WWE Raw Results, Recap, Notes: Major Title Matches Set For Next Week, Survivor Series Squad Fills Up

As Survivor Series draws closer, WWE Raw has become the hotbed of chaos on a weekly basis. This week’s edition of WWE’s flagship program was no different, with Randy Orton backed into a corner with the Survivor series’ men’s and women’s teams grappling with internal conflict.

The biggest news to come from Raw is that a pair of title matches have been set for next Monday, both with the potential to cause a huge change in the Survivor Series map. Randy Orton will face Drew McIntyre again, this time as WWE Champion after winning McIntyre’s belt at Hell in a Cell. Additionally, The New Day will defend the Raw tag titles against The Hurt Business.

CBS Sports was with you all Monday night bringing you all the results, highlights and ratings from this week’s edition of WWE Raw.

Randy Orton ready to defend against Drew McIntyre

The Miz opened the show hosting “Miz TV” with John Morrison, saying they were going to tag Randy Orton later that night against The New Day and Drew McIntyre. This led Orton to claim that Miz was setting up a situation where he would try to cash out the Money in the Bank contract after the game, but Miz and Morrison said they just wanted to win because it could put them in line for face New Day for Raw tag titles. That, in turn, made New Day stand out before Orton hit Kofi Kingston with an RKO, leading McIntyre to run into the ring to attack Orton. Miz hit McIntyre from behind with the briefcase, allowing Orton to hit another RKO to complete the segment.

Drew McIntyre and The New Day won. Randy Orton, The Miz and John Morrison via pinfall after McIntyre hits Morrison with a Claymore. Ahead of the game, Adam Pearce informed Orton he was due to defend the title against McIntyre next week on Raw. Throughout the match, Orton did his best to avoid stepping into the ring, repeatedly refusing to log in in an attempt to not only stay clear of McIntyre, but also not to take damage that could prepare him for a Miz cash-in. After McIntyre had Morrison down, he begged Randy to join in and provide a preview of next week’s title game. Instead, Orton grabbed his belt and left. Moments later, McIntyre hit Morrison with a Claymore for the win.

Again, Orton’s volume of title challengers has been a big part of Raw in recent weeks. This added a much needed unpredictability to the top of the map. It’s clear when we talk about next week’s title game between Orton and McIntyre. Either a man wins the match and heads to Survivor Series to face Roman Reigns, as does a Miz cashed in after the match. Nothing terribly awesome happened on the schedule tonight, but compelling storylines mean the show doesn’t depend on massive developments every week. Category B

Survivor Series team chaos

Qualifying match for the Survivor series – Riddle def. Elias and Jeff Hardy via pinfall after hitting Bro Derek on Elias. The game was a bit complicated, not quite up to the quality you expect from the participants. Ultimately, Riddle managed to secure the victory to become the final member of the Raw Men’s Survivor Series team. Behind the scenes, Sheamus took issue with Riddle being on the team, telling AJ Styles he had no problem knocking Riddle’s head off his shoulders. Sheamus was then asked how Styles was doing as captain, only for Sheamus – and then Braun Strowman – to say, “AJ is not my captain.”

Riddle and Keith Lee fight. Sheamus & Braun Strowman (with special guest referee AJ Styles) via Pinfall when Riddle curled Sheamus up. Styles called the team to the ring later in the series in an attempt to bring them together, saying things went wrong last week because they were missing the last piece of the puzzle. That, Styles said, was no longer the case now that they added Riddle. Things quickly broke down into arguments between the various team members. Riddle tried to sort things out by giving the team “sick codenames”. Styles tried to give a motivational speech about every member not wanting to be embarrassed by SmackDown, but he fell apart when he called himself the team captain again, so Styles made a match for later in. night: Sheamus & Braun Strowman vs. Keith Lee & Riddle with himself as guest referee. This led to a savage match which saw Styles hit several times by accident before finally counting the fall after Riddle coiled Sheamus in the wake of an angry Sheamus kicking his own partner.

Whether WWE thought it best to write it that way or because of the pandemic, the Survivor series not relying on endless inter-brand invasions has been refreshing. Everyone plays a role here in a team that is not a group of friends but a group of men with big egos and their own personal motivations. Styles is trying to helm a broken ship, and he’s wonderful in the role. Invasions can be fun, but team conflicts, when done right, are better. Quality: B +

What Else Happened on WWE Raw?

• 24/7 Championship – R-Truth def. Drew Gulak (c) to win the title. Gulak introduced himself as a new member of The Hurt Business. After asking Gulak if he was serious, MVP said that they were not accepting new members and the group beat him up, leaving him to lie. This allowed Truth to run and score the pin.
• Shayna Baszler beats. Lana via submission with the Kirifuda pouch. It was light work for Baszler, but while she was throwing Lana at Nia Jax outside for the weekly spot where Jax Samoan drops Lana across the announcement table, she was stopped by Dana Brooke and Mandy. Rose like the problems between the members of Raw. The women’s team of the Survivor series continues. Lana thanked the duo behind the scenes later in the series, but they quickly blew her away.
• Nikki Cross took on Alexa Bliss backstage and told Bliss to choose between her or The Fiend. Bliss laughed before quickly saying that she would choose “him”.
• United States Championship – Bobby Lashley (c) won. Titus O’Neil via submission with the Hurt Lock to keep the title. The match came when O’Neil issued a challenge as Lashley and MVP were in the ring running at Sami Zayn ahead of Survivor Series. O’Neil threw a flurry of punches but was quickly locked up and submitted.
• Asuka (c) def. Nia Jax by disqualification in an untitled game after interference from Shayna Baszler. Jax wanted the match to try to show why she should be the captain of the Raw team at Survivor Series. Asuka took off quickly, but Jax managed to turn the tide. The rest of Team Raw got involved on the apron, fighting among themselves. The distraction led Asuka to lock Asuka’s lock, but Baszler ran into the ring and kicked Asuka for disqualification. Jax and Baszler then attacked Brooke and Rose before turning their attention to Lana. This, of course, led to Jax hitting a Samoan Drop across the announcement table before telling Lana that she was not on the team and simply quitting.
• Angel Garza cut a backstage promo stating that he fights to show all women that they deserve better than the rest of the men in the world.
• 24/7 Championship – R-Truth def. Akira Tozawa to win the title. It started out as a seven-a-side game. There were nine title changes in the segment before R-Truth managed to escape with the belt. Order of Falls: Akira Tozawa def. Truth, Erik won. Tozawa, Drew Gulak defeats. Erik, Tucker has won. Gulak, Gulak beats. Tucker, Tucker conquered. Gulak, Metalik def. Tucker, Dorado defeated. Metalik, Truth def. Dorado.
• Mustafa Ali won. Ricochet via submission with a Koji pouch. It was a great performance for both men with some really amazing moves. Ricochet had apparently won the match, but opted to dive into Retribution at ringside to keep them from running, which allowed Ali to recover and lock down the submission.