30th November Edition Of The

Monday Night Raw & Wrestling News

The 30th November Edition Of The Monday Night Raw show opened with Randy Orton making his second appearance on A Moment of Bliss, this time with added creepy doll in a cage on the set. Nope, just turn back around Randy, walk right out of there. It was obviously a Fiend trap, so Randy said, nu-uh, it’s actually an Orton trap. To which Bliss said, maybe not, it still could be a Fiend trap. This segment went on for a while. But it did add an interesting psychological layer to the Orton vs Fiend feud. Randy was out there to find the Fiend’s weakness, just like how he found Bray’s weakness before: burning his house down and getting all sexy with the ashes. And this time, Randy reckons the Fiend’s weakness is Bliss. So when the lights shut off and came back up, Orton was holding Bliss in his arms. The Fiend begged for her, and Orton handed her over. This was really intriguing, presenting the Fiend as the misunderstood monster babyface. And, what I found most interesting, how it’s Alexa who might be the smartest person in the room, manipulating them all.

In the latest advertised climax to their feud - don’t… don’t you get my hopes up - Jeff Hardy took on Elias in a Symphony of Destruction match, which involves lots of instruments around the ring to use for weapons. There were silly spots galore, with Elias using plectrums as brass knucks, Elias accidentally electrocuting himself with an amplifier, and Jeff hitting an insanely dangerous swanton bomb off the top of the ring post through a table outside - where the back of his head could’ve easily landed on the bottom steel step.

Ricochet took on the most ridiculously named of the Biker Mice from Farts next, SlapJack, where he took most of the match, despite the rest of RETRIBUTION interfering, but SlapJack snuck a win at the end. That’s three back-to-back victories for the faction… oh no, it’s a three match push.

After Reckoning took Dana Brooke out ahead of Survivor Series two weeks ago, Brooke beat her in minutes despite Ali trying to distract Dana on the outside. Reckoning got a pre-match promo, but no entrance, and her mask fell off immediately in the match. Following the loss, Ali shouted at Reckoning in the ring, saying there’s no failure in RETRIBUTION. Have you been watching the last three months, Ali?! That’s your whole gimmick.

With Mercedez Martinez being unceremoniously dropped from the faction shortly before the Draft, there’s now speculation Reckoning could be on her way out of RETRIBUTION too. Which, to be honest, would be much better for her as simply Mia Yim on the main roster. What do you want to see next for Retribution? Let us know in the comments down below WHERE WILLIAM REGAL WILL BE REPLYING FROM OUTTA NOWHERE SAYING.

And the Raw women’s division could sure do with some Yim, because it’s currently stuck in a Lana vortex. The singles and tag belts are entirely consumed by a comedy storyline that’s long past its sell-by date, had a terrible finish at Survivor Series and, worst overall, is incapable of a payoff worthy of all this time. The storyline would work if it was someone who can actually go, like Mandy Rose. But Lana isn’t a good enough worker to be a top wrestler in the division. Lana got worked over for the majority of her second tag match with Asuka against Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler, but fluked a win when Asuka knocked Baszler out with a knee. Meaning we’ve had two back-to-back pinfall losses for Shayna in two weeks.

Kofi Kingston celebrated Xavier Woods being the new G4 host, which was a genuinely cool accomplishment for him, so WWE booked him to lose in a rare singles match against Cedric Alexander. The match was good for the short time it went, but what was more interesting was how Cedric stormed off in victory afterwards, leaving a slightly miffed MVP and Shelton Benjamin in the ring - potentially already sowing seeds of dissension in the faction. The Hurt Business are busy boys, though, and Bobby Lashley started a feud with Matt Riddle later in the show. Hopefully that’ll be a more serious, MMA-influenced feud, getting Riddle away from the awful comedy WWE are scripting him right now. He’s managed to coast by on charm so far, but it’s almost like creative are seeing how badly they can write one man - with some terrible ‘jokes’ about AJ Styles being a cute bunny backstage.

They fought each other, and Keith Lee, in a SUDDEN DEATH triple threat No. 1 contenders match at the top of the 2nd hour. If you’re confused about what a sudden death triple threat match is… it’s normal triple threat match. It’s a shame this wasn’t the main event, as I was genuinely excited for it, and the three men put on an action-packed ten minute match with some really cool spots. As the third hour is always the lowest rated part - it’s almost like three hours is a bad idea - this will at least have been the most watched bit of the show. It felt over too soon, with AJ pinning Riddle off a Phenomenal Forearm. It’s a shame they didn’t elevate someone new, but at least it had a clean finish.

