WWE RAW
Episode 1382
#RAW
Original Air Date: November 18, 2019
Event Date: November 18, 2019
(aired live)
City: Boston, MA
Venue: TD Garden
Commentary: Vic Joseph, Jerry Lawler, Samoa Joe
Ring Announcer: Mike Rome
Intro Video
“Legendary” by Skillet
Ring Area
Becky Lynch heads to the ring. Becky immediately calls out Shayna Baszler and Bayley. If they want a fight, Becky is right here. Becky waits, but the IIconics come out instead.
The IIconics break some terrible news: they have somehow been left off of team RAW for Survivor Series. As Peyton and Billie enter the ring, Becky cuts them off. Becky woud like to face both of the IIconics in a match tonight. As the IIconics start to respond, Charlotte Flair comes out and heads to the ring.
Charlotte says they were supposed to tag, and even though neither of them want to team up tonight, the people in charge want Becky and Charlotte together. Charlotte asks if teaming up tonight will be okay with Becky, but Samoa Joe comes out to the stage before Becky can say anything. The show goes to a commercial break before Joe speaks. (Joe is there to do commentary in place of the absent Dio Maddin.)
Match 1
Becky Lynch (RAW Women’s Champ) & Charlotte Flair vs The IIconics
(referee: John Cone)
Result: Charlotte submits Billie Kay with the Figure Eight
Time: 2:16
Match Thoughts
Despite The IIconics getting a little offense on Charlotte, this was barely more than a squash.
Ring Area
After the match, Becky and Charlotte leave the ring at the same time. When they get up to the stage, Shayna Baszler, Jessamyn Duke, and Marina Shafir run in and attack The IIconics. Charlotte and Becky run back down to the ring and brawl with the NXT superstars. Shayna and her friends take down Becky and Charlotte, then they walk away out through the crowd.
Becky and Charlotte get up and chase after Shayna and her friends, but security stops them. Becky decides to punch a security guard.
Backstage
Charly Caruso welcomes Zack Ryder and Curt Hawkins. They earned a tag title shot at a recent live show, and they’re ready for their opportunity. The Authors of Pain walk up and beat up Hawkins and Ryder.
Ring Area
The OC heads to the ring. AJ Styles states for the record that he’d love to defend his US Title against Humberto Carrillo tonight, but Carrillo disrespected him last week. Gallows says when you disrespect one member of The OC, you disrespect all of them. That’s why Karl Anderson is going to beat up Carrillo tonight.
Match 2
Karl Anderson w/ Luke Gallows, AJ Styles (US Champ) vs Humberto Carrillo
(referee: Eddie Orengo)
Result: Humberto Carrillo wins via pinfall with a small package (and some leverage assistance from the Street Profits)
Time: 6:14 (1 break)
Match Thoughts
Good match. It had a roll-up finish which I’m rarely super happy about, but at least there was a little twist on it. The rest of the match was fun. The Street Profits came out early in the match to counteract anything Styles and Gallows might try to do, and Dawkins and Ford did their job well.
Backstage
Charly Caruso welcomes Seth Rollins. Rollins says he’s never backed down from a challenge. As a leader, he had to accept Andrade’s challenge to take his spot on team RAW. Rollins admires Andrade, but this isn’t Monday Night Andrade (yet). It’s still Monday Night Rollins.
Ring Area
Bobby Lashley and Lana head to the ring. Lana says she filed for divorce this morning, and she also filed a restraining order against Rusev. Lana screws up twice when she tries to explain the restraining order.
Match 3
No Way Jose vs Bobby Lashley w/ Lana
(referee: Darrick Moore)
Result: Bobby Lashley wins via KO with a full nelson
Time: 1:28
Match Thoughts
Squash. Also, Lashley used a full nelson as his finisher. This whole segment made me sleepy.
