Welcome to Bleacher Report's coverage and recap of WWE Raw on December 12.
Last week, WWE set out to find the next challenger for Bianca Belair and the Raw Women's Championship. Alexa Bliss and Bayley won their qualifying matches, so they squared off this week to determine who gets the next shot at The EST of WWE.
We also saw Seth Rollins take on Bobby Lashley, and Candice LeRae faced Iyo Sky of Damage CTRL.
Let's take a look at what happened on this week's show.
After the intro video played, Bayley came out to kick off the show with her match against Bliss to determine the No. 1 contender for Belair's Raw women's title. As usual, Sky and Dakota Kai were by her side for "support."
An irate Becky Lynch showed up and chased Sky and Kai away with a steel chair, giving The Goddess an even playing field instead of having to worry about outside interference. The EST arrived moments later to watch the match from ringside.
Bliss and Bayley know each other well and have been having matches for years, so they wasted no time getting straight to work. Their chemistry has never faded, so they were aggressive right away knowing they would be able to take care of each other.
While they had one or two awkward moments, this was mostly a solid outing from two former champions. After The Role Model allowed herself to become too distracted by Belair, Bliss was able to hit her finisher for the pin.
Bliss offered Belair a hug as she was celebrating, but then Bray Wyatt's symbol flashed on the screen. She grabbed The EST and was about to hit Sister Abigail but came to her senses and let her go. Bliss walked off looking confused and frustrated.
Winner: Alexa Biss
Grade: B
Notable Moments and Observations
Does anyone else keep forgetting about the women's tag titles until they are on the screen again?
Having Belair at ringside but not with the commentary team felt like a weird choice.
When is somebody going to use the suspenders Bayley always has hanging from her gear against her?
Considering she is one of the smallest women on the roster, it's kind of awesome that Bliss is also one of the hardest hitters. Her opponents always sell her right hand like they were hit with a brick.
The hurricanrana Bliss hit from the middle rope was awkward, and she landed on the back of her head but appeared to be fine.
After Alpha Academy and The O.C. had a run-in backstage, Chad Gable and AJ Styles met for the second match of the night.
The leader of the Academy wrestled Styles to the mat and forced him to use a rope break to escape his grasp. The Phenomenal One responded with a dropkick to the jaw.
This was a battle of technical prowess, which is something both men have in spades. Whenever Styles tried to take Gable down, the former Olympian countered it perfectly.
Despite Gable appearing to have a slight edge at times, The Phenomenal One ended up winning with The Styles Clash. Luke Gallows and Mia Yim helped him celebrate, though Karl Anderson is in Japan.
There isn't much to say about the quality of this match. These are two of the most versatile performers on the roster. Of course they did a great job.
Winner: AJ Styles
Grade: A-
Notable Moments and Observations
Styles has to have one of the top-10 dropkicks of all time. It's always so precise.
One of the LED screens on the barricade was busted when Gable sent Styles into it. WWE must have a huge budget allocated for all of the LED boards because that kind of stuff gets messed up all the time.
Somebody should tell the announcers they don't have to say "Michin" every time they say Mia Yim's name. Using somebody's nickname every time you talk about them is kind of strange.
Following his win over Akira Tozawa last week, Dominik Mysterio found himself back in the ring with him on Monday, but this time it was a six-man tag match with Finn Bálor, Damian Priest, Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins involved.
Dawkins and Priest started for their teams, and while they may have been the powerhouses of their respective tandems, they still showed they can be quick on their feet with a nice sequence to get things going.
When it was time for Tozawa and Bálor to take their turns in the ring, they picked up the pace even more until The Prince hit a huge clothesline to send the show into a commercial.
This match ended up being highly physical and pretty entertaining. Mysterio's time in the ring was shorter than everyone else, so that may have been a factor.
After Tozawa began to make a late-match comeback, he ended up falling to Mysterio after Priest lent a hand.
This ended up being a highly enjoyable match with several standout moments.
Winners: The Judgment Day
Grade: B+
Notable Moments and Observations
Letting Tozawa go back to the version of his character that he was when he first showed up in WWE is the best thing for him. He is an incredible wrestler who deserves to be allowed to do more than comedy segments.
Not only has Dawkins gotten better in the ring, but he has also continued to work on his physique. He spent so long in developmental but it's great to see he is still committed to making improvements.
Without Rhea Ripley, The Judgment Day wouldn't work. She can add so much just by standing next to the ring because you never know what she's going to do.
Ford nailed Priest with a stiff backhand and all it did was fire Priest up even more. It was one of the most subtly brutal moments of the match. Priest got him back a moment later when he sent Ford flying over the announce table with a pounce.
