WWE Monday Night Raw comes waltzing back into our lives tonight (Nov. 14, 2022) from the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Kentucky, featuring all the latest build to the upcoming Survivor Series: War Games pay-per-view later this month in Boston.
Advertised for tonight: Seth Rollins takes on Finn Balor in a non-title match that is being promoted as a potential top contender bout. You know, the old “beat the champ to get a shot at the champ” thing (Update: this has since been made into a title match). Elsewhere, The Miz is apparently going to apologize for paying off Dexter Lumis on Miz TV, Matt Riddle teams up with Elias to take on Alpha Academy (Update: this has been changed to just Riddle vs. Gable), and a whole lot more!
Come right back here at 8 p.m. ET when the Raw live blog will kick off once the show starts on USA Network. It will be below this line here. Reminder: GIFs and pics allowed, but no links to illegal streams, please.
WWE RAW RESULTS AND LIVE BLOG FOR NOV. 14
I did taste their only dream as denial was still unborn. Secrets beyond those dethroned walls and echoes of a martyr’s scream. Deterrent vibrates the allurement’s face as my barque drowns toward liveblogging this here pro wrestling show for you, folks.
(And, this one is number 990 in my little liveblog file, which given the bunch of Saudi/etc. shows I’ve done without lyrics seems close enough to liveblog number 1000 to make the occasion, Cagesiders. On with the show!)
The show opens with the intro video.
Seth Rollins makes his entrance in a ridiculously iridescent suit, like he just came back from officiating a unicorn wedding.
He welcomes Kentucky to Monday Night Rollins and talks about how he’s got contenders coming out of the woodwork after his open challenge last week. Finn Balor, Mustafa Ali, Bobby Lashley, and then he pivots to talk Austin Theory’s cash-in and promises the crowd they can tell him how stupid he is later.
Something seems different about the United States Championship lately, and what’s that? It’s him. And it’s only gonna continue tonight when he wrestles Finn Balor.
Enter Bobby Lashley.
He says last week he turned Selfie Boy into a punchline, and as for Seth, the beating he got last week is going to continue until he gets his title back. Rollins says Lashley could have had a chance to win his title back but instead he chose to try and separate his soul from his body.
He’s had a temper lately, and Rollins thinks it’s because he lost to Brock Lesnar.
Enter Mustafa Ali, a referee chasing behind him.
Bob turns to him and says the beatdown he got last week will pale in comparison to what he’s gonna do today if he doesn’t walk outta here before Lashley hurts him. Ali rushes the ring and gets clobbered and dumped in short order. Bob says that’s a message to anyone stands between him and his title, but Mustafa comes back in and pounds away at him!
Lashley dumps Ali over the ropes and Seth beats a hasty retreat. Bob says Mustafa’s trying to piss him off, and if he wants an ass-whipping he can get in here and get some.
And so we go to break.
Bobby Lashley vs. Mustafa Ali
Ali rushes in at the bell with a dropkick but gets sent crashing to the floor! Lashley with a fireman’s carry, Mustafa slips out and slides him into the post, springboard into a sleeper but Bob hosses him over and rams him successfully into the post! Lashley throws him over the announce desk and insits referee Eddie Orengo make his count!
Mustafa beats the count, Bob hits the Yokosuka Cutter and stalks after him. Ali gets away, springboard reversed into a spinebuster! Another one, demanding Orengo check on him and stop the match! Ali gets up, hits the tornado DDT and crawls his way back to his feet! Charging in, Bob cuts him off with the spear!
Drawing him up into the Hurt Lock…
Bobby Lashley wins by referee stoppage with the Hurt Lock.
The OC and Mia Yim are interviewed backstage.
AJ Styles says they’ve solved their Rhea Ripley problem and Judgment Day can come get it. Luke Gallows tries to take credit because of his way with women, and AJ says this has to end, with a one-one-one match between him and Finn at Survivor Series.
Karl Anderson says Mia’ll take care of business in her return match tonight, they all throw Too Sweets up, and we go to break.
