Opening Segment
- Baron Corbin comes to the ring, and all of the superstars are on the stage waiting. There are several security guards by the ring to protect Corbin.
- Corbin brings up Lesnar being champion, and the crowd doesn't sound too happy about that.
- Corbin announces that there are several Smackdown vs. Raw Survivor Series matches. He also says that Smackdown Live's Shane McMahon stealing the WWE World Cup from the grasp of of Ziggler was offensive.
- Baron Corbin names himself manager of the Raw team, and won't compete because of this. He names Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre to the team. When he selects Braun, we get NO reaction shots of Ziggler and McIntyre.
- Corbin says Friday was a lesson in respecting authority for Braun Strowman.
- He names Alexa Bliss the captain of Raw's team. She makes an Evolution rematch for tonight. Okay.
- Kurt Angle interrupts Alexa and challenges Baron Corbin to a match tonight to determine the captain/manager of Team Raw. It's accepted.
- Braun Strowman then comes out and Sparta kicks one of the security guards and attacks a bunch more. This was brutal.
- Strowman gets jumped and a brawl breaks out. Titus O'Neil and Bobby Lashley pummeling for underhooks was my favorite part about that brawl.
- Braun is really over and he's on the hunt for Corbin.
Riott Squad vs. Natalya, Bayley & Sasha Banks went to a no contest
6/10
- Backstage, Natalya says she's wearing her dad's sunglasses to the ring. They look ridiculous.
- Natalya locks Riott in a Sharpshooter in the middle of the ring, but a distraction allows Logan to break it up.
- In storyline, why would all of these women band together? What do they have to fight for as of this moment?
- Sasha Banks and Bayley work great together, including Bayley's stiff strikes. Bayley gets a big suicide dive, but Riott STOs her on the floor.
- This has been good work, but not a lot of heat considering where the match took place. There were two commercial breaks.
- Bayley gets the hot tag to Natayla, who has a nice release German suplex on Sarah Logan, followed by an inverted powerbomb.
- Sharpshooter on Logan in the ring, but Ruby Riott breaks Jim Neidhart's sunglasses. The match just ends. No finish.
- The Ruby Riott spot was good heat, but why didn't the match have a finish again?
- Natalya cried really good. She's playing this off as well as she can.
Apollo Crews defeated Jinder Mahal (w/ Sunil Singh)
5/10 (SHORT)
- We see an Apollo Crews inset selfie promo about how he's going to start stacking up victories. Then he's caught by a really nice flying knee.
- Alicia Fox isn't at ringside tonight. She has still been on the house show loop teaming with Riott Squad.
- Can you think of a more heatless match than this? Apollo gets the win with a press slam and standing moonsault.
- Only one Singh with Jinder tonight.
WWE Raw Tag Team Championships
Handicap Match
AOP (w/ Drake Maverick) defeated Seth Rollins (c) to win the titles.
- I like that Seth Rollins still gives a shit about the World Cup trophy.
- He's also not happy about Baron Corbin helping out Brock Lesnar.
- He opens up about Dean Ambrose stabbing him in the back, and says that it was disrespectful to Roman. Rollins seems like he's about to vacate the tag titles because he can't defend them. Corbin appears on the tron and says that isn't happening. Instead, Rollins is defending against AOP.
- AOP work Rollins over with their double team offense, including a big nasty clotheslines.
- Rollins comes back with a suicide dive, but a distraction gets AOP back in it.
- There's a terrible looking superkick spot that Rollins misses by a mile. He gets his frog splash, though.
- Suplex Powerbomb wins the WWE Raw Tag Titles.
- I dunno if I would have had AOP get this much trouble.
- Dean Ambrose comes out to great "you sold out" chants. He teases explaining why he turned on Rollins, but hit Dirty Deeds instead.
Backstage Crappenings
- The Revival plan on sending Lucha House Party back to 205 Live because they don't LIKE THEM FLIPS.
Elias defeated Dolph Ziggler
(4.25/10)
- Dolph Ziggler has a convincing conspiracy theory. A Smackdown ref ejects Drew McIntyre and Shane wins.
- "Walk With Elias" chant to the tune of One Nation Army, so he plays it. He read the room really damn well.
- He says Liam and Noel Gallagher told him that if he played his song that Oasis would get back together. The crowd goes nuts.
- Elias is a special kind of over.
- Ziggler interrupts Elias and they have a match.
- Ziggler's dropkick still looks great after a decade of him doing it.
