Cook’s WWE Raw Review 11.2.26

Hey kids! Steve Cook here with you for the latest edition of WWE Raw on Netflix! We are early this week since they need to tape two TV shows tonight before heading to Saudi Arabia. You won’t read me complaining about this because the Louisville men’s basketball opener is at 9 PM and I’m happy I’ll get to watch it! We’ve got an Intercontinental Championship match, a grudge match and two trios matches, and we’ll also hear from Roman Reigns & John Cena! It’s a busy night in Brooklyn for sure.

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Cook’s WWE Raw Review 11.2.26

Then. Now. Forever. Together!

We’re in Brooklyn! John Cena will be live! The Vision are HANGING OUT! Chad Gable is WALKING! Ethan Page is WALKING! Chelsea Green & Tiffany Stratton are WALKING! Joe Tessitore & Wade Barrett are our hosts.

Roman Reigns’ music hits! The OTC makes his way to the ring. After making his entrance, Roman notes how everyone wants his attention, but the fans are who he wants to pay attention to. The secondary champion Sami Zayn was running his mouth last week, the biggest haters of them all the 946 have been trying to get at him for a minute now. The Bloodline walked into San Diego and whooped the 946’s ass!

Sami Zayn’s music hits! Sami makes his way to the ring while some of the crowd sings. Not most, some. Sami finds it a little crazy that Roman’s wasting his breath talking about the 946 when they have a match a few days away. Sami talked some last week, and doesn’t blame Roman for not being in Fresno. He doesn’t have to be in Brooklyn either, but he came. They should say what they have to say to each other’s face, family to family & champion to champion.

Roman is confused, when we talk about family we aren’t disrespectful. Roman says that Sami benefitted most from the Bloodline. If Roman didn’t bring Sami in, Sami wouldn’t be part of this company and he definitely wouldn’t be a champion. Sami wouldn’t be making all these millions he’s making now. When Roman found him, he was Johnny Knoxville’s little bitch doing jackass kinda things. Sami says that everyone remembers that WrestleMania 38 match, the fact they do says something. They’ll remember it in 20 years as one of the most memorable matches at WM history, while nobody remembers Roman’s match at WM 38. The most memorable thing Roman did in the last five years was get hit with a chair by Sami. He’s not going to get disrespected and have others take credit for his work. Sami deserves Roman’s undivided attention and will get it one way or another. The only thing Sami deserves from Roman is a “you’re welcome“. He’s the reason that title exists in the first place. All Sami does is whine and sound like a little ho. Roman doesn’t pay attention to little hoes! This is Sami’s final week on the Island of Relevancy. After this weekend, nobody will talk about Sami again. Roman asks for Brooklyn’s acknowledgement and leaves. Sami doesn’t seem pleased.

Joe Tess & Wade talk about that and about the Intercontinental Championship Match tonight. They throw us to a video building up the match with Chad as the honorable champion and Ethan saying everyone else is undeserving of the shot.

WWE Intercontinental Championship Match: Chad Gable (c) vs. “All Ego” Ethan Page: Chad with some tape on his shoulder, one can expect Ethan to be all over that. Alicia Taylor makes the special in-ring introductions. Is it just me or does Gable resemble Christian Cage facially? Gable takes Page down right away and hits some strikes until Page responds with an elbow. Page targets Gable’s neck and sends him hard into the turnbuckle. Page goes for a suplex but strikes Gable in the back instead before choking him on the ropes and hitting Snake Eyes. Gable is placed up top, Page goes for a back superplex, Gable knocks him off with an elbow, Page avoids the moonsault but Gable hits a clothesline and then clotheslines Page to the floor. We go to commercial!

