23rd November Edition Of The

Monday Night Raw & Wrestling News

Definitely not Raw General Manager Adam Pearce opened the 23rd November Edition Of The Monday Night Raw show with all the men’s Survivor Series team standing in a row to announce results deserve rewards, and he’d pick Drew McIntyre’s No. 1 contender from them. Which would’ve been some really good stakes to have in place before Survivor Series happened. Despite being incredibly clunkily staged, with people talking to each other like they’re backstage TV monitors, Matt Riddle is realling getting over, and Braun Strowman showed some great fire, headbutting Pearce.

Caruso alert! Taking advantage of Pearce’s probable concussion, Randy Orton and Bobby Lashley also got themselves in the No. 1 contender’s mix, so he booked three qualifying matches tonight, with the winner’s entering that triple threat next week to decide Drew’s challenger. But he’s definitely not Raw GM.

Following their excellent tag title match last week, I said the New Day and the Hurt Business could be the spine of Raw’s tag team division. Which means WWE will now drive that match-up into the ground. We got another tag title match between them here which was no way near as good, massively hindered by yet another double count out false finish. The New Day agreed to a match restart, Kofi was worked over loads, and Xavier won with a roll-up.

The first qualifying match was Sheamus vs Matt Riddle, in a replay of their excellent Survivor Series qualifier the month beforehand. Showing what great hard-hitting chemistry they have, this match was just as good, if not better, with some fantastic near falls, and one tremendous spot where Riddle collapsed before Sheamus could hit the Brogue Kick. Both men looked great, and Riddle advanced, reversing a Cloverleaf into a pin.

Asuka granted Lana a title match next for NOT DOING ANYTHING TO BE THE SOLE SURVIVOR THE PREVIOUS NIGHT. WWE has no idea who anyone’s character is here. Lana is delusional that doing nothing to win the Survivor Series match is a good thing, which makes her a heel, despite being presented as a babyface. And Asuka giving her a title match, despite it being incredibly obvious she’s a joke, makes Asuka a heel too for choosing an easy contender. But all that is secondary quibbles, as the streak is finally broken. Calm down, Undertaker reaction guy, it’s not that big of a deal. Asuka vs Lana went several seconds when Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler caused the DQ. Holla holla, we got a tag team match playas, where Lana finally dodged being put through the announcer’s table for the first time in two and half months, letting Asuka roll up Shayna for the win. I really don’t care about any of this. But I do care about big meaty guys hitting big meaty guys.

Bobby Lashley took on Keith Lee in a big meaty guy qualifying match next, which showcased both men’s impressive strength. As a hypercritical quibble though, I would’ve had Bobby struggle to pick up Lee for the first half of the match, as, rather counterintuitively, it’s actually more impressive when someone struggles to do something and then manages it, as opposed to Bobby throwaway suplexing Keith like they did here. The finish looked like it was going to be really good, where MVP shoved Lee into the ring post, letting Lashley lock in the Full Nelson, but Keith came to just before he was fully trapped and powered out. It should’ve then been Spirit Bomb, strong win. But WWE is so scared of anyone losing, they book these kind of screwy finishes which don’t really let anyone win. MVP beat down Lee for the Lashley DQ loss.

WWE really does appear to be putting more concentration and effort into these weekly episodes of Raw since the Draft, with the Alexa Bliss vs Nikki Cross match here being a perfect example. It was essentially a pay-per-view level story, spanning months, which even got its own video package. There was a brilliant Firefly Fun House segment too, where Friendship Frog made his debut, to be battered into smush by Bliss to practice overcoming her friendship with Cross. The following in memoriam video package was very well done too.

The match itself was more angle that wrestling, but that’s totally fine for the story they’re telling right now. This was actually Fiendish Bliss’ debut match on Raw, with her awesome new Fiend entrance music, where she wouldn’t actually fight Nikki for the most part. Instead, she suckered her former friend in, crying for help, as though the Fiend’s spell had been broken, to slam her head into the mat and win.

We got the same Undertaker video package from Survivor Series.

