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WWE RAW had a couple of big championship matches scheduled for the night just days before Survivor Series. The New Day was booked to defend their RAW Tag Team Championships against The Hurt Business, while Randy Orton had to defend his WWE Championship against Drew McIntyre.
That wasn’t all, as Team RAW tried to get along and take on RETRIBUTION during the show, while a big six-women tag team match was set for the night.
The Miz and John Morrison found themselves in trouble once again during RAW, and Lana continued her complicated relationship with the announce table.
With Survivor Series just days away, it was an interesting episode that saw some big matches of the pay-per-view change following the outcomes on the show.
Keeping that in mind, we will look at the five things WWE RAW got right before Survivor Series.
#5 Reckoning makes an impact on WWE RAW
Asuka, Mandy Rose, and Dana Brooke took on Shayna Baszler, Nia Jax, and Lana during this week’s WWE RAW. Before the match could begin, Baszler and Jax told Lana not to tag herself into the match under any circumstances.
WWE tried to sell Rose’s legitimate injury by allowing Baszler to stomp her arm on the steel steps. While we didn’t get to watch much of the action, The Queen of Spades locked Asuka in the Kirifuda Clutch to try and pick up the victory. However, Lana tagged herself in and ruined the situation, getting caught in the Asuka Lock in the process.
Jax repaid Lana by putting her through the announce table for the ninth consecutive time with a Samoan Drop.
Following the match, Brooke was providing a backstage update on Rose’s health. Reckoning arrived and attacked Brooke, taking her out by putting her through some equipment crates. Following the attack, Rose and Brooke were both taken out of Team RAW due to injuries and Peyton Royce and Lacey Evans were added in their place.
While there seems to be no logical reason why Royce and Evans took their place, it was good to watch Reckoning finally make an impact on the women’s division.
We’ve seen her appear with the men of RETRIBUTION but not compete in any matches yet. She’d made her intentions of going after Asuka’s RAW Women’s Championship clear, and this could be the first stepping stone for the former NXT Superstar.
#4 RETRIBUTION get the better of Team RAW before WWE Survivor Series
On the final episode of the Red brand before Survivor Series, Team RAW took to the ring together and we saw AJ Styles hand out matching t-shirts to his teammates. However, no one was interested and Riddle took a few jabs at the self-proclaimed team captain and his bodyguard.
Team RAW faced RETRIBUTION and it seemed like WWE had booked the match to put over the Red brand's Survivor Series team. Styles took to the commentary desk and watched as tempers ran high between his teammates.
While T-Bar, Mace, and Slapjack tried to isolate Riddle, we saw Keith Lee enter the ring and take everyone down. After some more messy spots, Ali was able to roll-up Riddle after knocking him into Strowman to pick up the victory for his team.
Not only was this match messy, but it also lacked big spots keeping in mind the talent involved. However, the only thing WWE did right was put down Team RAW again and gave RETRIBUTION the biggest victory they’ve scored to date.
It will be interesting if WWE somehow gives Team RAW a victory at Survivor Series which could end up being a big surprise.
#3 Bray Wyatt and Alexa Biss have the last laugh on WWE RAW
Earlier on WWE RAW, The Miz and John Morrison made their intentions clear by claiming that they were going to target the WWE Champion. The two also mocked Bray Wyatt, something they shouldn’t have dared to do.
Wyatt called out The Miz on the Firefly Fun House following the comments he’d made. Miz tried to talk Bray Wyatt out of the match, but Alexa Bliss made it clear that Wyatt would not back out.
Before the match began, Nikki Cross caught up with Bliss and tried to bring her back to reality before a fight between the two women broke out.
While The A-Lister used everything in the tank to take down Wyatt, he was unable to take him down. Bliss took Morrison out with a crossbody, following which Wyatt caught The Miz with Sister Abigail to pick up the victory.
This was a fun match that helped Wyatt to stay on RAW and take out someone who’s eyeing the WWE Championship. WWE has kept Wyatt close to the Championship picture for some weeks without fully launching him into it. This will allow them to build some interesting storylines post Survivor Series.
#2 The New Day retains the WWE RAW Tag Team Championships
MVP represented The Hurt Business and spoke about how the faction needed to represent WWE RAW at Survivor Series. Cedric Alexander and Shelton Benjamin were prepared to take on The New Day and take the RAW tag team titles away from them.
The challengers started strong and took the fight to Kofi Kingston. However, after Kingston made the tag to Xavier Woods, the champions were able to make a comeback.
The action was traded throughout the contest and all four men managed to get some big spots during the clash. Kingston was able to brave through an Angle Slam and a Brainbuster and was able to score the victory with a Daybreak with Woods.
The match between the two teams was as good as expected, and even though many expected The Hurt Business to take the titles away from New Day, we did not get that swerve on RAW.
Instead, we will now watch a dream showdown between two of WWE’s best tag teams which could help elevate the entire Survivor Series show. Benjamin and Alexander have proven that they have improved a lot together and could end up winning the titles post-Survivor Series. This could help The Hurt Business gain a lot more traction on the RAW brand.
#1 The Claymore changes everything for WWE RAW before Survivor Series
How many times have we seen the men’s Champion vs. Champion match for WWE Survivor Series take a swerve less than a week before the event? Drew McIntyre was set to challenge Randy Orton for the WWE Championship on this week’s RAW, and Sheamus gave McIntyre a kilt and a sword to help him remember his Scottish roots.
The Scottish Psychopath took control of the match early and Orton decided to walk out of the match. However, Adam Pearce appeared to make the match a no count-outs and no-disqualification match.
This allowed The Viper to use several weapons in the fight, but McIntyre’s power kept allowing him to make a comeback. The two men used the RAW announce table better than Nia Jax, and it seemed like the match could go either way.
Orton managed to avoid a few Claymore attempts, but an RKO was countered by McIntyre following which he hit a vicious Claymore to pick up the victory and his second WWE title on RAW.
This was a good match and the result allows fans to get what they were looking for. We’ve watched a heel McIntyre compete against a face Roman Reigns a few times, but with the roles reversed, this match feels much grander.
Will the new WWE Champion be able to put down the greatest heel in the business today?
