The Good, The Bad and The NXT

The festive season hit WWE this week and Vince McMahon's hotly anticipated announcement was that WWE was set to usher in a new era, which included adding a number of new faces to the Raw roster.

Good Week

Dean Ambrose (Raw)

Dean Ambrose's heel turn hasn't exactly gone to plan over the past few weeks since there has been a lot of backlash from the WWE Universe.

But Ambrose was able to get under Seth Rollins' skin enough that the former World Champion put his Intercontinental Championship on the line at TLC and lost.

The match was going in Rollins' favour until The Architect allowed Ambrose to get into his head and he started to make mistakes.

Rollins has held the Intercontinental Championship valiantly ever since SummerSlam but now it's time for a new era in WWE and that includes The Lunatic running the Asylum.

Asuka (SmackDown)

Asuka is a former NXT Women's Champion, but ever since she lost her undefeated streak to Charlotte Flair at WrestleMania 34 she has been in freefall on SmackDown with many of the WWE Universe believing that Asuka would never lift a title on the main roster.

The Empress of Tomorrow was a shock addition to the match between Flair and Becky Lynch at TLC, but incredibly she was able to benefit from the grudge that was held between Ronda Rousey, Lynch, and Flair to walk out of her first TLC match with her first main roster title.

Asuka then went on to defend her Championship on SmackDown earlier this week, where she came out on top over her long-time friend Naomi.

Dakota Kai and Io Shirai (NXT)

After weeks of being on the back foot as Shayna Baszler dominated the NXT women's division, Io Shirai and Dakota Kai were given Marina Shafir and Jessamyn Duke in a tag match.

Finally, the odds were even and the four women were able to battle in front of the NXT Universe; while Duke and Shafir showed real promise in their first NXT outing, they were unable to pick up the confidence-boosting win.

The week got better for Shirai a few minutes later when it was revealed she would be added to the women's fatal four-way match to crown a new number one contender for Shayna Baszler's Women's Championship alongside Lacey Evans, Bianca Belair and Mia Yim.

Bad Week

Baron Corbin (Raw)

The General Manager-elect walked into TLC hoping that Braun Strowman was unable to be cleared in time for their match and he would win by forfeit to become the new full-time Raw GM.

Corbin's luck wasn't in at TLC since Strowman appeared and took full advantage of the fact that there are no disqualifications in a TLC match so he could allow a number of stars to get involved.

Kurt Angle, Chad Gable, Bobby Roode, Finn Balor, Heath Slater, and Apollo Crews were all on hand to help Strowman thwart Corbin's attempt to rise to power. This was then followed by another beatdown for Corbin on Raw as the McMahon family made an example of the former United States champion as he was stripped of his power.

Daniel Bryan (SmackDown)

Daniel Bryan is the current WWE Champion but his merchandise sales are down and this week he was pinned by SmackDown's newest recruit Mustafa Ali.

Bryan teamed with Andrade "Cien" Almas to take on former champion AJ Styles and Ali but he was unable to prove that The New Daniel Bryan was the rightful person to push WWE forward into 2019, as he was pinned by the former Cruiserweight star.

Aleister Black (NXT)

Aleister Black stepped into a steel cage match with Johnny Gargano this week on NXT, knowing that this was the man who attacked him in a parking lot a few short months ago.

Black got his own fair share of offense in, but Gargano ensured that Black knew he was in a match and it came down to Gargano climbing the cage whilst Black looked to crawl out of the door.

Tommaso Ciampa then popped up and slammed the door on Black, before he united with Gargano for a few seconds as the two stars delivered the DIY kick and Gargano picked up the victory.

Black still has an NXT Championship match in Phoenix next month, but the former champion is now well aware of just what he is up against.