Date: November 11, 2024
Location: Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, MI

**********


Show Recap —

Bianca Belair, Jade Cargill and Liv Morgan with Judgment Day
arrived at the building. (Carlito had his hand on Raquel
Rodriguez’s shoulder but she brushed it off.)

Gunther vs. Damian Priest for the world title was announced
for Survivor Series.

Gunther and Damian Priest confrontation

The crowd booed Gunther as he stood in the ring. He stated,
“All that matters is that I am still the World Heavyweight
Champion.” He wasn’t living in the past and was looking
ahead to his next challenger, Damian Priest.

Priest entered (wearing a Bad Bunny t-shirt). Priest said it
was advertised that Gunther would address him so Priest
wanted to hear it in person. Priest cut Gunther’s promo for
him, repeating his past claims about him being street trash
and a Latino thug.


Priest admitted he felt doubt the first time they came face-
to-face. He wasn’t sure he could beat Gunther (at
SummerSlam) and hated to admit that. But if it wasn’t for
his former brother (Finn Bálor), he would have beaten him.

Since SummerSlam, Gunther’s vibe as a killer has faded
because he started doubting himself. That vibe faded even
more after Crown Jewel because he got pinned by Cody Rhodes.
(The crowd chanted for Cody.)

Priest saw doubt in Gunther right now. The unbeatable killer
was dead and Priest knew it because the old Gunther would’ve
taken a swing at him by now if he was anybody else. Priest
dared him to take a swing. Priest knew he wouldn’t do it
because Gunther knew Priest would drop him.


Ludwig Kaiser interrupted. Kaiser told Priest that the
result of his title match against Gunther would be the same
as last time. Gunther stopped Kaiser’s promo and dressed him
down (off-mic). Kaiser called Priest street trash so Priest
decked him and drove him out of the ring.

It seemed like Gunther would attack Priest from behind but
stopped—and took a step back—when Priest turned around and
faced him. Priest was ready to fight but Gunther smirked and
left the ring. Gunther and Kaiser left together.

(So the gist here is that Gunther has lost confidence and is
no longer the fearsome killer he was. Priest came across
well here but hopefully Gunther isn’t presented this way
much longer.)


********

Cathy Kelly interviewed Iyo Sky and Kairi Sane. They were
quickly joined by the returning Dakota Kai. Kai was happy to
see them but pissed at Pure Fusion Collective. They were
there to remind everyone what Damage CTRL was made of.

There was a Veterans Day video.

Kofi Kingston thanked R-Truth for helping them a few weeks
ago. He apologized for not having his back against the Final
Testament when they attacked him. Kingston said Xavier Woods
didn’t want him to get involved.

Woods overheard this conversation while standing in the
background and quickly interjected. Pete Dunne interjected
next to confront Truth for calling him “Butch.” Kingston
stood up for Truth and agreed to a match against Dunne.
(Woods was about to stand up to Dunne too but was annoyed
when Kingston took charge. Woods left on his own.)


********

Six-woman tag team match: IYO SKY, Kairi Sane & Dakota Kai
defeated Sonya Deville, Shayna Baszler & Zoey Stark (9:30)

Damage CTRL had the early advantage until Baszler
clotheslined Sane outside the ring behind the referee’s
back. PFC (Pure Fusion Collective) had the heat during
commercials and Sane made a hot tag to Kai the moment they
returned from break.

Kai hit Baszler with a running boot but Baszler avoided a
second one and put Kai in a single-leg crab (on her injured
leg). Sky broke it up which led to everyone trading moves.

Baszler put Kai in the Kirifuda Clutch but Sky tagged
herself in. Baszler put her in the submission as well but
Kai booted Baszler. Sky followed with a moonsault for the
pinfall win. The crowd popped for the moonsault and the win.


********

There was a recap of the Bloodline angle from Smackdown.

Jey Uso and Sami Zayn were backstage and they got a big pop.
Jimmy Uso showed up and was immediately antagonistic toward
Zayn (for seemingly no reason). Zayn stood up for himself
and Jey calmed them down. Zayn complimented Jimmy’s outfit
and chain but Jimmy couldn’t find anything nice to say about
Zayn’s outfit.

