WWE RAW was live from Rio Rancho Events Center in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, for the first time, and it is hard to believe that there are still new territories left for WWE to conquer. The build of the show revolved around CM Punk’s vacant heavyweight title win over Jey Uso at this weekend’s Saturday Night’s Main Event in Salt Lake City.
With Survivor Series: WarGames coming up and SNME: John Cena’s Final Match Edition scheduled for December 13, along with a bracket-style tournament starting next week to determine an opponent, there is plenty of un-booked programming in desperate need of a storyline, and there are no more Mondays to waste. For example, tonight’s program will lay the groundwork for next week’s RAW, as drawings to determine the tournament’s first-round matchups for the “Cena lottery” were pulled and announced.
JOHN CENA TOURNEY
The first two opening rounds matches:
Rusev vs. Damian Priest
Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Sheamus
Nic Aldis is scheduled to draw the next two set of matches expected to take place a week from Friday on SmackDown.
CM PUNK—MO’ HEAVYWEIGHT TITLES, MO’ HEAVYWEIGHT PROBLEMS
One of the most notorious rappers of all time summed it up best: ‘mo money mo problems,’ but when it comes to CM Punk, who just won his second heavyweight title (and has already held it 10 times longer than his first reign), more heavyweight titles bring more heavyweight problems in the form of Bron Breakker and Bronson Reed.
The new Vision crashed Punk’s ‘flower(s)’ party as Paul Heyman blueprinted last week, but fans were first fooled with Logan Paul ‘answering the call’ for Punk’s first challenger. ‘He said anybody,’ was the logic Paul used when it was evident that Punk had no interest in entertaining the YouTuber’s title ambitions—he suggested that Paul move over to the blue brand and challenge Ilija Dragunov’s U.S. title open challenge.
Breakker spoke about “patience” and how he’s had to use it over the past few weeks after taking out Seth Rollins in his RAW-ending turn on the then WWE champ. However, Breakker was completely out of patience, and he, along with Reed, beat down Punk while Logan made his way to Gorilla.
LOGAN PAUL JOINS ‘THE VISION?’
MAIN EVENT: BREAKKER & REED VS CM PUNK & JEY USO
Tonight’s main event didn’t feel like ‘a new era’ of RAW with Punk as champion, but it did further fuel the anticipation for a Jey Uso heel turn. In a backstage segment, Heyman was shown talking with Jey and used some coded language for the former heavyweight champ.
He told Jey that he ‘has his own vision’ after Punk sparked the ‘lil Roman’ story, and while it’s not clear if Heyman is trying to recruit Jey for The Vision (which doesn’t make much sense), it suggests that Paul at least believes Jey has what it takes to lead his own heel faction.
There are so many different superstar teasing turns, and that is after names like Sami Zayn all but abandoned those plot lines, but Jey has the heel momentum and could benefit from a ‘repurposing,’ even if his “Yeet” gimmick remains strong in many ways.
For Reed and Breakker, they debuted matching spiked leather jackets—they definitely had a vibe. They made their entrance into the ring while Punk played up the ‘buddy act’ with Jey—hugging him and keeping a firm arm around ‘his friend.’
We were never getting a clean finish from this one, and the match concluded in a double count-out with the climax happening after the match. After battling on the outside for a while, including a huge Breakker spear on Jey, three men ended up facing off in the middle of the ring, each holding a chair.
With Jey on the floor and Punk outnumbered 2-to-1, Logan Paul ran down to make the save (without entrance music, showing he meant business). Paul grabbed his infamous brass knuckles and appeared to side with Punk, but just as they were about to make their move, Paul delivered a DEVASTATING (sucker) punch to Punk.
Punk’s jaw was absolutely rocked, and his body just dropped flat on the canvas as the New Mexico fans began booing Paul out of the building with another curse-filled chant. More interesting, Paul removed his brass knuckles and seemed to side with Heyman, who appeared more than happy to expand his list of clients.
It’s not completely certain that Paul joined The Vision, and there are many ways for Paul to collaborate with Heyman and The Vision without full indoctrination, but it opens up several interesting possibilities. The Paul(s) combination could be huge—Mania huge.
DOM GETS ‘GROUNDED’ BY PAPPA REY
The current WWE Intercontinental and AAA MEGA dual champion Dom Mysterio was booked for a rare solo promo in front of a crowd that made it difficult to determine if he’s a heel or face. Smartly, the segment’s booker knew this could be a problem, so they booked Rey Mysterio (recently medically cleared to compete) to quickly follow up on Dom’s opening remarks.
The love Rey received properly set the character dynamics, with Dom clearly positioned as the heel amid chants of ‘Holy S***’ from the excited crowd. Rey confronted Dom about his self-proclaimed title of “king of the luchadores,” and throughout, Rey mentions names like Blue Demon and El Santo to challenge his claims.
