By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
WWE Raw (Episode 1,487)
Brooklyn, New York at Barclays Center
Aired November 22, 2021 on USA Network
[Hour One] Raw opened with a recap of the Cleopatra egg saga… Backstage, Vince McMahon told Adam Pearce and Sonya Deville that the monetary value of the egg ($100 million) wasn’t important, it’s that someone stole from him.
Pearce and Deville told him that they interviewed people and didn’t have any leads. Vince threatened to fire them both if he didn’t have the egg on his desk by the end of the show. Vince said that the person who brings him the culprit would get a match with WWE Champion Big E…
Randy Orton stood backstage when he was approached by Kevin Patrick, who said he was supposed to interview Riddle before his match against Dolph Ziggler. Orton said it wasn’t like Riddle to be late for a match. Orton stopped and asked, “What did you do?”
Riddle entered the picture with fake facial hair and was dressed like Orton. Riddle spoke about his match with Ziggler. Orton said he told Riddle to be like him, not to dress like him. Orton’s music played and the duo headed to the ring…
Jimmy Smith, Corey Graves, and Byron Saxton checked in on commentary. Riddle struck Orton’s pose on the ropes. Highlights aired of RKBro beating The Usos at Survivor Series… [C]
Powell’s POV: Riddle is getting more annoying by the week. At this point, I don’t know if it’s intentional or if it’s supposed to be funny.
Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode made their entrance coming out of the break. The broadcast team hyped Finn Balor vs. Seth Rollins along with previously announced matches…
1. Riddle (w/Randy Orton) vs. Dolph Ziggler (w/Robert Roode). Riddle wrestled in black trunks and had his feet taped. Bianca Belair vs. Tamina was also listed for the show in an onscreen graphic. Ziggler ripped Riddle’s fake facial hair off his face. A short time later, Riddle dove from the ring at Ziggler, who superkicked him from the floor. [C]
Riddle emulated some of Orton’s offense. He struck the Viper’s Pose and put Ziggler down with an RKO for the win.
Riddle defeated Dolph Ziggler in 9:30.
Afterward, Orton celebrated Riddle’s win and stopped Roode from attacking Riddle. Orton gave Riddle his fake facial hair back. Orton performed Riddle’s Bro Derek finisher on Roode and then celebrated with Riddle…
Powell’s POV: So I guess Riddle is supposed to be comedic even though he comes off more like a stalker than anything.
Backstage, a group of male and female wrestlers frantically tore a room apart while in search of Vince’s golden egg. Saxton explained that the person who found it would get the shot at Big E for the WWE Championship…
Powell’s POV: So are the ladies hoping that WWE will book them in an intergender match for the title? Either way, everyone looked nuts for destroying this room while searching for this egg. They better have a good payoff (Rock) because this is just plain ridiculous.
Raw Women’s Champion Becky Lynch made her entrance. Highlights aired of her win over Charlotte Flair from Survivor Series. A graphic hyped Lynch’s “victory lap” as coming up after the break… [C]
Lynch delivered an in-ring promo and noted that she’s had some of her biggest moments in Brooklyn. She worked up the crowd about defending her title against Liv Morgan, then spoke about how she no longer cares about what they think. She scolded them for their reaction to the women’s elimination match at Survivor Series.
Lynch said she has a death grip on the Raw Women’s Championship. When it came to Morgan, she said not every underdog has their day. She said no one would take the title off of Big Time Beck…
Powell’s POV: As much as fans want to cheer Lynch and as much as I think the safer play was to keep her a babyface, the decision has been made that she’s a heel. With that in mind, it was good to see her tear into the fans in this promo rather than letting them cheer along.
Highlights aired of Bianca Belair winning the women’s elimination match despite Team Raw being down 4-1 at one point in the match…
Belair made her entrance and received a strong reaction from the crowd. Belair said she was able to come back in the elimination match because the fans were cheering her on. She brought up Doudrop and said hopefully she’ll find something better to do with her time such as finding the golden egg rather than be consumed with her.
Tamina made her entrance along with Natalya. Graves reminded viewers that Vince McMahon gave the edict at Survivor Series that all wrestlers should be at Raw (NXT doesn’t seem to count)… [C]
2. Bianca Belair vs. Tamina (w/Natalya). A graphic listed Damian Priest holding an open challenge for the U.S. Title. Tamina wrenched the neck of Belair and then taunted the crowd to draw heat. Belair came back and powered up Tamina and hit the KOD for the win.
