The SmarK Rant for WWE Monday Night RAW – 11.11.24

The SmarK Rant for WWE Monday Night RAW – 11.11.24

Live from Grand Rapids, MI

Your hosts are Joe Tessitore & Wade Barrett. Man Joe has a real good, professional delivery. Hopefully they don’t drive him off.

Gunther joins us, as apparently his title rematch with Priest will be at Survivor Series, which feels like a really weak World title match. This quickly brings Damian out, wanting to see if Gunther is gonna say things to his face. But Priest instead says the bad things about himself, and then thinks the Gunther’s vibe is FADING. So he tells Gunther to take his shot if he’s such an unbeatable killer. This brings out Ludwig Kaiser, who talks up Gunther and makes threats to Priest on his behalf. So Priest kicks his ass, but Gunther still has the yips and backs off without a fight.

Meanwhile, Damage Ctrl reunites with Dakota Kai, who is back from injury again.

Meanwhile, Kofi apologizes to R-Truth for not helping him out a few weeks ago, but Pete Dunne interrupts and Xavier wants no part of it.

Io Sky, Kairi Sane & Dakota Kai v. Sonya Deville, Shayna Baszler & Zoey Stark

Zoey and Sonya double-team Io to start with a neckbreaker for two, but Damage Ctrl regroups with a double-team low dropkick on her and Kairi sends Sonya to the floor and hits her with a knee from the apron as we take a break. Back with Dakota getting a hot tag and going after Shayna with a running headlock takedown, but Shayna fires back with kicks before Dakota curbstomps her for two. Baszler takes her down with a half crab while Zoey holds off the babyfaces, but Io makes the save. They trade highspots and Shayna tries to choke people out, but Dakota kicks her from behind and Io finishes with a moonsault at 9:07. Just kind of a match. **1/2

Meanwhile on Smackdown, Sami mends fences and reunites the Bloodline…again. What inning of this thing are we into now?

Meanwhile, Sami Zayn has a fifth guy in mind for the WarGames match.

Kofi Kingston v. Pete Dunne

Dunne slugs Kofi down to start, but Kofi hits him with a springboard clothesline and dropkick out of the corner to chase him to the floor. He follows with the dive as we take a break. Back with Dunne using some SMALL JOINT MANIPULATION in the ring as he twists Kofi up on the mat and beats on him with forearms until Kofi makes a quick comeback and hits a frog splash to the back for two. Dunne cuts him off with a shot out of the corner to block a bodypress. Kofi bails to the floor and Xavier has had enough of Kofi dogging it, and that allows Dunne to hit the Bitter End for the pin at 8:45. And so the breakup continues. This was fine, not much heat to it. **1/2

Meanwhile, Liv Morgan screws the Women’s tag champs out of the battle royale, setting up a title match tonight.

Meanwhile, Finn Balor chews out Dominick while the other Judgment Day members play video games. Undertaker must be so mad right now! So Dom and Carlito are gonna face the War Raiders to make it up to Finn, and Dom goes off to find them. We never actually got a payoff to this segment, come to think of it.

Bronson Reed joins us, but before he can finish his promo, Seth Rollins hits the ring and they get into a good brawl, which ends with Reed diving onto a pile of security geeks who are trying to separate them. After the break, Seth wants ONE MORE MATCH with Reed, and Adam Pearce grants it, but then Sami stops by and invites him to be the fifth man in the WarGames instead. But then Seth makes a good point – After spending years trying to dethrone Reigns because he was such a piece of shit, why should anyone trust him again and put him back into power again? So it’s a nah from here.

At this point we’re introduced to the UFC Light Heavyweight champion at ringside, and to show how completely out of the loop I am now on that, I don’t even recognize the name.

Damian Priest v. Ludwig Kaiser

Kaiser actually puts him on the floor with a dropkick right away and we take a break. Back with Kaiser in control, but Priest comes back with the falcon arrow and faceplants him. Flatliner gets two. Kaiser fights back, but South of Heaven finishes at 7:12. Basically just an extended squash. *1/2. Priest is fine but he really feels like someone whose moment has passed as a top guy.

Meanwhile, Bron Breakker rants about Sheamus ruining his chance at the Speed title. Man, putting those blue highlights on the belt really helped the Intercontinental title. Sheamus interrupts and wants a shot at the IC title because he’s never held I before, so it’s on for next week.

I think the WCW pack for WWE2K is pretty awesome, but how in the blue hell is MR. PERFECT part of a WCW pack?

Meanwhile, the Miz returns from being tortured last week and thinks that he’s settled things with the Wyatts, but Karrion Kross isn’t convinced. So they haul Miz to the ring and threaten him some more, but the Wyatts do their spooky interruption, only for Miz to turn on them, allowing the Final Testament to lay them out. Not for nothing but the new Erick Rowan card in WWE Champions is one of the best characters in the game.

Meanwhile, Seth Rollins is recruited by the Evil Bloodline, but he doesn’t want to team with a wannabe Roman Reigns like Solo. Ouch. He’s not wrong.

Women’s tag team title: Bianca Belair & Jade Cargill v. Liv Morgan & Raquel Rodriguez

Liv and Bianca slug it out in the corner, but Raquel yanks Belair off the ropes by the braid and the heels take over on the floor. We take a break and return with Jade running wild and slamming Liv in various ways for two. Over to Raquel for a double down with Jade, but Nia Jax and Tiffy hit the ring, as Nia slams Jade on the apron and Raquel gets two. And then Naomi saves, but Liv takes her out, only to walk into a superkick from Jade and KOD from Bianca for the pin at 7:34. And then it’s a big shmoz with the babyfaces all cleaning house to end the show. Nothing to this one at all, just a bunch of run-ins. *

I thought last week’s Saudi show was pretty good, but this was a whole lot of nothing, just setting up stuff for next week, more or less. A definite skip week.