Monday Night Raw Review - January 24, 2022

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

WWE Champion Brock Lesnar and Bobby Lashley Weighed In Ahead of the Royal Rumble

The concept of weigh-ins in wrestling is certainly silly when you consider that there aren't any weight classes, but I still thought it was a cool idea for these two given their MMA backgrounds. It ended up being a solid segment with some basic mic work from Paul Heyman and MVP and a few funny lines from Lesnar. It definitely could have been more (and I would have loved more of a back-and-forth from Heyman and MVP), but I enjoyed it for what it was. I will say, Lashley absolutely has to win at the Rumble with Lesnar acting like he isn't afraid of Lashley at all.

Bianca Belair def. WWE Women's Tag Team Champion Queen Zelina

I applaud Zelina for playing her role as well as she does, but despite winning the Queen's Crown tournament last week, I still can't take seriously against someone on Belair's level. This was only around three or four minutes long, but it was what it needed to be with Belair winning decisively (and Vega sold her finisher perfectly). Belair is my pick to win the women's Royal Rumble match given her unfinished business with Becky Lynch.

Kevin Owens def. United States Champion Damian Priest by Disqualification

I was baffled this wasn't advertised in advance considering it was contested for the championship, but now we know why: The finish sucked. I'm glad the commentators brought up how Priest was undefeated in one-on-one action before last week because I don't think that was brought up when Owens beat him. They were having a very good match up until the lame disqualification, which only made Owens look like the babyface. They've done that finish several times since Priest underwent the character change and I'm not a fan of it at all. If anything, it's actually hurt his momentum.

Rhea Ripley, Liv Morgan and 24/7 Champion Dana Brooke def. WWE Women's Tag Team Champion Carmella, Nikki A.S.H. and Tamina

None of these women had any reason to face each other (outside of Ripley and Nikki given their recent bad blood) and were only put together in a multi-woman tag team affair because they'll be in the women's Rumble. Of these six, Ripley is undoubtedly the favorite. This was brief and forgettable, but Ripley picking up the win for her team was what needed to happen. They'll probably interact in the Rumble, but look for that match to happen coming out of the event. It's not WrestleMania-worthy in my opinion, so hopefully they have something better in mind for Ripley.

RK-Bro def. Raw Tag Team Champions Alpha Academy in a Spelling Bee; Randy Orton def. Raw Tag Team Champion Chad Gable

I've seen a lot of mixed reviews online regarding the spelling bee (and trust me, I went into it with low expectations because of how dumb these sorts of things tend to be in WWE), but I fell in the camp of people who thoroughly enjoyed it. These teams have fantastic chemistry together and Gable in particular was a gem. The match that followed was even better. This was what I wanted to see when Orton and Gable first faced off last month. Gable is arguably doing the best work of his main roster run right now, though I realize that might not be saying much since he's been underutilized for the better part of the past five years.

AJ Styles def. Austin Theory

Like I said a few weeks ago when they originally faced off, I would have held off on this until they inevitably feud because you know it's coming and I think Theory would benefit greatly from it. That aside, this was an excellent match. WWE definitely needs to do more to get Theory over with the audience (and I don't know if the bizarre backstage segments with Mr. McMahon are helping at all), but at least he's showing he can hang with the very best. They got a ton of time and made the most of it. Styles needs to be built back up, so him winning here was the correct outcome. Here's hoping he gets more direction heading into WrestleMania 38.

Doudrop Attacked Raw Women's Champion Becky Lynch

This was one of those split screen interviews where Lynch and Doudrop went back and forth while being asked questions by Jimmy Smith. I can understand some fans finding it difficult to get invested in the feud and their match at the Royal Rumble because neither of them are babyfaces, but I thought this was a solid segment with quality mic work from both women. Doudrop getting the better of Lynch was necessary since there's no chance in hell she wins the Raw Women's Championship at the Rumble.

The Mysterios def. The Street Profits

I really liked the match these two teams had in the finals of the RK-Bronament at the end of December and this was an equally entertaining sprint. It went the appropriate amount of time and the crowd was into it because both teams are popular. The Mysterios got to avenge their loss to Street Profits, but the focus was mostly on everyone throwing each other out of the ring afterward (including The Dirty Dawgs) to hype the Rumble. It's basic and uninspired stuff, but it served its purpose, I suppose.

Edge and Beth Phoenix Crashed The Miz's Birthday Celebration for Maryse

Miz and Maryse are so campy together it's terrific. I wish they were portrayed as a more serious duo like they were in 2016 and 2017, but I understand that's not the nature of their feud with Edge and Phoenix, who are the true badasses. I didn't have high hopes for this being the closing segment of the show, but Edge and Phoenix showing up and laying out everyone in sight (except for Miz and Maryse, of course) with tag team finishers made it worthwhile. It gave them their revenge from last week's attack and they'll finally be able to get their hands on the heels in the mixed tag team match on Saturday night, which I assume they'll win.

Overall Show

I think your enjoyment of this show will largely depend on how much you liked (or didn't like) the weigh-in and the spelling bee. It's stuff that should be bad because WWE usually doesn't do well with out-of-the-box ideas, but I was a fan of both segments and their execution (though I admit the weigh-in could have been more eventful). On top of that, WWE did a better job this week of filling the three hours with some strong matches, specifically Orton vs. Gable and Styles vs. Theory. Mysterios vs. Street Profits and Priest vs. Owens (before the dumb finish, mind you) were also well wrestled. I can't say this go-home show got me any more excited for the pay-per-view than I already was, but the Royal Rumble sells itself, so I found this to be a thumbs-up episode.

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