WWE Raw Recap (20th November 2017)


We start off the show with Stephanie McMahon. Great. She gloats a bit about Raw winning at Survivor Series and she brings out Triple H. Angle interrupts and tells Triple H that if he attacks him from behind again he will fuck him up. Jason Jordan is out and he wants a piece of Hunter. Gotta appreciate his fire. Steph says that he would be an idiot to want that match as Hunter would kill him. Hunter isn't scared of anyone. BRAAAAAAAAAAAAUN! Hunter slowly backs his way out of the ring to save his own life. The crowd calls him a coward so Steph books a match between Braun and Jordan. The segment was fine but if they start opening every Raw with the Authority again it is going to be very hard to watch.

Samoa Joe vs Finn Balor - This was a good match. Joe won clean with the Coquina Clutch. I can only assume that this feud will continue. That or they are starting to cool on Balor. 

Jason Jordan claims that he is injured. He insists that he can beat Braun though. Denial is a powerful thing.

Asuka vs Dana Brooke - Asuka wins in 2 minutes, as she should. 

MizTV is next up. Miz says that he made Corbin relevant at Survivor Series. He brings out Roman Reigns. He gets the entire of the Shield. Miz says the Shield should thank him because without him they wouldn't be back together. The crowd thanks Miz but Miz wants some royalties from their merch. Rollins says that he and Ambrose will soon win back the tag titles. Reigns doesn't want to be the only one without a title but Rollins tells him that Miz has a nice title. Reigns agrees and says he wants it. Miztourage try to get in the faces of the Shield but get destroyed. It will be Reigns vs Miz in the main event. Decent segment.

Braun is glad that Jordan isn't scared of him.

Dean Ambrose vs Sheamus - This was another good match. This show is doing pretty well so far. Ambrose won by hitting Dirty Deeds, and nobody kicks out of Dirty Deeds. This run is easily the best Sheamus has ever been.

Jason Jordan tries get some pointers from Matt Hardy about his upcoming human sacrifice ceremony. Hardy tells him that sometimes it's not your night.

Alexa Bliss is here. She says that she only lost at Survivor Series because she only had 5 days to prepare. Mickie James comes out and wants a title shot. Bayley also wants a title shot. So does Sasha Banks. And Alicia Fox. Guess what happened next? Angle booked a four way match. The sheer amount of multi woman matches this year is booking of the laziest standard.

Mickie James vs Bayley vs Sasha Banks vs Alicia Fox (Number 1 Contenders Match) - This match doesn't really get going as Paige's music hits. I will admit that I haven't missed her at all but she gets a great pop. She says that she's back but she didn't come alone. Sonya Deville and Mandy Rose hit the ring and take out Mickie James and Sasha Banks. Bayley has some fight but Paige takes her out. Fox runs away. It was a solid return but I am quite surprised that Deville made the step up. Less so with Rose as she is on Total Divas. I don't think either of them are really ready for main but hopefully I'm proven wrong. I can only assume that the Iconic Duo are going to Smackdown as they would have been perfect for this.

Bliss tries to suck up to Paige and crew but they ain't got time for that and kick the shit out of her.

Braun Strowman vs Jason Jordan - The match is only going about 90 seconds when Kane runs in and attacks Braun with a chair. Kane continues to attack Braun following the (sort of) match. I don't care about Kane.

Enzo is out with Gulak, Nese, Dar and Daivari, the Zo Train. Alexander, Tozawa, Swann and Ali make their way down. They aren't here to join the Zo Train, they want a title shot. A brawl ensues and Enzo does one. 

Drew Gulak, Tony Nese, Noam Dar & Ariya Daivari vs Cedric Alexander, Akira Tozawa, Rich Swann & Mustafa Ali - Would you believe it, an 8-man cruiserweight match on Raw. This was a nothing match that the faces won when Ali pinned Daivari. This was more about Enzo than putting on a good match.

Elias plays a tune but Matt Hardy attacks him. Elias decides discretion is the better part of valour and legs it.

The Miz vs Roman Reigns (IC Title) - This wasn't as good a match as I was hoping it would be. It seemed like they were killing time until the interference from The Bar and the Shield. The distraction allowed Reigns to hit the spear and pick up his first IC Title. He is now a a grand slam champion. 

Overall Thoughts

This show started off pretty well, with some good matches and decent segments but it fell away in the last hour. This is the inherent problem with 3 hour TV shows. It had a couple of memorable moments.

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