411’s WWE RAW Talk Report: Sheamus Has Respect for Pete Dunne, More

-We are an hour earlier than usual thanks to RAW being 2 hours for the rest of the year. I’ll take it as it will give me an extra hour to watch Ed. Yes, I am watching a TV show from the early 2000s that I have warm and fuzzy memories of and could never find streaming of, but God Bless YouTube. Let’s get to it!

-We get right to the close of RAW as they teased Sami being able to take the World Title from GUNTHER, but it didn’t happen to the dismay of the fans in attendance. GUNTHER puts Sami to sleep and retains his World Title. It would have been a great moment if Sami won, but it’s GUNTHER and the man needs to keep rolling over people as the new big bad.

-We quickly go to Cathy Kelley, who is standing by with Sheamus. He is sporting some wounds from the battle with Pete Dunne. Sheamus notes Dunne graduated from BANGER academy. “Butch is dead. Long live Pete Dunne.” Great stuff from Sheamus as he put over Dunne huge here noting he was a tough bastard. “I sure as hell respect you.” Again, big props to Sheamus here!

-Megan Morant welcomes us to the show and is joined by Sam Roberts. They discuss Dunne/Sheamus and bring up Seth Rollins calling out Bronson Reed.

-We get a Bad Blood video package and it’s pretty great. WWE production always CRUSHES things like this as they can make anything seem like a classic and the most important thing you have ever seen. Even with The Rock making his return, the video package closes and focuses mostly on Punk/Drew Hell in A Cell. Match was everything I wanted and I can see it winning Match of the Year (on the WWE side). I am torn as I still think Cody/Roman should win because of how historic it was and the crazy nature of it, but Punk/Drew was amazingly brutal and a perfect way to end their feud.

-Video package covering all the legends that attended Bad Blood!

-Next April: Mania 41: Vegas!

-Halloween Havoc is back in NXT this October! It warms my heart they are still using that PPV name and the logo pays homage as well.

-SummerSlam is 2 nights at MetLife Stadium next year! I still think The Rumble going two nights makes sense and I am sure we will get there sooner than later. I am cool with the big shows going two nights as it does get more people on the card and in the case of The Rumble, you can split the two Rumble matches up.

-Crown Jewel! Man, we are getting a lot of commercials on this show now.

-Speaking of Crown Jewel, it will be Cody Rhodes vs. GUNTHER for the Men’s Crown Jewel Championship. For the women it will be Liv Morgan vs. Nia Jax for the Women’s Crown Jewel Championship. I see some hating this and I understand as far as it having the Saudi Arabia issues, but I am fine with the idea of the two Main Champions facing off each year. I liked it when they did it at Survivor Series and at least now they have something to fight for with the new title.

-Jackie Redmond is backstage with Damage CTRL. They are going to take back control of the Women’s Division as they are going to take back the Tag Team Titles.

-Next week Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill defend their Tag Titles against Damage CTRL on RAW.

-Still to come, American Made, The New Day, and Final Testament. So, are they stretching this show out to an hour to make up for what RAW has lost?

-Braun Strowman hype package and it’s lengthy one! They really might be using this show to throw in stuff they can’t on RAW. Give me some matches then. I’ll talk Truth vs. Miz on this show. Yes, I said it!

-Tomorrow night NXT is live from St Louis with Randy Orton taking on the Young OG, Je’Von Evans. I have enjoyed our Young OG since he first showed up on Level UP and it’s crazy to see that they have him facing Orton this soon after his debut. We get a video package to hype their match.

-Tomorrow on NXT we also get Oba Femi defending his North American Title against Tony D.

-Also, Axiom and Nathan Frazer defend their NXT Tag Titles against A Town Down Under.

-Also, also Fatal Influence take on Jade/Bianca and Kelani Jordan.

-To the video as Xavier Woods challenged Jey Uso for the Intercontinental Championship. Nice tribute to Shawn/Shelton with the superkick spot. Jey gets the clean win with the top rope splash. Here’s Bron Breakker who spears the stuffing out of Jey. Kofi wants to help, but Woods tries to pull him away. Kofi has to do the right thing and gets speared. Woods gets the running spear on the floor for not listening to his own advice and leaving.

