2024-11-18 WWE RAW - REVIEW

Commentary: Joe Tessatore, Wade Barrett

Location: Grand Rapids, MI

Venue: Van Andel Arena

Attendance: 8997 (wrestling torch) 

Live TV Viewers: 1.516 million avg (wrestlingheadlines)

Note: The live in-arena parts of this episode was recorded right after the November 11 Raw as a double taping. 

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The Malapert Smark Podcast Review System:

🤯 - Mind Completely Blown!!! [+10]

🔥 - This Was Fire!! [+5]

👍👍 - Loved It! [+2]

👍 - Liked It [+1]

OrangeCassidy 1/2 👍- Kinda Liked It [+0.5]

👊 - Indifferent [0]

👎 - Didn’t Like it [-1]

👎👎 - Hated It [-2]

🤮 - Made Me Sick [-5]

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10 Angles

Totals for this episode of Raw:

Kayhan TheMalapertSmark 

👍 2.5

👎 2

👊 4

TOTAL SCORE: +0.5

Vlad TheWrestlingExpert 

👍 2.5

👎 2

👊 4

TOTAL SCORE: +0.5

Robert TheFrozenAsian 

👍 3

👎 0

👊 5

TOTAL SCORE: +3.0

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Angles:

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1) Nia Jax Willing To Form Alliance With Liv Morgan Against Jade & Bianca… Rhea Ripley Returns From Injury In Time To Join WarGames… Women’s WarGames Officially Booked For Survivor Series... Advangtage Match Set For Next Week

FIVE SEGMENTS (10:06)

-Replay: events from last Monday's Raw when Liv & Raquel lost tag title match to Jade & Bianca + events from past Friday's Smackdown when Nia defeated Naomi thanks to Liv, Raquel, Tiffany & Candice ... 

-In Ring Segment: Liv Morgan promo (w/Raquel)... enter Nia Jax, Tiffany, Candice... enter Jade, Bianca, Naomi... enter Io Sky... enter Rhea Ripley

-Backstage Segment in Judgement Day's Hangout: Finn, JD, Dom, Carlito, Liv, Raquel

-Replay: events from earlier in the day

-Announcement

🌍SUMMARY🌏

🌪️ REVIEWS 🌪️

Kayhan TheMalapertSmark - 👊

Vlad TheWrestlingExpert - 1/2 👍

Robert TheFrozenAsian - 1/2 👍

➡️COMMENTS⬅️

⭐️Kayhan: “I’ve commented that the heel alliance here doesn’t seem so sincere and this all feels like it’s been thrown together just to have a women’s WarGames, as opposed to the men’s side that is a legit, great feud. So I can’t bring myself not to be indifferent about this one.”

⭐️Vlad: "My half thumbs up is for Rhea’s return.”

⭐️Robert: ""

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2) Seth Rollins Re-Iterates His Unwillingness To Team With Roman Reigns Against the Bloodline, Although the Bloodline Get Involved and Cost Seth His Match Against  Bronson Reed

FOUR SEGMENTS (20:23)

-Video Package: Review of events from this Friday's Smackdown, highlighted by Bronson Reed joining the Bloodline for WarGames and laying out the OG Bloodline

-Graphic: Tale of the Tape for Seth Rollins vs Bronson Reed

-Backstage Segment: Seth, Jey, Jimmy, Sami

-Match: Bronson Reed vs Seth Rollins... enter Jacob Fatu, Tama Tonga, Tonga Loa... enter Jimmy, Jey, Sami... enter Solo Sikoa... winner: Reed by pinfall

🌍SUMMARY🌏

🌪️ REVIEWS 🌪️

Kayhan TheMalapertSmark - 👍

Vlad TheWrestlingExpert - 👍

Robert TheFrozenAsian - 👍

➡️COMMENTS⬅️

⭐️Kayhan: “This probably made no sense to the people there watching live that didnt see Smackdown yet. Conversely, people who were at this show weren’t surprised by Bronson Reed entering this program out of no where. This moved the story along well.”