Match 4
Seth Rollins vs Andrade w/ Zelina Vega
(referee: Shawn Bennett; if Andrade wins, he will take Rollins’ place on team RAW at Survivor Series)
Result: Seth Rollins wins via DQ when the Lucha House Party attacks him
Time: 11:54 (1 break)
Match Thoughts
This was a great match, but unfortunately the match had a non-finish due to Survivor Series related interference. I’d love to see this match happen again when they can actually have a finish. I like a lot of the Survivor Series buidlup, but this is at least twice now that team-building matches have had cop-out finishes (it happened when Nikki Cross had a chance to join team SmackDown last week). They can do these attacks at another time, or make the attacks seem like the other brands would prefer to face certain people. Like, have them attack Andrade with the reason being they’d rather not face Seth Rollins. Or something like that.
Ring Area
Lucha House Party continues to attacks Rollins after the match. Then they move over and attack Andrade. Rollins gets back up and helps Andrade clear the Lucha House Party from the ring. Alone in the ring, Rollins tells Andrade that they’ll face each other again sometime.
Backstage
Buddy Murphy knocks on Aleister Black’s door. He doesn’t immediately get a response, so he walks away. Just as Murphy goes off screen, Alesiter Black opens his door and looks around for who knocked.
Backstage
Triple H arrives with three large vehicles.
Match 5
Akira Tozawa vs Buddy Murphy
(referee: John Cone)
Result: Buddy Murphy wins via pinfall after Murphy’s Law
Time: 6:41
Match Thoughts
Very good match. Murphy was strong, but Tozawa had a burst of offense that turned into near-complete domination as the match went on. Tozawa looked great, but Murphy only needed one or two moves to turn everything back around in his favor. Still, this was a very good showing for Tozawa.
Backstage
Erick Rowan again does baby talk to a screen, just like last week.
Backstage
Buddy Murphy calls Aleister Black out of his room. Black faces Murphy, and they stare at each other.
Ring Area
Erick Rowan carries a covered cage as he heads to the ring for a match against a guy named Alex Malcolm. As Rowan enters the ring, the Singh brothers run out. The Sings are being chased by R-Truth, but Rowan knocks down both Singhs with a clothesline at ringside. R-Truth sees Rowan and decides to run away rather than try to pin Samir Singh for the 24/7 Title.
Match 6
Alex Malcolm vs Erick Rowan
(referee: Darrick Moore)
Result: Erick Rowan wins via pinfall with an iron claw slam
Time: 0:53
Match Thoughts
Squash. The Singh brothers were also squashed at ringside.
Backstage
Charly Caruso welcomes Randy Orton. Orton has heard the Viking Raiders are looking for a fight, so he tells Caruso to tell the Raiders that he’ll be waiting in the ring with a partner of his choosing.
Match 7
Kevin Owens vs Drew McIntyre
(referee: Eddie Orengo)
Result: the match ends in a No Contest when Triple H comes out and heads to the ring
Time: 14:03 (1 break)
Match Thoughts
This was a great match that kept getting better and better as it went on. Both men seemed evenly matched throughout, and they both had great moments of offense, counters, and resiliency. I loved this match up until the non-finish. Once again, the Survivor Series buildup ruined the final moments of the match. It wasn’t an attack this time though. Triple H’s music started playing, and then the match just stopped as Triple H came down to the ring. After a commercial break McIntyre and the referee were just gone with no explanation and no finish to the match. It was lame. They could have done that a different way.
Ring Area
In the ring, Triple H speaks to Kevin Owens while the Forgotten Sons, Damian Priest, and Dominik Dijakovic stand at ringside. Triple H first talks about how much he loves Boston. Magic happens in Boston, and tonight is no different. Triple H would like to make some magic with Owens.
Triple H says he’s here for a similar reason to why he approached Seth Rollins. But Owens is different than Rollins. Owens, maybe more than anyone, legitimized NXT. Owens was taken from NXT by people who didn’t understand that they didn’t want him. They didn’t want him because he was too talented and too smart. That’s why Owens was fired from the main roster. Owens doesn’t belong on RAW, but Triple H knows where he does belong.
As Triple H continues talking, Cedric Alexander, Buddy Murphy, Ricochet, and Mojo Rawley attack the NXT guys at ringside. In the ring, The Undisputed Era attacks Owens. The OC runs out and chases the Undisputed Era out of the ring.
