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

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Follow along with our live WWE Raw review. Tonight, the Raw Tag Team Championships are on the line.

Previously on WWE Raw, Elias found a couple of jaw harp players to back him up. Roman Reigns prevailed in his first Intercontinental Title defense, but got ambushed by Samoa Joe. And Finn Balor tried to help out Jason Jordan against Kane, but couldn’t OVERcome the Big Red monster. Good thing Braun Strowman came back!

This week, there’s already been three matches announced Raw. First, the match with the biggest stakes is a Tag Team Championship match. Once again, Cesaro and Sheamus will put the titles on the line against longtime nemeses Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins. Every time these two teams square off, it’s a terrific match. With any luck, that streak will continue tonight. Is another title run in the cards for The Shield? Or will The Bar retain?

Next up is a fatal four way match featuring the Cruiserweight division. Last week, Rich Swann won the first such match to put himself in position for a shot at Enzo Amore and the Cruiserweight Championship. Tonight, Cedric Alexander, Mustafa Ali, Tony Nese, and Drew Gulak face off for the same shot. Who will go up against Swann next week?

Finally, Paige is set to return to action this week against Sasha Banks. For the past two weeks, Paige has led Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville in brutal attacks on the Raw Women’s division. They call themselves Absolution, and Sasha found herself in a tough spot when the trio tried to recruit her last week. Tonight, Sasha gets a chance at retribution.

Let’s not forget the drama between Kane and Braun Strowman heading into tonight. Or the tenuous relationship between GM Kurt Angle and Commissioner Stephanie McMahon. And what is going on with Matt Hardy? Time will tell when Raw gets under way this week.

Related Story: WWE Bold Predictions: Samoa Joe to Attack Roman Reigns Again?

Please join us here for our live review of WWE Raw, starting at 8 p.m. ET.

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The Angle Family

Kurt Angle makes his way out to start the show. He reminds the crowd that we’re having a Tag Team Championship match later tonight. But based on what happened last week, there’s also going to be an Intercontinental Championship match. But before Angle can reveal who Roman Reigns will face, Jason Jordan comes to the ring.

The crowd is not happy to hear from Jordan, as their boos trip him up a bit. Jordan’s message is simple – he wants Roman Reigns to himself. Angle questions this, possibly due to the kinda sorta injured knee Jason is dealing with. As the family drama heats up, The Big Dog himself comes down to the ring.

Reigns isn’t having any of what Jordan is selling – he wants Samoa Joe. The Los Angeles crowd also wants Joe, a SoCal native. Roman also tells Jordan that he’ll give him some free advice – here in WWE, if you want something, step up and take it. The crowd is way into Roman and so against Jordan it’s crazy. And once Samoa Joe breaks up a stare down to come to the stage, the crowd erupts.

Joe accepts Roman’s challenge, but offers him a chance to withdraw it before getting embarrassed. Roman starts to speak, but Jordan interrupts and lays down a challenge to Joe himself. That’s a bold strategy, Cotton, let’s see how it plays out.

Reigns looks bewildered, and tells Jordan to back off. As Roman begins to address Joe, Jordan grabs him from behind and hits an overhead belly to belly suplex. Hey, look, he stepped up and took what he wanted!

Reigns is ticked off, telling Angle that Joe can wait until later tonight because he wants Jordan now. Angle calls for a referee, and the match is on.

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WWE Intercontinental Championship Match

Roman Reigns (c) vs. Jason Jordan

Result: Roman Reigns defeated Jason Jordan via pinfall

Rating: 3.75 out of 5 stars

Samoa Joe decided to stick around for this one, pulling up a chair at the top of the ramp. And what he saw in the early stages of the match was total domination by The Big Dog. Reigns didn’t let up an ounce for the first several minutes.

But despite the punishment sustained off the bat, Jordan managed to create an advantage for himself. He literally manhandled Reigns, eventually catching a huge opportunity when Reigns missed a shoulder tackle and went shoulder-first into the ring post.

