Monday Night Raw Review - January 3, 2022

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

WWE Champion Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman Addressed Universal Champion Roman Reigns and Lesnar's Potential Challengers

We didn't see Heyman at Day 1, but he was back alongside Lesnar's side in this segment. I wish a bigger deal was made over them reuniting, but I liked that they at least explained how Heyman was able to work Lesnar into the main event of Day 1. Lesnar referring to himself as "the real champion" while addressing Reigns was interesting and could very well lead to a title unification match at WrestleMania. Lesnar and Heyman gave off babyface energy here, but I can see why the crowd would be confused as to how to react to them.

Alpha Academy def. Raw Tag Team Champions RK-Bro (Non-Title)

RK-Bro vs. Alpha Academy was the television feud prior to Day 1, so I'm glad WWE is continuing it. Alpha Academy have made the most of the television time they've been afforded over the last month or so and deserve a shot at the titles. This was too short to be anything out of the ordinary, but the clean win for Alpha Academy was a pleasant surprise. I wouldn't be opposed to Alpha Academy being the team to take the titles off RK-Bro if the idea is for RK-Bro to break up before WrestleMania.

24/7 Champion Dana Brooke and Reggie def. Tamina and Akira Tozawa

We were told the 24/7 Championship was up for grabs in this match. I guess Tamina or Tozawa would've become champion regardless of who they pinned? I don't know. The idea was as dumb as the 24/7 title itself. Raw has done a nice job over the last month or so of cutting down on the filler, and I almost understood why the 24/7 Championship folks were featured last week with so many people out for COVID-related reasons, but this was incredibly pointless and offered nothing of substance. We should've gotten the rematch between Austin Theory and Finn Balor that was advertised for last week in this spot instead since Theory returned on this episode in a backstage segment.

Bianca Belair and Liv Morgan Attacked Raw Women's Champion Becky Lynch

With it being a new year, I was hoping we'd get some new challengers to the Raw Women's Championship, but I suppose we don't always get what we want. Lynch has beaten both Belair and Morgan multiple times dating back to SummerSlam, and while I'm fine with Belair returning to the title picture because she's been winning lately and has unfinished business with Lynch, Morgan staying in the title hunt makes no sense because she lost decisively at Day 1. This was a solid segment. I thought we might be getting Lynch vs. Morgan vs. Belair at the Royal Rumble, but a Triple Threat featuring Doudrop instead of Lynch was announced for next week's Raw instead.

WWE Women's Tag Team Champions Queen Zelina and Carmella def. Nikki A.S.H. and Rhea Ripley​

I nearly forgot this feud was still a thing because it hasn't been furthered all that effectively since it started a few months ago. Plus, I don't believe Zelina and Carmella have defended the tag titles since winning them, nor have they appeared on SmackDown at all. In other words, my mind hasn't changed in regards to those titles being completely worthless. As a match, this was whatever, but the important thing is that we're another step closer to Ripley and Nikki going their separate ways. Fingers crossed it happens soon because Ripley needs to branch back out on her own.

The Street Profits def. Apollo Crews and Commander Azeez

I enjoyed RK-Bro vs. Street Profits so much at Day 1 that I mentioned in my review of the pay-per-view that I wouldn't mind if there was a rematch at some point. In the meantime, Street Profits needed a rebound win and they got it here. Crews and Azeez could be a force in the Raw tag team division if WWE actually bothered to build them up. Instead, they're just another two guys on the roster. This was fine for what it was with Montez Ford's frog splash being the highlight.

United States Champion Damian Priest def. Dolph Ziggler

The stipulation stated that if Priest got himself counted out or disqualified, he would've lost the title. That was because he previously got counted out and disqualified against Priest in recent weeks, so it was a simple story that played into Priest's tendency to snap halfway through his matches. I think it's a silly character trait, but at least this bout benefited from it because Ziggler nearly had the match won on two different occasions down the stretch. Those were some strong nearfalls and it was a quality contest with Priest rightfully retaining. He's been booked strong as champ and the hope is that he can continue climbing up the card even after he drops the belt.

The Miz and Maryse Accepted Edge and Beth Phoenix's Royal Rumble Challenge

We all knew where this storyline was headed as soon as Phoenix returned at Day 1 to help Edge beat Miz. Hell, we knew where this storyline was headed as soon as Miz returned with Maryse to confront Edge last month. That said, I don't mind the predictability because I'm all for this culminating in a mixed tag team match at the Royal Rumble. Everyone played their roles well in this segment and it accomplished what it needed to. It's awesome to see Edge and Phoenix getting to work together on TV for the first time.

Omos def. AJ Styles

I was surprised this was added to the show only a few hours before they went on the air. Okay, maybe I wasn't too surprised considering that tends to happen quite a bit nowadays, but it was advertised for last week's show before being bumped for whatever reason (Omos was at the Madison Square Garden house show the night before, so I don't think he was one of the people out sick). Either way, this was total throwaway. Styles did what he could to make Omos look as good as possible, but the truth is that Omos is far from ready from any sort of singles push. He's extremely limited and I don't know how much a win over Styles will help him. The bigger takeaway from this for me is that Styles deserves better.

Bobby Lashley def. Kevin Owens, Seth Rollins and Big E in a WWE Championship No. 1 Contender's Fatal 4-Way Match

This was the match we were supposed to get at Day 1 before Lesnar's last-minute addition caused it to be changed to a Fatal 5-Way. They received plenty of time as expected, making me think that this would have had the exact same layout on Saturday just with a different finish (a.k.a. Big E retaining). I liked how they fought to another part of the arena and how the Rollins and Owens alliance forced Big E and Lashley to work together at one point. Lashley's win was decisive, which is perfect if they really want to position him as a threat to Lesnar. After so many years, we're finally getting Lesnar vs. Lashley at the Royal Rumble and I couldn't be happier. I fear it will be a five-minute affair and Lesnar will win clean, but oh well. I feel bad for Big E and hope he's able to stay at the top of the card coming out of this. A Royal Rumble win would be cool, but I don't have enough faith in WWE to actually go in that direction.

Overall Show

From an in-ring standpoint, this wasn't a strong show as only the main event received an ample amount of time and is worth going out of your way to see, but I thought it was an enjoyable first edition of Raw in 2022. Not everything was exciting, but as previously noted, Raw has done a better job than usual since the Draft of filling the three hours with more meaningful stuff and creating more feuds and stories as opposed to putting on random matches. The build to the Royal Rumble is underway and I thought it got off to a solid start with this show.

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