Welcome to Bleacher Report’s live coverage and recap of WWE Raw on November 27th.
CM Punk’s return at Survivor Series caused a stir on social media on Saturday night. It was once considered unlikely that the former WWE and AEW Champion would ever step foot in a WWE ring again, but as the saying goes, never say never in professional wrestling.
The pay-per-view broadcast also saw the babyface teams win both WarGames matches, Rhea Ripley and Gunther retaining their respective championships, and Santos Escobar scoring a victory over Dragon Lee.
Monday’s show featured Punk’s first comments upon his return, as well as all episodes of the PPV.
Let’s take a look at everything that happened on Monday’s show.
Raw began with a video recapping the events at Survivor Series, with a focus on the return of CM Punk. We then got a brand new intro for Raw with different music.
Randy Orton came out to kick things off and got a big cheer from the crowd. He seemed genuinely happy to be back and posed for a few photos with fans as he made his way to the ring. He even stopped and signed a figurine for a young fan.
The Viper was thrilled to be back and said he returned happy when Cody Rhodes called him, not just because of their friendship, but because he was with the son of the man who invented the match, Dusty Rhodes, part of WarGames wanted to be.
He said he still has some unfinished business with The Bloodline, including Jey Uso. At this point, Rhea Ripley came out alone. She said Judgment Day took over WWE while he was away. Orton seemed unfazed and said, “Daddy’s back.”
The segment ended with Orton promising to eliminate Dominik Mysterio tonight. This was a great opening section. Orton did a great job controlling the crowd.
Degree: b
Notable moments and observations
- It might take some time for the new intro for Raw to feel right. It has a lot less energy than the last theme song WWE used.
- The first hour of Raw aired without commercials.
- Orton said he understands why The Bloodline did what they did was perfect. If he had tried to conquer the high street after everything he did as a heel, no one would have bought him.
- The crowd chanting “Who’s your daddy?” was great.
After Adam Pearce had a bit of a breakdown last week, he booked several tag teams for a Turmoil match to see which duo would have the next shot at the tag titles.
Akira Tozawa and Otis represented Alpha Academy and began the battle against Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano. Here is the order of eliminations:
- DIY eliminated Alpha Academy
- DIY eliminated Indus Sher
- The Creed Brothers did away with DIY
- The Creed Brothers eliminated New Day
- The Creed Brothers eliminated Imperium
Having the first hour of the show commercial-free was a good move because it allowed WWE to finally give the tag team division some attention that it had desperately needed for months.
Because the Creeds had so much time, they were able to really show off and give fans who don’t watch NXT a better idea of what they can do.
Result: The Creeds win a shot at the Tag Team Championships
Degree: b
Notable moments and observations
- The short segment with R-Truth was kind of funny. Jelly Roll seemed happy to be there.
- Tozawa hit a nice gutbuster on Gargano.
- The way Tozawa fell to Gargano’s knee strike looked brutal.
- WWE not letting Ivy Nile wrestle feels like a huge mistake. She is much more valuable as an artist than as a manager.
- Seeing a man stand up while holding another grown man over his head will never cease to be impressive.
- Brutus fell directly onto Vinci when he hit the Brutus Ball. It didn’t look fun.
Cody Rhodes came to give a promo and declared himself the first entrant of the 2024 Royal Rumble. This led to Shinsuke Nakamura addressing him from the big screen.
He used the video as a distraction so he could sneak up behind Rhodes and blow red mist into his face. After a break, Ivar and Bronson Reed met for a fight.
Ivar and Reed are two of the biggest guys in all of WWE, but they’re both also capable of surprising people with their speed and agility, so it wasn’t just two big guys going at each other.
Both superstars tried every means possible to overpower each other. They all showed their enormous strength and power throughout the game.
There are few fights like this these days, so watching two big, beefy men beat meat was a nice change. Big E was probably smiling from ear to ear while watching this.
After Valhalla was thrown from the ring, both men were counted out while fighting in the timekeeper’s area. They continued to fight through the crowd until security forces tried to disperse them. They used the guards as weapons against each other.
It was just fun from start to finish. The ending will upset some, but it will lead to a rematch that should be even better.
Result: Double countout
Degree: B+
Notable moments and observations
- Nakamura’s promos in Japanese are much cooler than his English promos.
- Wade Barrett talking about the heat of big men in the gym was hilarious.
- Reed’s suplex on Ivar was impressive.
