Tonight’s Survivor Series: WARGAMES go-home episode of WWE Monday Night Raw emanated from Oklahoma City at the Paycom Center—home of the reigning NBA champs OKC Thunder— and aside from furthering storylines for this Saturday’s PLE, the quarterfinals of the John Cena “Last Time Is Now” tournament also took place as we near his final appearance on December 13’s Saturday Night’s Main Event.
You could argue that the SS: WG ‘go-home episode,’ the one meant to put the final touches on the main event storyline, took place last week when both Lesnar and Roman Reigns were named as the fifth members, respectively, to each of the Wargames teams. Their returns marked a huge momentum swing for a PLE that seemed to exist in the shadow of the Cena Sweepstakes.
BLACK EYE, BLUE SUIT, FACE CODY FACES OFF W/TEAMMATE ROMAN REIGNS
As teammates, Cody Rhodes and Reigns have made it work before, though nothing will outweigh their work as rivals in an all-time great program that culminated at WrestleMania 40. That is why Roman opened without uttering a word, only for Cody to turn up and stoke the fires.
Roman admitted that when it comes to Cody, they do not know each other very well, and neither superstar carries warm feelings for the other. This harsh truth was in response to Cody asking Roman ‘What’s in it for him’ when it comes to this fight. Reigns was not going to allow Cody to take the moral high ground and reminded him that he has been at war with ‘The Vision,’ and that Cody was just now joining the fight—it was compelling stuff.
As Roman further explained that, for him, half of this team is his family, CM Punk took the opportunity to remind Roman that, as the heavyweight champion, Punk carries more weight than any former ‘Bloodline’ members.
Punk traded words with Roman, claiming to be on ‘good terms’ after he “saved” Roman’s life at last November’s PLE when they were brought together by Paul Heyman—the man that has once again united them, only this time in ‘hate.’ Roman kept it all the way 100 by admitting he dislikes Punk and Cody all the same, but Punk revealed his reasons for trusting Roman, and they had nothing to do with the bonding of brotherhood.
Punk said that Roman will not turn on the team because it would mean turning on The USOs, and the rest of the convo was bickering over ‘whose team’ it really was, as Punk took issue with Cody welcoming Roman to ‘his team’ when they were on RAW/Netflix and not SmackDown/USA Network.
The segment ended when Roman made one final ominous comment—claiming ‘the title’ would look better on his shoulder without acknowledging which belt he was referring to, and when Punk asked for clarification, Roman simply walked off with a half-grin on his face.
A narrative was introduced in this segment that could be telling for this weekend’s main event, the 5V5 Wargames match, and if Roman is not turning heel out of loyalty to his cousins, then it begs the question of whether Jey and/or Jimmy feel the same way towards their former Tribal Chief.
THE USOS VS LOGAN PAUL & DREW MCINTYRE—WARGAMES: ADVANTAGE
They let Logan do ‘funny’ in a backstage segment in the first hour of RAW. The segment was meant to get over Brock Lesnar’s appearance on tonight’s episode, as well as directing his heat towards Roman. Logan was informed that he would be Drew McIntyre’s partner tonight in a huge main event tag match with real stakes.
The face team was huddled in the backstage area prior to the opening segment, USOs included, and they pleaded with Punk, Cody, and Roman alike to quit with the mind games and focus on winning the main event. A win tonight gave the winning team the ‘advantage’ at Wargames, which allows for an extra man throughout the match until the final 5th team member on each squad has entered the cage.
Other than a semi-missed splash, this was a very good tag team match with more technical prowess than expected. Of course, the ‘tag match’ turned into a full-on preview for Wargames on Saturday as The Vision interfered before Cody and Punk made their way out to the ring.
The distraction cost the faces as Jey Uso leaped out of the ring to take out both teams, which allowed for Logan to pull the rollup on Jimmy for the 1-2-3 as the heels ended up with the Wargames advantage. After the match, Roman made his way out, and the faces were able to hold their ground inside the ring.
Just as the heels seemed to be walking off, defeated and momentum squashed, leading to Saturday, Brock Lesnar’s music hit, and the heels found their courage. The ten men sent RAW to black as they battled amongst one another in a star-studded schmoz.
DOMINIK MYSTERIO GOES LOW ON JOHN CENA AHEAD OF THEIR IC TITLE MATCH AT SURVIVOR SERIES
Dom came out to cut a scathing promo on Cena just days before their intercontinental title rematch at Saturday’s Survivor Series: WARGAMES. Dom had some major league trolling planned as he introduced “John Cena.” That is when the music hit, and a little person dressed as Cena came out to go along with the bit.
Dom eventually booted the mini-Cena, and that is when Rey Mysterio came to the rescue in hopes of getting his hands on his son before his match with JD McDonaugh. Rey picked up the win over JD, even with Finn attempting to interfere.
THE LAST TIME IS NOW TOURNAMENT
GUNTHER VS CARMELO HAYES—Quarterfinals
Gunther is a week removed from his first-round affair with Je’Von Evans in which he went life and death with the NXT upstart. Many were surprised by how much the odds-on favorite to win the Cena sweepstakes struggled with Evans, who, to be fair, has been trending upwards. For ‘Melo,’ he pulled the upset victory over Bronson Reed via countout last week.
This was another highly competitive contest, at least within the context of Gunther being the favorite, and in one spot, Gunther went for his patented powerbomb, only to have it reversed into a Melo DDT. In the end, not even Gunther’s chokehold was enough by itself, and he needed to combo it with a powerbomb, but was finally victorious via pinfall.
PENTA VS SOLO SIKOA—Quarterfinals
With much of the first round taking place without an actual bracket to reference, it all felt random as the first round unfolded, leaving little real knowledge of potential matchups. That all changed a few weeks ago, and now we know exactly how this tourney is laid out, and tonight’s winners will face off in the semi-finals.
This greatly helps promote the individual tourney matchups, as the winners get the chance to build the program outside the Cena Sweepstakes parameters.
Tonight’s match, however, ended oddly as the ref called for the bell during the match after Penta appeared to injure himself after hitting Solo with a ‘hurricanrana’ off the barricade and onto the outside mat. Solo was announced as the winner of the match after the ring announcer said Penta could no longer compete. It is difficult to tell where the kayfabe begins and ends with this one, but it does protect Penta’s character if this does go as booked.
Now, we will get Gunther versus Solo to decide who will go to the finals on this side of the bracket as we draw closer to Cena’s final match on December 13.
WOMEN’S WARGAMES
The heels were out in full force to begin this segment, and despite the fact that Auska had been the leader of this team since she started strategically targeting allies and enemies alike. However, Becky Lynch took the lead tonight in the promo and used words that referred to her team as more of a faction than a one-off team of five.
The face five eventually came out with AJ Lee last to receive an intro and first to grab the mic on her team. She spoke about Becky’s insecurities and fears while addressing the entire team of heels. The whole thing ended in a giant schmoz of a preview for Wargames.
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