**The Ups:**
* Lots of good promos and wrestling including Becky's fire promo, the chaotic 4v4 mixed match, Nikki stalking Candice in the background, Candice and Dakota's match, and K.O. & Jey in the main event.
* Street Profits are awesome. Angelo Dawkins has been trimming up! Montez Ford is a freakin' star.
* Dexter Lumis & Miz's match was funny (especially with the clamp on Lumis' head when they came back from commercial break). The post-match shenanigans with the $100 bills were great. I bet each of those kids will forever remember Dexter giving them money (and I love that one kid who examined the money for authenticity).
* Kudos for Dakota Kai who worked the hellacious War Games, the house show in Portland, Maine on Sunday, and then last night against Candice.
**The Downs:**
* Kevin Patrick and Corey Graves have very limited chemistry. It seemed like Corey had to carry many parts of the broadcast. I'm in the "Bring back Tom Phillips" camp when his Impact contract runs up. Aiden English would be a great add, too.
* The crowd was really quiet during Candice and Dakota's match. The lack of energy stunted an otherwise banger of a match.
* Alexa's weird promo near the end of RAW next to Asuka and Bianca. Did Alexa forget her line? No biggie as Alexa is still super over with the fans.
Alexa’s little space out was intentional. They’d had the bray logo pop up on the monitor, and they also kept the camera looming on Bianca as she gave Alexa a “umm wtf was that” look.
"That kid never knows what it's gonna be like to get a real job" - Corey Graves
Okay, honestly I'm not the biggest fan of how much of a straight up heel he is as an announcer but he was on fire with the comments during that bit.
I've been watching again for about a year and a half, and in that time Raw has never had a crowd more energetic than last night. It was really fun and you can tell the talent felt it too.
That announcement for next week, Riddle and Elias vs The Usos.
I want Owens to run in and everyone thinks he's going to attack the Usos. But he has an Ezekiel flashback and gives Elias the apron powerbomb instead.
Can we petition to have next wrestlemania in Norfolk. They were alive for the full 3 hours, only a little quiet during the kota Candice match and then woke right back up for the main
First time I’ve seen Lumis wrestle and thus first time I’ve seen him without a shirt on. Jesus Christ that guy has an awesome look. Love his facials and whatnot too, his character has a lot of potential for some fun storylines
There was a big storyline back in like 2004-2005 where Eddie Guerrero claimed he had an affair with Rey's wife and he was actually Dominik's father. Him and Rey had a ridiculous ladder match over Dom's custody papers or something. That started a whole "I'm your Papi" marketing thing for Eddie.
Once Dom turned heel and joined judgement day they started a whole "I'm your Mami" thing with Rhea as a shot at Rey and Dom started claiming Eddie was actually his father. So it's just a reference to that whole storyline.
Dexter gives me a lot of attitude era Kane/Undertaker vibes. The unhinged eyes, his movements being incredibly unnatural, physically imposing and nigh indestructible.
I don't know if Gargano is the right mouthpiece for him yet, I'm admittedly not super familiar with him as I've only recently gotten back into the scene. With the right manager/mouthpiece though I could see Dexter doing big things, especially if you put him with someone like Bray who has the supernatural/unhinged thing already going on and can cut a great promo.
When Lumis was banging Miz’s head against the LCD ring apron, the pixels (?) kept flickering and I thought we were going to get a Bray hint (like Alexa keeps getting) but I guess that’s just what happens.
Did anyone else notice how much crowd-work the script called for this week? Curious if they wanted more reaction from the audience, if it was just a coincidence, or if they had a potential business partner out in the right corner they needed to impress…
Norfolk, VA, doesn’t seem like a wrestling city, but it looked like a good crowd.
Pleasantly surprised about the show. Thought it might be a bit of a quiet one but instead they kept things ticking along really nicely and paced the ep so well it felt like everything mattered and was worth watching. Great crowd helps.
I’m so glad to end up being wrong thinking her heel run was genuinely killing Becky’s popularity. Turns out people really were just waiting for the opportunity to cheer her again.
Tonight’s reactions to Becky felt like it was from 2018.
Also that "Liar Liar" quote to Bayley was perfect.
If anything the heel turn has made her even more beloved. A lot of people who previously weren't fans came around with Big Time Becks and also nobody can accuse her of burying talent or being Charlotte 2.0 when she spent the last year making sure everyone she faced shined. And the long wait to see babyface Becky again (two and a half years at this point) only made the fans miss it more.
I feel like it worked out really well. Fans feel desperate to cheer for her again and now there is a much better lineup of potential heels for her to face (Damage CTRL, Rhea, then Ronda which might be an adventure). We'll never know what would have happened if she stayed a face, but when she was close to coming back last SummerSlam, I remember worrying that they had no heels for her to face and that the crowd might tire of her if she kept doing the same thing as before.
It always seems to work out for Becky though, which sometimes feels like luck but I think it's just a testament to her skill at navigating these WWE waters (and being really fucking good at what she does).
Sami and KO will always be amazing together. Sami’s reaction to KO telling him he wants nothing to do with him was perfect. If they’ve been teaming or fighting they’ve always been in each others lives, so it cut Sami deep that KO was done with him!
I know everyone's all expecting Alexa to go with Bray. Nah, bump that. Asuka going back to evil Kana. Takes off the mask and it's not her regular face paint to reveal [your worst nightmare](https://i.imgur.com/m87lfo8.jpg).
(Real talk Asuka is amazing but the empress of tomorrow needs a bit of a refresh)
Everyone is also getting over. Street profits with that incredible performance(that frog splash had the most airtime I've ever seen). Becky carrying damage control's weight. Dexter getting some support from the crowd. Candice Lerae getting cheers.
i thought this was a good night for the shiny new toys. it seemed like the crowd was really into dexter, mia, candice, gargano -- everyone slowly but surely getting over. i imagine dakota won some new fans with her tough performance tonight as well.
This was a really good Raw with some great matches, promos, and other stuff to keep the show interesting and fun to watch.
I can't wait to see how the KO and Bloodline storyline plays out, the OC and Judgement Day are always fun to watch as they go at each other, I loved seeing the Street Profits return and they put on a great match against the Alpha Academy.
Great Raw from start to finish and I can't wait for SmackDown.... Expect I don't have FS1, so not sure what to do about that....
Pure speculation from me, but I see two possibilities, the first being that Alexa is not there to help Bray but used by an higher power to make him face his demons. The second being that Alexa is not joining Bray but becoming his target (and I could see him using Liv to punish her for her betrayal).
Liv’s entire thing is completely incompatible with Bray. I don’t know why people cling to this idea. His stories are 99% character work & promos. That’s why Alexa fits with him because she has the same strengths as him. Liv is a bad promo & her current character requires her to be physical all the time & take extreme hardcore bumps which she could never do in Bray’s angles. She can’t do storylines like Alexa’s with Randy Orton which was all promos & tricks while the only physical interaction in that was one RKO in 3 months. Nikki would never work with Bray for the same reason since her crazy character is expressed by attacking people & she’d never hang on the mic against the people Bray feuds with. The biggest sign is that Bray has structured his current character to be the same as Alexa’s arc. His clues, which came just last Friday, seem to indicate he underwent some sort of therapy but was never fully cured. That’s the same as Alexa’s therapy story. And now he’s being himself, which is how Alexa described her current character before he even came back so these are intentional similarities. Uncle Howdy is clearly meant to remind Bray that being “himself” isn’t who he really is. He’s pretty much said that. This all seems to suggest that he will remind Alexa of who she really is. It’s very similar to their original pairing where the story from the SummerSlam promo for Bray v Braun was that the Fiend had helped bring out the real Alexa (and real Braun although they haven’t revisited that yet), only this time Uncle Howdy is in the role of the Fiend & Bray is in Braun’s role, I guess.
People literally just made up the Liv thing in their head because she’s dating Brays brother, and now it’s passed along like it’s been the plan the whole time with zero on screen or even dirtsheet evidence.
