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WWE Raw – Famous Luchadore El Gran Gordo Makes His Raw Debut

In the fourth and final part of our WWE Raw report, Mustafa Ali tries to salvage Retribution's reputation, and Otis salvages an old gimmick. Welcome to Bleeding Cool's WWE Raw Report. We watch Raw… for three goddamn hours… so you don't have to. You're welcome!

The official logo for WWE Monday Night Raw. Credit: WWE.
The official logo for WWE Monday Night Raw. Credit: WWE.

WWE Raw Report for October 19th, 2020 Part 4

Tom Phillips, concerned that the last two hours have been so exciting we may have already forgotten what happened at the beginning of the show, introduces a replay of Retribution's humiliation earlier tonight. Retribution not only got beaten clean and decisively by Hurt Business, but then The Fiend kicked all of their asses on his own after the match. Sad.

Mustafa Ali says The Fiend and Hurt Business made a big mistake. They made the mistake of believing Mustafa's only power is strength in numbers, but his real power is creating chaos. All he needs is a laptop, a cell phone, and a secret. He's learned to embrace that power. Over the last year, while he was sitting at home ("because WWE couldn't figure out how to make a buck with a guy named Mustafa Ali), he wasn't just watching the show. He was watching each and every spineless superstar plot and backstab each other to get ahead. And he's learned all of their pathetic secrets. He confesses to being the mysterious Smackdown hacker. And he did it because he wants everyone to know this sick place is infecting everyone with greed and corruption (and COVID?). And the members of retribution were being left with their dreams dying. So Mustafa says that anyone on Raw who tries to stop the truth from being heard will be shut down.

Okay, so not only did Mustafa Ali's group lose twice tonight, but he also admitted he was part of an angle that was completely dropped. Nice going, man. Miz and Morrison come out. They'll be facing Tucker and, provided he found one, a tag team partner. We'll find out if he did after a commercial break.

Titus O'Neil congratulates Hurt Business on their victory earlier tonight. He suggests he would be a good addition to the Hurt Business. He says he could join the conglomerate and take it worldwide. MVP finds the offer intriguing, and he wants to talk to his colleagues about it. He talks to them for a second, and then he says, "we're in business." Titus takes that to mean they have a deal, but MVP points out just them, not him. Hurt Business beats him down.

Miz and Morrison are in the ring. They call out Tucker and want him to show us his new partner. Tucker comes out. He says he scoured the globe to find a new partner, and he found one of the world's premier luchadors: El Gran Gordo. It's clearly Otis in a cape and a mask. Miz calls him out. El Gran Gordo cuts a promo in Spanish. Miz and Morrison are still skeptical. Tucker and EGG head to the ring as Miz talks more trash to them. He says Otis is wasting the Money in the Bank contract. He calls Otis a joke. He says he's championship material, but everyone cheers Otis because he's an underdog story. But Miz, that's just people feeling sorry for Otis, and they're gonna feel more sorry for him when Miz wins his lawsuit. Jesus Christ, why is this promo still going on? Blah blah blah blah Miz says you can put a mask on a pig, but it's still a pig.

Tucker and El Gran Gordo storm the ring and chase Miz and Morrison out. Raw takes a commercial break.

Tucker and El Gran Gordo vs. Miz and Morrison

  • You know how this match goes—all nonsense, complete with a 24/7 title run through.
  • Gordo gets the win with some very Otis-like moves.

We see a teaser for the Firefly Funhouse, and Raw takes a commercial break. Tucker and El Gran Gordo celebrate backstage with the New Day. Mandy Rose walks up and gives EL Gran Gordo a ham. They dance.

Bray Wyatt is in the Firefly Funhouse for the Season Premiere. He says he's sad to leave his friends on Smackdown, but he can't wait to make some new friends here on Raw. And seeing some clips of the attack by The Fiend earlier tonight, Bray thinks he's off to a good start. Huskus Pig quotes Old Dirty Bastard, and Ramblin' Rabbit says this is about new beginnings. He's trying to be a good father and husband. Bray says he didn't know Ramblin' Rabbit was married. Ramblin' Rabbit says he never asked. Bray apologizes and promises to be a better friend. We see a montage of Ramblin Rabbit getting murdered in the Funhouse. Bray says the past is in our heads, but the future is in our hands. Ramblin Rabbit is happy, but then he gets eaten by Mercy the Buzzard just as he's saying he loves fresh starts.

