Monday Night Raw Review - November 8, 2021

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Kevin Owens Confronted Seth Rollins

Rollins' suits were always tacky, but the outfit he wore to the ring for this segment was beyond ridiculous. He straight up looked like Paddington the bear. I'm glad someone finally referenced SmackDown/Survivor Series, even though it was brief. This was more so about building up the night's main event between Rollins and Owens. Rollins' mic work was solid and Owens played his role well, but it felt like a rehash of their rivalry from early 2020.

The Dirty Dawgs, AJ Styles and Omos def. Raw Tag Team Champions RK-Bro and The Street Profits

These are apparently the only four teams in Raw's tag team division. Worse yet, it feels like RK-Bro and Styles have been feuding forever. I'm very much ready for those two teams to not be sharing a ring anymore. This ate up a ton of television time and was well wrestled, so there was that. Unsurprisingly, RK-Bro and Street Profits weren't able to coexist after what Randy Orton said about them beforehand. Dolph Ziggler winning for his team likely means Dirty Dawgs are being set up for another title shot.

Bobby Lashley def. Dominik Mysterio to Join Raw's Men's Survivor Series Team

The Survivor Series teams were announced on Twitter two days ago and already Adam Pearce was having second thoughts on putting Dominik on Team Raw for the men. In other words, Vince McMahon changed his mind after two days. It's possible this was the plan the entire time, but you never know with this company. We hadn't seen Lashley since Crown Jewel and MVP longer than that, so this was a nice return for them. Lashley's dominance was quickly re-established, and with Lashley replacing Dominik on Team Raw, Team SmackDown doesn't stand a chance.

WWE Champion Big E def. Chad Gable (Non-Title)

This was the second straight week that Gable was in a singles match on Raw against a notable name. I wonder why? The dude is incredibly talented and we've all known that for a long time, but why would WWE all of a sudden realize that? I don't expect these strong showings he's having to translate to any sort of meaningful push, but it's been fun seeing him mix it up with some top talent. This was an enjoyable outing but could have been better with more time. I don't blame the crowd not caring about Gable because they've been given zero reason to invest in him in the past two years.

Drake Maverick def. Reggie to Win the 24/7 Championship

I honestly forgot the 24/7 Championship was still a thing until Reggie came out for this match. When was the last time he had a formal match on Raw? I read that more roster cuts have been rumored and I really hope I don't see Maverick's name on that list. He's been doing a whole lot of nothing since his tag team partner Killian Dain got released back in June. Needless to say, this was total throwaway, but at least they did something slightly different afterward with the title changing hands a few times. It pained me to see Shelton Benjamin and Cedric Alexander out there, though.

Liv Morgan def. Carmella, Queen Zelina, Bianca Belair and WWE Women's Tag Team Champion Rhea Ripley in a Raw Women's Championship No. 1 Contender's Fatal 5-Way Match

This started out pretty rough. There were some spots that didn't connect very well as well as some awkward moments and transitions. Thankfully, it improved after the second commercial break. Although Morgan was teased as Becky Lynch's next challenger to the Raw Women's Championship last week on Raw, the nearfalls were suspenseful enough to keep you guessing, anyway. I like that Belair will apparently have a program outside of the title picture with a newly-turned Doudrop, who is better off as a heel at this point because her babyface shtick was downright awful.

Seth Rollins def. Kevin Owens by Count-Out

Owens and Rollins can have a quality match in their sleep. Thus, they had no trouble eating up as much time as they did. I totally get the argument against WWE devoting so much time to a matchup that ended in a count-out, but I was entertained. The focus was really on what happened afterward with Owens finally snapping and attacking Big E. It was a nicely executed angle and Owens is at his best as a heel, but it is disappointing that his whole character arc was ultimately for nothing. If nothing else, he's another guy for Big E to beat before he likely leaves when his contract expires soon.

Overall Show

It felt like there were less matches/segments than usual and I assume that was by design. WWE will going through these phases where they dedicate more time to the matches, and although I appreciate it, they also need come up with more compelling storylines. Raw is devoid of those at the moment for the most part. On the bright side, Survivor Series and the stupid brand supremacy storyline was finally acknowledged, but it's still inexcusable that they waited this long to do it. This show was made better by the increased amount of in-ring action, so if nothing else, Raw has that going for it for the time being and everything involving Big E holding my interest.

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