4 Takeaways From Monday Night Raw - 12/9/19
Last night's episode of Raw was pretty good. Despite some segments that I personally didn't care for (I really don't care for this Rusev/Lana/Lashley angle), we saw some storyline progression and announced matches for the upcoming TLC pay-per-view this Sunday.
There were some good matches featured throughout the show and interesting storylines for sure, so let's take a gander at my top takeaways from this weeks Monday Night Raw.
4. Aliester Black & Buddy Murphy Win Their Matches Heading Into TLC
For months (that's how it seems), Aliester Black has been sitting backstage begging for someone to knock on his door and "pick a fight with me". Buddy Murphy finally answered the call and they have an intriguing showdown set for Sunday.
Both men were victorious in in-ring competition to build up a little momentum. Black defeated Akira Tozawa and Murphy took care of Zack Ryder in singles matches.
I'm excited for their one on one match, as I like Aliester's character, yet personally favor Buddy Murphy in all other facets. Their match at TLC is going to be good.
3. The Kabuki Warriors Take Out Two Top Stars and Accept Their Challenge
Man, this storyline has a plethora of feuds within it. Obviously we have the Women's Tag Team Champions, Asuka and Kairi Sane (who I must add have been great since turning heel on Paige around a month ago). Asuka has had issues with Charlotte Flair, who submitted her at Wrestlemania 34 to end her undefeated streak. The Empress of Tomorrow also has multiple victories over Raw Women's Champion Becky Lynch.
Charlotte tried to recruit Lynch to challenge the Kabuki Warriors together, but we know the distrust between those two, and Lynch declined her offer saying she's "collecting an old debt" on her own.
The Lass Kicker won the 2 on 1 handicap match by disqualification, but afterward, Kairi Sane hit her with a top rope elbow drop through a table.
In the training room backstage, Lynch changed her mind and they officially made the challenge for the tag titles, in a TLC match.
2. Randy Orton Costs AJ Styles the US Title
In the main event of the night, AJ Styles challenged Rey Mysterio for the US title. It was a very good match (both men can absolutely GO in the ring) and Styles nearly had the match won - the Phenomenal One hit the champion with a powerbomb into a Styles Clash before Randy Orton slid into the ring. The Viper only distracted Styles and winked at him before Mysterio rolled him up for the win (and Raw immediately cut off the air).
I'm thinking we'll be seeing a Mysterio/Styles/Orton triple threat for the title at TLC. If this does happen, then it should be a very entertaining, high paced matchup.
If a triple threat US title match happens at TLC, who should pick up the win?
1. Seth Rollins Aligns with A.O.P.
After a few weeks of speculation from Kevin Owens (and most fans), we finally saw the official Seth Rollins heel turn.
Kevin Owens spent most of the night looking for A.O.P. with a steel pipe lent from Rey Mysterio in the beginning of the night (even though we all could tell it was basically a paper towel roll wrapped in athletic tape), before he was eventually assaulted by Akam and Rezar outside of their van. In the back of the van was a man in a hood... who turned out to be Seth Rollins himself.
Rollins came out to cut a promo and I must say it was a very good one. The Architect mentioned how he shows up every week and even defeated Brock Lesnar twice to bring the Universal title back to Raw for the WWE Universe, yet they still wanted more.
This new alignment with the Authors of Pain is very interesting, as it shows another side of the former Universal champ, and allows Kevin Owens to slide into the role of a superstar battling against much bigger opponents to get to fight against the leader of the crew. This storyline is one to watch in the weeks to come.
Thank you for reading! Be sure to let me know what you think, and if you have any comments, disagreements or suggestions for future articles, I'm all ears!