Mia Yim vs. Tamina
Tamina hard out the gates but when she goes for the Superfly Splash, Yim rolls out of the way! Throwing elbows, chops, off the ropes with a tijeras! Big boot in the corner, whip sets up corner forearms and a snapmare into kicks! Snuka with a big slicing right, fireman’s carry, arm wringer sets her up…
Mia Yim wins by pinfall with Eat Defeat.
Post-match, Rhea Ripley teases running in but decides discretion is the better part of valor.
Matt Riddle’s walking backstage slapping his bongs when he runs into an interview.
She asks where Elias is, and he’s off doing big rockstar things for their band while Riddle takes care of Chad Gable. Gable rolls up with Otis in tow and shushes Matt. We get into a shush/bro bong war until Chad’s had enough. He says the only thing more ridiculous than those two clowns in a band is them as a tag team, so tonight he’s gonna put Riddle down.
Back from commercial, Mia Yim is walking backstage when Damage CTRL rolls up.
They talk about how impressed they are with her and they wonder how someone as talented as her could be forgotten so long. They know what it’s like to be cast aside and forgotten, and they decided to do something about it. Mia needs to remind people who she is, and she can do that with Damage CTRL.
Yim isn’t interested and has a bit of a faceoff with IYO SKY when the OC roll up with some celebratory brewskis and Damage CTRL disperses.
Chad Gable vs. Matt Riddle
Circling, Gable takes him down and rides him, waistlock, reversed to a double wristlock, into the corner and Chad breaks dirty with a throat thrust. Back suplex, Riddle having a bad time but not staying down, chops into the corner and a dragon screw takes Matt off-balance!
Palm strikes, another dragon screw, Karelin lift gets Riddle back into it, senton but Gable gets the knees up! Charging into a back elbow, Otis runs interference and Gable hits a German superplex to send us to break!
Back from commercial, Gable with an ankle lock, suplex reversed and Riddle hits the fisherman buster! Charging forearms, exploder suplex, powerbomb into the knee lift! Jockeying for position over the tombstone, reversed, Chad gets away but Matt catches him with a jumping triangle choke!
Reversing it, Dominator… SO CLOSE! Hanging DDT, going to that special place, Otis runs interference, Riddle lands on his feet on Chaos Theory! Backslide, feet in the ropes… IT’S OVER!
Chad Gable wins by pinfall with a backslide and his feet in the ropes.
We see John “Bradshaw” Layfield and Baron Corbin playing poker with some mook.
Corbin wins a hand big and JBL yells at a waiter who brings bourbon and makes a terrible incest joke in the process. Layfield says he brought the finest Ugandan reserve whiskey, and then yells at Akira Tozawa when he sits down to play. Akira puts his sunglasses on and admits he’s never played poker and he doesn’t know the rules, and John is happy to have him play.
The Miz makes his entrance dressed like Mr. Rogers and we go to break.
Back from commercial, Miz welcomes us to MizTV and cedes his role as host to Byron Saxton, because he’s the guest tonight.
Miz has a prepared statement about the Dexter Lumis situation and puts on his brainy specs to read it. He says he regrets paying Dexter and Byron interrupts before getting shushed. Miz continues and says he just wanted some empathy because he’s been here for eighteen years, no days off, no injuries, and he’s never gotten so much as a cheer or a pat on the back.
Even when he tried to get Lumis back on his feet, people still were against him. He’s asked for very little, but Dexter keeps taking and taking until he couldn’t see an end in sight. So he had to stand up for himself and put a stop to Dexter’s greediness. Byron asks why he told the PI a different story, and Miz says he was telling her what she wanted to hear to sell a story.
In Hollywood they don’t want real, so he had to spin the truth to make it more interesting, and in reality he’s just a devoted father, a loving husband, and a man who was cooped up in his bedroom all weekend long because he was sick and depressed about everything that happened.
Enter Johnny Gargano.
He confronts Miz for taking the easy way out and trying to trick people into caring about him, and he’ll just lie about it if you ask him directly. That’s why he’s caught in the lie, because he stopped paying Lumis. Johnny asks if Miz owes Byron money, and the A-Lister asks why he’s in his business.
