Here's everything that happened for the last 3 weeks in WWE & NXT for 10/30-11/17. Sorry for the delay.Here are my Raw Thoughts & Facts & Stats:
Fun opening segment & excellent promo by Drew McIntyre. I love the chaos & Adam Pearce taking control. I love the idea of a 1-on-1 match for War Games Advantage instead of an 8-Man Tag which was originally promoted.
Interesting conversation with The Judgment Day.
Raquel Rodriguez VS Nia Jax was an awful match. Nia Jax should not be wrestling a match that goes past a commercial break. She needs to be released. She is so out of shape. FACT: This was both Raquel Rodriguez & Nia Jax's 1st 1-on-1 Match since they wrestled each other to a No Contest on 10/9, so Rodriguez won 0, Jax won 1, & 1 match ended in a No Contest.
Good video on the Becky Lynch/Xia Li feud.
Interesting segment with Damian Priest & Drew McIntyre. McIntyre will be representing The Judgment Day tonight. Who's going to represent the other team?
That's so stupid. The fans pick who gets the advantage in the Women's War Games Match with the Ruffles Poll. They should be consistent & have a match on Smackdown like they're doing tonight on Raw for the Men's Match.
Awesome, it's Jey Uso VS Drew McIntyre. I wonder who Cody Rhodes will be calling to become the 5th man. Becky Lynch VS Xia Li was incredible. It was Xia's best match of her WWE Career. I have no problem with her losing 24 hours before she will be challenging for the NXT Women's Title. I love the brawl with 2 Women's War Games teams. So much chaos. FACT: This was Becky Lynch's 1st Raw since she defeated Indi Hartwell on 10/23. This was the 1st time in her Career that Xia Li wrestled 2 weeks in a row on Raw.
I'm still not ready for Survivor Series. I still have to do my Survivor Series Preview.
Solid segment with Imperium.
Good video package on Zoey Stark & Rhea Ripley. The match should be solid at Survivor Series.
Johnny Gargano VS Ludwig Kaiser was awesome. I love the dissension continuing between Kaiser & Giovanni Vinci. LOL WWE with their BS about #DIY & Imperium's History. They never wrestled each other until their match in October. They never feuded in NXT. FACT: This was Johnny Gargano's 1st 1-on-1 Match since he defeated Giovanni Vinci on 10/23. This was the 1st time since he defeated Matt Riddle & Otis on 7/31 & 8/7 that Kaiser wrestled 2 consecutive 1-on-1 Matches. This was the 2nd 1-on-1 match between them after Raw on 10/16, which was won by Kaiser, so they each won 1 match.
Silly segment to set-up the Fatal 4-Way Women's Tag Team #1 Contender's Match. Thanks to Fightful Select I knew about the match & have all of my Facts ready to go.
OK segment with Zoey Stark, Shayna Baszler, Rhea Ripley, & Dominik Mysterio.
Kayden Carter & Katana Chance VS Maxxine Dupri & Ivy Nile VS Indi Hartwell & Candice LeRae VS Natalya & Tegan Nox had its moments. Every team had a chance to sign. I like that Natalya & Tegan Nox won to make them officially the #1 Contenders, since they already got it after Tegan defeated Piper Niven in a 1-on-1 Match last week, but Charlotte Flair & Shotzi should also be #1 Contenders after defeating Green & Niven in a Non-Title Match a few weeks ago on Smackdown. Chelsea & Piper were good on commentary. And it was another match with 2 segments. They're giving a lot of time to all of the matches. Also, I love the focus on the Women's Division with 3 matches tonight. The entire Raw Women's Division has wrestled except for Zoey Stark, Shayna Baszler, Rhea Ripley, Chelsea Green, Piper Niven, Nikki Cross, & Valhalla. FACT: This was Kayden Carter & Katana Chance's 2nd Tag Team Fatal 4-Way Match & 1st since they won the NXT Women's Tag Team Titles on NXT on 8/2/22, giving them a Fatal 4-Way Record of 1-1-0. This was Maxxine Dupri's 1st Tag Team Fatal 4-Way Match in her Career & was Nile's 2nd Tag Team 4-Way & 1st since she & Tatum Paxley lost to Carter & Chance on NXT on 8/2, giving her a Tag Team Fatal 4-Way Record of 0-2-0. This was Indi Hartwell & Candice LeRae's 1st Tag Team Fatal 4-Way in their Careers. This was Natalya's 5th Tag Team Fatal 4-Way in her Career & 1st since she & Shotzi lost to Ronda Rousey & Shayna Baszler at WrestleMania 39 on 4/2/23, giving her a Fatal 4-Way Record of 1-4-0. Tegan Nox is Natalya's 5th partner in Fatal 4-Way Matches (teamed with Beth Phoenix (4/7/19 WM 35), Shayna Baszler (4/3/22 WM 38), Sonya Deville (8/26/22 SD), & Shotzi (4/2/23 WM 39) & will be Tegan Nox's 1st Tag Team Fatal 4-Way Match in her Career.
