WWE Monday Night Raw 12/2/2024

WWE Monday Night Raw 12/2/2024

Last week's show is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2024/11/wwe-monday-night-raw-11252024.html

We are in Everett, WA. Joe Tessitore and Wade Barrett are on commentary. The first hour of this show is commercial free and this Raw celebrates The New Day's 10th Anniversary.

We see various wrestlers arrive.

Jey Uso hugs CM Punk and Punk shakes hands with Sami Zayn.

CM Punk comes out to talk. Punk says the show is sold out. He says he told everyone he wasn't sure what his future held. He says he put his business aside with Drew and took care of business with Paul Heyman. He points toward the rafters. He says there might not be a sign there. He said there's many roads you can take there and says maybe he takes the road through Royal Rumble or Elimination Chamber. He says the good news if he has a favor in his pocket to get where he needs to go.

Seth Rollins comes out. He says he should have knocked Punk out the same day he came to WWE. He says he regrets it every day. He said he had titles to defend and a Bloodline to take down. He says he was close to taking his shot the last time he saw him but he had pity for him.

He said he realized it's time for him to rectify his mistake. He says there's nothing in either person's way. He says he feels like tonight is the night he knocks CM Punk on his @ss. Punk says Seth talks too much and doesn't listen. He says he's past running races against people he didn't know he was running. He said Seth was a champ and had something he wanted 6 months ago, but now he has nothing he wants. He says he knows what's in his future and Seth ain't it. He says he doesn't think about Seth at all while Seth has been thinking of him for 6 months.

He says he has things to do and tells him to stay out of his business. Seth says Punk talks too much and doesn't listen enough. Seth pushes him and says this is his business. They start fighting. Sami Zayn and Jey Uso then separate them. Adam Pearce and other officials come out. Seth tells Punk to come on and asks if he's his business now. They then fight again.

Seth tells Jey to run along to Roman. Sami says Seth can't talk to Jey that way. Seth says he's right but asks what's Sami's excuse as he's not family with Roman. Seth says him and Sami are family and he stabbed him in the back when he teamed with Punk. Sami said he didn't want Punk as his partner in Wargames but he was willing to help. He says he wanted Seth.

He said Seth wouldn't team with them though as he's too stubborn. Seth asks what he wanted Sami to team with him for and he says it was to help that monster Roman regain his power. Sami says Seth created that monster in Roman when he put a chair in his back 10 years ago.

Seth says he knows what he has done. He said he apologized for it but says Sami did the same thing. He says stubborness is not the issue, it's Sami being naive and gullible. He says Sami is also being stupid.

Sami said it seems like Seth is angry and frustrated. He says he will meet him in the ring tonight if he's frustrated. Seth agrees to a match tonight.

Thoughts: With Reed and Drew out, Seth needed something to do and they set up something here out of nothing. It was a good segment and planted the seeds for some possible things.

We see Damian Priest attacking Finn Balor in the parking lot then taking a beating from Judgment Day after Survivor Series. DP gets his chair shouldered over a box before Pearce breaks it up.

Judgment Day talks in the back. Finn says he worked Priest. Liv questions him. Finn says Dom couldn't get the job done but now DP's arm is in a sling. Finn says maybe Liv wouldn't have lost at Wargames if she listened to him. He says she needs to focus on Iyo and Damage Ctrl now. Liv says she hopes Finn knows what he's doing and he says he does. Liv asks Dom to keep an eye on Finn.

Damage Ctrl (Iyo Sky and Kairi Sane) vs Judgment Day (Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez)

Raq knocks Sane down and throws her in the corner. Raq powerbombs Liv onto Sane. Raq throws Iyo out. Sane headhunters Liv. Sane enzugiri's Liv. Iyo comes in and dropkicks Liv over. Iyo germans Liv. Iyo meteora's her in the corner then tends up in tree of woe. Raq goes for a one-arm powerbomb but is countered. Raq spears the post when Iyo moves. Iyo top rope dropkicks Raq.

Sane top rope elbow drops Raq for 2. Iyo topes Liv outside. Sane hits shots on Raq then Raq facekicks her. Raq hits a one arm powerbomb on her and picks up the win.

Thoughts: It was short. They kept it moving and it was fine for what it was but nothing memorable.

Raq boots and then pounds on Iyo after. Liv joins in. Rhea Ripley comes out and Liv runs. Rhea and Raq fight. Rhea up kicks her then lariats her out of the ring. Rhea bangs Raq's head off the commentary table. Liv is rammed into the post by Rhea. Rhea is thrown into the corner of the table and hits her eye off of it on purpose. It then gets broken up.

