WWE Raw 12/30/2024: 3 Things We Loved And Hated

By Wrestling Inc. StaffDec. 31, 2024 12:21 am EST

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The WWE has come to the end of an era. "WWE Raw" has broadcast its final episode on cable television, reaching something akin to the end of history for a show that used to live and die by TV ratings, as the flagship program will now move to streaming.

As always, there was plenty to love and plenty to hate on tonight's program. We will not be breaking down "what" happened, as that's what our fastidious results page is for. Instead, we'll be breaking down the highs and the lows, the nitty and the gritty, the nooks and the crannies. There were highs like the show's opening and its closing, as well as lows like R-Truth's feud with Pete Dunne wearing thin.

Without further ado, here's the best and the worst of the last "Raw" of the year.

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Monday, Lyra Valkyria took on one of her toughest challenges on the main roster yet in the form of former WWE Women's Champion and main event scene frequenter IYO SKY. The two of them clashed in the semifinals of the inaugural Women's Intercontinental Championship tournament, and Ireland's finest was put up against a woman who many consider the pinnacle of Japanese wrestling, if not wrestling entirely. With SKY's immense talent, the chances of Valkyria dropping out in the tournament semifinals were high.

After a hard-fought match full of great wrestling, Valkyria propped herself over SKY and pinned "The Genius of the Sky" for one, two, three. Valkyria bested all odds to overcome a former world champion to progress to the tournament finals. She spread her wings to soar through the SKY, towards victory.

Everything about this match was great. SKY is, as previously mentioned, one of the best female wrestlers the world has to offer, and Valkyria isn't lagging far behind in the in-ring technique category. Things were a bit awkward between them at first, but things quickly smoothed out between them as both of them spared no expense in making the other woman look like a hundred bucks. Houston was so behind both women, and their match was just a great piece of women's television wrestling.

The only gripe I have with this match is the poor finish. In theory, Valkyria's crazy pin seems cool and is a testament to her expertise in technical wrestling. I'm not the biggest fan of surprise pins, but even if I was, this one was kind of messy. That messiness cost the match its climatic immersion. By the end of a match, we are supposed to be at the edge of our seats, hearts in our throats, with our disbelief fully suspended so we can savor that final one, two, three. However, Valkyria's messy pop-up pin took the wind out of my sails, prompted my heart to settle down into my chest, and caused me to focus, briefly, on the messiness of the pin.

Still, I'm more than pleased with the results of this match. SKY was a favorite going into this for sure — and I'll be dead in the ground before I complain about a SKY victory — but Valkyria was the right choice to go with her. Much like the Women's United States Championship, this mid-card title is set up to be a pathway for "Raw" women to elevate their wrestling game. SKY has frequented the main event scene, but Valkyria hasn't had that opportunity in the limelight just yet. There is also a point to be made about how odd a Damage CTRL infighting arc would've been. No faction lasts forever, but there is no reason to split Damage CTRL up now, especially over a brand-new midcard title.

Between the logic of putting Valkyria over and the overall quality of the match itself, there is hardly anything to be disappointed in. Dakota Kai and Lyra Valkyria will be a contest to remember.

Written by Angeline Phu

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Get Tyler Bate on the phone now, please, because everything he did to put the name "Butch" and poor Pete Dunne's Butch persona in the ground has bubbled up to epic proportions as the hands of R-Truth. Yes, I know it's been going on for quite a few weeks now, but tonight, for whatever reason, it really started to get on my nerves. That was likely because Dunne kept repeating that he was "nobody's Butch" after taking out Truth on the ramp, and it just sounded so ridiculous, my brain finally snapped. While I usually would appreciate WWE acknowledging something dumb and ridiculous it did in the storyline for a little laugh, this has just been so stupidly consistent that it's driving me insane.

It's bad enough that Truth squashed Dunne on the December 2 episode of the show, but this still continuing and Dunne just straight up not getting his win back to end it is pretty silly. According to Fightful Select's rundown of the show, the pair were set to have a match tonight. Instead of the match, however, Dunne just attacked Truth on the ramp and let him know just how much he's not anybody's Butch. Rather than just having the match, letting Dunne get his win back, and maybe stomp down on Truth after his victory to prove the point home, we're just elongating this another week.

Maybe this sticks out to me because it's the first time in recent memory that I haven't found Truth fun and endearing. Once, back in October, I believe, it was a funny, off-handed comment by Truth to bring up Dunne's ridiculous gimmick, but going back to it week after week is just beating a dead horse at this point. Truth's comedic chops can be used elsewhere on the show, especially when things are a bit loser when it goes to Netflix next week, and both men are just being misused at this point. Of course, it's such a small thing, but there wasn't much to complain about on tonight's episode, which felt a bit like a go-home to a bigger event. Maybe I'm just grumpy today, but please, WWE, get Pete Dunne and R-Truth away from each other.

Written by Daisy Ruth

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The final "RAW" on USA Network kicked off with some of its most familiar faces: Xavier Woods, Kofi Kingston, Jey Uso, and Drew McIntyre. The show was bookended with two more of its most featured Superstars, Seth Rollins and CM Punk.

New Day is several weeks into a heel turn and has been mostly relegated to the back as fans and the locker room alike have turned their backs on them the way they turned their backs on Big E. Last week, Kingston was burned by his own mother when she refused to hug him due to his actions. Tonight, they came out to overwhelming boos and chants of "New Day sucks!"

Then came the music of one of their biggest rivals, Jey Uso. On the complete opposite end of the spectrum, the fans went crazy for Uso. Woods went so far as to ask Uso to talk to the crowd for them. He declined and joined in on another "New Day sucks!" chant. The Usos are New Day's biggest and longest rivalry, so of course Jey would come to admonish them and join in on the public hate they were receiving.