⭐️Vlad: ""

⭐️Robert: ""

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3) LWO Defeat American Made in Mixed Tag Action… Creed Brothers Try To Uplift Gable But Gable Scolds Them For Thinking He’s a Loser

THREE SEGMENTS (11:11)

-Replay: Events from 2 weeks ago between American Made & LWO during Dragon Lee vs Chad Gable

-Match: LWO (Rey Mysterio & Zelina Vega) vs American Made (Chad Gable & Ivy Nile)... winners: LWO... Rey pinned Gable

-Post Match: enter Julius & Brutus

🌍SUMMARY🌏

🌪️ REVIEWS 🌪️

Kayhan TheMalapertSmark - 1/2 👍

Vlad TheWrestlingExpert - 👊

Robert TheFrozenAsian - 1/2 👍

➡️COMMENTS⬅️

⭐️Kayhan: “The ending was so ridiculous. Gable getting mad at the Creed Brothers for helping him up because he thinks that means they think he’s a loser.😆 It’s so ridiculous that it amused me. But initially it seemed like Gable started American Made to shift toward being a more serious character. But, no. He’s a full on comedy character still…”

⭐️Vlad: ""

⭐️Robert: ""

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4) Passive Aggressive Vibes Permeate Through Finn Balor’s Interaction With Dominik Mysterio…Judgement Day’s Dom and Carlito Take Loss Against Viking Raiders As Finn Leads the Stable For the Night… Judgement Day With a Post Match Beatdown of War Raiders Post Loss

THREE SEGMENTS (10:49)

-Backstage Segment in Judgement Day's Hangout: Finn, JD, Dom, Carlito, Liv, Raquel

-Match: Judgement Day (Dom & Carlito) vs War Raider (Erik & Ivar)... winners: War Raiders by pinfall...Erik pinned Carlito

-Post Match Afterbirth: ...enter Finn & JD

🌍SUMMARY🌏

🌪️ REVIEWS 🌪️

Kayhan TheMalapertSmark - 👎

Vlad TheWrestlingExpert - 👊

Robert TheFrozenAsian - 👊

➡️COMMENTS⬅️

⭐️Kayhan: “I’m kind of over Judgement Day breakup teases. At this point it’s long past when it would have actually paid off to break them up. And now that it’s Liv’s crew, for sure they’re not breaking up this team. So I don’t know what the deal is with Dom & Finn. But I guess tension in Judgement Day is just a theme in their group.”

⭐️Vlad: ""

⭐️Robert: ""

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5) Miz Gloats About His Acting Skills in Swerving the Wyatts Last Monday… Uncle Howdy Says He Didn’t ‘Want It To Come To This,’ Promises Bad Things To Miz

TWO SEGMENTS (3:56)

-Video Package: Miz promo

-Video Package: Bo Dallas promo

🌍SUMMARY🌏

🌪️ REVIEWS 🌪️

Kayhan TheMalapertSmark - 1/2 👍

Vlad TheWrestlingExpert - 👊

Robert TheFrozenAsian - “I SKIPPED THIS”

➡️COMMENTS⬅️

⭐️Kayhan: “I’ve heard people comment how Bo Dallas is looking more and more like Bray Wyatt everyday. And yes. That is eiree. I liked last week’s swerve and Miz finally finding an alliance. I’m interested to see where this is going. Uncle Howdy says it’s not gonna be good for Miz.😆”

⭐️Vlad: ""

⭐️Robert: ""

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6) Gunther Claims Damian Didn't Get Under His Skin Last Week, Attacks Damian Backstage But Damian Gets the Best of Gunther

TWO SEGMENTS (3:54)

-Replay: Gunther & Damian Priest Interaction from last Monday's Raw

-Backstage Segment: Gunther, Kaiser... enter Damian Priest... enter Pierce

🌍SUMMARY🌏

🌪️ REVIEWS 🌪️

Kayhan TheMalapertSmark - 👎

Vlad TheWrestlingExpert - 👎

Robert TheFrozenAsian - 👊

➡️COMMENTS⬅️

⭐️Kayhan: “What the hell happened to Gunther? Maybe he decided this wrestling thing isn’t for him and he’s getting ready to job out to Damian and retire. At least that’s what it seems like. Otherwise I don’t see the point of making him look like such shit.”

