Who looked good on last night's RAW? (December 25th, 2017)

The rumours that last night's edition of Monday Night RAW would be a light one, thanks to its ill-advised decision to go live on Christmas, proved to be wishy-washy. Sure, there were a lot of random things, like a meaningless, but fun, Braun Strowman beatdown of the Miztourage, and a John Cena appearance that didn't amount to much, but there were a few things of consequence.

For instance, Samoa Joe and Roman Reigns heated up their feud, and both came out looking fine. With the last episode of 2017, the Road to WrestleMania is taking definitive form. Here's who looked good and bad during the latest episode of RAW:

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Looked bad: Elias

After delivering one of his typically brilliant, heat-drawing promos, Elias was interrupted by John Cena. The two had a match where Elias was surprisingly dominant at times but ultimately couldn't get the job done.

If Elias looked to be in line for any sort of push, this would have been a strong showing, but added to his wheel-spinning of late, he simply looked to be fresh meat to heat up "Big Match John" prior to WWE's most important time of the year.

Looked good: Hideo Itami

Brian Kendrick had his moments, but Hideo Itami quickly put him away. The crowd was actually decently into the contest. The bout ended with a GTS that Cory Graves took pains to remind us was "invented and popularized" by Itami rather than another superstar he wouldn't name.

Out of the title picture, for now, expect Itami to collect scalps as he heats up for contention at WrestleMania.

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Looked bad: Finn Balor

Finn Balor had a competitive match with the guy that hasn't won a match in over a year. That says it all.

Already defeated, Vince McMahon now seems intent on sowing Finn Balor's fields with salt so that he can never rise again.

Looked good: Absolution

Barely, that is.

WWE's love of rematches continued, as we saw Absolution finally get a win over Mickie James, Sasha Banks, and Bayley, who was surprisingly the most over person in the match.

For some good news, Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville performed better than they have in recent weeks. Yet, the entire affair felt more like wheel-spinning than anything else. Absolution has lost all sense of direction in recent weeks.

The question remains: is Paige going for the title or not?

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Looked good: Matt Hardy

The monotony has been broken. Matt Hardy finally appeared in-person in his "Woken" persona to send a message to Bray Wyatt. It was a huge hit, not just with the crowd, but the wider audience. The segment already has about 640,000 views on YouTube as of this writing, equaling the number from last week's promo after seven days.

Don't drop the ball, WWE. You cam dangerously close.

Looked good: Cedric Alexander

Cedric Alexander shined in an otherwise silly situation. In that way, this match was a success. I'm sure he's looking forward to other things, though.

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Looked bad: The Bar, Seth Rollins, and Jason Jordan

Things looked to be so good last week. Now The Bar had an un-merry Christmas as they lost their RAW Tag Team Championship.

Why? Why?!

Jason Jordan and Seth Rollins almost certainly aren't going to be in a WrestleMania program with one another, so I wonder what they could possibly be thinking in sacrificing their best tag team for this random pairing. It's not like this is a necessary step to turn Jason Jordan heel.

The whole thing feels counterproductive to both sides. At best, it feels like an unnecessary change. At worst, it may prevent Jason Jordan from turning heel, though I doubt that for now.

We'll see what happens next week.

Looked good: Asuka

Christmas and RAW Women's Champion Alexa Bliss wasn't ready for Asuka. Interrupting the champion's self-congratulatory promo amidst a massive pop, Asuka declared she would enter and win the women's Royal Rumble match. For good measure, she kicked Alexa's head off.

Asuka was hugely over with the crowd, and to give Alexa Bliss credit, she sold the fear very well. The Empress of Tomorrow must be regarded as the odds-on favourite on January 28th.

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