We return and Gable comes off the top with a crossbody, Page rolls through for a two count. Gable with a couple of nearfalls. A crucifix gets two on Page, but then Page hits a Hot Shot and a big boot for two. Page goes to the rear chinlock. Gable fights out with some chops. Gut shot to Page, then a side legsweep. Gable sent to the apron, he drops down and yanks Page to the mat before bouncing his left knee off the ringpost. Gable kicks at Page’s leg, then hits a dragonscrew. A hanging dragonscrew, then some rolling German suplexes. Page blocks the Chaos Theory and yanks the turnbuckle off in the process, then bounces Gable’s neck into the top rope. Series of reversals leads to Gable rolling into an anklelock on Page! Page reaches the rope and goes outside so Gable can Angle Slam him on the announce desk. Back in the ring, Gable hits a moonsault for two! Page rolls outside, Gable follows him and gets yanked into the barrier. Page lifts Gable up and slams him over the barrier into the timekeeper’s area! We go to commercial!

Gable belly to bellies Page off the top as we return. Cover gets two. Gable keeps favoring the neck & shoulder. Gable goes up top and delivers a diving headbutt to Page’s outstretched feet. Cover gets two for Page. They trade shots, Gable gets the advantage, he hits the Chaos Theory for two! Chad couldn’t bridge for the cover. A Twisted Grin from Page gets two! Page goes for the Egoplex, Gable blocks it and goes to the anklelock! Page tries to get out, finally gets to the turnbuckle and kicks at Gable. Gable re-joins him, but Page hits a powerslam off the top for two! They go back up top, Page is in powerbomb position and Gable stacks him up for two and then into the anklelock! Gable is pushed off, and Page sends him into that exposed turnbuckle! Page hits an Egoplex and HISTORY IS MADE IN BROOKLYN!

Winner: “All Ego” Ethan Page (12:14 shown via pinfall)
Match Rating: ***1/2
The one thing that kinda bugged me as an old person was the part where they kept going up to the top turnbuckle to fight each other. Once or twice, maybe, but it was way more than that here. Other than that I thought it was really good and Page should make for a pretty great chickenshit heel IC Champion.

Page celebrates in the aisle as pyro goes off behind him.

Joe & Wade talk about the Vision beating down Penta & Je’Von Evans last week. Penta, Je’Von and Dragon Lee will take on the Vision later tonight!

We see a video package covering the issues between Royce Keys & Solo Sikoa. Jimmy & Jey hype up Solo, then Roman walks in and shakes hands. Roman is here to watch Solo tonight, he’s not going anywhere. I was thinking about this acknowledging that Roman rarely stays around all night and wondering how that hits these days. Bill Watts would certainly be spinning in his grave. Is that a part of the business dying off, or was it always overblown and wrestlers rarely stuck around for a whole show? You know how stories can be.

We see clips from last Friday’s SmackDown where Liv Morgan promised to eat Chelsea Green alive, then Tiffany Stratton, the Judgment Day & IYO SKY all appeared to set up our next match.

Chelsea Green, Tiffany Stratton & IYO SKY vs. Liv Morgan, Raquel Rodriguez & Roxanne Perez: This Judgment Day theme certainly hits harder than “Trouble”. Tiffany & Roxanne start of, Roxy with the headlock, off the ropes, big slap to Tiffy! Tiffy with the cartwheel, then a dropkick to Roxy. Raquel tags in, gets sent into the ropes. Chelsea tags in and they double team with charges. Raquel slams Chelsea down and tags Liv, who goes right to work with a snap mare and some punches. And some posing! Raquel tags in, Chelsea evades the double team and sends Roxanne outside before diving onto Raquel & Liv! Tiffy with a dive to Roxy, and IYO with a moonsault to Raquel & Liv! We go to commercial!

