{"id":79794,"date":"2020-11-30T13:34:35","date_gmt":"2020-11-30T18:34:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/?p=79794"},"modified":"2020-11-30T13:34:35","modified_gmt":"2020-11-30T18:34:35","slug":"styles-riddle-lee-raw","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2020\/11\/30\/styles-riddle-lee-raw\/","title":{"rendered":"There Can Be Only One: AJ Styles vs Matt Riddle vs Keith Lee"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tonight\u2019s Triple Threat match on WWE Monday Night Raw<\/em> will decide who faces WWE Champion Drew McIntyre<\/strong> at the December 21 event WWE TLC: Tables, Ladders, and Chairs.<\/em><\/p>\n

The three challengers, fresh from Survivor Series<\/em>, battled it out in impromptu qualifying matches on last week\u2019s episode, prevailing against some formidable opponents. It was anyone\u2019s game when Keith Lee<\/strong> faced off against United States Champion Bobby Lashley, A.J. Styles <\/strong>against Randy Orton, <\/strong>and Riddle <\/strong>against Sheamus. Lee, Styles,<\/strong> and Riddle<\/strong> prevailed, and are headed to face each other one on one for a shot at the WWE Championship. What are each man\u2019s chances against the other, and against McIntyre?<\/p>\n

AJ Styles<\/strong><\/h3>\n

AJ Styles, the Phenomenal One, earned his spot in tonight\u2019s Triple Threat qualifier- a little help from the Fiend<\/strong> notwithstanding-by overcoming fourteen-time champ Randy Orton. <\/strong>Styles held little back in his efforts to prevail against Orton, neutralizing the Deadly Viper with a brutal calf crusher. The calf crusher lock is just one of the lethal tools in Styles\u2019s renowned arsenal. Whether Styles is a contender against his opponents tonight, or McIntyre, is not in question: in a decades-long career spanning WCW, the WWE, TNA, and NJPW, Styles has earned his \u2018Phenomenal One\u2019 handle with a crowd-pleasing and hard-hitting moveset, like the Pele kick, sliding forearm smash, and the Styles Clash. While he has toned down his moveset in deference to an aging body, his punishing precision against Orton in the qualifying match proves he still has an edge. If Styles goes the distance to TLC<\/em>, he is not one to waste a championship opportunity: expect to see some versatile and creative offensive moves from Style to bungle McIntyre\u2019s set up for his signature Claymore dropkick.<\/p>\n

Matt Riddle<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Speaking of kicks, Riddle\u2019s jiu-jitsu informed style prevailed over Sheamus in the qualifying match, giving the Original Bro some vindication over one of his former SmackDown<\/em> doubters. Riddle\u2019s high flying style is all about air. His signature Floating Bro has the drawback of all such flying body slams, as fellow fliers Montez Ford<\/strong> and Jeff Hardy<\/strong> can attest: in setting up their flight mounting the turnbuckle, the athlete paradoxically gives their opponent time to recover and scramble away from the point of impact. However, Riddle also has kicks and grappling in his arsenal. The influence of genuine martial arts in his moveset kept him alive against Sheamus, and may do the same against the McIntyre if he makes it to TLC. However, he has Styles and Lee to get through first; Styles has put Riddle away in the past, and Riddle\u2019s tricks may fail to overwhelm his fellow WWE NXT<\/em> alum, Keith Lee.<\/p>\n

Keith Lee<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The Limitless One was prevailing over Lashley on his own merits, last week, but won by disqualification when MVP<\/strong> interfered to protect his million-dollar baby, the United States champ. Lee began his run on Raw with a jaw-dropping exhibition match against the Monster, Braun Strowman<\/strong>. It is rare to see Strowman go pound for pound with anyone, but his first bout with Lee saw the titanic athletes take the action from the ring to the barricade, and up the ramp. Lee\u2019s ability to withstand his opponents\u2019 best and most brutal moves, and his own impressive strength and will, make him a marvel to watch, and a safe bet to prevail even against the veteran, AJ Styles, and the versatile and tenacious Riddle. As for McIntyre, the two have faced off on NXT and in their time with EVOLVE<\/strong>, and the current WWE Champion is no stranger to the impact of Lee\u2019s power bombs.<\/p>\n

With the championship in all of their sights, these versatile and evenly matched performers will try their impressive skillsets against each other on tonight\u2019s Raw.<\/p>\n

Stay tuned to the\u00a0Last Word on Pro Wrestling<\/a>\u00a0for more on this and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world, as well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world.\u00a0WWE fan? You can check out an almost unlimited array of WWE content on the\u00a0WWE Network<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Looking to talk wrestling, pro football, or any number of sports? Head on over to the\u00a0LWOS Boards<\/a>\u00a0to engage in conversation with fellow fans!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tonight\u2019s Triple Threat match on WWE Monday Night Raw will decide who faces WWE Champion Drew McIntyre at the December 21 event WWE TLC: Tables, Ladders, and Chairs. The three challengers, fresh from Survivor Series, battled it out in impromptu qualifying matches on last week\u2019s episode, prevailing against some formidable opponents. It was anyone\u2019s game […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3715,"featured_media":79738,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[25,4,3,320],"tags":[145,686,270,51,6984,350],"class_list":["post-79794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-raw","category-wwe","category-wwe-universe","category-wwe-women","tag-aj-styles","tag-drew-mcintyre","tag-keith-lee","tag-raw","tag-riddle","tag-wwe-tlc"],"modified_by":"Alex Richards, LWOF Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3715"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79794"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79794\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79738"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}