The actual main event instead went to a night-long promoted interview segment with Drew McIntyre, where he said nothing of note, and a Drew & Sheamus tag match against Miz and Morrison - which wouldn’t have been interesting even if McIntyre hadn’t easily beaten both men in a handicap match just a few weeks before. The shining light of all this is Gangs of New Sheamus’ slow building heel turn on Drew. As annoying as he is, Miz did a great job getting over how Sheamus has been overshadowed by McIntyre in a MizTV segment. And in the actual main event match - where it’s time to bust some heads and drink some kegs - Sheamus was taken out by being thrown over the barricade, which is currently the most devastating move in all of sports entertainment. What’s behind there? A 20 foot drop? This let AJ hit a Phenomenal Forearm for the DQ, and he brilliantly tried to get Miz to cash in the briefcase, because he’d rather face Miz for the title than Drew. McIntyre powered back though, so THAT HUGE GUY carried off a trashtalking Styles to close the show. Which was a very funny visual, but not one that got me excited for an eventual match.

What did you think of 30th November Edition Of The Monday Night Raw? Let us know in the comments about 30th November Edition Of The Monday Night Raw. I like Cedric and Xavier, the triple threat, & AJ trying to get the Miz to cash in. The rest of Raw was so so but A Moment of Bliss & MizTV saved it from being poor. But I do think Lana & Asuka are hilarious together.” I think WWE are definitely putting more care into how they structure their shows, with TV matches getting video packages, which I appreciate, but very little on this episode stood out to me. This week’s Raw is poor.

Wrestling News

Charlotte Flair Buries WWE Star

In what many rated the best match of WrestleMania 36 weekend, Rhea Ripley took on Charlotte Flair for the NXT Women’s Championship, designed to make Ripley a star in the eyes of the main roster audience. So, naturally, Charlotte beat her. THE OMNIFLAIR. When asked about this being a terrible decision, likely setting back Ripley’s star power for a year, Triple H said on a conference call, ah, ye of little patience. This will all make sense down the line. Flair then had a title run in NXT, didn’t put anyone over, and lost the belt without even being pinned. Again, all hail The OmniFlair. It marked the turning point for one of the fasted rising stars in the company. On the 18th December last year, Ripley beat Shanya Baszler to win the NXT Women’s Championship in one of the show’s highest rated segments. Now, just under a year later, her main event title match against Io Shirai last month was amongst the lowest. And now Ripley herself has revealed just how much the Flair burial affected her personally in an interview with Lillian Garcia on her Chasing Glory podcast: “It did feel like [the wind was taken out]. I felt like I went through a stage where I was losing confidence in myself because I wasn't portrayed the same way. Even now, I'm still slowly building myself back up from it. My confidence was tainted a little, which sucks because I try to keep it up and do my best all the time. I don't know if it was something in my head that wasn't getting the picture, I just got a little bit lost after that.” Ripley is now part of Team Shotzi for this weekend’s show, which might be how NXT scored a rare victory over AEW in the viewing figures.

NXT Beats AEW Viewership

Last week’s TV ratings were delayed due to Thanksgiving, so we’re only just finding out now that NXT beat AEW Dynamite by 2,000 viewers last Wednesday, with each show drawing 712,000 and 710,000 viewers respectively. AEW still continued the trend of drawing higher numbers in the 18-49 demographic, scoring a .26 rating, with NXT drawing a .16 rating. But with AEW promoting its Winter Is Coming PPV-like card for tomorrow night’s show - with the huge Moxley vs Omega AEW title match - and with NXT’s go-home show for TakeOver - which rather complacently has no matches announced in advance - it’ll be the last major ratings battle of 2020.

NWA Director Leaves Company

NWA’s Director of Operations, Maureen Tracy, has revealed on Twitter she will be leaving the promotion as of today. Tracy was reportedly incredibly well-liked backstage, with former NWA alumni Ricky Starks tweeting his appreciation, saying: “Let it be known this lady is the heart of NWA. No one else. No one has done more than her.” It’s been a turbulent year for the NWA, which saw several of its talent leave the company, including Ricky Starks and Eddie Kingston to AEW, and Stu Bennett to NXT, as well as former Vice President Dave Lagana resigning due to allegations of sexual assault.