After Woods and Kingston left in shame, a video played of the new Bloodline. Solo Sikoa addressed Uso, which allowed McIntyre to carry out a sneak attack while his target was distracted. The two got physical before the referees got involved. The "Scottish Psychopath" broke free and nailed Uso with a Claymore.

The opening segment featured Superstars that have been heavily featured on USA for years and mixed in fresher faces with the new Bloodline. The opening segments have traditionally begun with promos instead of matches and this one included physicality. While it paid homage to "RAW" on USA, it all moved current storylines forward for the Netflix Era.

Written by Samantha Schipman

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From music to daily routines or habits, repetition is a great and useful thing. However, when it comes to professional wrestling, it can become a tedious ordeal if it is used too much and that has become the case for the storyline between Judgment Day, Damian Priest, and now The War Raiders.

As is, the six-man tag team match between the six men was decent, if not adequate. The action was well paced and it was relatively entertaining to watch. The problem comes in at the ending and in the moments that followed it. It feels like every time Judgment Day, Priest, and The War Raiders meet in the ring in singles, tag team, or six-man action with whatever combination of competitors it ends up being, it's the same exact thing week after week: the Judgment Day member or members use interference to try and cheat to win, get defeated in their match anyways, and launch a post-match beatdown on the relevant party or parties. It's gotten to the point where Priest has actively caught on to what's happening. While this would usually mean that Judgment Day would try taking a different approach to their current method, that doesn't seem to be happening and it's no longer enjoyable to watch. Unless something drastic changes, it's become a long, drawn-out storyline that seems like there's not much else that can really be done with it.

Written by Olivia Quinlan

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Ahead of their much-awaited singles clash during next week's "WWE Raw" premiere, arch-rivals CM Punk and Seth Rollins met in the ring for a final promo segment. Rollins had the floor on his own after making the first entrance, echoing his continual gripe with the "Second-City Saint" that he had taken his ball and gone home when he left in 2014, and it was that line that proved to be the spark for a fiery Punk retort when he made his entrance. Punk pulled on the thread of that phrase, making allusions to Vince McMahon before asking if Steve Austin had been wrong when he had done a similar thing in 2002.

The historically anti-establishment superstar had endeavored to cast Rollins into the pro-establishment role, a move which resonated with the crowd as they rallied to chant Punk's name, and allowed him to continue and paint his rival as a snake who threw arrows in his back – and then when he couldn't no more, turned on Roman Reigns – to which Rollins played the part expertly in response. He proceeded to make his own allusions to Punk's ill-fated time with "the competition" after years of trying to tear WWE down, from the moment "he went on his buddy's podcast."

They were lines that cut deep because of the degree of belief behind them. Rollins has been one of if not the flag-bearers for WWE over the past decade; a decade Punk spent decreeing he was never coming back interspersed with stints in UFC and then AEW. It really leaves where you stand as a fan towards the heel/face dynamic down to the perspective you share. This was the segment that finally addressed the ill feeling towards Punk's 2014 departure, with Rollins a bystander to the entire situation and someone who stepped into his role throughout the absence, and truly felt like it was pulling from real emotions felt at one time or another. The entire segment delivered on the tensions brewing since Punk's return at Survivor Series 2023, with just a week to go before they finally step in the ring against one another.

Written by Max Everett

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Chad Gable and Otis have been feuding for months now, with our earliest records of their dissension dating back to June 2024. These men have clashed time and time again, whether it is in a formal match, a war of apparel, or an exchange of harsh words backstage. Gable and Otis needed a match to settle their differences, to disentangle themselves from each other once and for all.

They didn't even get a glorified episode of "WWE Raw" to do it? We're doing this now?

Let's make this perfectly clear — Otis and Gable wrestled a great match on Monday. As tired as we are of this feud, Otis and Gable have a deep understanding of each others' wrestling style, and both men put forth everything to make this match a pleasure to watch. It's just a damn shame that it happened on the "Raw" before WWE's hyped-up debut on Netflix. Otis and Gable put on a great match and have kept the fire lit underneath this feud (whether they have for too long or not), just for it to be put on a show that will fade into an obscure memory come the red brand's debut on arguably the most popular streaming service in the world.

There are two possibilities here: either this feud truly ends tonight, on some random episode of "Raw," or — if Ivy Nile's interference and Gable's win imply — this continues on for far longer. The first possibility, while with its silver lining (after all, they will be free to pursue other storylines), is just pure disrespect. After showing a new side of themselves with this feud, Otis and Gable have been reduced to just "Raw" highlight reels. The biggest platform their feud ever got was at Clash at the Castle. They didn't even put Gable on the SummerSlam 2024 card, even as he was embroiled in a feud with the newly debuted Wyatt Sicks! It is criminal how under-broadcasted this feud was, considering all of the work Gable and Otis clearly put into it. Is it because they're not 6'2" with six packs? If this was truly the end of an era for Gable and Otis, it is hardly a goodbye. It is more like a kick to the porch and the slam of a door.

Nile's interference and Gable's dirty victory imply that this match is not the end of things between the former Alpha Academy members, and that also upsets me. While the chances of this ending appropriately are much higher, Gable and Otis have already been fighting for half a year. This feud needs to die out so both individuals are allowed to fully commit to new feuds, new projects, and new personas. We are on the eve of 2025, and these two are still fighting a feud that began in June 2024. That is absurd.

WWE has fully fumbled what would have been one of 2024's top ten feuds. Instead, they've soiled it and made it into a weekly television show exclusive.

Written by Angeline Phu