The Staples Center hosts tonight’s post Survivor Series episode of Monday Night Raw on 11/19/18 live from Los Angeles, CA.
Acting RAW GM, Baron Corbin, is out to begin the broadcast. He relishes the success of the self-proclaimed “A” brand after their “clean sweep” of Smackdown last night.
Corey Graves thankfully references the Usos winning the tag team elimination match during the pre-show, as the willful ignorance is anything but refreshing. Corbin invites Stephanie McMahon out and she plugs the show as well. Corbin plays to her promise that victory would bring rewards, and he wants to be named the permanent General Manager of RAW.
Before Stephanie McMahon can do so, they are both interrupted by the “Monster Among Men” Braun Strowman, who clamors for his Universal Title shot as well as his promised match with Corbin. McMahon says that if Corbin beats Strowman at TLC, he’ll be the permanent GM, and since he gets to name the stipulation for the match, it’ll be a TLC match for the two.
Corbin says he plans to soften his up before the show and he books Strowman in a handicap match against Drew McIntyre and Bobby Lashley. McMahon changes it to a six man tag and that’ll be next. Strowman will team with Elias and Finn Balor against Lashley, McIntyre and Corbin himself. Corbin adds an elimination stipulation to the match as well before it gets underway.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoJALlqCp3I&w=560&h=315]
Braun Strowman/Elias/Finn Balor against Braun Strowman/Bobby Lashley/Baron Corbin is thrown out after an injury to Braun Strowman.
The elimination rule matters little thanks to poor booking as Balor is eliminated first following a Claymore Kick from McIntyre.
Elias is counted out after he lays hands on Lio Rush and Lashley spears him out of his boots, a very impressive spot.
Strowman is set to eliminate Corbin with the running powerslam, but it’s quickly broken up by McIntyre and that’s when things go haywire. Strowman is viciously assaulted by the trio and ultimately, we see a spot where Strowman hand is tied down on the ring step by Lashley and Corbin uses the steel ring steps to injure the elbow of the Monster. The match ran almost the entirety of the first hour after the fifteen minute opening promo, so outside the “Dusty” finish, it was competitive before that.
Strowman is writhing in pain, stating he can’t feel his fingers or move his arm and we head to the first commercial break with Strowman leaving on his own, but the commentary team questioning how the injury will effect his match with Corbin.
Seth Rollins, the Intercontinental Champion, is out after the break and he celebrates the weekend, putting over NXT: Takeover as well as Survivor Series. He thanks Smackdown US Champion, “The Artist” Shinsuke Nakamura for a quality match and looks forward to another bout down the line.
He said he spent time thinking about the history of the Shield and his relationship with Dean Ambrose, as we were shown the clip from last week’s show where Ambrose burned his Shield vest. Rollins said while Ambrose was on the shelf, he never returned a phone call.
Rollins references that he learned more about Ambrose from the WWE special than he had in six years, never hearing him use the word “love” until he referenced loving WWE. He doesn’t want to wait until TLC to handle their affairs, and he calls Ambrose out.
Ambrose appears on the video wall, and he says he isn’t falling for anymore tricks. He invites Rollins backstage to come find him and Rollins give chase. Ambrose isn’t there and instead, Rollins is made to look unstable as he attacks security backstage and leaves some local jabronie in a heap. The mind games from Ambrose are indeed working.
Natalya and Ruby Riott are scheduled for singles action later tonight.
We see highlights of Ronda Rousey, the Raw Women’s Champion, and the savage beating she took from Charlotte after her DQ victory last night. Bayley and Sasha Banks make their way to the ring for a tag team bout against Nia Jax, the “Facebreaker”, and Tamina, it happens next.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHujz4QB9oI&w=560&h=315]
We see a promo for NXT staple Lars Sullivan, and the brute will be arriving soon to torment either Raw or Smackdown’s roster with his patented Freak Accident. Raw would be a sound home for the monster, but we’ll see.
After the break, Alexa Bliss is on commentary as the tag team bout gets underway.
Nia Jax and Tamina defeat Sasha Banks and Bayley via pin fall after a Samoan Drop from Jax on Bayley.
Bayley and Banks are quite competitive before the first break and Alexa Bliss is putting over Jax and Tamina on commentary. The heels take charge for a while and the crowd is burying Jax after she injured Becky Lynch, ruining the potential Survivor Series main event. They are running with it and Jax is ever the cocky heel, and she’s playing to the haters.
Tamina is carried through most of the match as expected, but just as Tamina is about to take the loss, Jax nails Bayley with a hard right hand to a chorus of boos as Bayley is then rag-dolled before Banks breaks up a pin fall attempt. Bayley tries to make the comeback, but a Samoan drop keeps Jax looking dominant as she nears her forthcoming title match with Rousey.
Charly Caruso is backstage trying to interview another Raw “hero” as Dean Ambrose interrupts her on a video screen. He asks for Rollins to meet him at the spot that the Shield used to call home.
Rollins is giving chase down a hallway after another commercial break and he heads into what appears to be a boiler room, where he happens upon a door that says “Burn It Down”. The mind games continues.
