WWE Monday Night Raw 12/21/2020

 WWE Monday Night Raw 12/21/2020

 I did a podcast on the show here:

Charlotte Flair did a promo. She said Asuka asked for help and she delivered. Asuka talked in Japanese and said she was the double champion. She said Shayna and Nia weren't ready for her or Flair.

Nia said Flair had a robotic voice. Nia and Shayna said their own naughty list and both were on it. Mandy Rose and Dana Brooke said Shayna looked like Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer. They said Shayna and Nia aren't the tag team champs anymore, which is why they look different. Charlotte then booked Shayna/Nia vs Mandy/Dana for right now. I did not know Flair had this power.

We get a promo for legends night in two weeks, which clearly isn't a response to WWE's bad ratings for Raw.

Shayna Baszler and Nia Jax vs Mandy Rose and Dana Brooke

 

Shayna rides Mandy early. Flair and Asuka are on commentary. Mandy cartwheels off the ropes and kicks Shayna. The blonde's double suplex Shayna. Nia splashes Dana in the corner. Dana does a bad handspring into the ropes which Nia catches, then Dana headscissors her. The blondes dive on their opponents off the apron. Mandy gets thrown into the barricade...which why is that even needed since there are no fans anymore? The match slows down with Mandy selling. Nia hits a decent lariat and this is going on way too long. Mandy makes a comeback with elbows and lariats then does a brogue knee. Dana gets in there and swanton's Shayna but gets pulled out. Dana did a handspring on the outside into an elbow on Nia. Shayna does a cool swinging backbreaker and Shayna beats Dana with a choke. This went on too long. I tried to get more gifs out of this but legit most of the work wasn't good.

After the match, the blondes throw their opponents out of the ring.

We saw the Hurt Business ripping up a New Day shirt on a fan and gave him a Hurt Business shirt instead. I did not like the vibes I got from this.

The Hurt Business celebrated Shelton and Cedric winning the titles last night. This officially became the VIP Lounge segment here. They talked about how dominant they were. MVP brought a photographer in and they posed for a photo. R-Truth popped up behind them which was funny then everyone came chasing Truth for the 24/7 Title. They all left and Hardy and Riddle came out as people kept running behind them.

Riddle said the Hurt Business was spending too much money at the club and should hang out and watch Joe Rogan instead. Riddle told everyone to chill out and was talking nonsense. MVP called it out atleast. Hardy said a man's character was the only thing that mattered. Yeah, that was not good.

Angel Garza was interviewed. He said he would give all the women a gift, pointing to himself and gave the interviewer a rose. He asked for the interviewer to interview him after, implying a date or something.

Angel Garza vs Drew Gulak

 

Garza threw off his pants and nailed Gulak. He hit a great right hand. Garza superkicked him and hit the wing clipper (double underhook dropdown bomb) for the win in a squash.

AJ Styles was interviewed. He said Miz screwed him out of the title last night and AJ said will be on Miz TV because he wants to know what he had to say for himself.

Miz TV - Miz said he failed and he is sorry. He brought out AJ. AJ said Miz may be the biggest idiot on earth. AJ is really coming off as silly here and not believeable. AJ said Miz cost himself the MITB briefcase. Miz did a good job here saying if he won last night, maybe everyone would respect him. Miz said he apologizes and boht him and AJ were robbed. Miz said he had a gift - a co-star role in the next Marine movie.

Omos blamed Morrison for also being involved in this and they had a really phony looking argument. Miz said he is the MITB contract holder and since Morrison cashed it in, it didn't count.

Drew McIntyre came out. He said he was going to take them out tonight. Shouldn't these guys need a night off after going through tables and ladders last night? Drew talked about the party he had last night after winning. Drew read a poem and Sheamus and Keith Lee helped him. This was bad. Then they all fought with Miz, Morrison and AJ.

T-Bar vs Ricochet

Ric hit some kicks and got caught on a dive. T-Barr did a standing backbreaker to him and threw him. T-Bar lariated him and Ric sold it by landing on his neck. Ric dropkicked Slapjack hard on the outside and did a moonsault off the steps onto Mace. Ali said Ric belonged with them and Ric pounded on him for it, then T-Bar flipped him and hit a knee on him for the win. There wasn't a dull moment in this. T-Bar said Ric would join them or they would end his existence.

New Day was interviewed. They didn't care about losing the tag titles and said they would get the titles back. No biggie, just lost the titles you know? Way to put those belts over.

