WWE Raw Results: Highlights, Analysis, and Grades for December 25

WWE Intercontinental Championship Match

Roman Reigns (c) vs. Samoa Joe

Result: Samoa Joe defeated Roman Reigns via disqualification; Roman Reigns retains title

Rating: 3.0 out of 5 stars

Perhaps it’s because the title was on the line, maybe it’s that both guys are tremendous wrestlers. Or maybe it’s just that most of the other matches to this point were kind of lame. Whatever the reason, though, Reigns vs. Joe was one of the matches that would be in the running for best of the night.

Prior to the match, you kind of got some foreshadowing as to how this one would end. Reigns gave an interview to Renee Young, and he told her, “If you hurt one of my brothers, I’m gonna hurt you.” Samoa Joe was part of the attack that is causing Dean Ambrose to miss several months with an arm injury. Obviously, Reigns is more out for blood than successful title defenses.

And both of these large Samoan wrestlers named Joe definitely brought their A game tonight, in the face of a sometimes hostile Chicago crowd and in the face of some pretty questionable booking. You know that the match itself was well executed, so you don’t need me to go over what moves they did. It was fairly standard fare for these guys.

But the finish was hot garbage. At first glance, I was okay with it, but on a second watch I just don’t like it. Reigns has the match potentially well in hand, but he continues to attack Joe in the corner. The referee tries to pull Roman off Joe, but he can’t do it. Reigns then swats the referee away like a mosquito, drawing a disqualification.

So the noble, babyface champion has to intentionally lose the match just to inflict a minimal amount of punishment? If roles were reversed and the heel lost via DQ for the same reason, it makes sense. The way it was done here does not.