Welcome to Bleacher Report’s live coverage and recap of WWE Raw on November 13th.
WWE is still working on Survivor Series on November 25th, but this week’s show had a lot to keep fans busy until then.
Jey Uso and Cody Rhodes looked to regain the tag titles when they faced Finn Bálor and Damian Priest of The Judgment Day.
We also saw matches like Ivar vs. The Miz, Otis vs. Shinsuke Nakamura, and Tegan Nox vs. Piper Niven.
Let’s take a look at these contests and everything else that happened on the red brand this week.
After a video summarized some of the recent events surrounding the world title, Cody Rhodes made his way to the ring. He said that he and Jey Uso would regain the tag titles before talking about WarGames and introducing his team.
Rhodes and Seth Rollins had a small confrontation in the ring before Judgment Day came out to interrupt them. They exchanged the usual insults while Judgment Day implied that Rhodes and his team would never get along.
Rollins yelled at everyone for talking too much and challenged JD McDonagh and Dominik Mysterio to face him and Sami Zayn, which became official during the break.
The game started right after the break. This was a fairly standard tag agreement for the story being told. Neither of these duos regularly work as a tag team, but both pairs showed good chemistry.
Zayn and Rollins did a great job giving the crowd plenty of moments to cheer, and McDonagh and Mysterio executed their overall offense well. This match won’t matter in the grand scheme of things, but it gave the audience a chance to see some of WWE’s top stars do what they do best.
The opening segment and game lasted a total of over 35 minutes at the start of the show. When it looked like Rollins was going to win, Rhea Ripley came out with Balor and Priest to trigger a DQ. Uso and Rhodes showed up and caused a massive brawl.
Adam Pearce freaked out and said that anyone who doesn’t compete in the tag title match later in the show will be banned from the arena.
Result: Sami Zayn and Seth Rollins defeated Dom Mysterio and JD McDonagh by DQ
Degree: B-
Notable moments and observations
- A small child in the front row had a stuffed dog that looked like Cody’s dog, Pharoah. He stopped and took a moment to acknowledge it.
- McDonagh was the only one who didn’t speak in the opening segment.
- Judgment Day’s breakup is just around the corner. The way Balor looked at Priest when he claimed to be the leader of the group said it all.
- The way Rollins dropped Mysterio when he hit a suplex counter looked painful.
- The way Dom approached the Pedigree was kind of creative.
When we returned from a break we saw Ripley still shouting at Pearce. She ended up having a brief moment with Zoey Stark that almost turned into a fight, but ended with Ripley retreating.
Last week, Shinsuke Nakamura earned a victory over Akira Tozawa. This week he had the chance to face one of Tozawa’s Alpha Academy allies: Otis.
The powerhouse took control early and dished out plenty of penalties. He even performed one of Nakamura’s own moves when he repeatedly kicked him in the corner.
It took a while for Nakamura to gain the upper hand. Otis was in control for most of this game and even countered Kinshasa once. It took three Kinshasas to finally knock him down for the threesome.
This match was mostly one-sided and made Otis look like a beast. Judging by the ending, it looks like Gable will have a match with Otis soon. While it wasn’t the most exciting performance, it still made both men look strong.
Result: Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Otis
Degree: C+
Notable moments and observations
- The video package for Nakamura was great. It feels like WWE finally knows how to showcase him as a heel.
- It’s hard to believe that Otis and Gable have been together for three years.
- Otis could have a great run in Japan. His size and athleticism would allow him to fit right in there.
WWE aired a special video package for Nox before she and Niven had their match. Natalya was at ringside with Nox, meaning they will likely be the next team to challenge for the women’s tag belts.
It was a typical game between powerhouse and underdog. Niven did a good job dominating Nox while Chelsea Green shouted encouragement and instructions from ringside.
Natalya and Chelsea ended up getting into an argument at ringside that almost cost Niven the match. She managed to get her foot on the bottom rope to avoid a pin, but Nox still nailed her with a crucifix moments later.
This game was uneventful and the silence from the crowd certainly didn’t help.
Result: Tegan Nox defeated Piper Niven
Degree: C-
Notable moments and observations
- Niven hit a nice suplex from the apron into the ring.
- Nox’s hair always looks freshly dyed. It must be hard to make it look so bright.
- Wade Barrett made a great reference to Papa Shango in the comments.
Johnny Gargano accompanied Tommaso Ciampa to the ring for his match against Imperium’s Ludwig Kaiser, who had Giovanni Vinci at his side.
Vinci tried to get Ciampa to follow him in a surprise attack to start the match and failed. Ciampa easily took control and slammed Kaiser’s head into the announce table.
Once Mr. A+ Everything took control, he slowed down the pace to be able to deliver precise attacks. Vinci was ejected from the ring after the referee caught him cheating just before the commercial break.
These two men have had many matches over the years and therefore know each other very well. They used their established chemistry to deliver a solid performance that highlighted both of their strengths.