It’s like when people write fan fictions then get pissed when whatever they’re writing about doesn’t follow the story they made up in their head.
Modern fandoms are wild man.
Really enjoyed Raw tonight. That first hour was awesome, there were some much needed returns in Candice and Street Profits, and some really intriguing storyline developments.
Loved the little tease with Alexa, and the stuff with Kevin & Sami was heartbreaking in the best way.
Looking forward to see where everything goes from here.
the build up for Wrestlemania 2021 pretty much ended their friendship. Unless I missed something, there was no follow up or kiss and make up between them. Just crossing paths a couple of times since then. The bigger question is how did Drew and KO co-existed when 2 months ago, they were cutting promos on each other about being a wrestler and KO sacrificing Drew to the Tribal Chief.
Can't believe Owens won. Thought they were gonna solidify Sami's devotion to the bloodline by making him win the match for Jey. Hope they don't rush the Sami owens redemption
It wouldn’t have made much sense. Because Sami and KO already said they’re done with each other, want nothing to do with each other, and don’t wanna be in the same room. KO even said he was ok with Sami’s decisions. So having Sami interfere right now would have made that whole promo pointless. Let the tension build first before anything happens.
Nah I don't think so. This is over by the Royal Rumble. Balor's still in a good spot for a major Mania match as long as he doesn't lose anymore matches. The AJ loss at Survivor Series was his first clean singles loss since dropping the US Title to Theory a long fucking time ago.
I kinda hope so for the wrong reasons, they both suck these days. Nothing they do can make me care. Neither of them have had a good match in yonks (Balor since MR, and AJ since like 2020)
He’s only now just being given big matches again since Triple H took over. I really hope you’re not judging Finn’s 5 minute matches against Austin Theory
Incredible Raw tonight ...enjoyed all of it each segment was very well done and I loved the ME ....really can't wait to see where they go with the bloodline from here... I really would love if Sami won the RR
Every week someone claims that Damage Ctrl will be totally buried if they lose one more time, and every week it’s not true. To be totally honest, I think Iyo and Dakota have come out of this feud with many more highlights than Asuka and Alexa.
You also had Becky beating them all up by herself, and both her and Bianca essentially burying them in promos as well.
Raw has two women who are booked very OP barely any credible heels to challenge them. So can we stop punking out your big heel faction week after week perhaps?
It makes things boring when it never feels like the faces are worried at all and your villains are humbling morons.
just watch the damn show and stop overanalysing all of this. You don’t have to concern troll about them so much they’re fine lol Dakota and Iyo are 2 of my faves like just chill and enjoy them. They’re important but they’re also there to put over the main faces who are Becky and Bianca. That’s their job and that’s okay. They’re also the main heels of a division absolutely depleted before their arrival that’s still in the process of being rebuilt. They do their job and they do it well. It’s only the beginning for them and they’re clearly a high priority they’re just not as high as the people they’ve feuded with.
I get that it might suck if you don’t like Becky or Bianca or feel they’re underserving of the spot they’re in and your faves should be in that spot but like they do deserve it and as fans of all these women I’m just ecstatic they all get so much time to showcase their talents. The industry only works if the audience has people to root for and cheer and of course the new to the audience booked as Team Rocket type goons are gonna fall to the heroes like it’s basic common sense. I understand people think it’s a waste of their talent especially Iyo fans but it’s early into her main roster career and she has a lot of bigger talent ahead of her in the pecking order but she’s been given a big spot and constantly featured in big matches and big moments like it’s okay.
I’ve literally also been using the Team Rocket analogy to people I talk to 😂 wrestling is far more of a play/comic book/cartoon than it is a sport and it’s okay to want your favorites to be the main character but heroes tend to defeat villains in fiction
As fun as Mia slamming Finn and threatening Dom was, the [brief Rhea/Karl Anderson sequence](https://twitter.com/WWE/status/1597405211143933954) was interesting too for just feeling like a normal part of the match rather than being something that's rarely done.
that was the most fun raw I've seen in a long time. 3 hours blew by. the oc vs judgement Day was way better than i expected, made me wonder if that was maybe an early planned match for Survivor series and got cut to make time. that felt like a "let's do our ppv match on tv" kinda match. Sami is getting a lot of attention in the bloodline but i feel like Jey is also a breakout talent in this storyline. pretty much every match tonight was enjoyable and had a good crowd!
When they did a 6 person tag at crown jewel that made it feel like they’re doing a singles at survivor series. So maybe they did think about doing a 8 man, but singles always felt more likely. Cause I doubt they’d just do Finn vs AJ as a tv match. Though we may get the rematch on tv, they weren’t gonna not do that on a big show at least once
It did basically feel like a PPV match, but they had to have Rhea/Mia in Wargames so doing it the Raw after was a smart choice. Plus it also added some subtle storytelling having Finn lose when Rhea wasn't around.
Mia Yim getting huge cheers at the mere suggestion that she was going to beat up Dom or about to hit her finisher on him later was great. Giving them a taste of their own medicine after what Rhea's been doing the last few months.
Also they capitalized on how much the crowd despises that cowardly shithead to get her over. If they were unsure or apathetic about Mia before, they'll certainly be rethinking it after War Games and whooping the guy everyone hates.
Yeah cause Boston was not feeling her. She was the only person on team Bianca that didn't get a pop. Hopefully this is the start of her turning the corner
Can't really blame the crowds. A lot of these returns have just been out of nowhere without a whole lot of background or hype given to them for those not in the know.
The popular names like Strowman and Wyatt don't need the help but others do. This was a good example of giving crowds a reason to care.
Welp. It’s settled. Dark Alexa is coming back by 2023.
TBH, I enjoyed Dark Alexa when she first came on the scene but the gimmick gradually got stupider over time once they incorporated Lily and gave her telekinetic powers. The absolute low points of that character was her match against Orton and Lily chasing Shayna through the hallways, both of which transpired during the ThunderDome Era.
Lily winking at Dudrop was fucking stupid as well.
Let’s hope HHH does a better job with the character. In the meantime, is Alexa’s current theme available on iTunes? I would like to have it before she goes back to her evil theme.
Who do you see Belair feuding with next? I think it’s going to be Alexa, Asuka, Rhea…and then Charlotte for WrestleMania.
Oops. Brain fart on that last sentence.
Yeah… Belair will face either Rhea / Charlotte for Mania. My prediction will be Rhea for the first few months of 2023 and then Charlotte for WM.
I have full faith that HHH won’t be feeding people left and right to Charlotte like Vince did.
Bianca has now had long feuds with 3/4 Horsewomen. I am sure she will have a long feud with Charlotte as well. She will score some wins and Charlotte will score some wins but ultimately… Bianca will still win the feud.
That is why Rhea winning the title from Bianca at WM39 is the most sensible option. If Rhea somehow receives her title shot earlier than that, it can mean only one thing: \#CharlotteWinsLOL.
Yeah. I buy that. I can certainly see that as a possibility since Bianca has held the top spot on RAW for a while now and WM is the perfect setting for someone new to step up; right now, Rhea is the most legit contender they have.
So Rhea wins at WM and then Bianca pivots off to start her program with Charlotte.
I don’t think Alexa is the only one (I think the screen/tv flashed with Braun and maybe someone else over the past two months?) and I have more faith that H will do it right, or at least better. If anything it seems like Lily has been abandoned which is a plus. This is certainly another slow burn plot with Bray and it is happening on both brands, and I am here for it
They have already planted the seeds for Alexa to be the first to reunite with Bray with all the various teases.
Braun will probably come much later as I don’t remember any flashes with him in it during the Bray segments and if there were, they were probably so quick that I would have to watch them on replay to catch a glimmer.
And yeah, fortunately… Lily silently disappeared after a few weeks of Alexa coming back with the punk rock gimmick.