After the commercial break, Jordan was in the driver’s seat. He was working the weakened arm with an armbar until Reigns fought his way out. Roman was reduced to fighting one handed due to the punishment to the left arm, but a series of clotheslines and a big boot led to a near fall.

Jordan countered an attempted Superman punch with a dropkick to regain the upper hand. On the arena floor, Reigns went for another Superman punch off the ring steps, but Jordan caught him out of mid air and threw him into the steps. It was an impressive display of strength by the young superstar, but not quite enough to get the victory.

Following the second commercial break, Reigns proved to the naysayers how good of a wrestler he really is. Not only did he bust out a DDT, but he locked in a half crab to apply pressure to Jordan’s injured knee. For all the “Roman does nothing but strikes, Samoan drops, and spears” talk, there was a bunch of variety tonight. It really enhanced the match, in my opinion.

Not to be outdone, Jordan pulled off a double Northern Lights suplex, bridging on one leg to sell the knee injury. The weakened bridge prevented a possible pin, allowing Reigns to kick out. The Big Dog came back with a Superman punch and a spear to seal the victory.

Samoa Joe – still on the stage – told Reigns he was coming down to finish what “the kid” started and put him to sleep. Joe almost immediately locked in the Coquina Clutch, but Jordan saved Reigns with a suplex – only to be Superman punched to the floor for his troubles.

The match was good, but not quite as good as the Jordan/Reigns match back in September. Not sure what the end game is with this story – is Jordan turning heel, or just going rogue? – but it bears watching. Good start to the show.

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But Wait, There’s More…

Backstage, Kurt Angle is on the phone, presumably with Stephanie McMahon since he’s apologizing for things “getting out of hand.” I love his excuse that “testosterone runs high” – that’s not how hormones work, Kurt!

He’s interrupted by Jordan, who’s in a gimme gimme gimme mood. You know, gimme a rematch with Reigns next week, gimme a match with Samoa Joe tonight, gimme gimme gimme. Angle understandably doesn’t want to play favorites, but he agrees to take it under advisement.

And that’s when Jordan gets run over by Joe, who just threw the youngster into a wall. Joe proclaimed “you want me, you got me,” then left.

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Paige (w/ Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville) vs. Sasha Banks (w/ Bayley & Mickie James)

Result: Paige defeated Sasha Banks via pinfall

Rating: 3.0 out of 5 stars

Once the bell rang, it was official – Paige finally made her return to action after over a year. While it’s easy to look confident with backup at ringside, Paige didn’t look like she had lost a step during her layoff.

But Absolution wasn’t the only force at ringside for this one – Sasha Banks came down for the match accompanied by Bayley and Mickie James. Plus, Alexa Bliss came down for commentary, so a big portion of the Raw Women’s division was present for this contest.

It was a very back and forth affair for the first portion. The main story seemed to be showing that Paige was back and had the ability to dominate in the division. Every time Sasha started to make a comeback, Paige was able to turn it right back around and regain the upper hand.

After a hard fought match, Paige was caught in the Bank Statement, but got to the ropes. After Sasha broke the hold, Paige rolled to the outside, where Deville and Rose went to check on her. Bayley and Mickie came over to ensure there was no funny business, and it led to a brawl on the outside.

Back in the ring, Sasha was distracted, and she walked right into the RamPaige DDT, giving Paige the victory in her return match. After the match, Absolution beat down Sasha as well, and Alexa hightailed it away from the announce table.

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Take a Walk

Kurt Angle is backstage texting like a 90 year old woman when the sonorous sounds of Elias are heard. Elias accuses Kurt of playing favorites, and announces that the crowd will only be getting a musical performance tonight because there’s no worthy opponents left for him. Angle tells him to get ready for his concert, and he’ll try and round up a worthy opponent.

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Choke Up and Swing

There’s a lengthy video recap of the Kane and Braun Strowman rivalry. Believe it or not, these two have been feuding for months now. It’s gone on long enough. Remember TLC? When Kane buried Braun under a pile of chairs, then threw him into a garbage truck? Good times, good times.