Bianca Belair defeated Tamina in 4:00.
After the match, Belair was mouthing that she’s the best when Natalya attacked her from behind. Natalya went for a Sharpshooter, but Belair avoided it. Doudrop entered the ring and hit Belair from behind. Doudrop performed a running splash on Belair and left her lying. Doudrop posed with Tamina and Natalya at ringside and headed arm in arm to the back with them…
Powell’s POV: There was no mystery regarding the outcome of the match. Doudrop’s post match attack reestablishes her feud with Belair now that Survivor Series is over.
Highlights aired of Seth Rollins emerging as the sole survivor in the men’s elimination match at Survivor Series… Rollins made his entrance for his match against Finn Balor… [C]
Rollins stood in the ring and boasted about being the sole survivor and leading Team Raw to victory. The fans chanted his entrance theme. Rollins said he loved it. Rollins said the best thing about winning at Survivor Series is that he did it all by himself because the rest of his team was eliminated. The fans booed.
Rollins said Kevin Owens showed he was a lying snake, Bobby Lashley got himself counted out, Austin Theory tried hard and just wasn’t good enough, and Finn Balor got Brogue Kicked and pinned by Sheamus. “No help from Finn Balor,” Rollins said.
[Hour Two] Rollins said Balor was about to come out. Rollins said he would lead by example and show everyone a thing or two about being the best. Rollins was interrupted by Balor’s entrance music. Balor entered to a good crowd reaction.
Once Balor climbed onto the apron, Rollins hit him from behind while he was playing to the crowd. Balor returned fire and cleared Rollins from the ring. Balor performed a flip dive onto Rollins on the floor. Balor rolled Rollins back inside the ring. Rollins rolled right back to the floor.
Balor charged Rollins, who hoisted him up and dropped him on the barricade. Rollins roughed up Balor and tossed him over the broadcast table while the fans chanted his entrance theme again. Rollins put the boots to Balor and then took off the top half of the ring steps and hit Balor with it.
Rollins rolled Balor into the ring and then put him down with a Stomp. Graves said the match never got started and Balor was in no condition to compete. Rollins, who had a bloody lip, left the ring for a moment, then returned and performed another Stomp on Balor.
As Rollins was walking to the back, a fan dove onto him. The broadcast team started to acknowledge it, then stopped and the cameras cut away. They eventually cut back to Rollins alone on the stage…
Powell’s POV: Fortunately, Rollins seem to be fine despite the idiot fan doing idiot fan things. The lack of an actual match between Rollins and Balor likely explains why WWE didn’t opt to advertise it in advance. It’s an attractive match on paper and they would be wise to advertise it at least a week out, so hopefully they do that for next week’s show.
Backstage, a group of wrestlers ran through the backstage area in search for the egg…
Powell’s POV: I guess the golden egg has replaced the WWE 24/7 Championship for the evening.
Sami Zayn sat in Vince McMahon’s office and confirmed that a WWE Championship match was at stake. Zayn said he knew who took it, then said he was 95 percent sure. Vince told Zayn to bring the person into his office. Sami went for a handshake, but Vince left him hanging…
“The Street Profits” Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins made their entrance. Dawkins went backstage and returned with a bag that he set on the ring steps. Ford teased giving a red cup to Saxton, only to give it to Graves instead. Smith said the Profits would face AJ Styles and Omos… [C]
Kevin Owens was shown searching backstage when he was approached by Sarah Schreiber about abandoning his team. Owens said he didn’t listen to the Rollins promo because he was busy looking for the egg in hopes of getting a WWE Championship match. Owens said if it wasn’t him, he would be watching to see who faces Big E and said he would have great interest…
AJ Styles and Omos made their entrance while footage aired of Omos winning the dual brand battle royal…
3. “The Street Profits” Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins vs. AJ Styles and Omos. Dawkins wore a Profits t-shirt during the match. Styles started for his team, but he tagged in Omos roughly a minute in. The Profits went to ringside and spoke. [C]
Late in the match, Omos checked in again. Omos tossed Dawkins to ringside and went after Ford. Dawkins pulled a fire extinguisher out of the bag he brought to the ring and then sprayed Omos with it for the DQ. Styles tried to leap onto him, but Dawkins sprayed him too.
AJ Styles and Omos defeated “The Street Profits” Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins by DQ in 8:15.
Powell’s POV: Hey, maybe the Profits could actually beat Styles and Omos if they can just get Pearce and Deville to sign off on a fire extinguishers match something. Yeah, this was a silly finish.