He accuses him of trying to use his story to get people to chant for him, and Gargano admits he loves chants but the truth is Miz is lying to himself and calls him out for trying to cosplay Mr. Rogers. Miz insists he’s a good guy, Johnny isn’t having it, and says he went to officials and got Miz a match against Dexter in two weeks, and if Lumis wins, he has to pay everything he owes and Dexter’ll get a WWE contract.
Miz says he’ll win and it’ll be awesome, and Gargano tells him to tell Lumis himself, and a beefy cameraman unmasks behind him. Miz runs away and bails through the ropes but Dexter gets his cardigan!
Shelton Benjamin is interviewed earlier today.
Judgment Day interrupt to call him a failure and Dominik Mysterio says he’s way better than Shelton. Benjamin says he doesn’t have the time, so skip down the hall before he gets the beating his dad should have given him. Damian Priest tells Shelton to calm down and if he’s got a problem with Dom, he’s got a serious problem with him.
Benjamin says he wouldn’t mind working on his problems tonight, so they’ll settle it in the ring, and he accepts the challenge…
Dominik’s challenge, that is.
In the present day, Judgment Day make their entrance and we go to break.
Dominik Mysterio vs. Shelton Benjamin
Circling, collar and elbow, Benjamin backs him into the corner and Mysterio breaks dirty with a slow-motion slap. Dominik slips to the floor and taunts, back in, blindside, rushing Shelton into the corner and giving him a little shimmy. Benjamin with right hands, a slap of his own, whip across, front kick just leads to Shelton pouncing him!
Whip across, slide out to the floor, back inside, looking for the Three Amigos but Benjamin reverses to a suplex of his own! Boot up, begging off, jawbreaker counters! Back body drop sends Dom to the apron and he snaps Shelton’s neck over the ropes! Slingshot senton atomico, putting boots to Benjamin and transitioning to mounted punches!
Whip across, Mysterio with a tijeras, la casadora puts him on the second, off the ropes, 619 blocked with a tilt-a-whirl powerslam! Rising knee, exploder suplex! Throwing Dominik inside, jawing at Judgment Day, Mysterio with a schoolboy for two! Shelton grabs an ankle lock on the kickout, Rhea Ripley runs interference and Damian Priest pulls his pal to the apron!
Dominik posts him, a DDT follows, he goes up top…
Dominik Mysterio wins by pinfall with a frog splash.
Austin Theory is shown waiting for an interview backstage to send us to break.
Back from commercial, Austin Theory is interviewed.
He bristles at being called a former briefcase holder and says nobody understands him or the pressure he’s under. Everybody thinks he’s just made for this, because of the way he looks and his athleticism, but they have no idea what the full story is. He was touted as the next best thing and exceeded that expectation and became the face of the franchise.
People still hate on him to this day because of that, because they can’t relate. The whole world wants him to fail, but for him, when he thinks about last Monday, people think he failed, but he feels more alive than he ever has. Money in the Bank was an anchor on Austin Theory!
Nobody’s been able to touch Roman Reigns, and whenever he looks vulnerable, the Bloodline are there. He tried to cash in but Roman is unstoppable and no cash-in was possible! So he thought the best thing to do is go after one of the greatest champions of this decade in Seth Rollins.
He had him beat, and Bobby Lashley pulled him out of the ring and mauled him like a madman and stopped him from having the greatest cash-in—
Dolph Ziggler rolls up and says he’s full of excuses and a couple months ago he tried to help him out and show him some things that no one showed him. Theory says he’s sick of people talking down to him and he’s done being the youngest this, youngest that, he’s the now.
And he’s gonna show Dolph himself.
We get a WarGames explainer video and see the two women’s teams, with two blank spots on the babyface team and one for the heels.
Damage CTRL make their entrance and we go to break.
Back from commercial, Dana Brooke gets an inset promo where she’s upset at Nikki Cross for throwing the 24/7 Championship in the trash.
