WWE Raw Results, Highlights, and Grades: Brand warfare loses the plot

Raw Tag Team Championship Match: The Viking Raiders (c) vs. Randy Orton & Ricochet

Finally, it was time for the main event, where The Viking Raiders defended their Raw Tag Team Titles against Randy Orton and his surprise tag team partner Ricochet. It wasn’t actually clear this was a title match until the bell rang and the title graphic showed up on the screen, which is a glaring flaw that would’ve made the question of “who is Randy Orton’s partner” very different.

Plus, after all the hype of a mystery partner, Randy Orton made the shocking decision of choosing the person he teamed with literally one week ago. The match finally got rolling with Erik taking on Ricochet. Erik took control at first, but Ricochet utilized his agility and a big dropkick to turn the tides.

Things suddenly cut backstage where Dolph Ziggler, Bobby Roode, and Cesaro were there in SmackDown shirts attacking Raw superstars like Cedric Alexander and Eric Young. Things went to commercial, and we came back to find out the superstars in the ring didn’t even know things had gone down backstage.

The match continued, with Randy Orton using a headlock to wear Erik down. Ivar finally made the tag, quickly clearing house and hitting a big dive to take out both Ricochet and Randy Orton on the outside. Things moved back to the ring, where Orton was able to hit his rope-hung DDT on Ivar to take control once again.

Orton began hyping up the RKO, but SmackDown’s theme song hit and several SmackDown stars came flooding down the ramp. That I could see, there was Cesaro, Ziggler, Roode, Heavy Machinery, and Lucha House Party. They started beating down Ricochet and Randy Orton, ending the match and giving them a victory without actually winning the titles.

Viking Raiders slide to the outside and started fighting the SmackDown stars off. After a bit of brawling, Viking Raiders, Orton, and Ricochet all stood tall in the ring for a moment only for NXT to come flooding in. Tommaso Ciampa, Matt Riddle, Lio Rush, Keith Lee, Pete Dunne, and Isaiah Scott all attacked.

NXT reinforcements arrived moments later, including Damien Priest, Forgotten Sons, Donovan Dijakovic, Killian Dain, and The Undisputed Era. More brawling ensued, only for Seth Rollins to came out with the cavalry from Raw. Rollins, The O.C., Street Profits, and others hit the ring and it turned into an all-out war at ringside.

Things cut backstage where Triple H explained they’ll show the world NXT is the “A brand” on Sunday, but this Wednesday there’s an “open door” for anyone from SmackDown or Raw to come after NXT and fire their best shot. Things cut back to the ring where the brawl continued for a few moments as WWE Raw went off the air.

Grade: B, What a mess. The title match didn’t make any sense, nor did Ricochet being a “surprise” partner considering he teamed with Orton just one week ago. The brief attack backstage to build to the flood was odd, and things turned into complete chaos pretty quickly. This felt more like an advertisement for NXT on Wednesday than it did something about WWE Survivor Series. 

WWE Raw Quick Recap & Grades

Becky Lynch & Charlotte Flair def. The IIconics (Grade: A)

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• Three feuds for CM Punk on WWE Monday Night Raw
• Three candidates to take the Women’s World Championship from Rhea Ripley
• WWE Raw Predictions: LA Knight Will Return The Favor To Cody Rhodes
• Why Drew McIntyre turned heel during WWE Monday Night Raw

AOP interrupts an interview with Ryder and Hawkins (Grade: A)

Humberto Carrillo def. Karl Anderson (Grade: B+)

Seth Rollins was interviewed by Charly Caruso (Grade: B)

Bobby Lashley def. No Way Jose (Grade: D-)

Seth Rollins def. Andrade via disqualification (Grade: B)

Buddy Murphy def. Akira Tozawa (Grade: A)

Erick Rowan def. Alex Malcom (Grade: B)

Randy Orton was interviewed by Charly Caruso (Grade: B+)

Kevin Owens vs. Drew McIntyre was interrupted by Triple H (Grade: B)

Charly Caruso had a slew of breaking news (Grade: A+)

Asuka def. Natalya (Grade: B)

Randy Orton & Ricochet def. The Viking Raiders via disqualification (Grade: B)

Match of the Night: Buddy Murphy vs. Akira Tozawa

There were two other matches that honestly should’ve surpassed this one. Andrade vs. Seth Rollins and Drew McIntyre vs. Kevin Owens had the foundations of truly special matches, but failed to stick the landing with bad finishes. Murphy and Tozawa had the most complete match of the night that also had a good finish, and still did good storytelling work around it.

Highlight of the Night: Opening Match and Four Horsewomen Brawl

Unfortunately for the rest of the show, this was an “all downhill from here” kind of opening. We got some great promos from Becky Lynch, The IIconics, and Charlotte Flair. It was followed by a solid match, and a great post-match attack by Shayna Baszler, Marina Shafir, and Jessamyn Duke that led to the first Four Horsewomen vs. Four Horsewomen confrontation we’ve really seen.

Overall Show Grade: B

This could’ve been a much better show. The work put in by most of the superstars involved was about as good as could have been expected, but too many poor storyline decisions and awkward finishes dragged things down. This was a decent show at times, and a horrid one at others, which gives it a mere B overall.