WWE Raw results, recap, grades: Seth Rollins and AOP cause more chaos, Becky Lynch challenges Asuka

It was a Christmas-themed affair on Raw Monday night, with the show once again emanating from the Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines as this week's episode was pre-taped following the conclusion of last week's live airing. Lately, Seth Rollins and his newfound buddies Akam and Rezar (AOP) have been spreading anything but cheer on Raw, especially whenever they're in the presence of the brand's top babyface Kevin Owens. Unfortunately for Owens, that trend continued this week as he again attempted to tackle the daunting challenge head-on. 

But the key story coming out of Raw wasn't necessarily Rollins and AOP continuing to terrorize Owens or even United States champion Rey Mysterio, for that matter. No, what was notable coming out of this week's edition of the flagship show was the fact that the trio ended the night with directing their devastation toward a man who has been continually trying to warn us of the group's danger. Now, Rollins and his men may have made their most formidable enemy yet. 

Let's have a look now at everything that went down on the pre-Christmas edition of Raw on Monday night. 

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Seth Rollins and AOP lay out Samoa Joe

Kevin Owens was in the beginning stages of an in-ring promo to kick off Raw this week, but was quickly interrupted by Mojo Rawley, who wanted Owens to explain himself for the attack with the steel pipe from a few weeks ago. Owens was, of course, not having it, and revealed that the two were scheduled to have a no disqualification match in the opening contest. Rawley promised that Owens would not be having a Merry Christmas with his family when the match was over. 

Kevin Owens def. Mojo Rawley in a no disqualification match via pinfall: Owens emerged victorious from the brawl after planting Rawley through a table with a pop-up powerbomb. 

Post-match, Owens proclaimed he has more fight in him before calling out Seth Rollins and AOP to the ring. Rollins and AOP, who were watching on a monitor backstage, indeed made their way out to the squared circle. Rollins entered the ring alone and offered to squash the beef with a handshake, but instead, Owens laid him out with a superkick. The beatdown was on from that point, and despite the best efforts to fight back, Rollins put Owens down in the middle of the ring with the Stomp before the trio exited. 

Following the chaos, the camera cut to the commentary table where Samoa Joe again passionately tried to explain the danger and motives that come along with Rollins and AOP (this is important to remember). 

Backstage later in the night, Rollins told Charly Caruso that he was being nice in going out there and extending an olive branch, and all he got was a kick in the face. He told Caruso to go ask Owens what he is trying to accomplish by picking fights all the time. 

United States Championship -- Rey Mysterio (c) def. Seth Rollins via disqualification to retain the title: AOP interfered on behalf of their "merciful" leader, leading to the DQ conclusion. Afterwards, the beating continued all the way up the ramp as Akam & Rezar's goal was to put the champion Mysterio through the Raw announce table. There was one slight issue, however ... 

Samoa Joe refused to vacate the commentary table as AOP stared him down. "If I get up, it's not to move. If I get up, it's both your asses," Joe told Akam & Rezar. He stood up ready to throw down if need be as Rollins stepped in to seemingly smooth things over. That was not his intention, though, as he told AOP to "finish him" while walking away. AOP beat down Joe and eventually sent him crashing through the table as Rollins flattened Mysterio on the top of the ramp with a Stomp. 

The development of the new top heel group consisting of Rollins and AOP continues to make for some downright enjoyable sports entertainment television, and if you're going to add a babyface, pissed off Samoa Joe to this mix? Sign me the hell up, please and thank you. The storytelling with Joe on commentary has been great as he's consistently warned everyone not to downplay the evil intentions of Rollins and AOP, leading to Monday night's act of defiance and subsequent attack. The feud with a red-hot Owens is fun, and tormenting the ultimate underdog Rey Mysterio remains one of the best routes to gain heel heat in the history of pro wrestling. But creating an enemy out of the Samoan Submission Machine who seems to be one step ahead of everyone in understanding their motives turns this entire angle up to an even more exciting level. Grade: B+

What else happened on Raw?

• 24/7 Championship  -- Akira Tozawa def. R-Truth (c) via pinfall to win the title after sneaking up on Truth with a rollup ... outside in the streets of New York City. Yes, really. Truth was wandering Manhattan believing he was invited to light the Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson Christmas tree while carrying around an invitation written out entirely in Japanese. Amid the confusion, Tozawa executed the surprise attack to claim the championship in Rockefeller Center. Truth was later shown on the chase through the streets of New York. 
• Bobby Lashley def. Cedric Alexander via pinfall after a spear. During the bout, it was announced that Lana and Lashley will be bonded together in marriage on next week's edition of Raw. 
• Drew McIntyre def. Zack Ryder via pinfall after the Claymore kick. Post-match, McIntyre nailed a Future Shock DDT onto Ryder before taking out Curt Hawkins with a Claymore. He then took the mic to proclaim that 2020 belongs to him. 
• Raw women's champion Becky Lynch was out for an in-ring promo where she challenged Asuka to a one-on-one match. Asuka -- with Kairi Sane -- was out to accept, and told Lynch that she wants to become "Asuka 2 Belts." Lynch said that she'll put the Raw women's title on the line if that's what it takes before telling Asuka "I'm gonna kill you" in Japanese. 

#TheMan has spoken. @BeckyLynchWWE IS READY for @WWEAsuka! #RAW pic.twitter.com/IxeYiIvRqh

— WWE (@WWE) December 24, 2019

• Aleister Black def. Deonn Russman (enhancement talent) via pinfall after the Black Mass. During Black's entrance, it was announced that he and Buddy Murphy will run it back on next week's Raw. 
• Buddy Murphy def. Joeasa (enhancement talent) via pinfall after Murphy's Law. Black hung around to watch Murphy's match, and afterwards, the two faced off in the ring. Murphy snubbed Black's attempt at a handshake, and when he turned around, he was met with Black Mass. 
• Ricochet def. Tony Nese via pinfall after the Recoil. 
• Charlotte Flair def. Chelsea Green via submission with the Figure Eight. 
• 24/7 Championship -- Santa Claus def. Akira Tozawa (c) via pinfall to win the title. During the chase, Tozawa and Truth met up on the street with a man dressed as Jolly Ol' Saint Nick. Santa misdirected Truth before nailing Tozawa with his bag and picking up the pinfall win. Santa said that he's going back to the North Pole as he ran off with his new title. 
• The OC def. Randy Orton & The Viking Raiders via pinfall after AJ Styles pinned Orton -- who was selling the knee injury the entire bout -- following a Phenomenal Forearm. 
• Erick Rowan def. Travis Horn (enhancement talent) via pinfall after the Iron Claw slam. 
• 24/7 Championship -- R-Truth def. Santa Claus (c) via pinfall to win the title after he and Tozawa finally caught up to their target in New York City. Santa tripped over a step, leading to Truth to win the title for the ... well, he's won it a lot. Tozawa wanted the title back, but the referee was fed up chasing them around in the cold all night and left. Truth and Tozawa called a truce and left to find that "big apple everyone talks about," as Truth put it. 
• Rusev def. No Way Jose via pinfall after a Machka Kick. Prior to the match, Rusev got on the mic and proclaimed that he's happy for Lana and Lashley while also promising to get retribution for being screwed over at TLC.