But it was when Rey uttered the name Eddie Guerrero that the crowd truly popped and began chanting his name—Dom brilliantly retorted by asking Rey not to bring up ‘his father’s name.’ Dom admitted he was better than Eddie, and then accused Rey of trying to ‘steal his mustache’ look. It was difficult for Dom to maintain a full heel schtick, and the crowd started a ‘dirty Dom’ chant mid-promo.
Dom claimed he was better than every lucha including Rey, and Rey’s response triggered Dom into swinging on his biological father. Rey ducked the shot and reversed the attack on Dom by landing a 619 before the IC champ rolled out under the ring before Rey could hit his high-risk maneuver. It would be difficult to make sense of this match ending up on a WWE-branded show, and it is likely that WWE is using their TV programming to help build towards this Triple A showdown.
DOM ON THE OUTS W/THE JUDGEMENT DAY
It’s easy to forget about The Judgment Day these days, and it seems like most storylines from this year have been either forgotten or abandoned. However, Dom’s role in the faction is unstable as Finn Balor gave the IC champ a dressing down after he came in complaining about them not helping with his father.
Dom got blamed for Finn and JD’s tag team title loss, so Roxanne suggested he go out to help the boys reclaim their tag titles from AJ Styles and Dragon Lee.
AJ STYLES & DRAGON LEE(c) VS THE JUDGEMENT DAY—TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP
Dom tried to help Finn and JD (or did he?), but his effort ended up causing their loss. After AJ kicked him, Dom jumped onto the apron to distract the referee while the illegal man in Finn tried to land the coup de grâce on AJ, only for him to hit JD. Dom was taken out, only to try and use his IC title on AJ, when Sheamus came out to even the odds.
Despite all that, Finn managed to use Sheamus’s cane on Styles only for Dragon Lee to break up the pin, and, moments later, AJ secured the pinfall victory over JD for a successful defense.
PENTA VS EL GRANDE AMERICANO
Penta, fresh off his unsuccessful bid for Dom’s IC title at SNME in the triple threat match alongside Rusev, tried to get back into the win column against El Grande Americano, accompanied by both “Bravo Americano” and “Rayo Americano.” The real-life Ludwig Kaiser was an incredible talent long before he ever put on the mask, but his time as EGA has allowed him to tap into a completely different superstar.
The match he had with Penta was terrific, but his character has been lacking direction ever since Chad Gable donned the lucha mask. Yet, the gimmick is still ‘over’ with the fans and used in multiple segments throughout RAW.
Penta was able to get into the win column by defeating EGA despite a loaded mask and outside interference. However, without a significant feud or program, a victory over this gimmick doesn’t do much to prove the winner’s worth.
BECKY LYNCH BACK IN BLACK… SHE SAYS THIS, SPORTS ILLUSTRATED SAYS THAT
Becky Lynch was given the ‘table top’ segment for the evening, a routine spot for a ‘rogue’ promo, and she delivered her usual routine. Screaming into the mic, Lynch insulted the New Mexico crowd by claiming that the only thing to ‘come out of the town’ was a TV show about “how much meth” they do — it was hilarious heel heat. Interestingly, Lynch drew backlash when she used this schtick related to late-rock star Ozzy Osbourne — coincidentally (or not), Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs” is being used as the ‘theme song’ for Survivor Series: WarGames.
She ended her promo by challenging Maxxine Dupri to a final showdown, though she only gave a vague idea of the stakes that almost made it sound like Dupri couldn’t challenge for the title ever again, but that was not clear.
THE KABUKI WARRIORS VS BAYLEY & LYRA VALKYRIA
Following Becky’s promo, she crossed paths with Asuka and Kari Sane mid-entrance on their way to the ring. It’s unclear if this was a hint at future pairings or just a strange coincidence, but you should assume it was done intentionally.
The match progressed with the inconsistencies between Bayley and Lyra as the backdrop to a highly competitive match. In the end, Asuka reversed Lyra’s high-risk move and converted it into a submission victory.
The tag champs Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss came out to confront the Kabuki Warriors.
STEPHANIE VAQUER & NIKKI BELLA VS THE JUDGEMENT DAY
Roxxanne Perez pinned Nikki Bella for the second consecutive week, this time in tag team action with Raquel Rodriguez. The loss triggered a storyline where Nikki started to question whether she can even ‘hang’ with this new wave of superstars. It’s unclear where any of this is heading, but it’s obvious that Nikki is currently seen as a non-factor—yet, all of this could easily develop into a compelling program.
For all her help, Vaquer will have to defend her title against Raquel next week, a match that Nikki admitted was ‘her fault.’
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