Interesting segment with Imperium. LOL. They can't say who The Miz will tie with for most Intercontinental Titles if he defeats GUNTHER at Survivor Series.
Fun segment with all of the tag teams. A Tag Team Turmoil Match next week. That will be fun. I thought they would add a Tag Team Battle Royal to Survivor Series. That would be too much. I wonder what Adam Pearce & Nick Aldis will be talking about.
Great segment to build for The Miz VS GUNTHER. I love Miz mentioning all of the former IC Champions. And I like GUNTHER being the bully. But a face like Miz should not have to resort to a low blow.
OK segment with Jey Uso & Seth Rollins.
Wow, Ivar VS Reed will be a war.
Chad Gable VS Shinsuke Nakamura was an awesome match. Tonight's Raw has been filled with excellent matches besides 1 match. FACT: This was Chad Gable's 1st 1-on-1 Match on Raw since he lost to Bronson Reed on 9/18. Shinsuke Nakamura (Japan) was Gable's 7th match in a row against a Non-American (lost to GUNTHER (Austria, 7/31 RAW), def Giovanni Vinci (Italy, 8/14 RAW), def GUNTHER by CO (Austria, 8/21 RAW), def Ludwig Kaiser by DQ (Germany, 8/28 RAW), lost to GUNTHER (Austria, 9/4 RAW), lost to Bronson Reed (Australia, 9/18 RAW). Shinsuke Nakamura was the 2nd time this year that The Alpha Academy wrestled the same opponent 2 weeks in a row, as Gable (9/18) & Otis (9/25) wrestled Bronson Reed. This was the 2nd 1-on-1 Match between them after Smackdown on 5/28/21, which was won by Nakamura.
I heard there was a Bronson Reed Promo, but I was out of the room, so I missed it. Solid card for Saturday's Survivor Series. Great video on War Games. I don't have any facts yet since I haven't had time to work on my Preview yet.
Cody Rhodes said he's in. Who's he? It would have been fun if Sami Zayn talked to Kevin Owens. He would have been perfect to be part of the team since he had issues with The Judgment Day before being traded to Smackdown.
Jey Uso VS Drew McIntyre was a tremendous match. And of course Drew McIntyre won since the heels always have advantage in War Games. I love the brawl afterwards. I love Cody Rhodes announcing Randy Orton as their 5th man. It was expected but I'm so happy that he's finally coming back after exactly a year & a half. He last wrestled on Smackdown on May 20, 2022. FACT: This was Jey Uso's 1st 1-on-1 Match on Raw since he lost to Damian Priest on 10/23. This was Drew McIntyre's 1st Raw since he defeated Sami Zayn on 10/23. This was the 3rd 1-on-1 Match between them after Smackdown on 11/13/20 & Raw on 9/18, which were both won by McIntyre.
Here are my RAW Match Rankings:
1) Jey Uso VS Drew McIntyre
2) Becky Lynch VS Xia Li
3) Chad Gable VS Shinsuke Nakamura
4) Johnny Gargano VS Ludwig Kaiser
5) Kayden Carter & Katana Chance VS Maxxine Dupri & Ivy Nile VS Indi Hartwell & Candice LeRae VS Natalya & Tegan Nox
6) Raquel Rodriguez VS Nia Jax
Overall, besides the 1st match which should have not gone 2 segments, I loved that every match was given time. Everyone was showcased. Every segment had a point to build something either for Survivor Series or next week. As always, I'm excited for a WWE PPV (not PLE).
Ends Raw Thoughts & Facts & Stats. For W/L Records, Facts, & Stats, check out
darrenswinloss.wordpress.com, which is updated with everything for the last 3 weeks.
For the Complete History of Survivor Series, which will be updated next week with this year's results, visit
darrenswinloss.wordpress.com/surseries.
And if this is the last Thoughts you read before Thanksgiving, I want to give thanks to you for supporting me & reading all of my posts. Now, enjoy Barmageddon. I will watch it tomorrow on DVR.