⭐️Vlad: "You know what? 👎”

⭐️Robert: ""

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7) Gunther Encourages Kaiser to Stand on His Own… Gunther’s Words Inspire Kaiser To Get Involved in the Bron Breakker vs Sheamus IC Title Match, Causing a No Contest

FOUR SEGMENTS (17:23)

-Replay: Gunther & Damian Priest Interaction from last Monday's Raw

-Backstage Segment: Gunther, Kaiser

-Replay: Events from 2 weeks ago on Speed and last Monday on Raw between Breakker & Sheamus

-Match: Bron Breakker vs Sheamus (Intercontintal Championship)... enter Kaiser... interference by Kaiser... winner: NO CONTEST

🌍SUMMARY🌏

🌪️ REVIEWS 🌪️

Kayhan TheMalapertSmark - 👊

Vlad TheWrestlingExpert - 👍

Robert TheFrozenAsian - 👍

➡️COMMENTS⬅️

⭐️Kayhan: “I felt like this felt eirily familiar. This was what they were trying to pull with Kaiser right before he left injured back in June. Caused a DQ in a match between Bron Breakker and Sheamus just to get noticed. So I guess they’re still sorta going thru with that idea all these months later.”

⭐️Vlad: "You know what?”

⭐️Robert: ""

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8) Dakota Kai Talks Return From Injury

ONE SEGMENT (1:00)

-Video Package: Dakota Kai promo

🌍SUMMARY🌏

🌪️ REVIEWS 🌪️

Kayhan TheMalapertSmark - 👊

Vlad TheWrestlingExpert - 👊

Robert TheFrozenAsian - 👊

➡️COMMENTS⬅️

⭐️Kayhan: “I guess it was a useful promo considering she’s been gone for a while. But it wasn’t that passionate or anything.”

⭐️Vlad: ""

⭐️Robert: ""

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9) Lyra Valkyria Video Package

ONE SEGMENT (1:01)

-Video Package: Lyra Valkyria promo

🌍SUMMARY🌏

🌪️ REVIEWS 🌪️

Kayhan TheMalapertSmark - 👊

Vlad TheWrestlingExpert - “I SKIPPED THIS”

Robert TheFrozenAsian - 👊

➡️COMMENTS⬅️

⭐️Kayhan: “She was really hot for a while when she came up to the main roster. I guess we’ll see if she can regain some of that momentum…”

⭐️Vlad: ""

⭐️Robert: ""

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10) New Day Acknowledge Recent Recent Relationship Issues… Xavier Goes Off on Otis Backstage, Challenges Alpha Academy to Tag Match

ONE SEGMENT (1:35)

-Backstage Segment: Otis, Tazawa, Maxine... enter Kofi... enter Xavier

🌍SUMMARY🌏

🌪️ REVIEWS 🌪️

Kayhan TheMalapertSmark - 1/2 👍

Vlad TheWrestlingExpert - 👎

Robert TheFrozenAsian - 👊

➡️COMMENTS⬅️

⭐️Kayhan: “This is a slow build to something but I’m leaning toward Kofi turning on Xavier at this point because Xavier just needs to get smacked in the mouth. Xavier’s leaning toward selfishness and Kofi is not about it. Hard to see why they’re even together anymore. I see the point that this is dragging too long. But I’ll let them do it at their speed and let’s see if the payoff is any type of worth it.”

⭐️Vlad: "At this point I’m sick of these guys.”

⭐️Robert: ""

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