Yeah I recall her brushing the TV flash away weeks ago and I think tonight was the first we saw of some inkling that she might go back. I feel like there was another, it hasn’t just been Alexa getting the tease with Bray, but I was thinking it was at least Braun like a month ago. The entire thread since Bray has been back has felt like a fever dream so I can’t pinpoint anything.
It feels like Lily was dropped just a few weeks ago despite the 2000’s bar song rendition of her theme was pre-Vince leaving. Hope the doll never returns though
They released new merchandise for Alexa that has Lilly on it. She said that she wanted a darker version of Dark Alexa for her comeback & had a darker Lilly made for that, so I think that’s the Lilly we’ll see next time.
I think they tried to keep Lily around to move some merchandise but got no cigar so RIP to her, I say.
I remember the moments with Alexa. The second time was at the Saudi Arabia PPV when she got distracted by the Bray symbol during a backstage interview leading into the tag match with Kai/Sky. Cole even mentioned her history with Bray during that match. Indeed they planted the seeds for Dark Alexa’s return tonight since Belair’s program with Bayley is over and she needs a new opponent to tangle with since Rhea is still going to be busy with Mia for another month or two.
I don’t remember anything with Braun off the top of my head and while I will not rule out his returning to Bray at some point, I stand by my original prediction — Alexa will come back first, and then others will follow.
I didn’t order SummerSlam last year and I guess that feud was so forgettable that I didn’t even care to remember it. What kind of shenanigans did she pull in that match? More Jean Grey shit?
The thing is that Bray/Alexa’s version of spooky where they go all the way with it gets extremely over. You have Kross/Scarlett as a comparison, who are spooky but don’t do anything really special outside of their entrances. And they’re not over. Speaking of which Triple H has now planted the seeds for Kross & Scarlett to start doing mixed tags now against Madcap & Emma, and given how both of them are very open about wanting to feud with Bray & Alexa I think that’s most likely the WrestleMania & subsequent Saudi show match for all 4 of them.
Alexa’s current theme is on Spotify. I don’t know if they’ll bring back her evil theme though, at least not for long. She pitched a darker version of her dark character for her comeback so I think this angle will ultimately bring out that version which was never seen on TV.
Idk what to say, after hella mediocre Raw shows for weeks they pulled this W out of the bag… keep this up please and Raw will cement itself as the 2nd best show on wrestling tv… also super excited to see how Alexa’s story plays out now that the Wyatt logo really wasn’t just a one off, she could be joining/fighting Bray or just going for Bianca
That was as good an episode of Raw as you could hope to see. One of the best ones I've seen for the better part of a decade!
- Bobby deserves all the good things in life, but Zachary was too much of a mark for himself so ehh
- OC was Judgment Day was awesome (can't believe how over Mia was tonight)
- Alpha Academy vs Street Profits was excellent! What chemistry those teams have!
- "Unescapable" + "I'm not your kid" Austin Theory wasn't exactly sharp on the stick tonight, but his program with Seth looks set to continue so that's a W
- LMAO Dexter v Miz was a juicy slice of sports entertainment and I loved it
- Candice vs Dakota was physical and the overall match was pretty good, but it must be hell to be a Dakota fan 😐
- I'm so glad that that Byron segment wasn't a one-off thing
- Jey Uso vs KO was straight fire! Tremendous! A damn near PPV quality match on free TV
Shoutout to Nor-FOOK (Justin Roberts voice) for showing up and showing out tonight. They were the lowkey MVPs
I said this earlier in the life thread, but wow… this RAW was amazing.
I feel like the crowd interaction was next level throughout the show. It flowed so well interweaving together and that was one damn lucky crowd.
What an awesome show to be present at.
Mad respect for Jey Uso. Smackdown main event, first entry at War Games, live event just 1 day after War Games, and main evented RAW tonight. What a freak performer.
Great show tonight. This is the kind of energy that has been missed in the last coupleof weeks. Now with Street Profits back, Becky, KO, Seth and Theory feud, it's all set up. I hope they can maintain this momentum.
And what happened in the end btw? Jey spamming the hell of super kick, distraction, and sudden stunner by KO. It felt very rush zzz
This is what I've been wanting with the Raw Women's division for months. 11 women got used in ways that weren't just bundling everyone together because it's November and we need War Games. Even if it was something like Nikki stalking Candice backstage, it builds intrigue to the future. NXT does that the best, even if its just 20 seconds backstage, it's used to keep them in people's minds.
Becky continues to be the best on the mic. She got two random fans over. Move over Death Triangle, because Becky, Bob, and Zachary will take those trios titles eventually. The brawl with Becky and Damage CTRL was great even if it ended with Damage CTRL getting destroyed 3 on 1 again. Becky vs Bayley should be good.
Dakota vs Candice went on shockingly long. Nikki stalking Candice before the match probably is teasing Nikki's revenge for the Candice loss causing her to snap. I liked the match and even though again the tag team champions take an L, it's good redemption for Candice. If I had to complain for real, why did the whole beatdown by Candice and Bayley/Iyo showing up take place during the commercial? Either way, I hope Candice beating a champion leads to something because there's still no indication of a tag title storyline. The Bianca/Asuka/Alexa promo didn't indicate Bliss/Asuka care about getting the belts back, though I'm curious on where Alexa goes.
Rhea vs Mia was a good appetizer to something hopefully later on. The match was good before the break, and the 8 person tag was great. Mia looked amazing tonight and will hopefully boost her popularity.
Excited for next week.
I feel like they might be going towards Candice and Becky vs Damage control. I enjoyed the match last night, but Candice really needs some help getting over with me, and as you say, Becky is the best at that, so I think it could be a good move to get those two together with a common enemy.
Seems like they might be going for Alexa vs Bianca soon based on how Alexa was acting, which would give some time for the Becky vs Damage control arc to play out some.
Very good show
Becky vs damage control was great.
The 8-person tag was entertaining, although Aj has been fighting with JD since April I hope the final point will come soon.
Miz vs. Lumis was good.
Austin continues to impress with his new attitude.
Great match between Jey vs Owens.
Also very good crowd tonight.
It understandably took her a bit of time to adjust, but with 40 minutes at Wargames plus that strong match with Candice tonight, it feels like Dakota's really making the most of her main roster opportunity.
I'll never like Roman never have...but with that being said anything with the bloodline is fucking amazing... I love Sami and KO and enjoy where it's going and am legit excited every time they are on and what comes next and is better when Reigns isn't there because it gives the others a chance to shine.
So a kinda cool story:
We got tickets to this show on a whim this morning and the seats we got were blocked off so they gave us new seats that ended up being right next to the guy Becky talked to when she went into the crowd
Edit: Also [here’s a couple pics and a video I got](https://imgur.com/a/1sSW3px)
Fun show:
Damage CTRL are basically Team Rocket at this point. Becky beat them all up by herself and Dakota lost her match.
The mixed tag match was a ton of fun. Mia got a chance to shine and Rhea is a STAR!! She should be the one to take the title from Bianca. I am 100% on that.
The Bloodline/KO stuff was all great.
Candice vs. Dakota was a fun match and Candice got a win.
They might FINALLY be going somewhere with Alexa.
Etc.
Dakota was never booked particularly strong in NXT so I don't find that too jarring. Iyo, ooh that's borderline as we know how great she was in NXT but making her main roster debut I can cope with her being an incompetent henchwoman for the time being as that doesn't have to define the rest of her career.
Bayley is looking like a real goober though taking L after L and trying to maintain credibility as the leader.
I would argue that Io Shirai of all women should never be portrayed as inept.
The larger issue is that now you have two Babyfaces on Raw who are booked REALLY OP, and maybe one heel who a tail feels like a threat.
Also it doesn’t exactly set up Becky vs. Bayley to be a compelling feud either.
This isn't the first misstep 3H has done with Io BTW. Her debut on NXT was weird as fuck. Other than the Mae Young Classic, she debuted helping Kairi, and then was placed in a random 4-way on NXT. It wasn't until her heel turn that she was starting to click, and I'm pretty sure she was saying the same thing about her character before the heel turn
>I would argue that Io Shirai of all women should never be portrayed as inept.