Corey Graves was a hair away from making a dirty joke about Mysterio's stamina before he stopped himself.
Johnny Gargano and Dexter Lumis came out before the match with a wagon full of WWE merchandise that they were throwing out to the crowd to celebrate the holidays.
The Miz tried to steal back his bag of cash from Lumis, but Adam Pearce stopped him and made him return it. There will be a rematch between them at some point.
Sky and LeRae made their way out after a commercial break, but this time, Bayley and Kai remained at ringside for their Damage CTRL teammate.
Sky and LeRae know each other well from their time in NXT, so they were able to put on a good show for the crowd. Thankfully, the shenanigans with Kai and Bayley at ringside were kept to a minimum so these two veterans could focus on what is going on inside the ring.
Sky ended up winning clean with the Over the Moonsault. At some point, Bayley might become upset that she is having the least amount of success in her own group.
Winner: Iyo Sky
Grade: B-
Notable Moments and Observations
It would have been funny if Lynch showed up with a chair again and just kept chasing Damage CTRL all night.
Bayley sat with the commentary team, but Graves said her headset wasn't working, so she just kind of sat there for a while. It was a weird moment, but stuff like that happens with live productions sometimes.
LeRae was bleeding from her elbow after the break and favoring her other arm a bit.
Sky coming within inches of hitting a sunset flip powerbomb on the floor only to have LeRae hold onto the ropes was a great spot.
Elias approached Kevin Owens backstage and asked him to be at ringside for his concert to help have his back, but KO reminded him of their history during the whole Ezekiel saga in the most hilarious way possible.
The crooner came out to play a tribute concert for Matt Riddle since he was written off TV with an injured neck.
He got a lot further along into his song than he usually does before he was interrupted by Solo Sikoa to set up the next match. Sami Zayn was by Solo's side.
The Street Champion of the Island had control for the first minute, but after Elias sent him out of the ring, Zayn had to stop him from getting back in with a steel chair.
This was a match between two big, strong dudes, but Sikoa was the aggressor for most of the fight. The enforcer of The Bloodline picked up the win to end a basic but solid contest.
KO ended up saving Elias from a beating but then delivered a Stunner to him anyway.
Winner: Solo Sikoa
Grade: C+
Notable Moments and Observations
Zayn always dances like nobody is watching.
Sikoa has explosive power. The way he picked up Elias for a Samoan drop like it was no big deal was impressive.
Two women who fought for the WarGames advantage a few weeks ago met again this week when Asuka fought Ripley.
Both Superstars work a very physical style, so this match was competitive from the moment the referee called for the bell.
Ripley was dominating the action for the first few minutes, but The Empress of Tomorrow began to make a comeback as the show cut to a break.
Dominik Mysterio distracted Asuka long enough for Ripley to run her into the apron. She tried to hit the Riptide, but The Empress countered into the Asuka Lock.
The Nightmare was helped getting her foot on the rope by Mysterio, so Asuka spat mist in his face. Ripley knocked her into Dom before hitting Riptide for the win.
The ending was a little goofy, but this was a good match from two gifted performers.
Winner: Rhea Ripley
Grade: B-
Notable Moments and Observations
Asuka did not have her usual face paint, and her mask seemed more basic. It seems she is making small changes to prepare for the character shift she has been teasing on social media.
Mysterio was with Ripley but Bálor and Priest were nowhere to be seen.
A couple of Asuka's kicks were really stiff, but Ripley took them and just kept moving.
The main event of the show saw Rollins and Lashley fight to see who would get the next shot at Theory's United States Championship.
The All Mighty immediately asserted his dominance by stomping Rollins into the corner before he sent him over the top rope with a clothesline.
These two have had several encounters in recent months, so they have learned how to work together to make each other look as good as possible. They're both veterans, so their experience and chemistry allowed them to put on a great performance.
As Lashley prepared to finish off his opponent, Rollins turned his Spear into a Pedigree and scored the pin. The All Mighty was irate and took out a referee.
Adam Pearce came out and tried to talk some sense into him, but after Lashley shoved him, the WWE official said he was fired.
Winner: Seth Rollins
Grade: B+
Notable Moments and Observations
Dolph Ziggler gave a promo directed at Theory before the match. A guy called The Showoff mocking somebody else for being cocky is a bit ironic.
Theory was shown watching on a TV, and he was way too close to the screen.
Rollins has a great jumping enziguiri.
The Visionary catching Lashley's Spear and turning it into a Pedigree looked pretty good.
