WWE Raw Results: Highlights, Analysis, and Grades for December 4

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WWE Raw Tag Team Championship Match

Sheamus & Cesaro (c) vs. Dean Ambrose & Seth Rollins

Result: Sheamus & Cesaro defeated Dean Ambrose & Seth Rollins via pinfall

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

For the first time in my entire life, I find myself agreeing with Booker T. It’s stunning to me that it’s come to this, but that’s where we are right now. Here we are having a really great main event, and the last three minutes or so of the show get overbooked to hell and leaves a nasty taste in your mouth.

Like Booker said, I didn’t agree with the match being restarted. Why have the “champion’s advantage” rule if the guys who are supposed to cowardly take advantage of it – the bad guys – can’t do it without the match restarting? When Angle came out to make his announcement, he might as well have just said, “Nope, The Shield have to win, and I don’t care that you played within the rules here, so I’m changing them on you.”

The aftermath of the finish is going to be important. Samoa Joe interfered – legally, because of the new stipulation – because of his issue with Roman Reigns. The Big Dog comes down to even the score, but in the chaos Sheamus and Cesaro picked up the win. One way of looking at it? If it wasn’t for Reigns, Ambrose and Rollins may have won the match.

Think about it – Joe came down because he hates Reigns, who’s buddies with Rollins and Ambrose. If there was no complete Shield reunion, Joe doesn’t interfere tonight. Could this lead to tension within The Shield? Reigns has a title; Rollins and Ambrose don’t – because of Reigns.

Still, up until the convoluted finish, the match itself was the typical Shield/Bar clash. Four tremendously talented superstars going all out is never going to be bad. It’s just a shame that the finish tarnished what had the potential to be a really special kind of feud-ending match.

Next: 25 Greatest Entrance Themes in WWE History

That concludes another episode of WWE Raw. Most of the matches were above average, even if the main event was a bit wonky in the finish. Matt Hardy’s story picked up, and the Absolution saga is still carrying on strong. Lots of good things going on every week to wash away the taste of the bad.