Who looked good on last night's RAW? (January 15th)

Last night saw a "firing" and "rehiring," a high-profile non-contest, some surprising victories, and more. With RAW's 25th anniversary spectacular only a week away and with the Royal Rumble hot on its heels, things finally seem to be picking up on the red brand.

But what booking decisions were good and bad? Who gained or lost momentum? Let's take a look.

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Looked good: Braun Strowman

The night began with Braun Strowman getting "fired" by General Manager Kurt Angle. I normally roll my eyes at such stories - they're beyond played out, but this time, it worked.

Braun Strowman went on a tear the entire night, flipping over a truck and throwing Michael Cole around (which is always nice). The chaos was enough for Stephanie McMahon of all people to order his rehiring, if remotely.

Seriously, who doesn't love Braun Strowman at this point? It's a disgrace that he won't be in the main event at WrestleMania. He's the biggest breakout WWE has had in years.

Looked bad: The Bar

In a lazy variation of a rematch from last week, The Bar fell short again to Titus Worldwide, which is still a jobber team at this point. It is questionable why WWE would want to cool down the tag team competing in a title match at the Royal Rumble. We'll find out soon enough.

Looked good: Titus Worldwide

The Bar's loss is Titus Worldwide's gain. Though the push is surprising, it's not an unwelcome one in a tag team division that desperately needs additional competitors. And as I said last week, Titus O'Neil and Apollo Crews weren't doing anything as singles competitors, so putting them in a tag team seems a smart option.

Looked good: Cedric Alexander

The match was academic, but it was a fine way to keep Cedric Alexander warm as he heads into a title match with Enzo Amore.

Looked good: Asuka and Nia Jax

Fortunately, the women's division got much clearer this week following the confusion from New Year's when Asuka beat Alexa Bliss cleanly.

Alexa's gambit to enlist Nia Jax as a cat's-paw seems to have paid off. In ways we've rarely seen, Asuka was threatened by the women's divisions monster. The Empress battled back and won via ref stoppage. This finish protected both competitors and kept their rivalry heated heading into the Royal Rumble. It was smart booking for everyone.

Looked good: The Revival

We finally saw the Revival again last night, where they defeated a team of local jobbers in an academic fashion. After the match, they began to insult some of the legends appearing on next week's RAW, which could set up a memorable confrontation for them, even though they'll inevitably come out on the losing side of it.

Looked good: Roman Reigns

Roman Reigns beat the Miztourage ahead of his match with the Miz next week. The match was more competitive than it should have been, but it did its job in furthering the IC title angle.

Looked good: Sonya Deville

With Paige's in-ring career possibly over, it's even more important for the other members of Absolution: Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville, to stand on their own. The faction has been badly mishandled over the last month and finally, WWE seems to be trying to heat it up again.

Sonya Deville is the better worker of the two and she scored an impressive win over Sasha Banks last night. Sasha can take such a loss, annoying as the 50/50 booking is.

Looked good: Matt Hardy

Woken Matt continues to slowly heat up by beating jobbers. Look for him and Bray Wyatt to have a memorable confrontation in the Royal Rumble match.

Main event chaos

Though Seth Rollins technically defeated Finn Balor, no one had a decisive advantage in gaining momentum, as the main event descended into a war. If the idea was to keep everyone warm before the Royal Rumble, it succeeded.

Overall, this was a good RAW that shows that the company can actually be entertaining when it isn't lazy.