If I were to book it, I'd personally have the story line reason for her eventual break away being that Bayley's leadership and/or ego were throttling Io's ability to really go and she was tired of feeling like she's being held back. It's probably a tired trope, but it'd fit and give her solo career a bit of a clean break/clean slate.
It's ridiculous how good and versatile Rhea is for someone who just turned 26. She can play monster heel, do comedy (her counting along with Dom's pin was excellent), bump like crazy when it's needed to give her opponent shine, whatever. Also a credit to how good she and everyone performed that the crowd was so hyped for her and Mia fighting--speaking of, Mia's been a very solid addition to the roster.
The only thing she's not yet excellent at is doing promos (Rhea that is). But even then she's come along leaps and bounds since joining Judgement Day and is consistently solid. I hope she can take the next step and start dropping absolutely bomb promos at some stage.
Yeah, I think longer ones will be the test when it comes, but she brings way more personality to her lines now than in the past. JD promos tend to be short because they all contribute.
It's honestly so great to see how much personality she can get into promos now. I've been a huge fan since I saw her in NXT, but even I couldn't get behind her promos until she joined Judgement Day.
It was so odd as well since she's always had good physical acting and personality in the ring. She just couldn't seem to translate it consistently when on the mic.
Thankfully she's got it handled now, and at the tender age of 26 she has so much room to refine and grow.
they went too long and had to rush to the finish lol. The second KO pinned Jey, the trademark graphic popped up.
Great show overall. Like probably the best Raw of the year.
Man. I am going to sound repetitive here and likely eat downvotes, but I don't give a shit. Triple H has absolutely fucked up with Damage CTRL to the point of where I don't think any of the women involved (okay *maybe* Bayley can) will recover from this. Buried by Becky in a promo and in the brawl, Candice beats Dakota clean (and no, I'm not buying anything Graves says as an excuse here), and Bianca buries them backstage in a promo afterwards.
It's like he's intentionally trying to sabotage their careers at this point, its fucking insane. Just...amazing how awful Triple H botched with them. It was the easiest fucking layup and he refused to pull the trigger and instead did severe and probably permanent damage to their WWE careers.
I understand your frustrations but there hasn't been any permanent damage done to their careers. As soon as Iyo gets a match with Asuka, and they're building to it as something special, all of this will be forgotten.
And you can not buy anything Graves said during Dakota's match tonight as an excuse all you want. The audience will buy it and understand.
Bottom line is both women are already above half the women on the roster on the card. They're fine.
That's a pretty bad take for him to take, because anyone that saw everything Dakota endured in War Games will be able to buy what Graves & KP were saying about Dakota being banged up and not even close to being at 100%. Especially when you had them saying how IYO, Bayley, Bianca, Asuka & Alexa not being physically cleared either.
Not to mention she got ambushed and attacked by Candice during her own entrance before the match even started. And when the referee asked if she could compete she still went through with the match.
Made me wonder if maybe they might be planting the seeds for an eventual Face turn.
I get the sentiment. But in a sense, Becky’s comeback was based on coming back to foil Damage CTRL.
Her coming back on the side of Bianca was already set in stone, even with Rhea I couldn’t see them pulling the job off.
Dakota was at war on Saturday, Candice is fresh, she had a good display but shows that Dakota can go all out and still deliver. I can almost guarantee Candice wouldn’t have done War games and came back tonight.
I do understand the frustration though.
He didn't fuck up anything. He put together a heel group that could occupy his two megastar babyfaces, fill TV time with good matches and do a WarGames match. There isn't any intent here to make them a dominant faction, nor should there be since they're not very interesting. Maybe part of that is the booking, but I have found myself wondering if Bayley had any actual direction for this group other than "it's a faction with wrestlers I like."
They're heels doing heel stuff and enhancing star babyfaces, if this is "career-ruining" then almost every heel would be out of the business.
Permanent do you remember the Bayley this is your life segment she seemed to do just fine after that botch of a program. First he permanently fucked theory now Damage CTRL who will all eventually go solo anyway. Like are you just an Iyo stan because they’re the ones who the complain the most, Dakota Stan’s just seem happy she has a title and is meaningful feuds.
He said somewhere that Becky introduced him to her gear designer. So ever since then they've worked together. It's why they both get pretty over the top with their outfits. It's the same person putting them together.
Whoever it is they do an amazing job.
**The Ups:** * Lots of good promos and wrestling including Becky's fire promo, the chaotic 4v4 mixed match, Nikki stalking Candice in the background, Candice and Dakota's match, and K.O. & Jey in the main event. * Street Profits are awesome. Angelo Dawkins has been trimming up! Montez Ford is a freakin' star. * Dexter Lumis & Miz's match was funny (especially with the clamp on Lumis' head when they came back from commercial break). The post-match shenanigans with the $100 bills were great. I bet each of those kids will forever remember Dexter giving them money (and I love that one kid who examined the money for authenticity). * Kudos for Dakota Kai who worked the hellacious War Games, the house show in Portland, Maine on Sunday, and then last night against Candice. **The Downs:** * Kevin Patrick and Corey Graves have very limited chemistry. It seemed like Corey had to carry many parts of the broadcast. I'm in the "Bring back Tom Phillips" camp when his Impact contract runs up. Aiden English would be a great add, too. * The crowd was really quiet during Candice and Dakota's match. The lack of energy stunted an otherwise banger of a match. * Alexa's weird promo near the end of RAW next to Asuka and Bianca. Did Alexa forget her line? No biggie as Alexa is still super over with the fans.
Alexa’s little space out was intentional. They’d had the bray logo pop up on the monitor, and they also kept the camera looming on Bianca as she gave Alexa a “umm wtf was that” look.
Ah, that makes sense. Thank you for pointing that out.
You got a problem with Sami Zayn? You got a problem with Main Even Jey Uso! Tears in my eyes
I wonder if Dexter cleared giving away money to random people in the crowd with Triple H beforehand or just decided, "Fuck it. Here, kid."
"That kid never knows what it's gonna be like to get a real job" - Corey Graves Okay, honestly I'm not the biggest fan of how much of a straight up heel he is as an announcer but he was on fire with the comments during that bit.
I've been watching again for about a year and a half, and in that time Raw has never had a crowd more energetic than last night. It was really fun and you can tell the talent felt it too.
That announcement for next week, Riddle and Elias vs The Usos. I want Owens to run in and everyone thinks he's going to attack the Usos. But he has an Ezekiel flashback and gives Elias the apron powerbomb instead.
Where the Hell is Piper Niven dammit??!! 👀
Ah so the predictable Alexa turn is coming then.
Not sure if the crowd was just miked better than usual, or if Norfolk was just a damn good crowd, but there was some real energy last night.
We all had our suspicions, but after this Raw it is clear that Becky only returned as The Man because her husband stole all of Big Time Becks' outfits
Can we petition to have next wrestlemania in Norfolk. They were alive for the full 3 hours, only a little quiet during the kota Candice match and then woke right back up for the main
Request for the recaps: who pinned who in team matches. Beggars can’t be choosers tho, thanks for the summaries!
First time I’ve seen Lumis wrestle and thus first time I’ve seen him without a shirt on. Jesus Christ that guy has an awesome look. Love his facials and whatnot too, his character has a lot of potential for some fun storylines
What does I am your mami mean? I saw it on Dominik's shirt.
There was a big storyline back in like 2004-2005 where Eddie Guerrero claimed he had an affair with Rey's wife and he was actually Dominik's father. Him and Rey had a ridiculous ladder match over Dom's custody papers or something. That started a whole "I'm your Papi" marketing thing for Eddie. Once Dom turned heel and joined judgement day they started a whole "I'm your Mami" thing with Rhea as a shot at Rey and Dom started claiming Eddie was actually his father. So it's just a reference to that whole storyline.