Raquel working over IYO as we return. Raquel with a slam and a cobra clutch. IYO fights out, knocks Roxanne & Liv down before running into Raquel. Raquel misses an elbowdrop, IYO tries to get the tag, Raquel pulls her away and knocks Chelsea off the apron. Tiffany avoids it and is still on the apron. Raquel gets double stomped by IYO. Tiffany & Liv tag in! Strikes to Liv, Roxanny knocked off the apron. Tiffy with a cartwheel into an Alabama Slam on Liv! Swanton bomb gets two on Liv. Liv goes to the eyes and tags Raquel. Tiffany hits a springboard stunner. Tiffy cartwheels into Raquel, Raquel grabs her and hits a powerbomb! A twisting Vader Bomb misses Tiffy. Chelsea & Roxanne tag in. Chelsea hits a German suplex, then some sling blades. Enziguri to Roxy, who gets sent into the corner but hits Pop Rox on Chelsea for two. Tiffy ranas Raquel, Roxy kicks her down! Chelsea hits an Unprettier on Roxanne. Raquel yanks Chelsea out of the ring, Tiffy joins them, Liv dropkicks IYO over the barrier. Chelsea superkicks Liv, goes for the Unprettier but Liv pushes her into a slap on Roxanne. Liv hits Oblivion on Chelsea and gets the three count!

Winners: The Judgment Day (7:24 shown via pinfall)
Match Rating: ***
Well this certainly bodes well for Chelsea’s chances on Saturday. As we know, the person getting pinned on the show before the PLE is the one winning at the PLE. Unless they’ve completely given up on Chelsea and are going to beat her in Riyadh as well, and have Tiffy cash in on Chelsea there too. I should probably stop giving people ideas. As for this match, it was pretty fast-paced and hectic, but in a good way.

Royce Keys is surrounded by 946 and tells Solo Sikoa that it’s them one on one and nobody’s safe.

Coming up next: John Cena Live!

Matthew Rhys is here tonight! Just him? OK then, I was expecting a few more in Brooklyn. We zoom in on what appears to be a covered wrestling championship belt.

John Cena’s music hits! Cena comes out in his jorts & t-shirt of the night and invites Alicia Taylor into the ring to give her introduction. The greatest of all time! The never seen, seventeen, celebrating with each and every one of you tonight in Brooklyn. Cena says this is where you bring yourself to make a big announcement. Tonight we’re talking John Cena Classic! He’s got three major announcements tonight. The first is the when & where. December 14 at Disney World! There will be two Raws on December 14, one from Perth and one from Disney World. Second is the what, as in the brand new never seen John Cena Classic Championship Belt that he’d like to debut right here & now. It kinda looks like the spinner belt with a more current WWE feel to it. Cena’s name is on this event, it stands for perseverance, hustle, loyalty & respect. Club WWE members will be allowed to vote. Third is who will be in the John Cena Classic. There can only be one first invitee, and that person is…

Cody Rhodes’ music hits! Cody makes his way to the ring while the fans sing. Quite the dark green with red stripe ensemble Cody is sporting. Cena says the fans know that Cody is number one. Number one sets the pace & tone. Cena will show up on more Raws & SmackDowns and will be going to NXT to make sure the field is absolutely stacked. Cena says that Cody is carrying the role of QB1 better than he ever could. The event is about Cody and what he stands for, and he’s glad to invite him to the John Cena Classic. Cody & John hug.

Randy Orton’s music hits! The Viper wanders down while Cena storms off past Orton! The fans sing about the voices in their heads while Randy enters the ring. Randy takes a microphone while Cody drops his and takes his suit jacket off. Randy’s sorry to interrupt the circlejerk, but Saturday’s coming up fast and he wants to talk about Last Man Standing and what it means to them. To Cody’s it’s a stipulation that he has zero experience with. To Randy, it means something more. You could call him the Last Man Standing. Look where he came from and look who he came up with. He was working with the likes of Cena, Lesnar, Batista and they’re retired now. He’s happy for them, but that’s not for him. He’s third generation, He found the best surgeons he could to repair his back, and he will have his back repaired again. He will be a professional freaking wrestler, which is what he loves to do. Orton wrestled Dusty at the 2007 Great American Bash in a bullrope match. He retired Dusty that night and was the Last Man Standing. If Cody’s American Dream was to be just like his dad, Randy will make sure that dream comes true at Crown Jewel. (Damn, that was one of the best Orton promos I’ve ever seen. Dude showed some fire & emotion here for sure.)

