Welcome to Bleacher Report's coverage and recap of WWE Raw on December 13.
Ahead of this week's show, WWE.com only previewed one segment. Bobby Lashley would address why he attacked Big E, Kevin Owens and Seth Rollins last week.
While the official preview did not list anything else, Austin Theory did mention on Twitter that he is still being mentored by Vince McMahon.
With Day 1 still a few weeks away, WWE is taking the slow approach. There is still a lot of room on the card, so let's hope WWE makes the January 1 pay-per-view memorable.
Let's take a look at everything that happened on this week's episode of WWE Raw.
After a lengthy recap of what happened last week, Lashley and MVP made their way to the ring to address why The All Mighty attacked everyone.
MVP made his case for why Lashley should be added to the WWE title match taking place at Day 1. This brought out Owens to complain about Lashley attacking him from behind.
KO said Lashley doesn't belong in the match and ranted about it until Rollins danced onto the stage in a black-and-purple suit. Owens and Rollins found common ground, but neither man wanted to take the first shot at Lashley.
As they bickered, Big E came out looking jovial. He said he would fight whoever, whenever, but Adam Pearce and Sonya Deville came out to rain on their parade. They said a Fatal 4-Way match is a great idea and said Lashley would be added to the match at Day 1 if he could defeat Big E, Rollins and Owens during the show.
Grade: C+
Analysis
Between the close-up shots and WWE's tendency to edit in crowd reactions, it was difficult to tell if fans were into this segment or not.
While everyone did a decent job here, it felt like we spent 15 minutes just to get to what we all knew was coming anyway.
Rollins and Owens somewhat agreeing with each other was funny and definitely the highlight of the segment. Everything else felt a little too cookie-cutter.
After losing last week, Otis and Chad Gable were interviewed by Riddle. The Dozer proceeded to slam The Bro, so that led to a singles match this week.
Randy Orton and Chad Gable watched from ringside as Otis shoved Riddle down when they locked up. Riddle tried to jump on him for a submission, but the powerhouse threw him down with ease.
Otis had control until Riddle nailed him with a knee to the face. Otis recovered and smashed The Bro into the barricade as the show cut to a break. We returned to see Otis still dominating the action.
Riddle sent him into the ring post and kicked him in the head before Otis caught him in a crossbody. Riddle broke free and unloaded with strikes from all four limbs.
When Riddle finally took him off his feet, he set up for the RKO. Otis countered and hit a pop-up slam for the win.
Grade: B
Analysis
This is the first singles match in quite some time where Otis felt like a dangerous competitor. Ever since he lost the Money in the Bank briefcase, he has only had good showings in tag matches, so this was a nice change of pace.
Not only did Otis look great, but he also won clean and in a decisive fashion. They made a story out of Riddle not being able to take him off his feet, and it worked perfectly.
Taking out Orton after the match was the icing on the cake. If WWE wants to build Alpha Academy up to take the titles, this was a good start.
Doudrop and Bianca Belair met for another match this week after last Monday's bout ended with a count-out decision in favor of The EST.
Both women did a little posturing before they locked up, and Doudrop shoved Belair back to her corner. The EST brought her to a different corner for a quick takedown.
Belair taunted Doudrop a bit as she showed off her athleticism with a leapfrog. She hit a dropkick but failed to get Doudrop up for a body slam, which allowed Doudrop to reverse the momentum and slam her instead.
Belair ended up taking Doudrop down with a hurricanrana, but the landing looked a little rough. The powerhouse grabbed Belair's legs and stretched them over the top rope before dropping a big elbow.
We returned from a break to see Belair starting to build some momentum before Doudrop slammed her with a Michinoku Driver for a two-count. Belair took Doudrop down in the corner with a powerbomb before heading up to hit a nice 450 splash for the win.
Grade: B
Analysis
These two had a good, competitive match last week, and that chemistry appeared to still be alive during this week's encounter.
Both women had a few opportunities to show off their own unique skills, but the name of the game here was power. Both competitors are very strong and made sure to use that attribute whenever they could.
Other than one or two small missteps that did little to impact the flow of the match, this was another solid performance from Belair and Doudrop.
The first of Lashley's three matches on this week's show saw him take on the man who first confronted him at the top of the show, The Prizefighter.
KO attacked Lashley after the bell while his back was turned, but The All Mighty did not go down easily. He ended up taking Owens down with a shoulder tackle and lifted him up for a nice vertical suplex.
They took the fight out of the ring, where Lashley sent Owens crashing to the floor. He mowed over KO at ringside, but Owens hit a superkick when they got back into the ring.
They countered each other a few times before Lashley hit a spinebuster and applied the Hurt Lock for the win.