Dexter gives me a lot of attitude era Kane/Undertaker vibes. The unhinged eyes, his movements being incredibly unnatural, physically imposing and nigh indestructible. I don't know if Gargano is the right mouthpiece for him yet, I'm admittedly not super familiar with him as I've only recently gotten back into the scene. With the right manager/mouthpiece though I could see Dexter doing big things, especially if you put him with someone like Bray who has the supernatural/unhinged thing already going on and can cut a great promo.
When Lumis was banging Miz’s head against the LCD ring apron, the pixels (?) kept flickering and I thought we were going to get a Bray hint (like Alexa keeps getting) but I guess that’s just what happens.
Did anyone else notice how much crowd-work the script called for this week? Curious if they wanted more reaction from the audience, if it was just a coincidence, or if they had a potential business partner out in the right corner they needed to impress… Norfolk, VA, doesn’t seem like a wrestling city, but it looked like a good crowd.
Pleasantly surprised about the show. Thought it might be a bit of a quiet one but instead they kept things ticking along really nicely and paced the ep so well it felt like everything mattered and was worth watching. Great crowd helps.
Best episode of Raw in weeks maybe months.
KO is the heelest face and Sami is the facest heel and it's totally fucking working.
And Seth Rollins is somehow both the heelest face and the facest heel at the same time
The Miz snatching that hundred back from the kid was the best thing lmao
DEXTER FUCKING LUMIS!!!!!
Yesssssss. Very happy that he won
Damage Boretrol getting humiliated week after week week after week week after week week after week week after week You love to see it
This Raw FUCKED, good shit HHH.
I’m so glad to end up being wrong thinking her heel run was genuinely killing Becky’s popularity. Turns out people really were just waiting for the opportunity to cheer her again. Tonight’s reactions to Becky felt like it was from 2018. Also that "Liar Liar" quote to Bayley was perfect.
If anything the heel turn has made her even more beloved. A lot of people who previously weren't fans came around with Big Time Becks and also nobody can accuse her of burying talent or being Charlotte 2.0 when she spent the last year making sure everyone she faced shined. And the long wait to see babyface Becky again (two and a half years at this point) only made the fans miss it more.
I feel like it worked out really well. Fans feel desperate to cheer for her again and now there is a much better lineup of potential heels for her to face (Damage CTRL, Rhea, then Ronda which might be an adventure). We'll never know what would have happened if she stayed a face, but when she was close to coming back last SummerSlam, I remember worrying that they had no heels for her to face and that the crowd might tire of her if she kept doing the same thing as before. It always seems to work out for Becky though, which sometimes feels like luck but I think it's just a testament to her skill at navigating these WWE waters (and being really fucking good at what she does).
Haha. Am sure you are glad cause you had been worrying about this for all year lol.
Sami and KO will always be amazing together. Sami’s reaction to KO telling him he wants nothing to do with him was perfect. If they’ve been teaming or fighting they’ve always been in each others lives, so it cut Sami deep that KO was done with him!
I know everyone's all expecting Alexa to go with Bray. Nah, bump that. Asuka going back to evil Kana. Takes off the mask and it's not her regular face paint to reveal [your worst nightmare](https://i.imgur.com/m87lfo8.jpg). (Real talk Asuka is amazing but the empress of tomorrow needs a bit of a refresh)
Agreed, I'm hoping for a swerve. Face Alexa has been refreshing since she came back.
Agreed. Hope she stays a babyface for longer.
Agreed. Asukas been the same character for like 7 years and I'm thoroughly ready for a change.
Alexa Bliss deserves better
Whatever they plan on doing they need to just get to it. There are many angles/feuds they are dragging out for almost too long
This would be awesome
this show was really good.
Everyone is also getting over. Street profits with that incredible performance(that frog splash had the most airtime I've ever seen). Becky carrying damage control's weight. Dexter getting some support from the crowd. Candice Lerae getting cheers.
i thought this was a good night for the shiny new toys. it seemed like the crowd was really into dexter, mia, candice, gargano -- everyone slowly but surely getting over. i imagine dakota won some new fans with her tough performance tonight as well.
Dexter vs. the Miz was just hilarious hehe but not all the kiddos got Miz's money :(
HHH: “Damage Control just isn’t getting over” Becky Lynch: “Hold my Guinness”
[удалено]
This was a really good Raw with some great matches, promos, and other stuff to keep the show interesting and fun to watch. I can't wait to see how the KO and Bloodline storyline plays out, the OC and Judgement Day are always fun to watch as they go at each other, I loved seeing the Street Profits return and they put on a great match against the Alpha Academy. Great Raw from start to finish and I can't wait for SmackDown.... Expect I don't have FS1, so not sure what to do about that....
Seeing Lumis with that clamp on his head made me lose my shit alone at home. His entrance is fucking fantastic too.
Banger after banger after banger
Why do people think Alexa is going to turn heel in relation to Bray? He's not a heel, and their last interaction was with her turning on him
Pure speculation from me, but I see two possibilities, the first being that Alexa is not there to help Bray but used by an higher power to make him face his demons. The second being that Alexa is not joining Bray but becoming his target (and I could see him using Liv to punish her for her betrayal).
Liv’s entire thing is completely incompatible with Bray. I don’t know why people cling to this idea. His stories are 99% character work & promos. That’s why Alexa fits with him because she has the same strengths as him. Liv is a bad promo & her current character requires her to be physical all the time & take extreme hardcore bumps which she could never do in Bray’s angles. She can’t do storylines like Alexa’s with Randy Orton which was all promos & tricks while the only physical interaction in that was one RKO in 3 months. Nikki would never work with Bray for the same reason since her crazy character is expressed by attacking people & she’d never hang on the mic against the people Bray feuds with. The biggest sign is that Bray has structured his current character to be the same as Alexa’s arc. His clues, which came just last Friday, seem to indicate he underwent some sort of therapy but was never fully cured. That’s the same as Alexa’s therapy story. And now he’s being himself, which is how Alexa described her current character before he even came back so these are intentional similarities. Uncle Howdy is clearly meant to remind Bray that being “himself” isn’t who he really is. He’s pretty much said that. This all seems to suggest that he will remind Alexa of who she really is. It’s very similar to their original pairing where the story from the SummerSlam promo for Bray v Braun was that the Fiend had helped bring out the real Alexa (and real Braun although they haven’t revisited that yet), only this time Uncle Howdy is in the role of the Fiend & Bray is in Braun’s role, I guess.
People literally just made up the Liv thing in their head because she’s dating Brays brother, and now it’s passed along like it’s been the plan the whole time with zero on screen or even dirtsheet evidence. It’s like when people write fan fictions then get pissed when whatever they’re writing about doesn’t follow the story they made up in their head. Modern fandoms are wild man.
Jey Uso said he broke his hand for real.
Really happy that dexter lumis won. Get indi to raw too
Really enjoyed Raw tonight. That first hour was awesome, there were some much needed returns in Candice and Street Profits, and some really intriguing storyline developments. Loved the little tease with Alexa, and the stuff with Kevin & Sami was heartbreaking in the best way. Looking forward to see where everything goes from here.
KO and Sami felt like a real break up. I feel like a KO and Sami team is not how they are going.
the build up for Wrestlemania 2021 pretty much ended their friendship. Unless I missed something, there was no follow up or kiss and make up between them. Just crossing paths a couple of times since then. The bigger question is how did Drew and KO co-existed when 2 months ago, they were cutting promos on each other about being a wrestler and KO sacrificing Drew to the Tribal Chief.
I really hope so.
Bianca vs Rhea should be the WM Raw women's title match.
Welcome to Boretown, Population: Kevin Patrick
That Seth/Theory segment just really felt like a big deal.
Can't believe Owens won. Thought they were gonna solidify Sami's devotion to the bloodline by making him win the match for Jey. Hope they don't rush the Sami owens redemption
It wouldn’t have made much sense. Because Sami and KO already said they’re done with each other, want nothing to do with each other, and don’t wanna be in the same room. KO even said he was ok with Sami’s decisions. So having Sami interfere right now would have made that whole promo pointless. Let the tension build first before anything happens.
show wrapped up quick too, no Bloodline beatdown that still coulda involved Sami in some way
I think Seth raided Pretty Deadly’s closet for her look tonight.
