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WWE Raw – Which Superstar Made a Shocking Return Last Night?

Published Tue, 13 Oct 2020 09:35:38 -0500

In part two of Bleeding Cool's WWE Raw report, Jeff Hardy learns what a tag match is, Angel Garza and Andrade, settle their business, and the WWE Draft Night 2 continues. Welcome to Bleeding Cool's WWE Raw report. We watch WWE, so you don't have to! And in the case of Raw, it's a real sacrifice. You're welcome.

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

WWE Raw Report for October 12th, 2020 Part 3

Jeff Hardy, Seth Rollins, and AJ Styles are in the ring for the second match of the night on WWE Raw, a triple threat, and not, as Hardy called it, a triple threat tag team match.

Jeff Hardy vs. Seth Rollins vs. AJ Styles – Triple Threat

This could, maybe under certain circumstances, qualify as a sort of dream match. So it's a little weird it's happening as a throwaway on a lame-duck episode of Raw.
Everyone gets a turn in one-on-one matchups here.
Ultimately, despite the talent involved, it's just your typical meaningless Raw match.
They do the part of the match where everyone takes turns hitting big moves and getting near falls.
Rollins goes for a Stomp on Styles, but Hardy jumps off Styles' back to hit a DDT on Rollins.
Hardy goes for the Swanton but Styles crotches him and goes for a superplex. But Rollins gets Styles on his shoulders and then transitions to a calf crusher. Rollins reaches the ropes, but Hardy hits a Swanton. Styles pushes Hardy away and pins Rollins, but Rollins kicks out.
Hardy hits Twist of Fate on Styles.
Elias hits Hardy from behind with a guitar.
Wait; what?
Styles pins Hardy and gets the win.

I had completely forgotten Elias existed, and my life wasn't any worse for it. Now he's back. Meh. Stephanie McMahon is seen backstage pretending to be surprised by looking at the cards for the next round of the WWE Draft. Raw takes a commercial break.

Stephanie McMahon is on stage for the fourth round of the draft. Raw drafts Elias (how convenient he just appeared). Smackdown picks Sami Zayn. Raw picks Lacey Evans. Smackdown picks Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura. Raw drafts Sheamus, who begged to be transferred to Raw when Jeff Hardy got picked because he can't live without Hardy's piss. To be clear, he drinks it. And he's addicted.

Mandy Rose and Dana Brooke are in the ring with Natalya and Lana. They're having a match.

Mandy Rose and Dana Brooke vs. Natalya and Lana (this is a tag match, Jeff)

This match comes out of the Miz TV segment from earlier tonight. But as far as I know, all four of these women are also in a battle royal later tonight.
Nevertheless, they put on a five-star classic the likes of which hasn't been seen since Shawn Michaels vs. the Undertaker.
Dana Brooke gets the pin on Lana with a senton off Rose's shoulders.

After the match, Natalya calls Lana stupid and breaks up their tag team. Natalya leaves Lana crying (sort of – she hasn't been taking acting classes that long) in the ring.

Hurt Business is backstage, talking about Retribution. Ricochet shows up. He wants to retire the beef between himself and Hurt Business, considering one of his jobber friends joined Hurt Business, one joined Retribution, and the other one might get drafted to Smackdown (which, in WWE booking, means he definitely will). Ricochet wants one last match. If he wins, the beef ends tonight, and they go their separate ways. If Hurt Business wins, Ricochet joins Hurt Business. Cedric Alexander, who has apparently recovered from COVID, accepts the match. Should have gone with Lashley, guys.

Angel Garza comes to the ring, and Raw takes a commercial break. Andrade comes to the ring. Zelina Vega is on commentary. They have a match.

Angel Garza vs. Andrade

These two used to be a tag team but broke up after a 72-week, pointless feud with the Street Profits. It hasn't been a particularly interesting story, but I feel like we've all invested so much time in it; I really want to see it resolved in a meaningful way.
Instead, Garza wins with the Wing Clipper after a two-minute match.

Zelina heads in the ring to talk to Andrade after the match, and the lights go out, not Retribution style, but Fiend style. When they come back on, Alexa Bliss is hanging upside down from the ropes in the corner. While they're distracted by her, The Fiend shows up behind them. Fiend and Bliss give Andrade and Vega Sister Abigails in sync. Tom Phillips calls it "Twisted Union." Raw takes a commercial break while we all try to decide whether that's a good name or not.

After a graphic bragging about WWE's 50 billion Youtube views, Stephanie McMahon does another round of draft picks. Nikki Cross is drafted to Raw. Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode are drafted to Smackdown. R-Truth is drafted by Raw. Smackdown picks Apollo Crews (told you). Raw picks Dabba-Kato.

Tom Phillips talks about how confusing it will be if Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode win the Raw tag team championships from New Day and take the belts to Smackdown. Nobody is buying it. Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods head to the ring. Roode and Ziggler come out. How many people do you think changed the channel every time Dolph Ziggler's music plays?

Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode vs. The New Day – Raw Tag Team Championship Match

Roode and Ziggler felt they were owed this match because they beat the Street Profits in a six-man match. But the Street Profits have been drafted to Smackdown and traded their belts with the New Day. So New day agreed to give Ziggle and Roode a match.
They should have said no.
This match goes like 99% of WWE tag team matches go: the heels beat up one of the faces (Kofi Kingston in this case) until Kingston gets a hot tag to Xavier Woods.
One of the things that bugs me about long Raw matches is it never feels like they have a particular story to tell. It's just a matter of WWE wanting to fill a specific amount of time between one or more commercial breaks. It's like stalling. We know this match will have no lasting repercussions, so just speed it up already.
Anyway, Woods gets that hot tag. He beats up the heels. He nearly pins Dolph Ziggler.
But Woods loses the upper hand and gets beat up for a while until he manages to get close enough to Kingston for a blind tag. They hit Midnight Hour on Roode, and Kofi pins him for the win.

We knew this was the outcome from the start, so why make this match last through two commercial breaks?

Charly Caruso talks to Elias backstage. She wants to know why he hit Jeff Hardy with a guitar. Elias says his new single, parback is headed Jeff Hardy's way. Elias says he's still mad about Hardy running him down with a car. Charly points out that might not have been Hardy. Elias doesn't believe it.

Elias says he spent his time off recovering from injury, writing his greatest magnum opus. He says he has a new album coming out later this month. And next week on Raw, he's gonna hold a concert for the WWE Universe. Cedric Alexander makes his way to the ring with Hurt Business for a match against Ricochet that will take place both after some commercials and in part four of Bleeding Cool's WWE Raw report.

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