Monday Night Raw Review - December 11, 2023

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Drew McIntyre def. Jey Uso

Much like last week, I loved that we got to hear from the two of them before their bout. Sorry to sound like a broken record, but McIntyre's character work continues to be excellent. The match that followed was terrific, and although Uso lost yet again, he had another strong showing in defeat. It was revealed later in the night that McIntyre will challenge Seth Rollins for the World Heavyweight Championship on the Day 1 edition of Raw in three weeks.

Women's World Champion Rhea Ripley def. Maxxine Dupri (Non-Title)

WWE has done a nice job of incorporating Dupri's lack of experience into her character as it wisely covers her weaknesses. That said, this was pretty bad. It didn't last long and they didn't do much, but what they did do looked awful. Maybe it was just a lack of chemistry? Hopefully Dupri can keep honing her skills and pulling double duty in NXT wouldn't be the worst thing. Ivy Nile stepped up to Ripley afterward and I'm looking forward to that matchup if that's the direction they're going in. 

World Heavyweight Champion Seth "Freakin" Rollins Confronted CM Punk

To no one's surprise, Punk officially signed with the Raw brand. His promo talking about his history in Cleveland would've made this a solid segment, but Rollins coming out to confront him and speak his mind took it to a whole other level. This is what we've been waiting for him and it was wonderful as he acknowledged everything a lot of us were already thinking. It was smart for Punk to keep his rebuttal short and sweet because there's plenty of time for them to go back and forth ahead of WrestleMania 40.

Bronson Reed def. Ivar

This was definitely an improvement over their first match from a few weeks ago. The crowd still doesn't have an incentive to cheer either guy with both of them being heels, but it was a fun, hard-hitting hoss fight while it lasted and Reed winning clean (with a superplex of all things) was a nice touch. I wouldn't be opposed to more matches between them to kill time before the men's Royal Rumble match.

The Creed Brothers Saved R-Truth From The Judgment Day

We found out the Creeds will get their shot at the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship on next week's Raw, so this served its purpose in hyping their upcoming encounter. Judgment Day's mic work was standard stuff, but R-Truth was hilarious in his role pretending to be a part of the group. It reminded me of some of the stuff Sami Zayn was doing with The Bloodline last year. Julius Creed looked like a beast taking out most of the members by himself.

Katana Chance and Kayden Carter def. Candice LeRae and Indi Hartwell

Chance and Carter previously knocked off Tegan Nox and Natalya, so it was only logical that they'd win again here to get them one step closer to challenging for the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship (which will happen on next week's show). This match was fine for what it was but was too brief to be anything out of the ordinary. I'm still disappointed WWE has hardly done anything with LeRae and Hartwell.

Becky Lynch and Nia Jax Exchanged Words

Jax's mic work can be hit or miss most of the time, but I honestly thought she was decent here. She and Lynch effectively recapped their history dating back to 2018 when Jax legitimately broke Lynch's face with Jax taking credit for The Man taking off from there. They also noted how they've shockingly never gone one-on-one before and that they couldn't for various reasons. There was no physicality and there didn't need to be. Jax has been protected enough since returning to Raw that it will mean something when Lynch eventually beats her.

The Miz and #DIY def. Imperium (Intercontinental Champion Gunther, Ludwig Kaiser and Giovanni Vinci)

I thought we'd get this match weeks ago, but I'm glad they held off on it because it was perfect that it happened in Cleveland. The crowd was super behind hometown hero Miz as well as #DIY (Johnny Gargano is a fellow Cleveland native) and it made for a really enjoyable outing. Miz winning for his team sets him up for another opportunity at the Intercontinental Championship where if he loses, he can't challenge for it again as long as Gunther is champ. I don't believe it was said when that would be taking place.

Cody Rhodes def. Shinsuke Nakamura by Disqualification

Nakamura's pre-taped promo that aired earlier in the show was awesome. He has totally exceeded my expectations in the heel role (mostly because his last heel run was lame). This was a quality first-time-ever encounter, and although Nakamura getting himself disqualified caused the show to end on an underwhelming note, that was what needed to happen to extend the feud and ensure neither guy lost clean. It also puts heat on Nakamura for the inevitable rematch.

Overall Show

For the second straight week, Raw produced an above-average episode. The segment with Punk and Rollins alone would have made this a thumbs-up episode, but there was a lot to like about the rest of it as well. There are several storylines that have my interest and we're getting great wrestling to boot. In years past, WWE has phoned it in through the holiday season, but that is certainly not the case this year. Next week will be the last live Raw before what I assume is a best-of special on Christmas itself, followed by the Day 1 edition on New Year's Day.

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