Joe & Wade throw us to footage from last week when Bayley beat Lyra Valkyria in a No Disqualification match. Bayley then asks Adam Pearce what’s next for her. Before Adam can answer, Jade Cargill & the Baddies interrupt. Bayley & Jade get up in each others’ faces. Bayley has heard all about how pathetic they are, and it’s nice to see that it’s true. Bayley walks off while Jade & the Baddies stare.

Penta, Je’Von Evans & Dragon Lee vs. Bron Breakker, Bronson Reed & Austin Theory (w/Logan Paul & Maxxine Dupri: Theory & Dupri have Pacers gear on, which I think is their clever attempt to get some cheap local heat because Pacers/Knicks, but this is the Nets arena and the only people Nets fans hate most years are their own team. I think they already sold enough of those Penta briefcases to cover his salary. Gotta say that I’m not sure about the wisdom of Penta & Evans getting Lee for this spot. They might have wanted to go with one of their larger friends, considering Reed’s size & Breakker being Breakker. All six men fight at the start, Theory & Evans end up being in the ring, Theory with a kick and snap mare. Reed tags in and sentons Evans. Tag to Breakker, tag to Theory. Theory holds Evans for the spear, but Penta trips him up. Evans tags Lee, Lee with a wrecking ball dropkick to Theory. Reed is kicked outside, Penta dives onto all three Vision members! We go to commercial!

We return and Lee is getting backbroken and run over for a two count. Breakker sends Lee to their corner and tags Theory. Theory runs into a boot in the corner. Tag to Reed, who misses a senton. Penta & Bron tag in, Penta with some kicks for Bron’s leg. Sling blade by Penta, then the handstand sternum stomp gets two on Bron. Bron blocks a Penta Driver with a knee. Evans tags in and Penta & Evans superkick Bron down. Theory makes the save on the two count and sends Je’Von into the corner. Tornado DDT from Lee to Theory. Reed powerslams Lee. Penta kicks Reed, Bron clotheslines Penta. Bron misses spearing Evans and tumbles outside. Logan gets the briefcase and tries to give it to Theory, Penta backs up Paul until Reed runs him over. Lee superkicks Reed into the announce desk, then Reed hits a Jagged Edge on the floor! Evans dives on top of Reed! Red Dot to Theory in the ring! Theory avoids the Cutter, then holds Evans for the spear by Bron that gets the three count.

Winners: The Vision (6:34 shown via pinfall)
Match Rating: ***
Perfectly decent action here building towards the tag match on Saturday. Evans & Penta don’t really feel like a team to me, not that Breakker & Theory really do either, so I’m not really sure what’s going on there other than giving these guys things to do. Hey, maybe it’ll click.

Solo Sikoa is WALKING! He notices Adam Pearce & Rey Mysterio talking about something on his way to the ring.

We see clips explaining how there will be two Raws on December 14th. Joe explains that established stars on Raw & SmackDown will face wrestlers from NXT, and there are things to pre-register for. I’m sure we’ll have an article that will break everything down for us. I’m also sure I won’t be writing it!

Joe & Wade run down the Crown Jewel card.

JACKIE REDMOND is with the Judgment Day. Liv says it’s just another day in the office, nothing matters because Judgment Day is the greatest faction. She runs through her catchphrases until some noise interrupts from the other room! It’s Jade, Michin & B-Fab beating the snot out of Bayley and sending her into cases! Y’know, I approve of this, we haven’t seen enough quick backstage beatdowns like that on this show lately. Everything feels long & drawn out, that one wasn’t.

