The generic Raw intro starts things off while Cole talks about the Survivor Series. Steph comes out to brag. Cole brags about Raw destroying SmackDown while Booker says he slimmed down to 235 in case he was needed. Steph talks about learning to win in a fight, while Shane just learned to strike first. Also, Kurt won’t be fired since Raw won – and HHH comes out to get all the credit. YES! Finally, a show focusing on the glory and greatness of the McMahon family! They show the finish of HHH beating Kurt up and then beating Shane to win it all. Kurt tells HHH that he’s coming for HHH and if he attacks him again, he’ll leave this job. Steph points out that HHH is the COO of WWE – so why is he showing bias towards a single brand when he has a vested interest in both of them succeeding?
Jason Jordan comes down to get into HHH’s face. Kurt immediately shuts Jordan down and calls him “just a competitor”. Well, that sure buries every single person on the active roster. JJ wants to face HHH, but Steph says Kurt can’t make that match. Braun comes down and stares down HHH. Steph makes JJ versus Braun for tonight. Joe and Balor walk backstage for their match next. Balor comes out, followed by Joe who starts things off with machine gun punches in the corner. Joe locks on a long nerve hold before Finn gets his usual comeback. Apron PK misses, but the suicide elbow dive doesn’t. Joe beats him with the choke by ref stoppage. WM hype video airs.
The Club does a WWEShop ad for the holidays. We get an AJ vs. Brock video and Jordan tells Kurt he isn’t 100%. Jordan says he’s the only guy on the roster who can beat Braun and we get more terrible acting. Asuka undulates out to destroy her victim of the week. Dana Brooke draws the assignment and we get an NXT flashback here that ties into last week when Dana slapped Asuka for some reason. Asuka locks an armbar in the ropes and hip attacks her off the apron before mocking Dana’s pose. Dana slaps her before realizing she’s made a grave mistake. A buzzsaw kick ends it. Booker says “ichiban number 1” and yeah, the less aid about that the better.
Miz brings out the Shield for MizTV. Miz demands a thank you from them for the reunion. Miz talks about the Mizzies leading to Seth and Dean getting along again. He wants a thank you Miz and gets it from the Miz. He thanks the crowd but wants it from them too and demands a residual check too. Miz gets a Miz is awesome chant – so turn the guy face. The lights go out and Miz demands a spotlight and calls them ungrateful. Miz says that he lost and the Shield won – but he’s a champion. Seth and Dean say they’ll have the tag titles and Roman says he likes the IC Title. Bo Dallas wearing Blackjack Mulligan’s black glove is an awesome touch. He cuts a promo on Roman and this does him no good. They beat up Bo and Miz leaves before Axel eats the B team’s finishers. Triple powerbomb to Bo. Charly asks Braun about Jordan, who he puts over as being braver than HHH.
Roman vs. Miz for the IC Title is made official. Ambrose is mid-ring to face Sheamus. Dean hits Sheamus with his own version of the chest clubs before getting booted into the ropes for the rebound lariat. After a break, Sheamus has him in a stretch muffler that Dean escapes. Sheamus boots him in the corner. Dean goes for a dive, but Sheamus forearms him to avoid that before hitting the dive on the other side. Cesaro brawls with Seth and allows Sheamus to get an edge on Dean with a super rolling rock for 2.5. Sheamus sets up the kick before Seth dives onto Cesaro before Dean hits the Dirty Deeds and wins it.
Matt Hardy goes backstage and puts his bag up, here at the midway point of the show. Jordan asks him for advice and Matt says he’s faced the biggest and baddest men in WWE and Braun is the Monster Among Men. Alexa comes out and we get a recap of her WWE site video and says she doesn’t need fans to tell her how well she did. Mickie wants a title shot. Bayley wants a title shot and says she deserves a shot before Mickie. Now Sasha’s out and now Captain Fox. Alexa says this is all a colossal waste of her time and well, it’s on Raw in 2017 – so she’s not wrong. Kurt comes out to make a fatal four way to see who faces Alexa.
Mickie kicks Bayley in the neck. Paige returns and the match just stops. Paige brings Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville from NXT with her. Rampaige to Bayley knocks her out. Renee meets with Paige’s group and Alexa tells them that she’s proud of what they did. Paige them puts her on blast and they toss Alexa into random things backstage. Braun comes out to massacre Jordan, and does so – but Kane attacks Braun with a chair and uses the chair throat smash on the steps. Braun leaves under his own power and avoids helps from the refs.
We get a recap of Kane’s attack and also Jordan just running away. Enzo and the Zo Train come down Enzo puts himself over for winning last night and puts his guys over – Nese has gained three new abs since joining his side. Cedric, Tozawa, Ali, and Swann are out. Cedric says that they all want a shot at his title. Swann says he’s nothing but a catchphrase and a t-shirt…and he’s not in a shirt. Quality control goes a long way and a brawl breaks out before we get an 8-man tag. Gulak hits this neat sunset flip off a Swann flip for 2. Nese eats a bit kick from Swann on the floor. Lumbar Check to Nese leads to the 054 on Dar to win it.
Renee asks Kurt for a medical update on Braun and apparently doesn’t respect confidentiality. He goes to check on Jason, but gets interrupted by Miz. Elias is mid-ring and Cole says “finally!” Elias insults the crowd – so they sing “let’s go Astros”. He tells a guy to stop clapping because it’s throwing him off – so he sings horribly and brags about beating Matt Hardy. Matt comes down and Cole is suddenly completely against Matt and buries him. So I guess we’re getting a mini-return of Heel Cole. A Delete and “Hardy” chant breaks out and they brawl until Matt wins the brawl.
Miz comes down to face Roman, who gets a solid reaction and even some “Roman” chants. He dominates Miz for a while and hits the corner lariats. Miz lures him to the floor and hits a DDT. That gets an 8 count on the floor and the crowd pops for that huge. Miz hits the corner dropkick and the It kicks, but Roman lands a Samoan drop. Roman goes for the Superman punch, but MIZ HITS A CHOP BLOCK AND A BUZZSAW KICK!? Miz is awesome! Only gets 2 though. Sheamis distract Reigns and Miz hits the Finale for 2.9! Dean and Seth come down – so now, seven days after they beat Miz and The Bar, we get logical build for The Shield facing them. Roman spears Miz and wins the IC title.