Backstage
Charly Caruso welcomes Humberto Carrillo. Carrillo is very happy.
Backstage
Paul Heyman talks about how Brock Lesnar ended up defending his WWE Title against Rey Mysterio at Survivor Series this coming Sunday. Heyman says Lesnar is fine after the steel pipe attack from Rey last week, and he’ll be 100% at Survivor Series. Lesnar would like for the title match to be No Holds Barred. Spoiler: it will be either a miracle or a massacre.
Backstage
Charly Caruso welcomes Rey Mysterio. First, Rey congratulates Humberto Carrillo on his upcoming title match. Next, Rey says he accepts Lesnar’s challenge to a No Holds Barred match. Rey has his pipe with him, and the pipe will be at Survivor Series as well. Rey is going to make Lesnar pay.
Match 8
Asuka w/ Kairi Sane (Women’s Tag Champs) vs Natalya
(referee: John Cone)
Result: Asuka wins via pinfall after a kick to the head
Time: 4:39
Match Thoughts
Good match. Kairi of course made her presence felt in the match, but overall Asuka was just a step or two ahead of Natalya all match long. I was happy with this, especially because I’ve been nervous about Asuka and Kairi losing lately.
Match 9
Randy Orton & Ricochet vs The Viking Raiders (RAW Tag Champs)
(referee: Shawn Bennett)
Result: Orton and Ricochet win via DQ when SmackDown superstars attack Orton
Time: 4:16 (1 break)
Match Thoughts
Watching Ricochet and Ivar interact was a lot of fun, but the ending of this match was inevitable. We saw a quick cutaway of SmackDown attacking members of the RAW roster (Eric Young and Cedric Alexander) during the match, then the SmackDown superstars cut the match itself short when they attacked the men in the ring.
This match was also a little confusing. It was supposed to be a title match for Hawkins and Ryder, but they were hurt earlier in the night by AOP. Then Orton decided he would fight the Raiders with a partner, but there wasn’t a mention of it still being a title match. Because, why would it still be a title match? It wouldn’t. Then when Mike Rome announced the match, he didn’t say it was a title match. He just said it was a tag team match. But then we saw a title match graphic (i.e. an image of the RAW tag belt) and the hashtag on the screen was “#tagteamtitles.” I had to look it up on WWE.com. Sure enough, for whatever reason, it was still supposed to be a tag title match. Why? And did Mike Rome not know? It was confusing, but it didn’t even matter. It was all just an excuses for another non-finish and another big brawl.
Ring Area
After the match a big brawl breaks out between SmackDown and RAW. Then NXT joins the fight. The combatants from SmackDown are Cesaro, Robert Roode, Dolph Ziggler, Heavy Machinery, and the Lucha House Party. From NXT are Tommaso Ciampa, Matt Riddle, Keith Lee, Isaiah “Swerve” Scott, Lio Rush, Pete Dunne, The Forgotten Sons, Damian Priest, Killian Dain, Dominik Dijakovic, and the Undisputed Era. From RAW are Randy Orton, Ricochet, The Viking Raiders, Seth Rollins, The OC, the Street Profits, and Humberto Carrillo.
Triple H appears on the screen. He says NXT will prove that they are the “A” brand at Survivor Series. But before that, he says that the doors will be left wide open this Wednesday on NXT. If RAW are SmackDown want to come over, they are more than welcome. Back in the ring, NXT has taken over.
Show Impressions
I’m excited for Survivor Series, but I’ll kind of be glad when it’s over. I liked a lot of the matches tonight, but the non-finishes because of attacks from other brands are getting frustrating. The attacks don’t have to interrupt matches, especially matches where titles or other stipulations would be interesting to see play out.
Match of the Night
Akira Toawa vs Buddy Murphy
On principle, I’m not picking any of the matches that were interrupted by attacks. So even though Andrade versus Rollins and Owens versus McIntyre were great, I’m not picking those tonight. Tozawa versus Murphy was a very entertaining match, and even though it would have been given more time on 205 Live or probably even NXT, it was still a lot of fun tonight on RAW.
Official Results: https://www.wwe.com/shows/raw/2019-11-18