- Elias misses a big flying elbow drop before the commercial.
- Elias is a special kind of over, and it's cool to see in today's landscape. A few years ago, it was really really hard to get a babyface over. Now WWE has three big ones on Raw in Braun, Rollins and Elias
- This is a messy, sloppy match honestly. Lots of shoot pins and brawling. They just don't have good chemistry.
- Elias gets a sloppy knee and a sitdown powerbomb but can't win. A couple of these matches have been way too long tonight.
- A bad Zig Zag lands, and these two are just not on the same page. Elias gets his foot on the ropes. Drift Away wins it.
- This may be the worst match I've seen either have on TV this year, but Elias is getting over and that's what is important in the grand scheme.
Rousey
- Ronda Rousey is out to a great ovation.
- That Rousey promo doesn't play well. If "WHILE U WERE FUCKIN AROUND I WAS DOIN REAL SHIT" is all she's got, they need to re-evaluate that.
- She makes fun of Becky Lynch going to clown college and says she's the baddest bitch in the world.
- All of this was good besides the opening. If Becky can counter with "when you were pouting about your losses for a year at a time, I was here wrestling," that would work well.
- Nia Jax shows up super smiley and says she'll be waiting for Ronda.
Nia Jax defeated Ember Moon
4.75/10
- Ember bumps like crazy off a headbutt and gets thrown around the ring by Nia.
- No reaction for this match. Nia is really slowly going through spots.
- Nia hits Snake Eyes and runs over Ember.
- An Ember cross body gets a two count, but she has an awesome discus forearm but Nia powers out.
- Nia Jax wins with a Samoan drop, and is still selling after the match.
- Tamina hits the ring. Nobody knows her damn music. She hits Ember with a Samoan drop.
BRAUN CRUSH
- Braun is hunting for Baron Corbin backstage and finds Ryan Ward taking a dumpski.
- Charly Caruso asks why Corbin set up a makeshift studio in the storage room. Braun busts through and drags a security guard by his leg. Hilarious.
- Corbin is leaving the venue, and says Angle is going to be facing Drew McIntyre instead. Braun chases his car away.
Bobby Lashley (w/ Lio Rush) defeated Finn Balor
5/10
- Lio Rush asks Lashley to show his favorite pose and he bends over repeatedly. This is fucking hilarious, pardon my French. "CHECK OUT THOSE HAMSTRINGS. THIS ISN'T WHAT IT SEEMS. IF YOU'RE OFFENDED, TOO BAD!"
- Why did we need to see this again?
- Balor gets tripped by Lio after getting the advantage. He comes back with a nice forearm.
- Lashley can't get a powerslam or a suplex, so Lio Rush distracts Balor instead. It doesn't do much, because Balor kicks him in the face.
- Lashley capitalizes on the distraction and wins with the Yokosuka Cutter.
- Drew McIntyre comes out and dares Lashley to make a move, and Lio talks him down.
- McIntyre helps Balor up and hits a Claymore on him.
Winner is Raw Survivor Series Team Captain
Drew McIntyre defeated Kurt Angle
6.25/10
- Angle jumps Drew right out of the gate but gets headbutted in the face.
- McIntyre kicks out of an Olympic Slam, and is able to get a dead lift suplex. During a commercial, Angle is sent into steel stairs.
- When Angle sells I always wonder if he's really hurt.
- Angle gets three straight German suplex, but runs into a Claymore kick.
- McIntyre doesn't pin. He's just staring Angle down.
- The crowd chants for Angle and he shoots a single leg, but the commentary team make it sound like Drew is putting him down.
- Drew offers his leg. He stuffs a takedown.
- Pre-Roman announcement, it seemed like Drew McIntyre was going a more babyface route. After the realignment, they're really establishing him as a big heel tonight.
- He calls Angle an embarrassment. Angle snags a leg and applies an Ankle Lock!
- Drew gets out and hits an Olympic Slam and applies the Ankle Lock for the submission win.
Rating guide
10- Perfect, 9- MOTY Territory, 8- Excellent, 7- Great, 6- Good, 5- Average to above average, 4- Slightly below average, 3 or below: Poor
Each match starts at a 5 and slides up and down based on entertainment, execution, time, environment, reaction and stakes. The ratings are in no way an indication of a "star rating," which is a completely different system. A standard, non-offensive "TV match" lands at a 5.The gap between 5.75-6 is generally the largest, with anything reaching 6 being recommended viewing.
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