We see the unfortunate clip from Survivor Series where the Big Show grabbed 205 Live GM and AoP Manager, Drake Maverick, and made him pee his pants. Maverick is getting plate of food where a bunch of RAW jobbers are making jokes about him soiling himself, he does have a fun exchange with Chad Gable, and unfortunately, it devolves into sophomoric humor and leads nowhere. We head to the ring for the Lucha House Party in tag team action.
Lucha House Party defeats the Revival via pin fall after a Shooting Star Press on Dawson from Dorado.
“Top Guys” are their opponents and the match is announced as “Lucha House Party Rules”, which equates to all three members of LHP being allowed to compete in the match. We see high flying from the faces and strong, technical prowess from Dash and Dawson.
Dash and Dawson control the pace of the match towards the end, but ultimately, they continue to miss the pay window trip on Raw as LHP comes away with the victory after Wilder is eliminated from the match and then Dawson is put into position for the shooting star press from Dorado, which sealed this one for the faces.
Seth Rollins, still on the search, is interviewed by Charly Caruso. Rollins says he’s frustrated and furious, especially when Ambrose stated that Roman Reigns got what he deserved. We see Ambrose walk by casually out of the segment before Titus O’Neil narcs on him, telling Rollins where he was headed.
Here comes the Raw Women’s Champion, battered, bruised, but still all smiles. She gets a massive reaction and rightfully so after the beating she took last night. You can see all the welts from the kendo stick all over her legs as she climbs onto the apron and into the ring.
A split “We Want Becky, No We Don’t” chant breaks out as the crowd gets behind the potential Wrestlemania match. Rousey references how dangerous Nia Jax is, pushing the punch on Lynch in the process. Rousey says after she taps out Jax, the next chapter of Rousey and Charlotte Flair is going to be written.
Rousey says she didn’t come to LA to hit her poses and play to the crowd, she came to fight. She came out to be a true champion and a true champion battles when they are down and out, defending the mountain top on their worst day. She takes off her jacket and we see the damage from last night, all the welts in full view of the cameras.
She says to hit somebody’s music, because if she can’t defend the title tonight, she doesn’t deserve to be champion.
Baron Corbin comes out and denies her request for competition. He is thinking in her “best interests” after what happened last night. Rousey pleads her case and she says she never pulled out of one fight and that’s what makes her the baddest women on the planet. She says if he can’t find anyone, maybe he wants a shot at the champ?
He says he’ll grant her request and after the break, we find out it’ll be Rousey against the veteran, Mickie James.
Ronda Rousey defeats Mickie James via submission with the arm bar.
James gets in some very early offense, but it is quickly thwarted as Rousey shows her tenacity by powering through it. She hits three judo slams before applying the armbar and putting this one away. She leaves to a great showing of respect from the LA fans.
As she stops atop the ramp, Nia Jax and Tamina make their presence known and they quickly leave, as mind games seem to be the theme of the evening.
Before we head to another break, we see footage of the shockingly good match between Universal Champion, Brock Lesnar, and the new Smackdown World Champion, Daniel Bryan. That one was certainly worth watching.
Penance is coming for Chad Gable and Bobby Roode after they mocked Drake Maverick earlier this evening. They’ll be doing business against AoP in a non-title bout.
Bobby Roode and Chad Gable defeat AoP via pin fall in a non-title match after a Sunset flip from Gable.
Gable and Roode made their entrance before the break and it isn’t long until the crowd is mocking Maverick for what happened yesterday evening, but Gable and Roode aren’t laughing as AoP goes to work early with their brutish strength and power offense.
The crowd is now chanting “AoP-Pee”, that’s pretty clever actually.
AoP keeps their offense going until Gable gets an arm-trap submission on the ropes and he makes the tag to Roode, who comes in and is a house of fire. Roode sidesteps a charge before hitting a blockbuster. Gable is tagged in, and as Roode is dispatched, Gable hits a sunset flip and he scores the pin fall for the upset! The victory surely puts them in position for a title opportunity in short order.
Dean Ambrose is backstage again, leaning on some barrels, he said it has been fun watching Rollins run around the arena, like a “lunatic”. He tells Rollins to grow up after he references Rollins getting angry about his comments about Roman Reigns. He plans to crush him, shatter his bones, and he says something smells. Is it LA, or the fear of Seth Rollins? He says if Rollins finds him, there will be no explanation or no apology.
Ruby Riott and Natalya, and their very personal rivalry, has escalated, and that singles match is next.
Natalya defeats Ruby Riott via pin fall with a rollup.
After a very personal feud that started with the destruction of a pair of sunglasses given to her by her late father, Natalya was able to extract a measure of revenge on Riott tonight as she caught her with a well-timed reversal into a rollup for the victory.
This feud will probably continue, but Natalya gets the victory tonight.
The show ends with Dean Ambrose finally showing up, trashing LA, only for Seth Rollins to run out to get him some. Rollins is working over Ambrose, but a sagely executed low blow and two Dirty Deeds see Ambrose standing tall once again this week. He receives a chorus of boos for his effort, but he has masterminded this feud and the pot continues to boil as we head towards TLC.