Jimmy said they needed a fifth member for War Games because
it was five-on-five. Zayn had a light bulb go off and said
he might know someone. Jimmy doubted that Zayn knew anybody.
Zayn said he would text Jey (and was very clear he would
text Jey only). Jey told Jimmy to be nice.

(On commentary, Wade Barrett said Zayn better not be
thinking about Kevin Owens.)


********

Priest vs. Kaiser was announced for tonight.

Pete Dunne defeated Kofi Kingston (w/Xavier Woods) (9:04)

The babyface shined and hit a dive before a break 90 seconds
into the match but the heel was in control anyway after the
break. Kingston came back with a double knee drop, dropkick,
and frog splash to Dunne’s back for two. Kingston tried
something off the top but Dunne caught him with a forearm.

Kingston came right back with Trouble in Paradise but Dunne
fell out of the ring. As the ref held back Kingston, Woods
clotheslined Dunne. Kingston confronted Woods for that so
Woods told him to focus on his objective.

Kingston slid Dunne back into the ring and decided to
continue his conversation with Woods. As Joe Tessitore
noted, Kingston was giving Dunne way too much time to
recover. Dunne caught Kingston with a knee strike and Bitter
End for the pinfall win.


— Woods helped Kingston walk toward the ramp but Kingston
shoved him away because Woods kept saying he was right. They
continued arguing as they cut to the next segment.

********

Judgment Day were hanging out in the back. (Carlito and JD
McDonagh were playing the WWE 2K24 on PS5.) Liv Morgan was
excited to win the tag titles so they would have it all. An
annoyed Finn Bálor stood up and said they would have it all—
except the world title. He confronted Dominik about losing
last week because now Priest was one win away from being
champion again.

Dom said nobody had his back last week and Bronson Reed got
involved. Dom wondered where Bálor was. Bálor said he was
just doing what Morgan suggested and that was focus on the
tag titles.


Dom told Bálor that he beat Priest and got closer to the
world title than Bálor had in a long time. Bálor got in his
face and said, “You wanna say that again, kid?” The rest of
Judgment Day jumped in to calm things down and Morgan called
them a family.

Bálor agreed with Morgan that they were a family so he
suggested Dom and Carlito step in for him and McDonagh to
face the War Raiders next week. Dom had no problem with this
and left to make the match official.

********

Jamahal Hill was shown in the crowd.

Bronson Reed and Seth Rollins segment

Bronson Reed entered. He said Seth Rollins was a hell of a
competitor and he proved that by getting the win at Crown
Jewel. But Reed was not a competitor—he was a monster. Last
week, he took out Rollins, Priest and Sheamus. He would take
out anyone who stood in the way of taking down Rollins for
good. He called out Rollins.


Rollins pranced out holding a mic. He dropped the mic and
ran to attack Reed but Reed decked him with a body block.
Rollins fought him off but Reed superkicked him onto the
announce table. Reed set up for a Tsunami but Rollins flew
off the table and tackled him.

They continued to brawl until security separated them. A
bunch of guards held back Rollins outside the ring so Reed
went for a suicide dive. Rollins moved and Reed wiped out
the guards instead. Pearce and other officials ran down to
separate them but they continued to brawl during a
commercial break.

After the break, Rollins argued with Pearce in the back.
Pearce had enough of this but Rollins demanded a rematch.
Pearce was pissed but agreed to one more match. He told
Rollins to end it next week.


— Sami Zayn approached Rollins about being their partner at
War Games. Zayn knew Rollins had bad blood with Roman Reigns
and the Bloodline. Zayn did too but he had a family bond
with them and that never went away. No matter what happened
between Rollins and Reigns, they were still brothers. Zayn
looked up and down the roster and said there was no one
else. Rollins was their fifth man.

Rollins told him he was out of his damn mind. (That got a
good crowd reaction.) Rollins knew who Reigns really was and
was shocked anybody would stand next to him—especially Zayn.
Zayn had to be blind not to see that Reigns was using him
again. Rollins appreciated Zayn but his answer was no.


********

Damian Priest defeated Ludwig Kaiser (7:43)

Priest crashed shoulder-first into the ring post and they
went to break 30 seconds into the match. Priest came back
with a falcon arrow after the break for two. Kaiser went
back on offence momentarily but Priest hit a few strikes and
a South of Heaven chokeslam for the pinfall win. The crowd
was into Priest.

