WWE RAW 12/23/2024: 3 Things We Hated And 3 Things We Loved

Welcome to Wrestling Inc.'s weekly review of "WWE Raw," the show where we're doing another pre-taped episode because it's two days before Christmas! On the one hand, yes, good, wrestlers deserve to take the holidays off. On the other hand, we still had to watch the episode, which was something of a mixed bag. Which were the good part and which were the bad parts, you ask? That's why the WINC crew is here — to tell you what we thought about IYO SKY moonsaulting her way into the women's Intercontinental title tournament semi-finals, more than one match with a non-finish, and a show-ending Bloodline attack following Drew McIntyre's latest win over Sami Zayn — not to mention the ongoing New Day storyline, now with child disavowal!

If you just want to know the nuts and bolts of what went down on the show Monday night, go check out our "Raw" results page. If you want to know our opinions of what went down on the show Monday night, this is the place to be. Here are three things we hated and three things we loved about the 12/23/24 episode of "WWE Raw."

As we'll see going forward, there were several element of this week's pre-taped "Raw" that felt like they were just kind of going through the motions — but if that was the energy in the locker room, somebody forgot to tell Drew McIntyre and Sami Zayn. In addition to their main event match that closed the show (more on that later), Zayn and McIntyre also opened it, delivering a tremendous promo segment that was a fantastic reminder of why they're two of the best characters in wrestling heading into 2025.

McIntyre, who's been on a heater as a talker and character for more than a year now, kicked things off with what's become the standard for him: an angry, bitter promo about the moral failings of WWE's greatest heroes, and the hypocrisy of the fans who cheer for them. It's the kind of thing it feels like AEW should have gotten out of "Hangman" Adam Page during and after the Swerve Strickland feud — but there are two problems. The first is that Page can't cut these promos in front of a live AEW crowd that's still more likely to cheer him than boo him, especially because Page, like McIntyre, has a point. The heroes are former villains who did do bad things to other characters; Strickland invaded Page's home; Roman Reigns terrorized WWE for years. The heels' grievances are legitimate, which helps make them compelling and believable as characters — it's not that they haven't been wronged, it's that they responded in the wrong way.

The second problem for Page is that AEW doesn't have a passionate, believable babyface with both credibility and charisma to come out and make the only case there is to make against Heels With Valid Points. Yes, you were wronged. Things turned out bad for you. Life is hard. That doesn't make you unique. We've all been there, but the rest of us don't go around screaming and taking revenge on our co-workers because of it. That's where Sami Zayn is so valuable to WWE right now: as the ultimate babyface, who can speak truth to someone like Drew without coming across as condescending or inauthentic. Sami and Drew have been playing off each other since Jey Uso moved to "Raw" last year, and they have proven to be an absolutely perfect combination. Drew actually had a great rebuttal this week, calmly explaining why he and Sami aren't the same, why Sami doesn't understand. And of course, Sami has always had more heart than brains, so he challenges McIntyre to another match despite having lost to him time and time again.

Just really great, compelling stuff that both sets up the evening's main event and works in the service of a complex web of broader storylines. If WWE did everything this well, nobody would ever complain about it.

Written by Miles Schneiderman

As the tournament to crown the inaugural Women's Intercontinental Championship continued, Kairi Sane's replacement was revealed. Instead of Sonya Deville, it was Sane's Damage CTRL stablemate, IYO SKY. She would go on to defeat Alba Fyre and Natalya. While SKY is an excellent choice to potentially win a brand new title, it's frustrating that Natalya was eliminated already. Not only that, but "The Queen of Harts" was the one pinned in the match.

Nattie is synonymous with WWE's women's division. She is both a veteran and a WWE lifer. Outside of the ring, she and her husband, TJ Wilson, train up-and-comers and veterans alike. She lives and breathes the business. A few days ago, she posted on social media that she's been wrestling for 17 years and has had nearly 2,000 matches. In a nearly two decade career, she's held singles gold twice. That's it. She was a tag team champion in 2021 with Tamina.

Over the years, Nattie has vented about feeling undervalued by the company. Over the summer, she re-signed with the company. Rewarding her with a brand new title would be a nice way to thank her for all that she's done for the division. Putting the inaugural title on Natalya would be historic and allow her to set the tone for the title. The Intercontinental Championship is known as the workhorse title. Nattie has been the very definition of a workhorse.

