Monday Night Raw Review - November 18, 2024

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Rhea Ripley, Naomi, IYO SKY and WWE Women's Tag Team Champions Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill Brawled with WWE Women's Champion Nia Jax, Tiffany Stratton, Candice LeRae, Women's World Champion Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez

This was essentially an extension of the ending of last week's Raw. Ripley returned to make the women's WarGames match official for Survivor Series. Too bad this was a taped show because online spoilers probably ruined the Ripley surprise for a lot of people. Nonetheless, this was a solid segment. Women's WarGames really doesn't need to happen this year because it feels forced, but at least it'll be star-studded and it has the potential to be very good.

The LWO (Rey Mysterio and Zelina Vega) def. American Made (Chad Gable and Ivy Nile)

I've been digging this as a midcard feud, even though nothing super exciting has happened yet. It's been pretty standard stuff and this was more of the same, but it was a nice match while it lasted. Nile beat Vega a week or two ago, so it was logical for The LWO to avenge that loss here. Hopefully it's not long before we get Mysterio vs. Gable one-on-one because that should be great.

Intercontinental Champion Bron Breakker vs. Sheamus Ended in a No Contest

This received practically no build beyond them having a match on WWE Speed that ended in a draw. I wish WWE held off on this until WrestleMania 41 where Sheamus could beat Breakker and finally win the Intercontinental Championship, but perhaps that's still possible based on the finish here. They were having a hell of a hard-hitting affair before Ludwig Kaiser interfered and attacked both men. Triple Threat incoming?

War Raiders def. The Judgment Day (Carlito and "Dirty" Dominik Mysterio)

War Raiders are already the number one contenders to Finn Balor and JD McDonagh's World Tag Team Championship, so it was Booking 101 for them to knock off two other members of Judgment Day first. This was a fairly basic bout, but it was what it needed to be. It's weird that Mysterio went from beating Damian Priest in the main event last month to being just another dude. Judgment Day's post-match attack on War Raiders helped put more heat on them, too.

Bronson Reed def. Seth "Freakin" Rollins

I really enjoyed the match Rollins and Reed had at Crown Jewel, but I hated the outcome. Thankfully, Reed won here, even though he had an assist from Solo Sikoa at ringside. Despite that, this was an entertaining main event, which is exactly where Reed belongs. Rollins didn't confirm he'll be joining Roman Reigns' WarGames team (he was actually vehemently against the idea), but that sure appears to be the direction they're headed in.

Overall Show

I believe this was the third taped edition of Raw in the last month or two, yet it completely exceeded my expectations in being an above-average show. There was additional hype for Survivor Series with the women's WarGames match now official and I really liked Rollins vs. Reed and Breakker vs. Sheamus. There were more vignettes than usual, but all of which were well done.

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