Despite being knocked out, Vinci popped back up to hit Gargano with a running kick. The distraction allowed Kaiser to roll Ciampa up for the pin. The ending was a bit contrived, but the game overall was exciting.
Result: Ludwig Kaiser defeated Tommaso Ciampa
Degree: b
Notable moments and observations
- Kaiser does so many little things between each move that contribute to his performance. Even the way he wrinkles his nose at the crowd is noticeable.
- It may be a simple move, but Kaiser has a really good clothesline. He puts a little more on it to make it look more painful.
Xia Li was out first to face Indi Hartwell. This match came after Li defeated Candice LeRae two weeks ago. She also defeated Becky Lynch before last week’s battle royal and was therefore not allowed to compete.
Hartwell took control early, but as soon as they rolled out of the ring, Li pushed her into the ring steps to take control.
LeRae did her best to fire up the ringside crowd, but it seemed like most people in the arena didn’t care about this match, and that had a big impact on the overall presentation.
A quiet crowd can kill the momentum of a game and the way it ended didn’t seem to help matters. The referee stopped the match after declaring that Hartwell could no longer compete after being kicked in the head.
This fight was short and did little to make either woman look good. The appearance of Becky Lynch at the end looking for revenge was helpful, but this section fell flat.
Result: Xia Li defeated Candice LeRae
Degree: D+
Notable moments and observations
- WWE should bring back the lightning graphics for Li’s appearance.
- LeRae almost looked like she was impersonating Christina Aguilera in her “Genie in a Bottle” music video.
Last week’s Fatal 4-Way IC #1 contender’s match ended with The Miz earning a title shot, but how it ended was with Ivar and Miz getting the pin at the same time.
Ivar attacked The A-Lister after it was over to prepare her for this match, which likely would have been for the title if last week’s match had ended as planned.
The Miz did a good job of pitting the underdog against his much bigger opponent. Whenever he works as a babyface, he incorporates moves he doesn’t normally use to get a little attention from the audience.
Bronson Reed came out to take a closer look at the match after getting into an argument with Ivar earlier in the show.
This was another match that made sense from a storyline perspective, but initially did little to excite the live audience. It will take some time for Miz to get used to working as a babyface, so he’s not getting universally positive reactions just yet.
The action between the ropes was solid and the crowd became more interested in the game as the match progressed. In the end, The Miz won by using the ropes as leverage. Reed attacked Ivar after it was over and hit Tsunami.
Result: The Miz defeated Ivar
Degree: B-
Notable moments and observations
- Barrett said Ivar was wearing a crown made of bird skulls.
- Valhalla had cool face paint this week.
- The way The Miz was driven into the apron looked painful, but the way Ivar hit him with a low crossbody afterward looked even worse.
The main event of this week’s show was a tag title match, with Balor and Priest defending the belts against Uso and Rhodes. WWE dedicated the last 35 minutes of the show to this match, including performances, so they had plenty of time to make sure this was the highlight of the night.
Uso and Balor started their team with a furious lockdown. The Prince scored the first takedown, but Juicy Ucey was right back on his feet. A fight quickly broke out involving all four men.
Given these four men, it’s almost a foregone conclusion that this game was good. They are all veterans who have held dozens of titles across multiple promotions, so the main event was in good hands.
The only downside to this game was that the outcome was predictable, but how we got there might have been a surprise to some. Drew McIntyre showed up and hit Uso with a Claymore Kick while the referee was distracted, giving Judgment Day an easy path to victory.
Result: Judgment Day defeated Jey Uso and Cody Rhodes to retain the tag titles
Degree: B+
Notable moments and observations
- The announcers repeatedly avoided saying how many people would be on each WarGames team. Normally there are five, but it feels like WWE is going with four on each team this time.
- Samantha Irvin put a lot of effort into the pre-game announcements.
- Ripley told Priest he was the leader of the WarGames team, but she obviously still sees herself as the overall leader of the stable.
- Priest gave McDonagh a jacket to officially induct him into Judgment Day before the game.
- Balor is one of those people who makes everything look easy. He is one of the smoothest players in the entire squad.
- Part of the ring post fell off as Priest threw Rhodes into it.
This week’s episode of Raw wasn’t exactly a strong episode, but it served its purpose and fueled most of the feuds that will make up the Survivor Series card.
It was nice to see so many different women in the spotlight during the show. Even those not in action had some time to speak either in the ring or in backstage segments.
The best match of this show was the main event, but the opening tag match and Kaiser vs. Ciampa were also entertaining.
Some interesting possibilities were presented over the course of the show, including McIntyre’s participation in Judgment Day for Survivor Series and a possible showdown between Ivar and Reed.
WarGames is always an entertaining event for WWE, so this year’s Survivor Series should be a memorable PPV that hopefully includes some surprises.
Degree: C+