Now the two have been using chairs to try and break each other’s windpipes. It’s a significant step down from “murder by garbage truck,” if you ask me. I’ve speculated that these two are building to either a Last Man Standing match, or an I Quit match. We’ll see what comes of this feud, other than uncomfortable shots of two seven footers gasping for air.

Quick side note: Did Finn Balor need to be the sacrificial lamb in this story? Couldn’t someone else have stepped up to help Jason Jordan last week? The story here is all Kane and Strowman – let a guy like Apollo Crews get the rub or something, if all he’s gonna do is get destroyed.

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Zo Train, Roll Out

Enzo Amore is rallying the troops before the second fatal four way match in the Cruiserweight division. Since Rich Swann won last week, Zo is a little upset at Noam Dar and Ariya Daivari. But he implores Tony Nese and Drew Gulak to “get the job done.”

After the lackeys leave, Enzo is approached by a smiling Nia Jax, who asks him “how you doin’?” Just throwing it out there – I’m all in on Nia being a big softie outside the ring, but a beast in it. Let her cozy up to Enzo before she smacks him down.

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Cedric Alexander vs. Mustafa Ali vs. Drew Gulak vs. Tony Nese

Result: Drew Gulak pinned Mustafa Ali to win the match

Rating: 3.25 out of 5 stars

I was seconds away from writing down, “Boy, this match was okay, but it was nowhere near as good as last week’s match,” when the bonkers sequence leading into the commercial break happened. It was just one thing after another with no down time, much like the majority of last week’s qualifier. To me, that one sequence helped make up for a bit of a slow start. Sure, the back and forth between Cedric and Ali was terrific, and Nese and Gulak working together was perfect for the story the match was telling. But it just took a while to get going.

After the commercial, it was more good stuff. Any time Ali and Cedric worked together or against each other was an A-plus from me. I really thought the Spanish Fly with Cedric just passing out on top of Ali was going to be the finish. That would have been a perfect surprise ending to the match.

Thankfully, the match didn’t end there, and we got to see Ali’s springboard Spanish Fly. Such a beautiful move, perfectly executed. But the Zo Train kept breaking up all the pin attempts, or breaking up the moves that would be certain to win the match.

The finish to the match was what would be expected from just about everyone. Nese broke up the 054 from Ali, and was looking to hit a big move when Cedric caught him with the Lumbar check – but Nese rolled to the floor. Cedric is smart – he hit the Lumbar Check on Ali, but couldn’t pin him before Gulak appeared to snipe the pin.

So now we get Gulak vs. Swann next week, and – I’m assuming – a PowerPoint Presentation on 205 Live. Can’t wait!

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Elias vs. Braun Strowman

Result: Match never officially began

Rating: N/A

When historians look back on wrestling in 2017, they could very well look at this segment and consider it to be the epitome of perfection. That may sound like a gross exaggeration, but I am 100% serious when I say this. Three different superstars got themselves over in this one five minute segment.

Let’s start with Elias. It’s starting to get boring saying the same thing about Elias every week, but the guy is really good at this whole character thing. All he needed to succeed was a coherent character – he didn’t have it in NXT, but has it on Raw. And week in, week out, he’s killing it. Tonight was no exception – his performance was great.

Then his “worthy opponent” came out – Braun Strowman. We all know how angry Strowman has been lately, so he’s in no mood to play around. He is a walking ball of destruction, and he takes the fight to Elias immediately. No matter what the crooner does, he can’t stop the beast – even a guitar to the back doesn’t slow him down. And the horror movie like showdown – Elias tripping while running across the ring as Braun sprints around it to cut him off? Perfection.

Then Kane appears on the video screen. Honestly, with his hand at his throat, I thought he was bringing back the voice box from his debut. Thankfully, that didn’t happen. But Kane made great points in his promo, and – despite the fact that we’ll get more Kane vs. Strowman out of this – it’s a great segment overall. No dead weight whatsoever.