Following the match, Natayla posted on social media that she needs to work harder and she will. She followed up saying she "wake(s) up everyday worried that I won't be able to realize my full potential. It haunts me more than I can say. But I'll never stop fighting. I'll never stop showing up for my dreams."

Hopefully Nattie's dream will be realized and she'll hold the Women's Intercontinental Championship in the near future.

Written by Samantha Schipman

Maybe it's because it's the end of the year, but I feel like I'm stuck in some kind of weird time loop when it comes to Chad Gable versus Otis, because it should have happened much, much earlier in the year. There was tension between Gable and his Alpha Academy students to start off the summer, and the teacher left his pupils behind to recruit the Creed Brothers and Ivy Nile sometime around mid-June. Gable also feuded with the Wyatt Sicks (in the stable's debut after months of teases, nonetheless) because he was so terrible to his former friends... So why on God's green earth are we running the match between Gable and Otis now? Or, rather, next week, in the void that is the "Raw" between Christmas and New Years? It's not like there's anything big and special coming up for "Raw" in two weeks' time that could use a few mid-card matches or anything...

Gable and Otis had been paired together in a teacher/pupil relationship since 2020, so them not having a match back when tensions were at their peak made no sense to me. It makes even less sense now, especially with everything Gable and the new American Made stable went through with the Wyatt Sicks. I've had my issues with how the spooky stable has been booked for a few weeks now, and this makes them feel even weaker in my eyes, without them even being directly involved this time. If Gable is just going back to his rude ways with his former friends, did he even learn anything from Uncle Howdy and his gang of scary misfits? It certainly doesn't seem like it.

This is a prime example of WWE not striking while the iron is hot. It's been months since Alpha Academy really meant anything, which is sad, and I'm also confused why they're even still going by that name. Obviously, they're stuck together because there's really nothing else creative for them as separate stars, I'd assume, but they could have been booked in a much more interesting way than going back to the dried-up well of Otis versus Gable, months after it should have happened. I'd even take a silly Mandy Rose-esque romance storyline with Maxxine and Otis at this point, something I've seen before, rather than a match I had accepted we're just never getting.

Maybe I'm just overly critical at the end of the year for something that doesn't exactly matter, when we'll be getting (hopefully) new storylines with "Raw" going big on Netflix and "SmackDown" moving to three hours in the new year. It's also soon to be Royal Rumble season, then we're on the road to WrestleMania, so hopefully, both Alpha Academy and American Made get something new to do. Or, knowing WWE, we'll just continue to run Gable and Otis back two more times as move further into 2025.

Written by Daisy Ruth

Pre-taped shows in WWE have proven time and time again that they aren't exactly the most exciting shows to watch. More often than not, they tend to drag on and are filled to the brim with plenty of filler videos whether it's backstage segments, sit down interviews, or promotion for different upcoming matches and events. Tonight's episode of "Raw" was no exception to the trend, but was made all the more worse with the inclusion of virtually the same finish in back to back matches.

Anyone who's read this column before is likely aware of my disdain for disqualification finishes to matches as they tend to be incredibly overused in modern day professional wrestling (especially in WWE). To already have one in the form of Dominik Mysterio enacting a "plan" with his Judgment Day stablemates to have them intentionally cost him a match against Damian Priest in an attempt to gain the upperhand on him only for the War Raiders to come to Priest's aid was already never going to be my favourite way to end a match. When you then immediately follow that up with Final Testament get Miz disqualified from his match against Dexter Lumis in an attempt for the group to gain the upperhand on him only for the rest of The Wyatt Sicks to come to Lumis' aid, it makes things feel incredibly repetitive.

On any show, this would be an issue but it's made all the worse on a lackluster pre-taped show where not much of anything happened. It wasn't anything special, and felt like incredibly lazy writing especially when you take into consideration that neither finish really did anything substantial to progress either of the storylines.

Written by Olivia Quinlan

If you had told me two weeks ago that Kofi Kingston would use the middle seat — arguably the worst seat on a plane — as a subtle way to get heat, I would've laughed in your face. On the December 23 episode of "WWE Raw," Kingston used the middle seat precisely as a subtle way to get heat.

