Good and bad booking decisions from last night's RAW (January 8th)

The second episode of WWE RAW from 2018 was a notable show in a number of major ways, but most prominent of them all was the presence of Brock Lesnar and the return of The Miz, now finished filming the latest Marine movie. The buzz surrounding him got turned up a notch when Asuka was announced as his partner for the coming Mixed Match Classic, so expect that team to get far.

Last night's episode also saw the building of a showdown, a Cruiserweight title match, and more from the Club. But what decisions from last night helped the roster headed into the Royal Rumble and which ones hurt it?

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Good booking: Jason Jordan still the third wheel

When Seth Rollins and Jason Jordan won the tag team titles together, many worried that his heel turn would stall. After two weeks, this doesn't appear to be the case. Jason Jordan continued to sound like the bratty, entitled third wheel trying to enter the cool kids' club.

For the good of Jason Jordan's singles career, it's imperative that he turns heel, and soon. Fortunately, that still looks set to happen. The Royal Rumble would be the best place so that he can head into WrestleMania with momentum.

Bad decision: Absolution loses with little fanfare

Absolution is going the way of the Riott Squad. If this stable isn't dead, it's on life support.

Paige's absence hurt the action, but given her recent injury scare, that's understandable. Absolution dominated the match until Sasha Banks executed the overdone babyface comeback to tap Mandy Rose out. It was needless.

The wheel-spinning continues. Along the way, it's made Absolution an afterthought in the women's division. It's obvious WWE has nothing planned for any of these women other than to use them as bodies in the women's Royal Rumble match.

Good booking: Matt returns to the ring...Woken

Curt Hawkins continued his losing streak as Matt Hardy beat him in an academic fashion. Following the match, a staredown commenced with Bray Wyatt.

His Woken ring career had to start somewhere, so this counts as a good booking decision. Even so, this didn't feel too big.

Bad booking: Miz in an old role

It's good to see Miz back and his promo was as good as customary. All the same, it's just boring to see him inserted into the Intercontinental Championship picture. How many times have we seen it by now? Did Samoa Joe's momentum need to get squandered for the same old song and dance?

WWE doesn't seem committed to new ideas as 2018 starts off. That's not a good sign.

Good booking: destroyed and counted out

Cedric Alexander destroyed Enzo Amore, who lost the match by countout, thus retaining his Championship.

The action was decent for an Enzo match and most intriguing was the continuing experiment with non-cruiserweights interacting with the purple brand.

This at least heats the angle up. You can imagine we'll see the end of it on the Royal Rumble pre-show.

Good booking: The Bar jobbing to Jobbers Worldwide

Hear me out.

First, it's nice to see Apollo Crews and Titus O'Neil possibly enter the tag team scene, since they haven't done anything as singles stars while the division desperately needs new teams.

It's also nice to see The Bar potentially moving on from The Shield after so many months. Sure, Titus Worldwide has been a non-factor and feuding with them is a big downgrade, but The Bar needs to do something else for a while.

Finally, Titus Worldwide stole the victory and didn't win it decisively. This sets up a program where The Bar will inevitably prevail in the end and heat them back up. It also turns the "Titus Brand" into something other than a joke and it's nice to see some new faces getting a push.

Good booking: BRAUN SMASH

THIS is the Braun Strowman we love. After a confrontation between Brock Lesnar and Kane last week that was superb only in its ability to be boring, Braun Strowman injected himself and created a real buzz. He pounced on both men and laid them out.

It hearkened back to Braun's red-hot summer and though he won't win the title at the Royal Rumble, performances like this will heat him back up in time for WrestleMania.

Bad booking: Joe spinning his wheels

Joe came down far in a week. Shunted out of the IC title picture after an unnecessary clean loss, he's now tangling with the likes of Rhyno. He defeated him easily, but it was still a big letdown. He now looks directionless as WrestleMania approaches and that's a crime.

Good booking: Nia attacks Asuka

The women's title picture is still a confusing mess thanks to last week, but hopefully, this can clear a few things up. Alexa Bliss, trying to avoid Asuka, pulled off her manipulations by setting Nia Jax against her. Asuka was taken out and two of the favourites for the women's Royal Rumble match now look set for a mini-rivalry.

Alexa using Nia as a cat's-paw both makes Nia more interesting and can help to add a new angle to any feud with Asuka, to make the women's champion more of a threat to the undefeated empress, so it was a step in the right direction after the botch from last week.

Good booking: The Club prevail

After months of meandering for Finn Balor, and almost a year for Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson, the team pulled off a stunning upset victory over The Shield (plus Jason Jordan) last night.

Where this goes from here is anyone's guess, but it is possible that Balor enters the IC title hunt while Gallows and Anderson, now rejuvenated, go after the tag titles again.

All the while, Jason Jordan still looked like the bratty weak link. It was a win from top to bottom for everyone involved.