Photo: WWE

We’re less than two weeks away from Survivor Series and with the match card already set, last night’s WWE Raw primarily focused on which men and women would be added to Team’s Raw. The show was taped in Manchester, England earlier in the day, but unless you like watching the world burn you should’ve been able to avoid spoilers.

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And now, the recap for the November 6th, 2017 edition of WWE Raw.

Mizerable

Raw opened with a familiar sight: Miz, Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel (hysterically sporting a neck brace to sell last week’s attack by Strowman) standing in the middle of the ring, recapping and previewing everything from Miz/Baron Corbin at Survivor Series to last week’s attack by Strowman. Miz eventually brought out Kurt Angle who thankfully is a little more forceful now that he knows he has the ability to wrestle without his head falling off. Angle is confident Team Raw will be victorious at Survivor Series, and even makes a match for Miz tonight against the newest member of the team: Braun Strowman. It wasn’t the most exciting segment in the world, but it did a nice job of previewing Raw and Survivor Series.

Stupid Stipulations

The Jason Jordan/ Elias saga continued with a guitar on a pole match. The point of the match was to grab the guitar that was hanging on a pole above a ring post and then hit your opponent with the guitar. That’s it. No pin falls or submissions, so I’m not sure what this match proved outside of showing that Jason Jordan can hit people in the back with a guitar. Whenever WWE goes outside of it’s bread and butter stipulation matches it’s almost always awful, and this match was no exception. Everybody loses.

Asuka Squash

I’m not sure if it was WWE realizing their mistake, the release of Emma or both, but introducing Asuka to the WWE Universe via squash wins is a great idea. It didn’t make sense to introduce the most dominant, undefeated woman in the history of your company via a competitive match against Emma where Asuka had to fight from behind to win. She’s ASUKA. Put her in there against some local talent and let her slap and kick the shit out of them until she’s ready to choke them out. I also like the subtle change to her entrance, as now the lights go out and her mask appears on the screen before her music hits. Beautiful stuff. After her win Alicia Fox announces Asuka as a member for Team Raw, which is extra terrible news for everyone on Team Smackdown.

Joe The Destroyer

Last week Samoa Joe finally returned to Raw and beat the pulp out of Apollo Crews. Crews’ ambassador Titus O’Neil took exception to that and challenged Joe to a match last night, so Joe jumped O’Neil and Crews during their entrance and went on a rant about how nobody in the locker room can touch him. That brought out Finn Balor, and the NXT fan inside of me jumped off the couch so hard I hit my figurative head on the ceiling. Joe and Balor had a memorable feud in NXT, and it was clear their chemistry didn’t miss a beat as they had the best match on the show last night. Joe easily floats between being as smooth as silk and powerful as an ox, and Balor is always better when he’s fighting guys bigger than him. I’m not sure why they don’t do it more often, but WWE should use some of the memorable NXT feuds as a blueprint for stories on the main roster. This match was great, but it was basically a throw away to set up both guys being added to Team Raw, although we did get this wonderful gif of Balor attacking Joe on the stage:

Wheeeeeeeeeeee! pic.twitter.com/tVWNvZdldK

— TDE Wrestling (@totaldivaseps) November 7, 2017

Sasha vs. Bayley…Please?

Sasha Banks and Bayley took on Alicia Fox and Nia Jax in a fun tag match, but once again the story is what happened after the match. Sasha Banks made Alicia tap for the millionth time in a row, so Fox got on the microphone and announced that Sasha would join herself, Nia and Asuka on Team Raw. That decision leaves Bayley out of the loop, and please for the love of all that is holy, let this start a Sasha/Bayley feud. Bayley can get irrationally mad at Sasha for joining Team Raw without her even though Bayley would do the same thing, and Sasha can remember that she’s THE BOSS and doesn’t need a best friend anymore.

BRAUN

If you’re looking for a recap of the Miz vs. Braun Strowman match in gif form, I think I’ve got something for you:

Strowman manhandles Miz, Bo Dallas, Curtis Axel and Kane when he decides now is an ideal time to prove he’s the real top monster in the WWE, and it was all wonderful. Braun is so much fun to watch because he’s everything rolled into one. He’s freaky fast for a big guy like Lesnar, but he’s also able to do all those fun power moves and knock guys out. Braun is back to being his dominant self after getting trash compactor murdered, and similar to Asuka in the women’s match, I feel bad for everyone on Team Smackdown with Braun coming for them.

Bruiserweight

I’m not sure if the WWE felt bad about making us sit through another incomprehensible Enzo promo, but they made up for it in spades by bringing out the Bruiserweight Pete Dunne for his Raw debut. Pete Dunne is the current UK champion and has been on a handful of NXT shows, including TakeOver Chicago where he and Tyler Bate had my favorite pro wrestling match so far this year. Dunne is wonderful, and on top of everything he’s already done in his career, he’s only two days shy of his 24th birthday. If you didn’t know or love Dunne before his debut last night, here’s the first thing he does in his match against Enzo:

If @PeteDunneYxB wasn’t already one of your favorite human beings, he is now. pic.twitter.com/L6h4t4YVQB

— TDE Wrestling (@totaldivaseps) November 7, 2017

Dunne also picks up a victory thanks to a distraction by Kalisto, and this might be the first time I actually don’t mind a distraction victory. Bruiserweight forever.

Main Event

The main event saw Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose face Cesaro & Sheamus for the tag titles. It was a little odd to see Kurt Angle give in to Cesaro and Sheamus so easily, especially when he just tagged with Rollins and Ambrose a few weeks ago. I did like Ambrose’s response when asked how he felt about having to defend the belts on such short notice though. Rollins and Ambrose know that being a champion in WWE comes with a target on your back, so they’re ready to defend the titles at a moment’s notice. Statements like that go a long way when you’re looking for characters to root for, and I loved Rollins and Ambrose’s attitude heading into the match. We also got this adorable Renee Young gif after the interview:

.@ReneeYoungWWE believes in the Shield. pic.twitter.com/9qMdt7Ti2B

— TDE Wrestling (@totaldivaseps) November 7, 2017

The match itself was really good, as most of the tag matches between these two are. There was a frenetic pace that lasted almost the entire match, and I love how creative Cesaro and Sheamus get with their double team spots. The ending was chaotic, with all four guys down New Day’s music hit and they began to enter from the crowd. That set off some type of alarm in Kurt Angle’s brain so he charged the ring with Raw guys in an attempt to stop New Day. While all this was happening, Sheamus Brogue Kicked Rollins and just like that, The Bar are the new tag champs.

This has to set up New Day vs. The Shield (especially with the announcement of Reigns returning next week) and now The Bar will face The Uso’s at Survivor Series.

-Ryan