Oh, Dean

Roman Reigns tries to rally the troops ahead of their tag title match later tonight. Dean Ambrose tries to pull the “hurr we have a match tonight? LOLZ” card, but I’ll let it slide – he was on his honeymoon last week, so he can do what he wants.

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Asuka vs. Alicia Fox

Result: Asuka defeated Alicia Fox via submission

Rating: 2.0 out of 5 stars

I really like the pre-taped promos before these Asuka matches. It gives her victims – er, opponents – a chance to do something before getting knocked out or tapping out. Alicia’s promo is actually really good, too – she finally realizes she has a T-shirt!

And credit to Fox – she lasted about 1000x longer than Dana Brooke last week. She got a bit of offense in, too – nothing major, but she was able to attempt a pin on Asuka. Of course, The Empress of Tomorrow shrugged everything off, eventually locking in the armbar for a victory. Hey, at least Cole didn’t call it the Asuka Lock again.

Following Asuka’s victory, Absolution comes down to the ring again. And once again, after they surround the ring, Asuka is allowed to leave without incident. I’ve had people tell me they think this makes Asuka look weak – like she’s running away from a threat. If she’s so tough, she should stand and fight. But I see it differently – she’s actually scaring Absolution off. They are afraid of her once they get up close and personal.

Absolution didn’t come down for nothing, though, Even though Paige called Fox her “best friend,” she said Mandy and Sonya don’t feel the same way, and the duo lay out Fox.

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Finn Balor vs. Bo Dallas

Result: Finn Balor defeated Bo Dallas via pinfall

Rating: 2.75 out of 5 stars

First off, let me just say how great it is that Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel aren’t being totally forgotten while The Miz is off filming The Marine 6: Electric Boogaloo or whatever it’s called. They may not be future world champions, but they’re solid in the ring and do really great character work. On a three hour show, that kind of stuff is sorely needed. Now, if we could just get Heath Slater and Rhyno on the show more than once every month or two, that would be terrific.

As for the match, it’s not going to be on anyone’s list for best of the year, but it’s solid through and through. Dallas does everything he needs to do to help make Balor look good – not that he needs a lot of help, but having an opponent do that is always a good thing. Axel, as well, makes Balor seem like a credible threat by constantly trying to get involved in the match on Bo’s behalf.

By the time everything gets to the finish, Balor is portrayed as a tough opponent, commentary is putting over Dallas for his effort, and the fans enjoyed the match. It’s pretty much everything you could ask for in a television match. Why this doesn’t happen more often is beyond me, but when everything comes together it’s a beautiful thing.

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Who Is Matt Hardy?

Well, I guess it’s happening. Hopefully it isn’t too little, too late, because the Woken/Broken Matt Hardy character is such a unique thing in the wrestling world. And, hey, if it’s done right, it just may help the Bray Wyatt character along the way, too.

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Now, I don’t watch Impact/TNA/GFW because I don’t get the channel on my cable plan (yes, I’m old and still have cable). But from what I can tell, Broken Matt Hardy is a time traveling spirit who has inhabited the “vessel” of Hardy’s body. He’s kind of like Count Dracula meets Foghorn Leghorn. There’s a boat, a drone, a Latino gardener, and a baby king, and somehow it all works.

Apparently, the losing streak Matt has suffered over recent weeks have “woken” the spirit within, and now he’s back. Conveniently, Impact stopped fighting the trademark battle over the gimmick, which is why it’s happening now. The match against Wyatt last week was the final straw, and now the two are locked in a wacky character duel.

You know what? Even if it is too little, too late, go for it. Let Woken Matt go toe to toe with The Consumer of Terrestrial Entities (how great is that?), and just the promo battles alone are going to tear the house down. Especially because it doesn’t look like WWE is changing too much of the character Matt created. Should be a great time on Raw for the foreseeable future – especially when Brother Nero comes back.

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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.