— Gunther appeared on the stage. Barrett said he was pensive
and nervous-looking. Gunther left.

********

They congratulated The Rock on being named GQ’s (male)
entertainer of the year and plugged his new expensive movie.

********

They showed a clip of Sheamus and Bron Breakker wrestling to
a time-limit draw on Speed. They got into a brawl after the
match. (They don’t normally show clips from Speed.)

Kelly interviewed Breakker. He said he wanted to expand his
trophy case. He would be standing there with the Speed title
if it wasn’t for that ugly, idiot, bonehead Sheamus.

Sheamus appeared. He called Bron disrespectful considering
he has been there 15 years while Bron has been there for 15
minutes. Sheamus said Bron reminded him of himself when he
was younger. He admitted to being arrogant when he beat John
Cena to become one of the fastest ever to win the world
title.

Sheamus wondered if Bron had a set big enough to put the
Intercontinental title on the line. Bron said he wasn’t
listening to anything Sheamus said, but if he wanted a title
shot, he’s got it because he would love to beat Sheamus’ old
ass. Sheamus told him to shine up the belt because he was
taking it home next week.

Jimmy Uso approached Bron after Sheamus left. Jimmy asked if
he had a second to speak. Bron said yes.

*******

Final Testament/Wyatt Sicks segment

Final Testament found Miz backstage and Karrion Kross acted
thrilled to see he was still alive. Miz said he was asking
Pearce for a leave of absence. Kross said he was not doing
that because Miz had given him no information about the
Wyatts.

Miz said this was bigger than them. He had to think about
his family. He settled his business with the Wyatts. He
apologized and promised that he had changed his way, so they
let him go. Miz was a better man now.

Kross was pissed because the Wyatts took out Paul Ellering,
who was his family. Kross reminded Miz that he said they
would break his legs. AOP grabbed Miz and they dragged him
out in front of the crowd. Kross didn’t believe Miz’s story
and demanded to know where the Wyatts were.

The lights went down and the Wyatt Sicks appeared. The
Wyatts faced off with Final Testament until Miz attacked
Erick Rowan with a chair. It was a setup. Final Testament
and Miz worked together and they laid out the Wyatts.
(Scarlett took out Nikki Cross). Miz and Kross hugged. The
crowd told Miz that he sucked.

Miz left with Final Testament as Uncle Howdy/Bo Dallas began
laughing at them.

********

Kelly approached Rollins for an interview as he left but he
turned his attention to Solo Sikoa and Jacob Fatu in the
parking lot. (Tama Tonga and Tonga Loa were in their SUV.)
Sikoa said they both hated Roman Reigns so they should join
forces and take him out. Rollins laughed.

Rollins planned on stomping Reigns’ head into the ground the
next time they were in the same ring. Sikoa liked the sounds
of that until Rollins said he would never join forces with a
wannabe Roman Reigns. (The crowd popped for that.) Fatu got
in Rollins’ face but Sikoa held him back. Rollins left.

********

Next week on Raw (being taped tonight):

Seth Rollins vs. Bronson Reed
Bron Breakker vs. Sheamus for the Intercontinental title
********

Bianca Belair & Jade Cargill defeated Raquel Rodriguez &
Women’s World Champion Liv Morgan to retain the Women’s Tag
Team Championships (7:28)

Belair almost hit Cargill by mistake and the
miscommunication allowed the heels to take control. After a
break, Rodriguez and Cargill knocked each other down with
simultaneous big boots.

Smackdown’s Nia Jax and Tiffany Stratton ran out. Stratton
distracted the ref while Jax gave Cargill a Samoan drop onto
the ring apron. Rodriguez followed with an elbow drop but
Belair broke up the cover.

Smackdown’s Naomi ran down to take out Stratton and Jax.
Morgan gave Naomi a backstabber. Cargill booted Morgan out
of mid-air and knocked Rodriguez off the apron. Belair gave
Morgan a KOD for the pinfall win. (So Belair pinned the
women’s champion.)

— Jax attacked the champs post-match but Iyo Sky ran down to
make the save with a springboard dropkick. She also knocked
out Stratton. Belair and Cargill knocked Rodriguez out of
the ring. Sky, Naomi, Belair and Cargill worked together to
take out Jax. The four babyfaces stood tall as the show
ended.

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