Solo Sikoa vs. Royce Keys (w/Jaida Parker): A team of security surrounds Keys & Parker as they make their way through the crowd with very little lighting and no music. They stare at each other as the match begins. Keys with some punches in the corner, then some boots. Solo with some chops to Keys, then some headbutts. Keys runs right into Solo off the ropes. Elbow to Keys, Keys rolls outside. Keys punches Solo, then re-enters the ring and cross-bodies him. Keys with some jabs to Solo in the corner, and mounted punches there until Solo drops him on the turnbuckle and climbs up for some punches of his own. Solo clotheslines Keys over the top rope as we go picture in picture for the first time tonight.

Solo & Keys fight on the floor. Keys avoids getting whipped into the steps and sends Solo into them before suplexing him on the apron. Some running elbows by Keys, then a running knee. Keys mounts Solo on the mat and punches him before delivering two running splashes for a near-fall. Rear chinlock by Keys. Solo powers up before getting taken down.

Vertical suplex by Keys as we go back full screen. Keys talks some smack and we go mute for a few seconds before Solo fights back with punches. Keys hits a snap powerslam for two. Some elbows in the corner by Keys. Keys wants to know where Solo’s family is. Royce misses in the corner, and both men clothesline each other. Punches are exchanged. Solo off the ropes with a flying clothesline, then a running elbow in the corner leads to Keys going down for the running hip attack…until he pops up and clotheslines Solo. Solo back drops out of a move and then hits that hip attack. Solo misses with the Spike, and Keys hits a Sky High for two. Jaida talks to Wade while Solo & Keys go up top. Solo blocks the superplex and Keys flies off. Uso Splash off the top! 946 appear! They attack Solo and there’s the disqualification.

Winner: Solo Sikoa (10:24 via disqualification)
Match Rating: **3/4
There was some good big boy rasslin here, a little slow at some parts but really picked up and the fans were solidly behind Solo.

Carmelo, Bronco & Lucien clear Solo from the ring, but Solo’s got some backup! Roman Reigns’ theme plays, and Roman & the Usos come down to the ring. The eight men face off, the Bloodline enter the ring and everyone yells at each other for awhile before engaging in fisticuffs. Roman & Royce throw down in the ring while everyone else goes outside. Roman hits a Superman punch to Royce! Carmelo eats one too, and Roman motions for the spear…a masked man enters the ring and throws a chair in Roman’s face before clotheslining him down! The masked man pulls Royce up and circles Roman before standing next to Royce and pulling off his mask…IT’S CRUZ MONTANA! HE DOESN’T EVEN WORK HERE! Cruz, Royce, Carmelo, Bronco & Lucien beat down the Bloodline. Cruz chokes Roman on the ropes while Jimmy gets double teamed by OTM. Jaida handcuffs Jimmy to the ropes! Jey gets run over with steel steps! Solo does as well. The announce desk is cleared and Jey is T-Gimmicked through it! Keys hits a spinebuster on Reigns. 946 exits through the crowd while Roman crawls towards the ropes.

Sami Zayn runs down! Helluva Kick to Roman! Sami talks stuff to a downed Roman about how he took his eye off the ball and Sami is the ball. Our live event has come to an end, so long for now!

If you’d like to chime in with your own thoughts on tonight’s show, feel free to join your fellow 411 Maniacs down in the comment section! As the legendary Larry Csonka always said: Have fun and don’t be a dick. When I’m not here you can catch me on social media from time to time. To be honest, e-mail is a better option and you can reach me at [email protected]. I’ll be more likely to respond there.

7.5

The final score: review Good

The 411

This was a pretty newsworthy episode of Raw with information on the John Cena Classic coming out, the Intercontinental Championship changing hands and Cruz Montana, of all people, joining 946. I don't remember anyone predicting that one, and now Dion Lennox can really say that he sent Cruz to a dark place. The Brooklyn crowd was pretty good though I think a little below their usual standards. Not really surprised given the timeslot.