WWE Raw – Nov 19th 2018: Results & Review
It’s time for this weeks WWE Raw review, right here on Nerdly. This edition picks up the action post-Survivor Series and promises to… Well it promises absolutely nothing. Who knows what the hell goes on in the mind of Vince McMahon these days?
Match #1: Braun Strowman, Finn Bálor & Elias vs. Drew McIntyre, Bobby Lashley & Acting GM Baron Corbin ended in a No Contest
Courtesy of WWE.com:
You can’t Get These Hands if Braun Strowman can’t give them, and you can’t lose to him if he can’t fight. Baron Corbin certainly put himself in the position to defeat Strowman and seize the permanent General Manager job by default when he engineered the maiming of The Monster Among Men in a Six-Man Tag Team Elimination Match orchestrated by Stephanie McMahon. Corbin’s team played the scenario perfectly, whittling Strowman’s squad down to The Monster after securing eliminations via Claymore (Finn Bálor) and count-out (Elias, who ill-advisedly turned his attention to Lio Rush on the outside and wandered into a Spear from Bobby Lashley). When Strowman threatened to run the table, Drew McIntyre brought out a steel chair and went to work, dismantling The Gift of Destruction with the weapon until Corbin performed the final touch of a prolonged beating outside the ring by smashing the steel steps atop Strowman’s right arm while Lashley held him down, shattering his elbow in the process. (The technical outcome was a no-contest). It’s early in the game, but that permanent GM position might just be Baron Corbin’s for the taking.
My Take: OMG. A Drew McIntyre match that was dull. That’s what you get for putting him in a match with Corbin and Lashley (and loudmouth Lio Rush). I hope to god McIntyre isn’t resigned to crappy matches like this going forward – I thought he was Vince’s golden boy? Being in matches like this says otherwise IMHO.
Match #2: Nia Jax & Tamina def. Sasha Banks & Bayley
Courtesy of WWE.com:
Nia Jax may have inadvertently changed the landscape of the Women’s division by punching Becky Lynch in the face, but The Irresistible Force’s moves since then have been as deliberate as they get. Not only did Jax turn on Sasha Banks to steal the title of sole survivor in the Women’s Survivor Series Match, she and Tamina denied The Boss and Bayley in a tag team match thanks to a timely bit of chicanery, as well as her famous fist. Bayley had been rallying against Tamina when the latter distracted the ref, and The Irresistible Force unleashed her unstoppable right hand on Bayley, all but securing the win for her side. Despite a brief attempt by Banks to throw Jax off and allow Bayley time to recover, Jax regained control and downed The Huggable One with a ring-rattling Samoan Drop. That’s two wins in as many nights and a title match on the horizon. Like it or not, Nia Jax is the woman to watch.
My Take: So Nia Jax is definitely the major womens heel right now. She’s also seemingly getting worse at actualk wrestling. Both Nia and Tamina work so stiff and cumbersome that it must take a LOT out of their competitiors to make them look half decent. Intersting to note that Nia, like the rest of the “family” seems to be getting preferrential treatment from the WWE… If someone like Dana Brooke, Carmella or Lana had punched Becky Lynch in the face they would’ve been suspended. But Nia? Oh no, she gets a bigger push than before!
Match #3: The Lucha House Party def. The Revival (Lucha House Rules Match)
Courtesy of WWE.com:
The Lucha House Party have only been on Raw for a couple of weeks, but they already have themselves a signature stipulation: A Lucha House Rules Match, a tag team bout where Kalisto, Gran Metalik & Lince Dorado are all eligible to compete. Given that The Revival are proven masters of the more stately, two-on-two art of tag team wrestling, what chance did the two-time NXT Tag Team Champions have? A pretty good one, if we’re being honest. Dash & Dawson certainly did their best to slow the match down to their preferred pace, but once things got zany with the House Party’s menagerie of piñatas, the “Top Guys” found themselves overwhelmed. Despite his best efforts, Dash Wilder found himself suffering the decisive bit of subterfuge when Gran Metalik distracted him, opening the door for Lince Dorado to defeat Wilder with a breathtaking Shooting Star Press.
My Take: Easily the best match of the night thanks to the fantastic moves of the Lucha House Party and The Revival’s superb selling. Says a lot about Raw when the best match features three 205 Live guys!