- It was pretty cool that Ivar broke the LED ring apron with a shoulder bag.
- Reed caught Ivar coming off the apron, but was too tired to hold him off for long.
After a backstage segment, Zoey Stark and Nia Jax had a one-on-one match this week.
Stark used her speed to evade Jax and threw a few punches early on, but Jax’s size and strength eventually became too much for her to handle.
This wasn’t a particularly exciting match, but it did a good job of showing how much Jax has improved during her absence from WWE, while also making Stark look like a competent, powerful babyface.
The second half of the game was much better than the first. You could hear the crowd reacting more with each movement. Jax scored the pin, but Stark performed well.
Result: Nia Jax defeated Zoey Stark
Degree: C+
Notable moments and observations
- Shayna Baszler made a very funny joke backstage. You just have to look at it to know what it was.
- WWE needs to stop sending someone into the ring and then waiting for a break and a few video packages before their opponent comes out. It doesn’t make sense for Jax to be out there all the time.
- Jax used her free time wisely. She has gotten in much better shape and moves much better than before.
- Stark’s corkscrew senton looked really good.
Seth Rollins came out to give a promo, but before he could say too much, the crowd started chanting “CM Punk.” He called Punk a hypocrite and said he didn’t want to spend a second talking about him. As he began to talk about who his next challenger would be, Drew McIntyre marched to the ring.
He said he needed to regain focus after the loss at WarGames and the way to do that was to win the world title, which Rollins currently holds. Rollins announced that he would be defending the title against Jey Uso next week, which led to McIntyre hitting him with a headbutt out of nowhere that tore him apart a bit. Uso came out to help Rollins drive him away.
After a break, Chelsea Green and Piper Niven put the women’s tag titles on the line against Natalya and Tegan Nox.
The two champions found it difficult to defend themselves against the newly formed duo, but they managed to take control at the break.
Niven secured the victory for her team with a crossbody against Nox. She lifted both belts while Green celebrated at ringside. This match was okay, but it was basically filler.
Result: Piper Niven and Chelsea Green defeated Natalya and Tegan Nox
Degree: C
Notable moments and observations
- It looks like Rollins’ reaction to Punk’s return on Saturday was just because he was working.
- The mind games used by McIntyre were great.
- Chelsea Green ensures that every second she spends on screen is used to the fullest. She is one of the most entertaining people on Raw.
- Nattie seemed more fired up than usual during this match.
The main event of this week’s show was the match between Orton and Dom, which took place during the opening segment.
Dom tried to take control early but was quickly thwarted when The Viper hit a shoulder tackle. JD McDonagh encouraged Dom to get back in the ring, which only resulted in Orton beating him up even more.
Surprisingly, Dom managed to get on the offensive and The Legend Killer sold him brilliantly before taking the lead again.
Jelly Roll was sitting in the front row and got into an argument with McDonagh. He pushed JD and Dom before shaking Orton’s hand.
The Viper and Dom put on an entertaining main event that gave the crowd plenty of reasons to cheer and cheer. Orton scored the win with a nice RKO.
Result: Randy Orton defeated Dominik Mysterio
Degree: b
Notable moments and observations
- Wade Barrett admiring Orton’s physique was kind of funny.
- Orton is one of those guys who can’t hide when he’s having fun. He just has that look on his face when he’s having fun.
- Dom has gotten a lot better at selling in 2023. He does a lot more little things to make every hit he takes seem like it has a big impact.
- Orton took a good hit on the steel steps.
- The way Orton threw Dom onto the announce table looked great.
The first thing Punk said when he arrived at ringside was, “It looks like hell has frozen over.” He made a quick hockey joke to make him laugh before saying he was feeling again more like himself.
He said he had changed and was finally home, which sparked a big CM Punk chant. He thanked the crowd for never forgetting him, even when he wanted to forget himself.
He said that AJ was doing well and that he sent her greetings and that he was welcomed with open arms by almost everyone. All in all, this was a pretty harmless ad considering what people expected from it.
This week’s show had more energy than most episodes of Raw, and while some of that was due to Punk’s return, it wasn’t just him. It felt like that across the board.
The return of Orton and R-Truth after long layoffs was welcomed by many fans, although Judgment Day didn’t seem too happy about Truth littering their couch with powdered sugar.
Most of the games were decent. If you only see one, make it Reed vs. Ivar. Any time you see two talented big men fight, you should take advantage of that opportunity. They pushed each other to their limits.
Degree: B+