I know we constantly sing our praises of the New Day's heel turn, but they are well-deserved. Kingston and Woods have completely sank their teeth into these treacherous, victim complex-having characters, and the WWE Universe have awarded them handsomely for their commitment to the drastic change with a raucous sea of boos, week in and week out. I think I can confidently say that they have had the most reactions when it comes to recent episodes of "Raw." Main events, new titles, company top guys? Forget it. The crowd comes alive with vitriol whenever Kingston and Woods dare show their mugs in the ring.

At least on this episode of "Raw," the New Day were able to speak in front of a crowd, even through the overwhelming sound of "boos" (not over the boos, through them — what, you thought the crowd would get quieter?). Woods' heel work was excellent; honestly, nobody was shocked. Not only is Woods from a nerdy background — full of comic book, video game, and anime supervillains to take inspiration from — but he's always had a very charismatic way of talking. He's doing great stuff as a heel, but I almost expect it.

Kingston's performance was what I didn't expect, and I was enthralled. Kingston's "SOS" entrance filled my childhood, and I remember watching videos of his historic WrestleMania win when I got back into wrestling. In my mind, Kingston has always been a babyface, and while I don't doubt his expertise, there was a little bit of concern in regards to how he would hold up as a heel, especially against Woods. I mean, there was once a point in time where we were so certain Woods would turn on Kingston, and Kingston would be this crusading, almost Sami Zayn-esque babyface. None of us were really considering Kingston as the heel until very recently.

None of us were really considering Kingston as the heel until very recently, and I feel like we were all bamboozled by his commitment in the best way. WWE probably flew out his mom, he was — and is — just continuing to run with this heel gimmick. It's awesome. The middle seat comment was said so smoothly, you could've walked away for two steps before going "oh!" Kingston looked like a dejected man child when his mother refused to embrace him, and it was infuriatingly professional. While Woods is the group's smooth talker, Kingston walked out of this looking like a million bucks.

Now, I just need the New Day to get back in the ring and pull some truly absurd shenanigans. Judging from their work tonight, I'm sure they'll have no trouble doing just that.

Written by Angeline Phu

The main event of this week's "WWE Raw" had everything you would want from a TV main event, whether it be the actual wrestling in (and out, I guess) the ring, the story being told by the performers, or the general flow of the happenings throughout the main event as a whole.

Drew McIntyre and Sami Zayn put on a typical classic, much like the last two times they met this year, extending the idea that Zayn had been beaten physically – yet not in spirit – by the untethered violent strategy of McIntyre as he suffered yet another loss to the "Scottish Warrior." Zayn remains without a win in eleven singles outings against McIntyre, spread across their runs on "Raw" and "WWE SmackDown," and that was a statistic remarked on by commentary. Sagas like this create a natural story for Zayn's eventual success, and until then it provides an edge to their rivalry which doesn't appear to be ending soon. And it was just the right decision to have McIntyre not only get the win, but rather than doing it cheaply with underhanded tactics there was a genuine portrayal of McIntyre's physical edge over Zayn; that also cements Zayn's status as the underdog in this fight.

After McIntyre got his win, fans were also treated to the next micro-installment of The Bloodline saga, as McIntyre beat away at Zayn after the bell rung Jey Uso emerged to make the save. Uso was on his first night back after McIntyre had shelved him so it made the utmost sense for him to want his pound of flesh, but he was then blindsided by Solo Sikoa, Jacob Fatu, and Tama Tonga. Uso fought back valiantly, but the numbers game was too much and both he and Zayn were laid out to close the show. I particularly enjoyed the little nod from Sikoa to McIntyre, reinforcing the truce of convenience they struck up during last Friday's "SmackDown," which in itself played into the wider dynamics of the widespread canon. McIntyre is actively targeting those who stood by Roman Reigns in The Original Bloodline, while Sikoa himself is due to fight Reigns for the Tribal Chiefdom, so it pays to keep your enemies close. Pile that dynamic in with the offer of alliance to Seth Rollins, who is himself feuding with CM Punk with Punk's own alliance with Reigns serving as the catalyst. It makes for excellent viewing to have a set of storylines that feed into the larger canon, with each and every action coming with its own reactions ten-fold, with plenty of room for growth in each direction (in the most positive way).

Written by Max Everett