"Fresh start? More like fresh meat!" Bray says. There's a knock at the door, and Alexa Bliss is here. She says their fun is just getting started. The segment ends. Braun Strowman comes to the ring, and Raw takes a commercial break. Can this be over already? Sadly, not for another twenty minutes. Keith Lee comes out. His music still sucks. But I don't have it in me to care at this point in the night. Ric Flair is seen on the Thunderdome screens as the match begins.

Braun Strowman vs. Keith Lee

  • Okay, I do love a good hoss fight, so let's see if this match can snap me out of the misery of being two hours and forty minutes deep in an episode of Monday Night Raw.
  • After some brawling, Strowman tries to powerslam Lee but can't pick him up. After he tapped on Friday to Roman Reigns, maybe he's a jobber now?
  • JBL is seen on the Thunderdome screens as these two sacks of meat slam their meaty bodies into each other.
  • Strowman hits a low blow on Keith Lee (with his head) as Lee is going for a Spirit Bomb and pins him.

Did anyone look good here? Lee kicks Strowman in the nuts after the match for revenge. He shouts in Strowman's face as Strowman groans on the ground. Commentary says this is not over between Lee and Strowman. Dammit!

Okay, there's ten minutes left in this show, which means it's time for Randy Orton to cut a promo, which will be interrupted by Drew McIntyre, to sell the title match at Hell in a Cell. After some commercials, of course.

After the break, Orton comes out and sits down in the ring, inside the Hell in a Cell cage, on a chair. He talks about the brutality of the match and how he's had seven matches in the structure. He says, unlike other people who left a piece of themselves in the cell, Randy only walked out with a better understanding of himself and what he's capable of. He talks about all the matches he's had, including becoming champ twice, in the cell. He remembers the most important thing, though, is standing in the cell, looking the Deadman in the eye, and earning his respect. Uh… is this a face promo now? What is even going on?

Orton says all of those people he faced are either Hall of Famers or future Hall of Famers. And when you think about Hall of Famer, you think about legends. And that word gets thrown around loosely these days. Orton says there are legends, and there are legendary moments. It was legendary when Drew McIntyre beat Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania, but–

Drew interrupts. He walks up to the cell door, with Orton on the other side of it. But the door is chained. Orton taunts him from behind the cage. He wants McIntyre to break the lock and come get him. McIntyre says, okay. He grabs bolt cutters from behind the ring barrier. He cuts the chain. Orton runs into the ring and grabs his steel chair. McIntyre enters the cell. He closes the door. He tells Orton, "Randy, your ass belongs to me…" and Raw goes off the air.

That was actually a pretty good ending to an excruciating Raw. Pretty much the only halfway decent things were this segment and the Kofi/Sheamus match earlier in the night, which isn't to say that I'm not interested in some of the PPV matches this Sunday. It's just Raw itself, the format, the length… it's hard to watch. It's a chore. I do it so I can write these articles and make fun of it, sure, but would I do this for fun if I didn't have to? Probably not. Smackdown can be okay. NXT can be okay. But Raw is just everything wrong with WWE distilled to its purest form and stretched over three hours. Just brutal.

Luckily, tomorrow is Impact, which is always a welcome relief. See you back here tomorrow for a recap of that then?


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Jude TerrorAbout Jude Terror

A prophecy once said that in the comic book industry's darkest days, a hero would come to lead the people through a plague of overpriced floppies, incentive variant covers, #1 issue reboots, and super-mega-crossover events. Sadly, that prophecy was wrong. Oh, Jude Terror was right. For ten years. About everything. But nobody listened. And so, Jude Terror has moved on to a more important mission: turning Bleeding Cool into a pro wrestling dirt sheet!
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