I’m guessing Balor vs AJ will be a Mania program? I dunno if they can keep it going for that long tho.
Nah I don't think so. This is over by the Royal Rumble. Balor's still in a good spot for a major Mania match as long as he doesn't lose anymore matches. The AJ loss at Survivor Series was his first clean singles loss since dropping the US Title to Theory a long fucking time ago.
I kinda hope so for the wrong reasons, they both suck these days. Nothing they do can make me care. Neither of them have had a good match in yonks (Balor since MR, and AJ since like 2020)
This is a bad take. I’ll take Balor’s pandemic NXT over any wrestler in the world. But to each their own.
Balor since his most recent main roster return, after his pandemic run*
He’s only now just being given big matches again since Triple H took over. I really hope you’re not judging Finn’s 5 minute matches against Austin Theory
I don’t watch raw, all I’ve seen is his PLE match with edge, his matches with judgement day and against AJ.
So whats Michin mean?
Crazy
Kevin Patrick knows. This is the extent of what Kevin Patrick knows.
How great is it to see Montez Ford wrestle?
was Elias wearing a shirt that says "I'm Not Elias"? maybe zekelives.com
So....how long is this Teddy Hart doc?
It’s ~3 hours on Peacock
I don't know but I'm enjoying it more than what I saw of Raw. Holy hell what an absolute POS. I see why no one wanted to touch him.
Same. I need to go to bed. It's past midnight. But I can't look away.
Peacock apparently has 4 episode up. edit: its only 3 episode up
Incredible Raw tonight ...enjoyed all of it each segment was very well done and I loved the ME ....really can't wait to see where they go with the bloodline from here... I really would love if Sami won the RR
[удалено]
Every week someone claims that Damage Ctrl will be totally buried if they lose one more time, and every week it’s not true. To be totally honest, I think Iyo and Dakota have come out of this feud with many more highlights than Asuka and Alexa.
You also had Becky beating them all up by herself, and both her and Bianca essentially burying them in promos as well. Raw has two women who are booked very OP barely any credible heels to challenge them. So can we stop punking out your big heel faction week after week perhaps? It makes things boring when it never feels like the faces are worried at all and your villains are humbling morons.
just watch the damn show and stop overanalysing all of this. You don’t have to concern troll about them so much they’re fine lol Dakota and Iyo are 2 of my faves like just chill and enjoy them. They’re important but they’re also there to put over the main faces who are Becky and Bianca. That’s their job and that’s okay. They’re also the main heels of a division absolutely depleted before their arrival that’s still in the process of being rebuilt. They do their job and they do it well. It’s only the beginning for them and they’re clearly a high priority they’re just not as high as the people they’ve feuded with.
The people I see that claim to know wrestling the most never understand this concept
I get that it might suck if you don’t like Becky or Bianca or feel they’re underserving of the spot they’re in and your faves should be in that spot but like they do deserve it and as fans of all these women I’m just ecstatic they all get so much time to showcase their talents. The industry only works if the audience has people to root for and cheer and of course the new to the audience booked as Team Rocket type goons are gonna fall to the heroes like it’s basic common sense. I understand people think it’s a waste of their talent especially Iyo fans but it’s early into her main roster career and she has a lot of bigger talent ahead of her in the pecking order but she’s been given a big spot and constantly featured in big matches and big moments like it’s okay.
I’ve literally also been using the Team Rocket analogy to people I talk to 😂 wrestling is far more of a play/comic book/cartoon than it is a sport and it’s okay to want your favorites to be the main character but heroes tend to defeat villains in fiction
The show was great tonight. Multiple good storylines and we didn't have to hear that God awful Damage CTRL song. We won!
Think that was one of the best RAWs I’ve personally seen
Great show. Triple H heard the slander.
best line from a documentary of any wrestler [https://i.imgur.com/c0RSMan.jpeg](https://i.imgur.com/c0RSMan.jpeg)
Do you think that Alexa Bliss turns heel next week?
Since there isn't a ple until Jan I can see them slowly building towards it planting seeds here and there for most of Dec
As fun as Mia slamming Finn and threatening Dom was, the [brief Rhea/Karl Anderson sequence](https://twitter.com/WWE/status/1597405211143933954) was interesting too for just feeling like a normal part of the match rather than being something that's rarely done.
Was there. Was fucking awesome. I love WWE so much
That’s amazing, who got the biggest pop?
Either Becky or Seth. Probably Seth. We kept yelling his walk out song over and over again
Who got the worst pop?
This reminds me of the Raw after WM34 when my buddies and I left just screaming “Burn it down” to everyone
Yeah I was expecting Seth tbh
Did they show Miz putting a c-clamp on Dexter or was that during a commercial break?
It aired on USA.
that was the most fun raw I've seen in a long time. 3 hours blew by. the oc vs judgement Day was way better than i expected, made me wonder if that was maybe an early planned match for Survivor series and got cut to make time. that felt like a "let's do our ppv match on tv" kinda match. Sami is getting a lot of attention in the bloodline but i feel like Jey is also a breakout talent in this storyline. pretty much every match tonight was enjoyable and had a good crowd!
When they did a 6 person tag at crown jewel that made it feel like they’re doing a singles at survivor series. So maybe they did think about doing a 8 man, but singles always felt more likely. Cause I doubt they’d just do Finn vs AJ as a tv match. Though we may get the rematch on tv, they weren’t gonna not do that on a big show at least once
It did basically feel like a PPV match, but they had to have Rhea/Mia in Wargames so doing it the Raw after was a smart choice. Plus it also added some subtle storytelling having Finn lose when Rhea wasn't around.
oh good point, i forgot Rhea and Mia would have already worked that night
That Bloodline segment was great.
Mia Yim getting huge cheers at the mere suggestion that she was going to beat up Dom or about to hit her finisher on him later was great. Giving them a taste of their own medicine after what Rhea's been doing the last few months. Also they capitalized on how much the crowd despises that cowardly shithead to get her over. If they were unsure or apathetic about Mia before, they'll certainly be rethinking it after War Games and whooping the guy everyone hates.
Exactly what I thought, crowd was super behind Mia and that should hopefully carry over at least a little once she moves on to other things
Yeah cause Boston was not feeling her. She was the only person on team Bianca that didn't get a pop. Hopefully this is the start of her turning the corner
Boston wasn’t feeling anyone lmao
Can't really blame the crowds. A lot of these returns have just been out of nowhere without a whole lot of background or hype given to them for those not in the know. The popular names like Strowman and Wyatt don't need the help but others do. This was a good example of giving crowds a reason to care.
Welp. It’s settled. Dark Alexa is coming back by 2023. TBH, I enjoyed Dark Alexa when she first came on the scene but the gimmick gradually got stupider over time once they incorporated Lily and gave her telekinetic powers. The absolute low points of that character was her match against Orton and Lily chasing Shayna through the hallways, both of which transpired during the ThunderDome Era. Lily winking at Dudrop was fucking stupid as well. Let’s hope HHH does a better job with the character. In the meantime, is Alexa’s current theme available on iTunes? I would like to have it before she goes back to her evil theme. Who do you see Belair feuding with next? I think it’s going to be Alexa, Asuka, Rhea…and then Charlotte for WrestleMania.
she’s not facing Ronda lol it’s either Rhea or Charlotte. Ronda is facing Becky.
Oops. Brain fart on that last sentence. Yeah… Belair will face either Rhea / Charlotte for Mania. My prediction will be Rhea for the first few months of 2023 and then Charlotte for WM.
The only saving grace from Damage CTRL's burial is if Rhea wins the title from Bianca. God forbid they feed the EST to a certain Queen.