Grade: C+
Analysis
This wasn't a bad match in any way, but considering what we know both men are capable of, this should have been a lot better.
The reason it wasn't more competitive was probably that WWE wanted to give Lashley an easy time with three matches, but that doesn't mean KO couldn't have done more.
Two less-talented wrestlers would have gotten a higher grade with this exact same match, but we know what these two veterans can do, and this was nowhere near what it could have been.
After a segment that saw Becky Lynch injure Liv Morgan's arm, Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode took on Damian Priest and Finn Balor in a tag match.
Roode started off against Priest since they were opponents last week in the U.S. title bout. The Glorious One was able to get the upper hand early on and knocked Balor off the apron, but Priest was able to bounce back and hit a kick to take him down.
The U.S. champ ended up having to fend off both men and he did so without much trouble. He sent both men out of the ring so he could take them out with a dive off the steel steps.
We returned right as Roode and Priest each tagged their partners. Balor came in hot and took down Ziggler with a series of quick moves.
The former universal champion nailed Ziggler with a running dropkick, but Austin Theory distracted him long enough for The Showoff to hit the Zig Zag for the win.
Grade: C+
Analysis
While this match may have made sense on paper because of what happened last week, it felt like WWE missed an opportunity to do some real character development with Priest.
WWE keeps flirting with the idea of turning him heel without pulling the trigger. Had they just had him turn on Balor to cost him the match, it could have been the perfect setup for a U.S. title bout at Day 1.
The match itself was fine but leaned into the formulaic side of booking. The use of Theory seemed random and probably won't lead to anything major. He might face Balor at some point, but it won't be a long feud.
The feud continued between the current and former women's tag champs this week when Queen Zelina took on Rhea Ripley just one week after she defeated Nikki A.S.H.
The Queen avoided a lockup with a quick roll, but Ripley made her pay with a dropkick right away. Carmella got on the apron, and Nikki yanked her down and chased her into the ring. The distraction led to Zelina pinning Ripley with a crucifix.
Grade: D
Analysis
There isn't much to say about a match that ends after four moves other than these women deserve better. This grade is a reflection of the booking, not the talent in the ring.
Lashley's second match of the night was against Rollins. KO tried to have a talk with Rollins before the bout, but The Visionary did not want to listen to what he had to say.
Rollins applied a headlock right away, but The All Mighty was quick to slam him to the mat. Rollins rolled out of the ring and pulled Lashley out with him so he could shove him into the ring post a couple of times.
Lashley tossed Rollins around with a few belly-to-belly suplexes before The Visionary took another breather outside the ring. Owens ran down and punched Rollins in the face so Lashley was disqualified.
Pearce and Deville showed up and said that was clever but restarted the match with no DQs, which extended to Lashley's match later in the night with Big E. Rollins turned around and took a Spear to give Lashley the win.
Grade: C+
Analysis
Had this just ended with KO screwing Lashley over, it would have been the perfect setup for a singles match in the future. What ended up happening was fine, but KO's plan had some brilliance to it.
This was shorter than it could have been but still managed to have a couple of good moments. WWE still doesn't want to wear out Lashley at this point in the show, so it's not surprising to see this end quickly.
The Miz revealed on Miz TV that he and Edge will do battle in a singles match at Day 1. The segment ended with The Miz using Maryse as a human shield against Edge. She slapped him and stormed off in anger.
The final match of the night saw Lashley take on Big E with no disqualifications. Despite the stipulation, Big E told Owens and Rollins that he did not want or need their help.
The two powerhouses did not waste time with a lockup. As soon as the ref called for the bell, they were throwing lefts and rights at each other.
Big E went under the ring to bring out a table, but Lashley took him down before he could set it up. The WWE champion eventually got the table in the ring and set it up in the corner.
The All Mighty hit a flatliner for a two-count. Big E responded with a trio of belly-to-belly suplexes, but he missed the big splash that usually follows. He sent Lashley into a chair that was wedged in the corner instead.
We returned from a break to see Big E taking it to The All Mighty. Lashley ended up slamming Big E through a table for another near-fall. We returned from another break to see Big E slam Lashley onto the steel steps.
The All Mighty drilled him with a Spear, but Rollins and Owens ran down to prevent the pin. Big E put Owens through a table while Lashley Speared Rollins through another. MVP hit Big E in the knee with his cane so Lashley could hit the Spear for the win.
Grade: A-
Analysis
This was easily the most competitive and entertaining match of the night, but that won't surprise anyone who knows how good these guys are.
The interference from Rollins and KO was telegraphed as soon as Pearce announced this would be a No DQ match, but it actually worked for the story WWE is telling with these four men. MVP getting the deciding shot made sense, too.
While this week's show saw a bit of a drop after last week, the main event and a couple of other segments were definitely worth checking out.