Finn and Dom go up to Gunther in the back. Finn says Gunther owes him a title match. Finn says Gunther beat Priest twice because of him and said he should have shook his hand. Gunther says he doesn't owe him anything. He said he didn't ask for his help or want it. He said he needed to win by himself and Finn took it away from him.

He asks why Dom feels so confident and says it's because Dom beat Priest. He says he feels good tonight and says he has leverage as the champ. He says he will talk to Pearce tonight, hinting that he may give Dom a title shot.

WWE Women's Intercontinental Title Tournament First Round - Katana Chance vs Shayna Baszler vs Dakota Kai

KC = Katana Chance, SB = Shayna Baszler

Kai dropkicks SB and pump kicks KC. Kai kicks SB off the apron then gets hit when she tries to tope her. SB throws Kai into the commentary table and KC slingshot corkscrew plancha's her. We go to PiP break.

We return and Kai headlock takeovers SB. Kai corner facekicks SB. KC goes for a tower of doom spot but it's blocked. KC hurricanrana's Kai off the top and gets a 2 count on her. SB catches KC's diving hurricanrana. Kai ddt's KC then takes a knee to the face from SB for 2.

Kai rolls up SB for 2 then scorpion kicks her. SB blocks a kick off the GTS then SB puts her in a choke. KC top rope 450's SB. Kai hits a GTS kick on KC and wins.

Thoughts: It wasn't that good. They had some rough moments trying to work together here and were definitely a bit rushed.

We get a video on The New Day's history.

Adam Pearce is in the ring and has a bunch of New Day decorations up to celebrate their 10 year Anniversary. They have a trumpet and a big box of Booty O's on the stage.  

Pearce leads a "New Day Rocks" chant for Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods. Wood says getting to this point 10 years is more than they could have ever dreamed of. He thanks everyone. Kofi said he never imagined the would achieve so much and have so much fun doing it. He said they never could have done it without the fans. They say they miss Big E too.

Woods says what they are about to tells us is not our fault. Kofi says him and Woods have talked. Big E then comes out. He says he wishes he was here under different circumstances. He says seeing them argue troubled him deep. He says they were all they had 10 years ago. He says him and Woods were close to getting fired and said Kofi and Woods were with him for hours in the hospital. He said he held Kofi's kids and greeted Woods when he won King of the Ring. He says what they built means something to a lot of people.

He says until he is cleared to return, he will remind them who they are. He says he will be here every single week to serve as their manager. Woods says, "now, you wanna come back?". He says Big E left them. Big E says he broke his neck. Kofi agrees with Woods and says E left them. Kofi says "yeah you broke your neck, so what?". Kofi says Steve Austin, Edge and Kurt Angle broke their necks and came back. He says they didn't have people waiting for them like he does. He said E did nothing with them. Woods says they didn't evolve for E. Kofi doesn't buy that E couldn't have been back if he wanted to.

Woods says he heard it all before and actually had to have surgery unlike Big E. He says he was back in 9 months for E. Kofi says if E cared, he would have been back for them a long time ago if he really cared. Kofi says E chose his new life, project and girlfriend over them.

Woods asks if E realizes the burden he became. Woods says everyone says they miss E. Woods says E doesn't miss them. Kofi says it has always been about the brotherhood before everyone else. Kofi says E chose himself over them. Woods says E will never be medically cleared and should get out of this ring and go back to his desk where he belongs. Woods says they will call him if they need him.

Big E says no and says he won't let them throw it away like this. Big E wants a hug and says they can fix this. Kofi pushes E away. E leaves and questions what just happened. Kofi stares down Woods. Kofi says it's just us.  They then shake hands.

Thoughts: Well this did not go as I expected. This was an interesting twist on things and we will have to see where it goes from here.

Karrion Kross does a video. He says he has done terrible things in his life. He gets mad at The Wyatt's sending Sarah Logan after Scarlett. He says The Wyatt's started this fire and he will make sure they burn in it.

Gunther vs Dominik Mysterio

Dom shoves him and slaps him. Gun facekicks him off the apron. Gun is hurricanrana'd into the post then Dom dropkicks him off the apron. Dom topes him outside.

Gun gets back in and Dom chops him. Gun stares him down, misses shot and gets chopped again. Gun slams him and chops him over. Dom hits more chops and is chopped over. Gun catches his leg and half crabs him. Dom hits more chops and forearms. Gun sleepers him and Dom low blows him.