-New Day are backstage selling the ribs and Woods wants to know why Woods wouldn’t shake Jey’s hand and then help him. Woods is tired of it always being on him. He lost and doesn’t feel he needs to. Kofi says Jey is his friend, but Woods says that was their beef. Woods mentions he is supposed to be the QB and he isn’t sure what they are doing now. They are definitely cramming in stuff here that they want to do on RAW without having matches.

-Next week on RAW it’s Bron Breakker vs. Kofi Kingston. That should be a good get back win for Bron.

-Let’s plus Saturday Night’s Main Event, but it seems Sam jumped the gun and we will get there later.

-American Made and Final Testament still to come!

-Indianapolis hype video as they are getting Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, and SummerSlam over the next handful of years. Pat McAfee lets us know it starts Feb 1, 2025 with The Royal Rumble.

-WWE Shop commercial as they want to sell some replica Championships!

-Saturday Night’s Main Event commercial! Here is my latest Retro Review of SNME in 1990 following WrestleMania VI.

-NXT on UPN!

-Cathy Kelley is with Chad Gable and he is a good mood after the win over Kofi Kingston. He is our hero like George Washington. He seems Tag Gold coming to The Creed Brothers very soon. Chad is apparently Batman as he is the hero we need and we never have to say thank you.

-Cathy Kelley is now with The Final Testament and she brings up Miz vs. Truth for next week. Kross feels really back for the human being, Mike Mizanin. He has done nothing wrong, and his group backs him up on that claim. He is just here to make sure everyone gets along.

-Sam and Megan talk Truth/Miz as we go back to last week where Miz turned on Truth to end Awesome Truth. Again, Miz is better off as a heel as his face run is always best being a short run.

-We get a segment called RAW Slammin 7: 7) Carter flying off the top, 6) Dunne getting slammed on the announce table, 5) Jey Uso hitting The Uso Splash for the win on Woods, 4) Sami Zayn getting his head ripped off with a GUNTHER clothesline, 3) Bron Breakker spearing the stuffing out of Jey, 2) Sami hitting a Helluva Kick against the railing on GUNTHER, and 1) Sheamus hitting White Noise off kegs through a table. That was awesome!

-Michael Cole narrated history package on Saturday Night’s Main Event. Good stuff here! They explain SNME was a replacement for when SNL would be dark. NOSTALGIA all through this video package and it makes me so happy! THE MEGAPOWERS! PERFECT SMASHING THE BELT! HOGAN/WONDERFUL CAGE MATCH! I love this all so, so much! They even cover the 2006 reboot that never hit anywhere close to what we had in the 80s/early 90s. SNME returns Dec 14 at 8 PM on NBC!

-Jackie Redmond is backstage with Jey Uso and she asks how much pain he is in and he says a 9. Jey appreciated the match with Woods and hopes he finds his way as he is battling something. JEY NOTES THAT WOODS ISN’T EVEN HOOKING THE GAME UP ANYMORE. Somewhere angels are weeping! Jey takes his shot at Sexy Red and he will be at NXT tomorrow night!

-To the video as GUNTHER and Sami had the crowd rocking and believing we could see a World Title Change, but GUNTHER is inevitable and crushes dreams while putting Sami to sleep.

-Megan and Sami discuss Cody vs. GUNTHER at crown Jewel and we see RAW closing with both men standing next to each other with their respective Championship Belt held high. I have high hopes for the match as they delivered at The Rumble in 2023.

-Sam’s Five Stars of The Night: 5) Seth Rollins 4) Bron Breakker 3) Karrion Kross 2) GUNTHER 1) Dominik Mysterio

-That gives us a chance to show Dom falling out of the shark cage and hanging upside down.

-Megan wraps things up and we are done with this supersized edition of RAW Talk.

-We will see how long this new format lasts and I appreciate the effort in trying to get some angles advanced and people covered that may not show up on RAW with it only being two hours. Thanks for reading!