Posted in: Sports, TV, WWE | Tagged: Raw, recaps, The Shovel, wrestling, wwe

WWE Raw Recap – The Drew McIntyre Era of Raw Has Begun… Again!

On WWE Raw this week, Drew McIntyre gets his title back from Randy Orton while Bray Wyatt gets a piece of The Miz's ass. Read all about it here.

I'm Jude Terror, and this is The Shovel: Raw Edition, the worst edition of all editions because it's the edition that's three excruciating hours long. It's the Survivor Series go-home Raw tonight, which means we can count on the show being approximately 5% less grueling and difficult to watch than usual. That's not nothing. And there are a few big matches tonight too. So maybe it won't be that bad. Oh, who am I kidding?

WWE Raw Recap for November 16th, 2020 Part 3

The Miz faces Bray Wyatt in a match because he talked trash about him earlier in the night, and someone decided that having Miz on all three hours of Raw is the key to better ratings. John Morrison and Alexa Bliss are at ringside. Bray opens the match with an offer of a handshake and forgiveness. Miz kicks his hand instead, and attacks as Bray laughs. Morrison tries to cheat but ends up scared by both Wyatt and Bliss. Wyatt pummels Miz. Miz tries to fight back and even hits a few moves, but Wyatt is too much to handle. Morrison tries to get involved again, and Alexa tackles him into the crowd area. Wyatt hits Sister Abigail on Miz for the pin.

Bray Wyatt defeats The Miz.

I talked a lot of trash, but this was the best match of the night so far, mainly because it kept things short and to the point. The entire match took place between the span of two commercial breaks. That needs to be the rule for Raw from now on. WE get a video package for Drew McIntyre vs. Randy Orton, running through their entire careers. Raw takes another commercial break now.

After the break, WWE praises Stephanie McMahon for winning a listicle for powerful women in sports. Then we see some replays from earlier. I think WWE may have nothing left for the show except the main event, and they're just trying to kill as much time as possible. Charly Caruso talks to Adam Pearce backstage. Pearce says that Mandy Rose and Dana Brooke are both injured and can't compete at Survivor Series. Lacey Evans and Peyton Royce will take their place. Then Charly talks to Asuka. Asuka says she's excited to beat Sasha Banks at Survivor Series.

Then she talks to Randy Orton, but Orton says he has enough distractions. Charly doesn't want to be on the list of distractions. Raw takes a commercial break. Then Angel Garza does his thing where he's seducing the viewers watching at home. Then Nia asks Shayna why she had to stomp on Mandy's arm so hard. She says they could have used Mandy and Dana on their team. Shayna says all they need is each other. Lacey and Peyton show up to talk about being on the team, but Nia blows them off. She blames Shayna and calls this the worst idea since Quibi.

And now Drew McIntyre comes to the ring. I want to point out it's 10:23 right now, so they really are gonna try to stretch this out for the rest of the show. I'm betting they can kill at least another ten minutes with entrances, which will still leave 25 minutes for the match. That seems long, but remember we're probably gonna have some Roman Reigns interference tonight? Drew has his actual claymore sword with him, and he's wearing the blue kilt Sheamus gave him earlier. He stabs the stage with the sword and leaves it there. Raw takes a commercial break.

After the break, Mark Henry is seen watching in the Thunderdome. Then Randy Orton comes out… very slowly. WWE is really milking this. It's actually a fascinating study in the art of stalling. Orton's entrance ends at 10:33, and the announcements kill another two minutes, which puts us right where I predicted, with 25 minutes left in the show when the bell rings.

The match goes about three minutes when Orton decides to bail. But Adam Pearce intercepts him at the stage. He says the match will continue after some commercials with no count outs and no DQ. He even has his own catchphrase now: "That is official." Ugh. Raw takes a commercial break.

The second part of the match consists mainly of Orton taking advantage of the new stipulation to attack McIntyre with a steel chair and the ring stairs. He slams him several times on the announce table, but it doesn't break because the table only sells for Lana. McIntyre finally fights back and drops Orton on the table. Same thing. He and Orton discuss it loudly on camera. McIntyre tries again. Same result. Finally, he goes for a Claymore on Orton, missing, landing on the table. Still standing. Raw takes a commercial break.

Since the announce table won't break, Orton gets out a regular table from under the ring during the picture-in-picture portion of the commercial break. The third portion of the match takes place mainly in the ring, and it's the do big moves and sell a lot portion of the match. It culminates in McIntyre pushing Orton off the apron and into that table Orton set up during the break. But McIntyre only gets a two-count after dragging Orton back into the ring.

McIntyre sets up for a Claymore, but Orton reverses to a powerslam. McIntyre rolls all the way out of the ring and onto the announce table, perfect for Orton to do his suspended DDT off it. Orton's back is bleeding from going through the table earlier. McIntyre tries to get in the ring, and Orton hits another DDT. But when he goes for an RKO, McIntyre counters with a Claymore and gets the pin.

Drew McIntyre defeats Randy Orton to win the WWE Championship.

And there's only a minute left in the show. No Roman Reigns interference? No Miz cash-in? Just a clean win so McIntyre can face Roman Reigns at Survivor Series? Why even have McIntyre lose the title in the first place? Oh well. At least it's over. The moment the show goes off the air is always the best part of Raw.

I think Raw has finally gone too far with the decompression. They aren't even trying to write three hours' worth of material anymore. They just write an hour and a half or so and then stretch it all out. And tonight, I think it may have cost them because the Orton vs. McIntyre match was one of the best things they've had happen on Raw in a while, and if most viewers felt like I was by 10 PM, they may have tuned out in droves.

The MVP of the night: that table. Seeing how well it broke for Lana earlier in the night, but refused to budge for McIntyre and Orton, shows that table has more range as an actor than any of the wrestlers on this show.

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