Top 2 things that went wrong on the Dec. 27 episode of WWE Raw

As enjoyable as most of this episode of WWE Raw was, we all know that WWE just can’t help but add some moments that make you say “Well, that’s WWE for you”. With WWE needing to fill three hours of television each Monday — a task made harder this week due to the recent COVID-19 outbreak — questionable angles and decisions are almost inevitable.

Thankfully, there were fewer of them on this week’s show, but they were still there, so let’s talk about them.

These were the top two things that went wrong on the Dec. 27 episode of WWE Raw.

Having wrestlers stand in the ring for an extended period of time while video clips and promos play

This has become a concerning problem across all of WWE’s main roster programming, but it was especially egregious on this episode of Raw, as the promotion sought any way to pad this week’s runtime.

Whoever decided to have wrestlers make their entrance and stand in the ring while videos play on the Titantron needs find another role within the company. WWE could simply play all of that nonsense before having the wrestlers come out, but instead, they choose the route that makes fans go “oh right, there is a match coming up next” and forces wrestlers who are warmed and ready to go to stand around for minutes at a time.

Maddening stuff.

Damian Priest snaps and loses on a technicality…again

It’s bad enough that WWE made Dolp Ziggler wait for over 15 minutes for his United States Championship match to start. He and Priest also had to work a lifeless match that once again ended with an atrocious finish sparked by Priest’s “inner rage”. This time, the US Champion snapped after Ziggler slapped him a couple of times and got disqualified for essentially kicking too much a**.

WWE probably booked this to necessitate a rematch — possibly at Day 1 — but contriving a conclusion that makes Ziggler look like a meager threat to take the US Title and makes Priest look obtuse for ignoring the rules and costing himself a win because he got slapped a couple of times doesn’t generate much excitement for another Priest/Ziggler match, especially when the Ziggler/Priest match from the week before ended with an equally frustrating countout.

Plus, these finishes aren’t getting Priest’s duality character over. It would be one thing if he snapped, ran through opponents, and beat them clean, but losing control and getting DQed/counted out undermines the idea of him being this poised, championship-level athlete.