By the way, a fan shared footage of Rollins being attacked by the fan, which you can watch below. Fortunately, it was brief and it didn’t seem like the guy was able to do much before he was hauled away.
a fan attacked seth oh my god #RAW pic.twitter.com/yjXNmmeEWg
— ashley 🌸 (@visionembracer) November 23, 2021
Backstage, Queen Zelina and Carmella were walking backstage when Schreiber asked them about their game plan in the WWE Women’s Tag Title match. Carmella said they weren’t worried about Nikki ASH and labeled her a scrubby little sidekick. Zelina said Rhea Ripley has been carrying their team…
ASH and Ripley made their entrance for the tag title match… [C] A Veer Mahaan video aired. He’s still listed as coming to Raw (even though he’s already been on Raw)… Carmella and Zelina made their entrance…
4. Rhea Ripley and Nikki ASH vs. Queen Zelina and Carmella for the WWE Women’s Tag Titles. Mike Rome delivered introductions from the floor once both teams were in the ring. Carmella rolled to ringside and her assistants put a new red mask over her face.
Ripley saved ASH from being pinned by Zelina. Carmella superkicked Ripley to ringside and then sent her face first into the ring post. The heels doubled up on ASH. Carmella hit her with a superkick and then Zelina performed a Code Red and scored the pin…
Queen Zelina and Carmella defeated Rhea Ripley and Nikki ASH in 4:50 to win the WWE Women’s Tag Titles.
Powell’s POV: Carmella’s new mask makes her look like a walking Fruit Roll-Up. Anyway, I’m all for the title change because it allow Ripley to move on to bigger and better things. Whether they actually book her to do bigger and better things remains to be seen. Either way, the title change also makes Zelina and Carmella feel more relevant.
Backstage, an excited Deville told Vince that the egg had been found. She said Pearce was about to bring it to Vince’s office… [C]
Vince McMahon sat in his office with Pearce, Deville, and Zayn. Austin Theory entered the room with the egg. “And there’s the guilty party now,” Zayn said. Vince dismissed Pearce and Deville. Vince asked Theory why he did it. Theory said he knows how valuable the egg is. He said he wanted to take a selfie with it and then there was security everywhere. Theory showed the selfie on his phone.
Vince said Theory took a big risk coming in the room and decided to drop the charges. Vince gave Theory the championship match. Zayn threw a fit. Theory took a selfie with Vince and left the room. Vince told Zayn that he doesn’t like a snitch…
Powell’s POV: Was Rikishi unavailable?
5. Reggie vs. Cedric Alexander for the WWE 24/7 Championship. Alexander’s entrance was not televised. Alexander controlled the bulk of the offense and hit his Lumbar Check finisher for the win.
Cedric Alexander beat Reggie in 1:30 to win the WWE 24/7 Championship.
After the match, a group of wrestlers ran toward the ring. Meanwhile, Dana Brooke hit Alexander with a top rope Blockbuster and pinned him win the WWE 24/7 Title. The group of male wrestlers entered the ring and stood there, presumably because they didn’t want to wrestle a female.
Powell’s POV: They followed up that lousy egg reveal with a 24/7 Title match? Man, I’d love to see the minute-by-minute ratings. They already did the gimmick where the men were reluctant to wrestle women for the belt once before. I guess we’ll see if they have a new spin or if they are just repeating themselves.
Footage aired from last week of Bobby Lashley putting Rey Mysterio in the Hurt Lock…
Backstage, Dominik Mysterio apologized to his father Rey Mysterio for not doing anything when Lashley put him in the Hurt Lock. Rey said he could fight his own battles and doesn’t need to Dom to do it for him. Rey said he would fight by his son’s side in the handicap match and he was damn proud of it…
Bobby Lashley and MVP made their entrance for the handicap match… [C]
[Hour Three] The broadcast team recapped Brooke winning the title and the male wrestlers being reluctant to go after her…
Backstage, Brooke was interviewed by Schreiber. She said it was her moment to show the world who Dana Brooke is…
The Mysterios made their entrance. MVP took the mic and said Rey was powerless to do anything to save Dom from Lashley. MVP said that when Rey has to explain to his wife why their child was hurt, MVP said that Rey could give her his number and tell her to give him a call…
6. Bobby Lashley (w/MVP) vs. Rey Mysterio and Dominik Mysterio in a handicap match. Dom sent Lashley to ringside and tried to dive onto him, but Lashley caught him and put him on his shoulders. Before Lashley could swing Dom into the ring post, Rey dove from the ring onto Lashley and knocked him down. [C]
Late in the match, the Mysterios hit a double 619. Dom hit a frogsplash and then Rey followed up with the same move. They went for a double pin, but Lashley kicked out. Lashley came back by spearing Rey and then caught Dom coming off the top rope and put him in the Hurt Lock until he gave up…
Bobby Lashley defeated Rey Mysterio and Dominik Mysterio in 11:00 in a handicap match.
