Posted in: Sports, TV, WWE | Tagged: Raw, recaps, wrestling, wwe

WWE Raw: 6 Takeaways From the First Episode of 2023

WWE Raw returned to live action after a break for a clip show last week. Did anything exciting happen? Bleeding Cool has got you covered in our Raw recap that reduces the three-hour behemoth to less than 600 words of a listicle and a couple of YouTube videos. You're welcome!

1. WWE Raw Continued to Hype a Cody Rhodes Royal Rumble Return

Following up on the video interview with Cody Rhodes at the Best of 2022 episode of Raw that closed out the year, the first episode of 2023 also teased Rhodes' upcoming return via video package. All signs point to Rhodes returning a big way at the Royal Rumble, and that kind of hype would be wasted if Rhodes doesn't actually win the Rumble, which means that Rhodes vs. Roman Reigns at WrestleMania looks like it's still potentially on track despite the WWE regime change.

2. Alexa Bliss Continued to Descend into Madness on WWE Raw

It took a while after Bray Wyatt's release for Alexa Bliss to regain her footing in WWE. She went from a side character in Wyatt's universe to the inheritor of his supernatural gimmick after he left, though it could be argued that Bliss's brand of crazy was more stereotypically feminine (as Taylor Swift would say, "every time you call me crazy I get more crazy what about that?") than The Fiend's psycho-killer version. But things were finally returning to normal for Bliss when Wyatt was rehired and, now Bliss is once again descending into madness, as evidenced by her title challenge against Bianca Belair on WWE Raw last night.

3. Dominik Mysterio Has Been Transformed by the American Penal System

A few weeks ago. Dominik Mysterio was arrested on WWE Raw on Christmas Eve for invading his father's house with Rhea Ripley. This week on Raw, Dominik was out of prison, but a changed man after doing hard time. Is it WrestleCrap? Of course it is. It's also so ridiculous, it just might work!

4. A Hardy Returned to WWE Raw

No, it wasn't Jeff or Matt. Country music musician Hardy attempted to get involved in Elias vs. Solo Sikoa on Raw this week, part of a cross-promotion for his new album. Thankfully, Sikoa no-sold a guitar shot from Hardy and went on to defeat Elias anyway. If nothing else, at least it's better than Kid Rock.

5. The WWE Raw Locker Room United to Take on The Bloodline

In a segment that gave us flashbacks to those terrible late McMahon era brand vs. brand Survivor Series builds, Adam Pearce rallied the Raw locker room to attempt to chase off The Bloodline on Raw this week. Rather than culminating in a meaningless Survivor Series match, however, this will ultimately culminate in a continued Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn feud and (presumably) eventual reconciliation and Zayn face turn… and also in a meaningless tag title challenge by Drew McIntyre and Sheamus against The Usos on Smackdown later this week. Hey, you can't win 'em all.

6. Becky Lynch Doesn't Need Help to Take on Damage CTRL, But Lost Anyway

After arguing with Bayley, Becky Lynch accepted the challenge of a tag match with Women's Tag Team Champions Iyo Sky and Dakota Kai on Raw last night… without a partner. And Lynch seemed to be holding her own in a handicap match too, before the former Mia Yim joined her team and promptly ate the pinfall. Becky would have been better on her own!

Dexter Lumis also wrestled Chad Gable on WWE Raw this week, but does anyone care? We're betting not, so we're not even going to include the YouTube highlight reel, even though it would require literally zero effort to do so.

Overall, WWE Raw continues to be a more coherent show even after the hype of the Triple H regime has died down a bit, but still suffers from substantial corporate bloat in many areas. But where the show allows itself to embrace the inherently silly nature of pro wrestling, it excels, such as with Dominik Mysterio. We're also about to head into WrestleMania season with the Royal Rumble approaching, so it will be interesting to see how Haitch handles the culmination of a year's worth of storylines with the biggest wrestling show of the year and its buildup.

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