Dom 619's him and dropkicks him in the back. Dom 619's him then hits a top rope frogsplash for 2. Gun facekicks him over then hits a big powerbomb to win.

Thoughts: This was a well worked match here. Dom played the underdog role well and Gunther played the big monster well. Dom had good comebacks and they did a great job of finding ways for him to believably get offense in. Gun's chest got all bloodied here.

Finn Balor slingblades and john woo's Gun after. He then top rope double stomps him. Finn tells him to watch and learn then double stomps him twice more. Finn then drops Gun's title on him. 

Cathy Kelley interviews Pete Dunne. Pete says R-Truth doesn't know what's going on and says it's Pete Dunne vs R-Truth not Butch vs R-Truth. We then see Jey Uso get hit with something in the background. Adam Pearce checks on him.

R-Truth comes out and does his usual song. He says he thought Pete Dunne would be in his corner but he's got to fight him. He says Pete doesn't like to be called Butch and we go to break.

R-Truth vs Pete Dunne

Pete hits a step up enzugiri and pounds on him. Pete stands on his head then stomps it. Pete boots him in the head and hits mounted shots. Pete gets mad at the crowd chanting Butch and Truth rolls him up from behind to win.

Thoughts: It was a quick one to get Truth a win and save Pete some face here in this loss.

Bron Breakker is interviewed by Cathy Kelley. He says the triple threat was a great challenge. Ludwig Kaiser walks in and asks if he's happy with himself. Kaiser said that title could be his if he came in a few seconds later. Kaiser said he accomplished what he needed to and says there is nothing stopping him from taking the IC title to Imperium, where it belongs. Bron says he knew he would do this and said he'd love to beat him. He said he put on a hell of a match and said he's almost proving to the world that he's out from Gunther's shadow. He says he'd recommend Kaiser try to get out faster as Gunther's stock is going down.

Sami Zayn asks Adam Pearce what happened to Jey. Adam says he doesn't know who did it. Adam asks who do you think did it. Sami says he thinks he knows who did it and is about to whoop his @ss in the ring.

American Made talk in the back about the Women's Intercontinental Title tournament. he ays Ivy is about to start her climb to immortality. They say she is reflection of them. Chad says to steamroll her opponents next week and says to prove that weren't just born or raised here, they were made here.

Cathy interviews Zelina Vega. She says she can't get over that American Made think they are role models. She says she's a wolf while Ivy gets by through being a fraud. She says she's tired of being overlooked and is no stranger to making history. She says she respects Lyra but says she will get what she came for.

Adam Pearce and Finn Balor talk in the back. He asks when his title match is. Adam complains about him not defending his tag title. Finn says Gunther is ducking him. Adam says Gunther wants the match as much as he does and says they will fight at Saturday Night's Main Event. Adam says they will talk about his other title match next week.

Seth Rollins vs Sami Zayn

They lock up and shove each other. Seth shoulders him over then Sami throws him out. Seth stalls outside. Seth hammerlocks him. They trade forearms and Seth backbreakers him. Sami sent hard into the buckles.

Seth chops him over and they trade forearms. Sami lariats him. Sami hits mounted corner punches. Sami is caught coming off the buckles then Sami hits a blue thunder for 2. Sami exploders him into the buckles. Seth superkicks him and Sami avoids the curbstomp.

Sami tells Seth he know it was him who attacked Jey. They hit each other and Sami is sent into the post. Sami is thrown over the rail. Sami facekicks him then sends him into the post.

Sami grabs a chair and Seth backs off. Sami says he knows it was Seth. Seth says he didn't attack Jey. Seth asks Sami if he asked Punk. He tells him to use his head and says it wasn't him.

Sami throws the chair out and Seth cradles him to win.

Seth says he loves Sami heart after but says he has to use his brain.

Thoughts: I thought they advanced this storyline a little bit faster than they should have. It's not that I didn't buy it, but it would have worked better if there was more build to it. It was a shorter match and was not super notable except for the ending which was clever. They were aggressive with each other here. It was more of a story than a match in this one.

Drew Mcintyre then comes in and claymore kicks Sami. Drew then stares at him.

Overall thoughts: It was good show. The opening segment was good and The New Day segment was also good. Gunther vs Dom was easily the match of the night but that was not saying a lot as there was not a lot of wrestling on this show. They started up a bunch of new programs on this show so we will have to see where the stoylines go next week. I'd give this one a 6 out of 10.