The main event saw AJ Styles vs Randy Orton in the final qualifier, which actually was, as the commentators hyped, WrestleMania worthy. Because we’ve already seen it there. Orton and AJ have such good chemistry, I didn’t realise I was watching the typically tricky heel vs heel dynamic until after the show. But while WWE might’ve dropped Randy as champion, The Fiend never forgets, and he wanted to play a terrifying game of Whack-a-mole, popping up in various places around the ring. Randy finally looked at him on the second time, distracting him enough to turn right into a Phenomenal Forearm - meaning we’re getting AJ vs Riddle vs Keith Lee next week. Which I’m still very excited about, even if it does end in Strowman charging them all down.

What did you think of 23rd November Edition Of The Monday Night Raw? Let us know in the comments down below about 23rd November Edition Of The Monday Night Raw. The Best part of 23rd November Edition Of The Monday Night Raw was Drew Macinfart - after Adam Pearce got Drew’s name wrong. Which actually ended up trending on Twitter. I really enjoyed this episode! I thought the Fiend stuff was fantastic, spinning off into feuds with both Cross and Randy. And the night was neatly based around the qualifying matches with not just stakes, but some really terrific in ring wrestling. This week’s Raw is Excellent!

Wrestling News

Surprising WWE TLC Plans

On last night’s Raw, definitely not Raw General Manager Adam Pearce made a series of matches to determine Drew McIntyre’s next challenger for the WWE Championship, with Keith Lee beating Bobby Lashley, AJ Styles beating Randy Orton, and Matt Riddle overcoming Sheamus. Bro. Those winners of Lee, AJ and Riddle will face each other in a mouth-watering No. 1 contenders match next week, which will make Drew McIntyre defending his WWE Championship at December’s TLC against… Braun Strowman. Wait, what? Despite being on the winning men’s Survivor Series team, Strowman wasn’t included in the qualifying matches because he headbutted Definitely not Raw General Manager Pearce. The Wrestling Observer is reporting that angle will set him up to supersede next week’s triple threat and become the No. 1 contender. It’s finally the Dogs of War implosion storyline we’ve all been waiting for… Cheap pop if you can tell us who else was in that faction in the comments. And also tell me if you’re excited about Drew vs Braun for the title?

Real Reason Aleister Black Off WWE TV

Someone who definitely won’t be challenging Drew McIntyre though is Aleister Black, who’s been missing on TV for a number of weeks after getting the dreaded ‘Vince McMahon high on him backstage’ reports over the Summer. Although Black’s real-life wife Zelina Vega being released two Fridays ago, and him reportedly being denied a request to return to NXT, Dave Meltzer is reporting neither are the reason he’s been missing from SmackDown. It’s actually because he’s simply been forgotten about. Cue panicked SmackDown producers realising they left him locked in a cupboard on Raw. Back when Paul Heyman was Raw’s Executive Director, Black was one of the more protected performers on his show. It was even Black, alongside Drew McIntyre, who Heyman reportedly pitched to beat Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania. While Drew went on to that, Black dropped down the card following Heyman’s removal. Black wasn’t even featured in the dual brand battle royal on the Survivor Series pre-show, and while people such as Big E and Lars Sullivan were reportedly deliberately left out, Black has simply been “forgotten about”, with Meltzer adding that “the people in charge now don’t see anything in him.”

Backstage Survivor Series Notes

Someone else they won’t be seeing from now on is the Undertaker who officially retired at Survivor Series. But while there were a bunch of rather pointless legends cameos before the Deadman made his entrance, there were even more backstage! PWInsider is reporting Undertaker’s wife Michelle McCool was there, as well as other members of Taker’s family - like Kane, he was in the ring. But the most notable name was Edge, who was backstage at the show but was not brought out during the farewell. While it’s not known why he wasn’t used, the likely speculation is that it would mar his eventual return to the ring. And according to a report from WrestlingNews.co, Vince McMahon has accepted Taker’s retirement and won’t ask him to wrestle again. I’m sure that’ll hold up when it’s time for the next Saudi Arabia show.