Powell’s POV: I don’t think this match made Rey and Dom look good, but it was entertaining and the live crowd was into it.
Backstage, Kevin Patrick interviewed WWE Champion Big E. Patrick said Big E had a hellacious match with Roman Reigns and has been blindsided by having to defend the WWE Championship against Austin Theory.
Big E said he let a lot of people down. Big E said he could only blame himself, not Paul Heyman or The Usos. Big E shifted his focus to his match with Theory and went into Larry David mode while saying he would be feeling “pretty, pretty, pretty good” by the time he left Barclays Center…
Damian Priest made his entrance for his open challenge match for the U.S. Title… An ad for Smackdown questioned what was next for Roman Reigns… [C]
Liv Morgan was interviewed by Kevin Patrick backstage. Becky Lynch showed up and said Liv Morgan underdelivered at Survivor Series. Lynch said it took her back to Money in the Bank when everyone was rooting for Morgan, who got her hand on the briefcase only to be outshined by Nikki ASH.
Lynch said ASH cashed in and won the title that Morgan will never hold. Morgan said she held the title last week. Lynch said she signs autographs every week and lets little kids hold the title, but it doesn’t make them champions either. Lynch said Morgan embarrassed her friends and mother. Morgan started to get emotional. Lynch mocked her and called her a crybaby. Morgan knocked Lynch down with a punch…
Apollo Crews and Commander Azeez made their entrance. Azeez told the crowd to stand and applaud Crews. Apollo said Priest seemed to have a split personality, whereas he found himself. Priest cut him off and said they are in New York, which drew loud cheer from the fans.
Priest said that if Crews wanted to run his mouth, he could start a podcast. Or he could just shut up and fight. Priest called for a title match. Crews called him a funny guy and brought up Priest’s hometown advantage. Crews said they would fight on his time.
Sami Zayn made his entrance and said WWE’s conspiracy against him goes all the way to the top. He complained about not getting the WWE Championship match that he deserved. Zayn entered the ring and said that if Crews doesn’t want the match, he would gladly accept. Zayn said he would leave Brooklyn as the new U.S. Champion…
7. Damian Priest vs. Sami Zayn for the U.S. Championship. Zayn went to ringside when the bell rang and Priest followed. Zayn performed an exploder suplex against the barricade. [C] Zayn picked up a near fall following a Blue Thunder Bomb. Zayn went up top, but Priest hit him with a kick and wanted to superplex him, but Zayn blocked it. Zayn powerbombed from the ropes for another near fall.
Priest went or the Reckoning, but Zayn avoided it and rolled him up for a two count. Priest caught Zayn with a kick. Zayn went to ringside. Priest tried to pull him back inside, but Zayn clotheslined him over the ropes.
Zayn grabbed the U.S. Title belt and taunted Priest before setting it down again. Priest snapped and then destroyed Zayn before putting him away with The Reckoning…
Damian Priest defeated Sami Zayn in 8:45 to retain the U.S. Championship.
Powell’s POV: I’m all for adding a mean streak or “a devilish side” to Priest, but I’m already starting to feel like nothing we see in his matches matter until he snaps into that mode.
Backstage, Theory spoke about his WWE Championship match and showed Kevin Patrick his selfie with Vince McMahon. Theory said he would become the youngest WWE Champion in history. Theory said he’s the future and everyone knows it. He said he would be taking a selfie as the new WWE Champion…
Big E made his entrance for the main event while Graves hyped next week’s Raw in Long Island, New York… [C] Footage aired of Stephanie McMahon and WWE performers at a Special Olympics bowling event…
Austin Theory made his entrance. Seth Rollins made his entrance in non-wrestling attire…
8. Big E vs. Austin Theory for the WWE Championship. Rome delivered introductions from the floor once both wrestlers were inside the ring. Rollins took a seat next to the broadcast team. Big E splashed Theory on the apron. Kevin Owens made his entrance, which Rollins was upset by. Theory took offensive control. Owens told Rollins that it a great match to watch up close and told Rollins to settle down. [C]
Rollins hit the bad knee of Big E. Theory performed a neckbreaker. Owens threw Rollins inside the ring for a moment (the production team missed it). Owens and Rollins bickered at ringside, which distracted Theory. Big E recovered and hit the Big Ending on Theory and then pinned him.