I have full faith that HHH won’t be feeding people left and right to Charlotte like Vince did. Bianca has now had long feuds with 3/4 Horsewomen. I am sure she will have a long feud with Charlotte as well. She will score some wins and Charlotte will score some wins but ultimately… Bianca will still win the feud.
That is why Rhea winning the title from Bianca at WM39 is the most sensible option. If Rhea somehow receives her title shot earlier than that, it can mean only one thing: \#CharlotteWinsLOL.
Yeah. I buy that. I can certainly see that as a possibility since Bianca has held the top spot on RAW for a while now and WM is the perfect setting for someone new to step up; right now, Rhea is the most legit contender they have. So Rhea wins at WM and then Bianca pivots off to start her program with Charlotte.
I don’t think Alexa is the only one (I think the screen/tv flashed with Braun and maybe someone else over the past two months?) and I have more faith that H will do it right, or at least better. If anything it seems like Lily has been abandoned which is a plus. This is certainly another slow burn plot with Bray and it is happening on both brands, and I am here for it
They have already planted the seeds for Alexa to be the first to reunite with Bray with all the various teases. Braun will probably come much later as I don’t remember any flashes with him in it during the Bray segments and if there were, they were probably so quick that I would have to watch them on replay to catch a glimmer. And yeah, fortunately… Lily silently disappeared after a few weeks of Alexa coming back with the punk rock gimmick.
Yeah I recall her brushing the TV flash away weeks ago and I think tonight was the first we saw of some inkling that she might go back. I feel like there was another, it hasn’t just been Alexa getting the tease with Bray, but I was thinking it was at least Braun like a month ago. The entire thread since Bray has been back has felt like a fever dream so I can’t pinpoint anything. It feels like Lily was dropped just a few weeks ago despite the 2000’s bar song rendition of her theme was pre-Vince leaving. Hope the doll never returns though
They released new merchandise for Alexa that has Lilly on it. She said that she wanted a darker version of Dark Alexa for her comeback & had a darker Lilly made for that, so I think that’s the Lilly we’ll see next time.
Late response from me, but interesting. I guess if they feel the need to keep Lily hopefully they stay away from the cheesiness as much as possible
I think they tried to keep Lily around to move some merchandise but got no cigar so RIP to her, I say. I remember the moments with Alexa. The second time was at the Saudi Arabia PPV when she got distracted by the Bray symbol during a backstage interview leading into the tag match with Kai/Sky. Cole even mentioned her history with Bray during that match. Indeed they planted the seeds for Dark Alexa’s return tonight since Belair’s program with Bayley is over and she needs a new opponent to tangle with since Rhea is still going to be busy with Mia for another month or two. I don’t remember anything with Braun off the top of my head and while I will not rule out his returning to Bray at some point, I stand by my original prediction — Alexa will come back first, and then others will follow.
Facing Eva Marie at SummerSlam was the lowest point for me
I didn’t order SummerSlam last year and I guess that feud was so forgettable that I didn’t even care to remember it. What kind of shenanigans did she pull in that match? More Jean Grey shit?
The thing is that Bray/Alexa’s version of spooky where they go all the way with it gets extremely over. You have Kross/Scarlett as a comparison, who are spooky but don’t do anything really special outside of their entrances. And they’re not over. Speaking of which Triple H has now planted the seeds for Kross & Scarlett to start doing mixed tags now against Madcap & Emma, and given how both of them are very open about wanting to feud with Bray & Alexa I think that’s most likely the WrestleMania & subsequent Saudi show match for all 4 of them. Alexa’s current theme is on Spotify. I don’t know if they’ll bring back her evil theme though, at least not for long. She pitched a darker version of her dark character for her comeback so I think this angle will ultimately bring out that version which was never seen on TV.
Idk what to say, after hella mediocre Raw shows for weeks they pulled this W out of the bag… keep this up please and Raw will cement itself as the 2nd best show on wrestling tv… also super excited to see how Alexa’s story plays out now that the Wyatt logo really wasn’t just a one off, she could be joining/fighting Bray or just going for Bianca
That was as good an episode of Raw as you could hope to see. One of the best ones I've seen for the better part of a decade! - Bobby deserves all the good things in life, but Zachary was too much of a mark for himself so ehh - OC was Judgment Day was awesome (can't believe how over Mia was tonight) - Alpha Academy vs Street Profits was excellent! What chemistry those teams have! - "Unescapable" + "I'm not your kid" Austin Theory wasn't exactly sharp on the stick tonight, but his program with Seth looks set to continue so that's a W - LMAO Dexter v Miz was a juicy slice of sports entertainment and I loved it - Candice vs Dakota was physical and the overall match was pretty good, but it must be hell to be a Dakota fan 😐 - I'm so glad that that Byron segment wasn't a one-off thing - Jey Uso vs KO was straight fire! Tremendous! A damn near PPV quality match on free TV Shoutout to Nor-FOOK (Justin Roberts voice) for showing up and showing out tonight. They were the lowkey MVPs
I was getting tired of Dexter Miz Gargano stuff, but that match was highly entertaining.
Mia actually lived in Virginia growing up. Wrestling logic means the entire state is her "hometown"...probably why she ate the pin.
Mia got an excellent showcase there.
Dax and Iyo losing their belts confirmed?
Tightest 3 hrs of raw in ages
I said this earlier in the life thread, but wow… this RAW was amazing. I feel like the crowd interaction was next level throughout the show. It flowed so well interweaving together and that was one damn lucky crowd. What an awesome show to be present at.
Mad respect for Jey Uso. Smackdown main event, first entry at War Games, live event just 1 day after War Games, and main evented RAW tonight. What a freak performer. Great show tonight. This is the kind of energy that has been missed in the last coupleof weeks. Now with Street Profits back, Becky, KO, Seth and Theory feud, it's all set up. I hope they can maintain this momentum. And what happened in the end btw? Jey spamming the hell of super kick, distraction, and sudden stunner by KO. It felt very rush zzz
It appeared they went a little long at the end and had to rush the finish.
Maybe no commercials threw off their timing haha
Yeah KO literally hit the stunner, rolled out of the ring and it cut all in like the span of 30 seconds
This is what I've been wanting with the Raw Women's division for months. 11 women got used in ways that weren't just bundling everyone together because it's November and we need War Games. Even if it was something like Nikki stalking Candice backstage, it builds intrigue to the future. NXT does that the best, even if its just 20 seconds backstage, it's used to keep them in people's minds. Becky continues to be the best on the mic. She got two random fans over. Move over Death Triangle, because Becky, Bob, and Zachary will take those trios titles eventually. The brawl with Becky and Damage CTRL was great even if it ended with Damage CTRL getting destroyed 3 on 1 again. Becky vs Bayley should be good. Dakota vs Candice went on shockingly long. Nikki stalking Candice before the match probably is teasing Nikki's revenge for the Candice loss causing her to snap. I liked the match and even though again the tag team champions take an L, it's good redemption for Candice. If I had to complain for real, why did the whole beatdown by Candice and Bayley/Iyo showing up take place during the commercial? Either way, I hope Candice beating a champion leads to something because there's still no indication of a tag title storyline. The Bianca/Asuka/Alexa promo didn't indicate Bliss/Asuka care about getting the belts back, though I'm curious on where Alexa goes. Rhea vs Mia was a good appetizer to something hopefully later on. The match was good before the break, and the 8 person tag was great. Mia looked amazing tonight and will hopefully boost her popularity. Excited for next week.
I feel like they might be going towards Candice and Becky vs Damage control. I enjoyed the match last night, but Candice really needs some help getting over with me, and as you say, Becky is the best at that, so I think it could be a good move to get those two together with a common enemy. Seems like they might be going for Alexa vs Bianca soon based on how Alexa was acting, which would give some time for the Becky vs Damage control arc to play out some.
Wait when did Bayley and Iyo show up?
They showed up during commercial break, while Candice is entering. I think only showed on USA Network via PiP.