Match #4: Raw Women’s Champion Ronda Rousey def. Mickie James (Open Challenge)
Courtesy of WWE.com:
Ronda Rousey technically claimed the victory against Charlotte Flair at Survivor Series, but after being taken to the woodshed by the six-time Women’s Champion, it’s a stretch to say The Baddest Woman on the Planet was the winner of the evening. Rousey surely knew this, so the open challenge she issued on Raw (over the protests of Acting General Manager Baron Corbin) wasn’t so much about retaining her title as reasserting herself as a Superstar worthy to hold the Raw Women’s Championship in the first place. The challenger was Mickie James, who hoped to take advantage of Rousey’s wear-and-tear to net her seventh Women’s Championship. She landed a few swift kicks up and down Ronda’s bruised torso, but The Baddest Woman on the Planet quickly answered with a trifecta of Piper’s Pits. The Armbar was hardly necessary at that point, but Rousey applied it anyway. She earned the win, but at considerable cost: The champion was clearly worn down by the effort as she made her way back up the ramp, much to the delight of her WWE TLC challenger Nia Jax. Waiting atop the ramp with Tamina at her side, The Irresistible Force polished up her fist in Rousey’s face and walked away with a smile as a warning of things to come.
My Take: A scrappy match that was more of a brawl than a wrestling match. Made neither woman look good TBH.
Match #5: Bobby Roode & Chad Gable def. Raw Tag Team Champions AOP
Courtesy of WWE.com:
AOP beat The Bar last night, but Drake Maverick wet himself during the match. People had jokes, Bobby Roode & Chad Gable in particular. Drake, of course, has AOP, but Roode & Gable capitalized on their unusual psychological advantage in the ensuing match by catching the Raw Tag Team Champions with an unexpected roll-up by the Minnesota stretcher. So Maverick’s week goes from bad to worse, and Roode & Gable get something a little sweeter than an upset over a dominant team: For one night, at least, they get the last laugh.
My Take: AOP win big on Survivor Series then get buried the next night on Raw, losing to Roode and Gable, the world’s sh*ttest tag team (yes worse than Joey Ryan and Hornswoggle on MLW: Fusion this past weekend)… Way to book the tag team division Vince! Might be time to #GiveTagTeamsAChance
Match #6: Natalya def. Ruby Riott
Courtesy of WWE.com:
A couple weeks ago, Ruby Riott destroyed a pair of sunglasses belonging to Natalya’s late father, Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart. The ensuing grudge grew so heated that Riott and Natalya got into a brawl during the Survivor Series Kickoff and got kicked off the Raw Women’s Survivor Series team. On Raw, The Queen of Harts finally dropped the hammer. Natalya’s gritty victory over Ruby was a testament to her heart above all things, though her in-ring savvy deserves a healthy dose of the credit as well. Ruby characteristically relied on Liv Morgan and Sarah Logan at ringside to keep the match in her favor, and they indeed saved Ruby from certain defeat by distracting the ref when she was ensnared in the Sharpshooter. But Natalya reversed Ruby’s roll-up attempt into a pinning combo of her own. The former SmackDown Women’s Champion kept her opponent down for three, and for the first time in a while, Natalya has something to smile about.
My Take: Ohhhh… what a shocker. A couple of weeks of build and Ruby Riott has her arse handed to her on Raw, looking weaker than ever (relying waaaay too much on her Riott Squad stable mates), all the recent progress Ruby Riott has made has, seemingly, been for nought. OK, so I get it, the WWE don’t like long feuds anymore – unless they’re the mian event – so this feud is over before it really began. But come on WWE, please #GiveFeudsAChance
News of the Night:
- Braun Strowman to face Baron Corbin at TLC.
- Braun Strowman suffered a “broken elbow”… Or so they say. *cough* Bone spur op *cough*
- Ambrose and Rollins played hide and seek all night til the main event, where they promo’d the audience to sleep.
- Renne Young is being made to look like an idiot on live TV each week this Ambrose storyline goes on.
- The WWE sh*t over all the recent storylines to waste 3 hours on two men playing tag.
Final Verdict: 1/5
Good god that (almost) was three hours of terrible TV, saved only by ONE tag team match featuring three guys who’ve just made the move over from 205 Live… Says a lot really. I’m starting to wonder why we, or anyone for that matter, tune into Raw each week. The highlight packages on YouTube are looking better by the day. #GiveWWEYoutubeClipsAChance