Big E defeated Austin Theory in 10:00 to retain the WWE Championship.
After the match, Owens shoved Rollins, who shoved him back. Big E hit Rollins from behind and knocked him into Owens. Big E threw Rollins over the broadcast table and then threw Owens inside the ring. Owens fled the ring. Rollins went entered the ring and tried to cheap shot Big E, who ducked it and then put Rollins down with a Big Ending.
Owens stood on the stage and jawed back and forth with Big E, who was in the ring.A graphic listed Riddle, Queen Zelina, Carmella, and The Street Profits for Raw Talk…
Powell’s POV: A good match. Theory was given a decent amount of offense even before the interference, so he wasn’t framed as a pushover despite taking the loss. All signs point to Big E vs. Rollins vs. Owens in a Triple Threat. It would be fun if it turned out that Rollins and Owens were in cahoots, but seeing is believing.
Overall, what a letdown. The golden egg saga was silly at Survivor Series, but it led to a lot of hope that they had some type of a big payoff in mind for Raw. Rather, it was just a terrible story with a terrible payoff. They also told us that Smackdown wrestlers would be present, but they didn’t have any of the money players on the show. They raised the expectations of viewers and let them down again. I will have more to say about this show in my weekly same night audio review for Dot Net Members. Let me know what you thought of the show by grading it below.
Spoiler Alert: THe EGGGGG has been sent to a chop shop and has been reborn at teh NEW 24/7 title!
Roman has the egg. Beats Big E. Holds both titles. Why would all Smackdown members be there if the end result didn’t involve a Smackdown person?
I’m bored, but I need to see how this plays out.
True story…I decided tonight to give WWE another shot, after giving up on them a year ago. So far…the egg story ends with a pay off that’s ridiculous, and Dana Brook beats a guy for the 24/7 title. Well, I tried.
NEVER ok for fans to jump the rail, but…umm…Seth got his ass handed to him…..(BTW, I LOL”ed when security pulls the guy off and Seth finally is able to get up and says, “THAT’S ALL YOU GOT?!?”….LOL, thankfully for you, Seth, you didnt’ find out just how much more he had…
Rollins was surprised. Give him a break. The guy basically got on top of him and appeared to pull his hair while Rollins was escaping. As for Rollins talking smack, he was probably back in character to some extent for the benefit of the live crowd, but that’s just a guess.
i agree with ya…and unfortunately this is taking place in liberal central NYC…meaning had seth hurt him in anyway he would have sued wwe and won…i know it sounds ridiculous but thats the dopey way mayor deballsack has run his city into the ground with criminals running the city….kudos to seth for being smart and laying off cause he has every right to whip that jokers ass…i bet the weasel will be released without bail too cause thats how broken NYC is now
I think it was lebron. He had the night off and is known for cheap shots
“… this is taking place in liberal central NYC…meaning had seth hurt him in anyway he would have sued wwe and won…… thats the dopey way mayor deballsack has run his city into the ground with criminals running the city…”
That right there is some dimwitted butthurt about NYC, being injected into a wrestling show review.
was that even english?…and u calling me dimwitted hahahahaha….should have stayed in school and corrected that grammar joker before u embarrass yourself again like you did when you voted for sleepy joe zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
how vince actually thinks that egg reveal was entertaining is not shocking at all…he is like sleepy joe and has no clue whats going on or how to book a good story…another complete fail….and the main event is now big E vs theory?..seriously vince?…its laughable how bad raw is now…..i turned it off after that lame egg reveal cause like 95% of the rest of the wwe universe nobody cares about big E vs theory…..pathetic booking
you can wish for Ripley to move on to bigger and better things untill Hell freezes over.
but I doubt it happens unless Vince wishes it to. in the mean time she is fine as part of a Tag Team with Nikki Cross.
which is better then her sitting in a locker room doing nothing and not being used on TV.
Raw was better than survivor series. Zayn is golden in ANY situation. Austin theory had a great match with Big E. They should have just pulled the trigger and made him champ. They have nothing to lose.
“Belair performed a running splash on Belair and left her lying.”
That is pretty darn impressive.
Well,
She is impressive!!