Bobby Lashley and MVP vs Jeff Hardy and Matt Riddle

Hardy rushed Lashley and then Riddle got beat up. Riddle came back with some decent kicks and Hardy flurried Lashley. Hardy ran up Riddle's back and dove on MVP. Hardy helped flip Riddle onto MVP. We came back and Hardy got pushed off the top rope landing hard on the way down. MVP beat up on Hardy with his Ballin' Elbow and Hardy hit the Whisper in the Wind. Riddle came in with the hot tag and hit an exploder and a senton on MVP. Riddle then hit a fisherman's suplex for 2. Riddle ran up Hardy's back and landed on the Hurt Business outside and Hardy missed a swanton. Hardy went for a spear but Lashley put the full nelson/hurt lock on and won the match. Not bad at all with Riddle's comeback being nice.

In the back, AJ, Miz and Morrison argued.

Elias was in the ring for a segment with Ryker. He talked about how hard of a year he had. He said Ryker was reborn into the universal truth and like every other segment here, they were interrupted, this time by Gran Metalik and his partner.

Ryker vs Gran Metalik

RIP. Gran did a big bump off of a Ryker shoulder, then Elias started playing guitar on the top rope. Gran jumped up there and hurricanrana'd him but Ryker blasted Gran with something and then did a sitout chokebomb for the quick win.

 

Randy Orton came out. He talked about setting The Fiend on fire last night. He said he enjoyed it and said he can still smell the burning flesh. He said The Fiend is gone and no more and grabbed about taking him out. Lights started going out and Alexa Bliss was on a swingset in the ring. Bliss said The Fiend is home. She warned that when The Fiend returns home, it will be like nothing he has ever seen before. Obviously, it's not a real believable angle and there's a million questions you could ask over it. And Bliss being involved in this is more weird.

Charlotte and Asuka vs Peyton Royce and Lacy Evans

Lacy and Royce were interviewed before it. Asuka took a spin kick to the face early and knocked Lacy off the apron. Evans and Royce argued. Charlotte came in, making her return to Raw and cleaned house. Royce had a high single crab on Charlotte and Asuka broke it up. Charlotte put the Figure 8 on Royce and won it. The focus here was hardly on what was in the ring and the match was quite short.

Drew was hyping his troops up in the back. Miz was arguing with a lawyer on the phone and AJ ended the call.

Holiday Street Fight - Drew McIntyre, Keith Lee and Sheamus vs John Morrison, The Miz and AJ Styles

Sheamus and Morrison traded some shots. Sheamus got beat up in the corner. Morrison did a dragon screw onto Drew, who came back with a headbutt. Lee and Drew threw Morrison from the suplex position. Sheamus and Lee beat up the heels and we must question why anyone is following any rules in a NO DQ match. Sheamus and Lee started arguing. Miz and Morrison get chest clubs from Sheamus and Drew. Lee caught both on the outside and rammed them into the apron. Lee throws the heels into the tree and gifts outside. Morrison threw a gift a Drew and the announcers reminded everyone how everything is legal, as they obey tag rules.

Sheamus was on the top rope and Morrison threw him onto a Christmas table on the outside. The stupidity continued on as Drew and Lee refused to cheat the tag rule as Sheamus couldn't make the tag. They stayed behind the rope and wouldn't just go in, even though they couldn't be stopped.

AJ pele kicked Lee out of nowhere and then Sheamus hit a White Noise on AJ. Sheamus made the hot tag into Drew...which he could have done all along but I guess he is an idiot. Drew suplexed his opponents and kipped up. Drew then reverse alabama slammed Morrison. Lee did a running shoulder into AJ to send him flying and everyone hit stuff. AJ then finally woke up and grabbed a weapon, hitting Drew in the leg with a stick. Drew recovered though and threw AJ into the tree. AJ then got powerbombed through a snack table as Morrison and Sheamus fought with candy cane sticks.Morrison was caught by Omos on the outside and put through a table and Lee hit the spirit bomb for the win. Sheamus then brogue kicked Lee after. Drew and Sheamus then argued to close the show.

Overall thoughts: The logic in the main was just dumb and I'm sure you could nitpick a bunch of other things on the show. For the most part, non-wrestling segments were bad and the wrestling segments were a mixed bag. The camera work was truly awful though with the camera's missing two table bumps in the main event.