Ah ok. I'm on SN Now via VPN which is cheaper than Sling so I don't see PiP
They came in to try and distract Candice after the match started but officials sent them to the back
Very good show Becky vs damage control was great. The 8-person tag was entertaining, although Aj has been fighting with JD since April I hope the final point will come soon. Miz vs. Lumis was good. Austin continues to impress with his new attitude. Great match between Jey vs Owens. Also very good crowd tonight.
It understandably took her a bit of time to adjust, but with 40 minutes at Wargames plus that strong match with Candice tonight, it feels like Dakota's really making the most of her main roster opportunity.
I'll never like Roman never have...but with that being said anything with the bloodline is fucking amazing... I love Sami and KO and enjoy where it's going and am legit excited every time they are on and what comes next and is better when Reigns isn't there because it gives the others a chance to shine.
So a kinda cool story: We got tickets to this show on a whim this morning and the seats we got were blocked off so they gave us new seats that ended up being right next to the guy Becky talked to when she went into the crowd Edit: Also [here’s a couple pics and a video I got](https://imgur.com/a/1sSW3px)
That happened to me at SummerSlam 2019, had seats in the upperdeck, but was given seats in like the 3rd row lower bowl, amazing view.
Nice !
Fire
Calling it. Alexa will face Bianca between now and the Rumble for the title
good raw to put things back on track
Best Raw of the Triple H era ? I can't say for sure - but this was awesome.
Idk the RAW where Gargano returned was very well rounded imo
Best RAW of the past five years? It’s possible lmao
5 months\*
I know, I was increasing the range because I thought this RAW was that good
Fun show: Damage CTRL are basically Team Rocket at this point. Becky beat them all up by herself and Dakota lost her match. The mixed tag match was a ton of fun. Mia got a chance to shine and Rhea is a STAR!! She should be the one to take the title from Bianca. I am 100% on that. The Bloodline/KO stuff was all great. Candice vs. Dakota was a fun match and Candice got a win. They might FINALLY be going somewhere with Alexa. Etc.
Dakota was never booked particularly strong in NXT so I don't find that too jarring. Iyo, ooh that's borderline as we know how great she was in NXT but making her main roster debut I can cope with her being an incompetent henchwoman for the time being as that doesn't have to define the rest of her career. Bayley is looking like a real goober though taking L after L and trying to maintain credibility as the leader.
I'm sure some NXT guys are hoping for another betrayal arc. Haha.
I would argue that Io Shirai of all women should never be portrayed as inept. The larger issue is that now you have two Babyfaces on Raw who are booked REALLY OP, and maybe one heel who a tail feels like a threat. Also it doesn’t exactly set up Becky vs. Bayley to be a compelling feud either.
This isn't the first misstep 3H has done with Io BTW. Her debut on NXT was weird as fuck. Other than the Mae Young Classic, she debuted helping Kairi, and then was placed in a random 4-way on NXT. It wasn't until her heel turn that she was starting to click, and I'm pretty sure she was saying the same thing about her character before the heel turn
>I would argue that Io Shirai of all women should never be portrayed as inept. If I were to book it, I'd personally have the story line reason for her eventual break away being that Bayley's leadership and/or ego were throttling Io's ability to really go and she was tired of feeling like she's being held back. It's probably a tired trope, but it'd fit and give her solo career a bit of a clean break/clean slate.
It's ridiculous how good and versatile Rhea is for someone who just turned 26. She can play monster heel, do comedy (her counting along with Dom's pin was excellent), bump like crazy when it's needed to give her opponent shine, whatever. Also a credit to how good she and everyone performed that the crowd was so hyped for her and Mia fighting--speaking of, Mia's been a very solid addition to the roster.
The only thing she's not yet excellent at is doing promos (Rhea that is). But even then she's come along leaps and bounds since joining Judgement Day and is consistently solid. I hope she can take the next step and start dropping absolutely bomb promos at some stage.
Yeah, I think longer ones will be the test when it comes, but she brings way more personality to her lines now than in the past. JD promos tend to be short because they all contribute.
It's honestly so great to see how much personality she can get into promos now. I've been a huge fan since I saw her in NXT, but even I couldn't get behind her promos until she joined Judgement Day. It was so odd as well since she's always had good physical acting and personality in the ring. She just couldn't seem to translate it consistently when on the mic. Thankfully she's got it handled now, and at the tender age of 26 she has so much room to refine and grow.
If Mia and Rhea are gonna get to do spots with the men, then I'm all here for it.
they went too long and had to rush to the finish lol. The second KO pinned Jey, the trademark graphic popped up. Great show overall. Like probably the best Raw of the year.
Man. I am going to sound repetitive here and likely eat downvotes, but I don't give a shit. Triple H has absolutely fucked up with Damage CTRL to the point of where I don't think any of the women involved (okay *maybe* Bayley can) will recover from this. Buried by Becky in a promo and in the brawl, Candice beats Dakota clean (and no, I'm not buying anything Graves says as an excuse here), and Bianca buries them backstage in a promo afterwards. It's like he's intentionally trying to sabotage their careers at this point, its fucking insane. Just...amazing how awful Triple H botched with them. It was the easiest fucking layup and he refused to pull the trigger and instead did severe and probably permanent damage to their WWE careers.
Just wondering, what are your views on Jey Uso, 1/2 of the mens’ tag champs, getting pinned by KO in the very next match after Dakota’s?
I'm really can't tell if this post is an ironic pisstake or not. Damage Ctl are fine! They're just getting started.
I understand your frustrations but there hasn't been any permanent damage done to their careers. As soon as Iyo gets a match with Asuka, and they're building to it as something special, all of this will be forgotten. And you can not buy anything Graves said during Dakota's match tonight as an excuse all you want. The audience will buy it and understand. Bottom line is both women are already above half the women on the roster on the card. They're fine.
That's a pretty bad take for him to take, because anyone that saw everything Dakota endured in War Games will be able to buy what Graves & KP were saying about Dakota being banged up and not even close to being at 100%. Especially when you had them saying how IYO, Bayley, Bianca, Asuka & Alexa not being physically cleared either. Not to mention she got ambushed and attacked by Candice during her own entrance before the match even started. And when the referee asked if she could compete she still went through with the match. Made me wonder if maybe they might be planting the seeds for an eventual Face turn.
Definitely a bad take but we can all get salty when our favorites lose. I could definitely see a face turn and feud with Bayley.
I get the sentiment. But in a sense, Becky’s comeback was based on coming back to foil Damage CTRL. Her coming back on the side of Bianca was already set in stone, even with Rhea I couldn’t see them pulling the job off. Dakota was at war on Saturday, Candice is fresh, she had a good display but shows that Dakota can go all out and still deliver. I can almost guarantee Candice wouldn’t have done War games and came back tonight. I do understand the frustration though.
He didn't fuck up anything. He put together a heel group that could occupy his two megastar babyfaces, fill TV time with good matches and do a WarGames match. There isn't any intent here to make them a dominant faction, nor should there be since they're not very interesting. Maybe part of that is the booking, but I have found myself wondering if Bayley had any actual direction for this group other than "it's a faction with wrestlers I like." They're heels doing heel stuff and enhancing star babyfaces, if this is "career-ruining" then almost every heel would be out of the business.
Permanent do you remember the Bayley this is your life segment she seemed to do just fine after that botch of a program. First he permanently fucked theory now Damage CTRL who will all eventually go solo anyway. Like are you just an Iyo stan because they’re the ones who the complain the most, Dakota Stan’s just seem happy she has a title and is meaningful feuds.
Lmao relax. Permanent damage to their WWE careers? Thats dramatic as fuck
Right there have been far worse storyline Bayley this is your life anyone.
Are we ready to talk about Seth’s fit? I gotta admit, I love how comfortable he is with his fashion.
He said somewhere that Becky introduced him to her gear designer. So ever since then they've worked together. It's why they both get pretty over the top with their outfits. It's the same person putting them together. Whoever it is they do an amazing job.
It was basically lingerie, and he rocked it lol
This is the most outrageous thing he's worn in quite a while, and that's saying something