WWE RAW emanated from Boston, Massachusetts on Monday November 10 and it was the final time John Cena would appear inside a WWE ring in his hometown.
Let’s get into the match results below:
Intercontinental title match: John Cena def. Dominik Mysterio (becoming a grand slam champion in the process)
The Time is Now tournament: Rusev def. Damien Priest (Priest’s eye injury was mentioned every two seconds, pretty obvious which way this was going)
WWE Women’s title match: Stephanie Vaquer (w/ Nikki Bella) def. Raquel Rodriguez (w/ Roxanne Perez)
The Time is Now tournament: Sheamus def. Shinsuke Nakamura
WWE Women’s Tag Team title match: Kabuki Warriors def. Charlotte Flair & Alexa Bliss (c)
Notable moments
Triple H opened the show splashing superlatives left and right at the hometown hero and proudly explained why he believed John Cena is the greatest of all-time.
Cena announces that on December 13 when he has his final match, the whole show will feature main roster WWE talents taking on NXT stars because he wants to help pave the way for the future. He was then interrupted by the red-hot Dominik Mysterio to a huge pop – and it leads to an Intercontinental title match between Cena and Mysterio to open the show.
After Cena defeated Dirty Dom, there was a class moment backstage as names like Sheamus, Jey Uso, Charlotte Flair, Shinsuke Nakamura and finally, Cody Rhodes congratulated the legend. The biggest pop came when Rey Mysterio himself embraced Cena for beating his own son.
Maxxine Dupri told Adam Pearce she is ready for Becky Lynch next week at Madison Square Garden and their Intercontinental title match was made official. Right on cue, Becky nailed Dupri with a stiff punch backstage.
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CM Punk came to the ring and wasted no time running down the already bad name of Logan Paul, inviting him out for a fight. Paul suggests he’s now joined The Vision with Paul Heyman, Bron Breakker and Bronson Reed and just when Punk seems doomed by the numbers, Jey Uso and Cody Rhodes evened the odds. The babyfaces got the better of the ensuing scrap.
Later, Punk told Adam Pearce to tell Heyman to put together a team. Enter William Regal who yelled his iconic line – WAR GAMES!
Nikki Bella turned on Stephanie Vaquer after her match with Raquel Rodriguez.
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Adam Pearce announces the returning Gunther will face Je’Von Evans in the Last Time is Now tournament while Solo Sikoa has a surprise opponent, both next Monday.
Flair and Bliss’ semi-fun tag title reign is over and it was mostly down to the help Asuka and Kairi Sane got from Nia Jax and Lash Legend. IYO SKY and finally, to a thunderous pop, Rhea Ripley came out and equalled the odds before the returning Aussie did her best Regal and declared WAR GAMES.
Analysis
Dom Mysterio is magic right now. Who could have called his trajectory a couple of years ago? He looked every bit the star he has developed into standing toe-to-toe with Cena in the ring and furthermore, he delivered one of Cena’s better matches of his retirement tour.
On paper, Mysterio lost. In reality, he will be the major winner in the long run.
Logan Paul being associated with The Vision probably just serves War Games, but it’s actually a really good fit in a myriad of ways. He is the type of talent who should share the same hunger as his stablemates and could do with the patented Heyman wisdom.
Nikki Bella turning was coming a mile off, sure. But, she did execute it well and looked far, far more comfortable in her own skin while doing it. She was at her best as the heel champion, let’s hope that’s the type of performances she channels.
No surprise that Sheamus and Nakamura had a very physical, fun matchup. Plenty of respect at the end.
Bliss and Flair had a better run than expected as champions. It doesn’t look like the pairing is over just yet with the looming War Games score to settle, but it has to be said neither the mens’ or the womens’ matches at Survivor Series are very organic.
It was a decent RAW, certainly above average with two title changes and a well-executed heel turn. Better than what WWE has churned out historically at this time or year with many intriguing options moving forward.
