, and I liked that small aspect; it took a second for my brain to realize it wasn't Punk. The pair's exchange wasn't anything to write home about, basically just Zayn apologizing and saying whatever Rollins wants to do with his Punk situation was his own thing, because Zayn didn't realize how deep the hatred ran. Rollins then told Zayn to handle his own business with Drew McIntyre, who beat Zayn down following their match last week, and left the ring to let Zayn call out the "Scottish Psychopath" for a match at Saturday Night's Main Event.

This all flowed really nicely together, from Rollins calling out Punk, to Zayn acknowledging Rollins wasn't his problem, to Rollins telling Zayn he needs to handle his own. My main takeaway from this promo is how much truth Rollins was probably speaking, which I'm still all about even a year after Punk's return, but this interaction with Zayn was pretty great and harmless. It also reminded me, without throwing it right in my face, that we still don't know who laid out poor Jey Uso. This segment did a lot with not a lot of time, thankfully so that it didn't seem to eat up time from any other matches, and it makes me interested for not just Rollins vs. Punk and McIntyre vs. Zayn, but the ongoing mystery of Jey Uso's attacker.

Written by Daisy Ruth

Last week came a swift turn in The New Day's mythology as Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston turned their backs on Big E, casting away their friend on the 10-year anniversary of their accolade and record-laden brotherhood as they turned a new leaf. It was a brutally heartbreaking turn, compounded by the very real concern that Big E may never wrestle again, but undoubtedly injected a breath of new life into the group as a result. What was sadness and surprise last week turned to anger this week, as the crowd showered Woods and Kingston with thunderous boos and "New Day sucks" chants. They entered the ring, mics in hand, and seemed to be trying to get something off their chest. But the crowd was having none of it, erupting louder in their boos whenever they tried to speak.

The air was thick with the atmosphere of contempt for the New Day in all of the best ways – they cared about them in a way that hasn't been seen in years. What made the segment great was the way that Woods and Kingston played into it, feeding more emotion into the situation as they grappled with the concept of being booed. Woods professed their innocence, while similar to the way the promo went last week Kofi was the one to take it a bit further; he suggested that they didn't do anything physical to Big E – even though they could have – before earmarking a steel chair and sledgehammer as things they could have hit him in the neck with. But that was effectively all they could get out, refusing to explain anything further as to their actions through the negative reaction. It was a great move to save their explanation for later when the crowd was ready to hijack the segment, further selling the genuine angst their turn has caused. Getting a 2024 crowd to care can be a tricky endeavor at the best of times, so it's quite the boon to have an entire venue unanimously caring for the same act in such a vivid way. 10 years on and still garnering that attention is legendary work from Woods and Kingston, so I really hope that this the beginning of something truly great for them.

Written Max Everett

Listen, anything Rhea Ripley puts out is bound to turn to gold. She is easily the top wrestler on "WWE Raw," and proved it with her vicious main event "Anything Goes" match against Raquel Rodriguez. Despite her immense talent and unquantifiable crowd appeal, however, Ripley is beginning to lose a bit of steam as she continues to wage war against Liv Morgan. It doesn't matter how talented a wrestler is; when you put them in these long-standing feuds with the same person for months at a time, things are bound to get stale fast.

Enter, IYO SKY, even if only for a moment.

We are so oversaturated with the feud between Ripley and Morgan that even the slightest taste of something different is enough to titillate our palates. Even the smallest sliver of something other than Morgan's Revenge Tour or Ripley's vicious hunt for Morgan's blood is enough to keep us engaged with their weekly red-brand activities.

Things quickly got hairy in Ripley and Rodriguez's "Anything Goes" match when Morgan attempted to run interference. Anything, understandably, went, and soon, Ripley was fighting what was essentially a 2-on-1 Extreme Rules Handicap match. Every time Ripley attempted to dispatch either Morgan or Rodriguez, the other would show up and level Ripley with the wide assortment of weapons available in Monday's gruesome match. That is, until Morgan's Saturday Night Main Event opponent, IYO SKY, appeared to turn the tables. SKY was the key factor in putting away Morgan so that Ripley could pin Rodriguez — essentially their dynamic during WarGames 2024, except with the pinned switched — and in the aftermath of the chaotic match, both Ripley and SKY held onto the titles as they stared each other off the air.

This small interaction offers a multitude of possibilities for an exciting feud past Ripley and Morgan, and all of them are quite exciting. If Ripley is the top woman on "Raw," then SKY is a close second, and a feud between them has the potential to outshine any other storyline on the red brand — if anything, they'd be leagues preferable than the repeated, predictable storyline we have between Ripley and Morgan. I'm just about ready for the Morgan Revenge Tour to be over, so if Ripley and SKY's predicted feud is for the WWE Women's World Championship (the title that Morgan would need to drop), I'd be all for it.

This was just a good way to end "Raw." There is a lot of set-up for an absolutely incredible feud between Ripley and SKY, and after both of them have been gridlocked in lackluster feuds with Morgan/Rodriguez and Pure Fusion Collective (if you can even call their feud with Damage CTRL a full-blown storyline), the promise of a feud between the two most incredible wrestlers on the red brand's roster leaves a lot to be excited for. If anything, their interaction — and my subsequent reaction — is a testament to freshness. Ripley and SKY are just what's needed to spice up "Raw's" suffering women's division.

Written by Angeline Phu