The latest segment in the Lana, Rusev and Lashley love triangle hardly endeared itself to fans.
WWE Raw aired live from Manchester, England as a radioactive segment that went viral for all the wrong reasons lived up (or d0wn) to its well-deserved criticisms. After once again accusing Rusev of being a sex addict, the television broadcast revealed Lana faked her pregnancy after making the announcement moments before.
Raw was also a bad night for WWE NXT (and, more specifically, NXT UK) as WALTER made his in-ring debut on the red brand only to lose twice. Once by disqualification against Seth Rollins, and another alongside IMPERIUM. The losing ways of the NXT offshoot continued as former NXT UK tag team champions Flash Morgan Webster and Mark Andrews lost to The Viking Raiders.
Last week’s episode remained even with the week prior, drawing 2.136 million viewers. Going head-to-head with the rare enticing matchup between two competitive teams on Monday Night Football, a taped Raw show will have stout competition.
WWE Raw Viewership—Last Five Weeks:
- November 4, 2019—2.136 million viewers
- October 28, 2019—2.133 million viewers
- October 21, 2019—2.342 million viewers
- October 14, 2019—2.287 million viewers
- October 7, 2019—2.334 million viewers
WWE Raw Key Competition:
- NFL Monday Night Football: Seattle Seahawks at San Francisco 49ers
From the Forbes WWE Vault:
WWE Total YouTube Viewership for WWE Raw Last Monday: 13,992,784 views (up from 13,053,700)
- Most-Viewed: Brock Lesnar Mauls Dio Maddin (3,503,331 views)
- Least-Viewed: The Viking Raiders Vs. The East Hampton Polo Boys (221,921 views)
- Median Viewership: 473,837
Average Attendance for “A City”: 9,235
Average WWE Raw Ticket Price at the SNHU Arena: $89
Estimated Live Gate for WWE Raw: $821,915
WWE Raw Results: Monday, November 11, 2019
The Kabuki Warriors def. Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair—WWE Women’s Championship
Even during an edited live crowd, it still seemed to take surprisingly long for the “Becky” chants to start up.
WWE seems to think simply being in Europe makes the Irish Becky Lynch a hometown hero. Can you imagine how ridiculous it would be if Aaron Rodgers—after he wins Super Bowl LIV—held a championship rally in the city of Chicago and said “we did it, America!”
WWE never got around to shooting any formal peacemaking segment between Becky Lynch and Charlotte. The best-friends-turned-enemies were only teammates tonight because they both happen to be babyfaces and Natalya had prior commitments.
Judging by reaction alone, if anyone felt like a hometown hero it would be Shayna Baszler.
Kairi Sane was too short to bend over the ropes and complete a tag to a fallen Asuka, so she had to climb the bottom and middle ropes to do so. It was the most adorable thing you ever saw.
Bayley must be relived that, as a heel, she doesn’t have to be in full gear 24/7.
Drew McIntyre def. Sin Cara
Drew McIntyre simply beat the employee morale out of Sin Cara.
Going forward, I’m guessing any future in-ring appearance from Sin Cara will follow the same lines of what was mostly a one-sided match save for a few flurries.
R-Truth and The Singh Brothers Battle to a No Contest—Handicap Match for WWE 24/7 Championship
When I read a spoiler report that The Singh Brothers lost a handicap match, it made them sound like enhancement talent. When I realized that they both competed at the same time? Wow.
Erick Rowan destroyed The Singh Brothers and didn’t show the slightest of interest in the WWE 24/7 Championship. This belt is beneath Erick Rowan. That’s the state of the WWE 24/7 Championship.
Seth Rollins def. WALTER by Disqualification
WWE aired a video package filled with WWE NXT picking fights with Raw and SmackDown, and at the end, it shows Triple H saying “you want to pick a fight with us?!”
WWE clearly edited what seemed to be a largely negative reaction to Seth Rollins.
The editing of WWE cutting to applause after Seth Rollins said “Monday Night Rollins” was so brutal, I wouldn’t be surprised if the applauding crowd was a clip from another country.
WWE and NXT UK can tell me the names of each member of IMPERIUM all they want, I will never be able to tell them apart.
Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens and The Street Profits def. IMPERIUM
Kevin Owens became the second American n of the night who received an ovation bigger than any of the European talent on the show.
WWE, NXT UK, WALTER of IMPERIUM were done no favors by the finish of this match, which was designed to showcase Raw stars. This was a bad night for capital letters.
Andrade def. Cedric Alexander
When was the last time Andrade had a legitimately meaningful match? Somebody look that up and get back to me.
Following another throwaway exhibition victory, Jerry Lawler despondently said “okay, you won. Good for you.” That’s literally the story of Andrade’s career on the main roster.
Aleister Black turns more into Liam Neeson with each passing week. Hopefully he doesn’t trend in that direction too much before it’s too late.
If I wasn’t so privy to WWE’s constant disorganization, I’d think WWE was teasing a feud by airing an Aleister Black promo right after an Andrade match. And maybe Aleister Black saying “I know what you did...” is in reference to Andrade being managed by Black’s real-life wife. But this is WWE, so the back-to-back vignettes were most likely a strict coincidence.
Lana Announces She is Pregnant, Rusev Addresses Sex Addiction
In an ominous sign for this segment, Jerry Lawler couldn’t remember what their show-closing segment from two weeks ago was called.
As uncomfortable as this segment was to watch, I could only imagine how this trainwreck played out live.
There was a lack of reaction from the Manchester crowd when Lana announced she was nine weeks pregnant. Lana (and WWE) said it was because they’re stupid, but I know it was because they lost interest in everything she said leading up to the announcement.
Live reports had it that Rusev admitted to a sex addition, but he only seemed to admit to his sex addiction sarcastically.
Lana’s entire monologue felt like it was written by a man whose only female friend moved to another city years ago.
Erick Rowan def. Suner Durson
Never in my life did I ever thing an Erick Rowan promo would start with “you up?”
As a middling monster midcarder who seemingly has nine lives, Erick Rowan is a (very) poor man’s Glenn Jacobs.
I’m hoping Erick Rowan reveals his mystery item to be the hemp-based WWE Championship.
As intrigued as I am by Erick Rowan’s mystery item, I also fear that in three weeks we’ll never see or hear about this item ever again.
The Viking Raiders def. Flash Morgan Webster and Mark Andrews
Flash Morgan Webster and Mark Andrews are essentially the Suburban Street Profits.
Jerry Lawler joked about not knowing who Andrews and Webster were, even making multiple Flash Gordon jokes to mock Flash Morgan. This is exactly what this announce team does with enhancement talent.
Humberto, Ricochet and Randy Orton def. The O.C.
By this point in the show, its final hour, the 49ers-Seahawks game is living up to its hype as a competitive heavyweight fight. Deep in the third quarter, it’s still a one possession game. A miserable sign for this show’s viewership.
WWE seems to feel that, by adding more lights to his entrance, maybe people will actually begin to believe he’s a superhero.
Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows are a good tag team, but they’re not good enough to where calling them “The Best Tag Team in the World” isn’t comical.
As bald, bearded men with black trunks, waist belts and black boots, I had a surprisingly tough time telling Ricochet and Karl Anderson apart.
It’s now 21-18, Seahawks, with 12:01 remaining in the fourth quarter. This rating is going to die a slow death.
