WWE Raw Results: Winners, Live Grades, Reaction and Highlights From Nov. 13

Welcome to Bleacher Report's live coverage and recap of WWE Raw on November 13.

WWE is still working toward Survivor Series on November 25, but this week's show had plenty to keep fans occupied until then.

Jey Uso and Cody Rhodes were looking to regain the tag titles when they took on Finn Bálor and Damian Priest of The Judgment Day.

We also saw matches such as Ivar vs. The Miz, Otis vs. Shinsuke Nakamura, and Tegan Nox vs. Piper Niven.

Let's take a look at these contests and everything else that happened on the red brand this week.

Dominik Mysterio and JD McDonagh vs. Seth Rollins and Sami Zayn

After a video recapped some of the recent events surrounding the world title, Cody Rhodes made his way to the ring. He said he and Jey Uso were going to regain the tag titles before talking about WarGames and introducing his team.

Rhodes and Seth Rollins had a little confrontation in the ring before The Judgment Day interrupted. They traded the usual insults while the group implied that The American Nightmare and his team would never be able to get along.

Rollins yelled at everyone for talking too much and challenged JD McDonagh and Dominik Mysterio to face himself and Sami Zayn, which was made official during the break.

This was a pretty standard tag match for the story being told. Neither of these duos work as a tag team regularly, but both pairs showed some decent chemistry.

Zayn and Rollins did a great job giving the crowd plenty of moments to cheer, and McDonagh and Mysterio sold all of their offense well. This match won't matter in the grand scheme of things, but it gave the fans a chance to see a couple of WWE's top names do what they do best.

The opening segment and match took up a combined 35 minutes at the top of the show. When it looked like Rollins was about to win, Rhea Ripley arrived with Bálor and Priest to cause a DQ. Jey Uso and Rhodes showed up to turn it into a huge brawl.

Adam Pearce flipped out and said everyone who isn't in the tag title bout later in the show is banned from the arena.

Result: Sami Zayn and Seth Rollins defeated Dom Mysterio and JD McDonagh by DQ

Grade: B-

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Notable Moments and Observations

• A young child in the front row had a stuffed dog that looked like Cody's pet, Pharaoh. He stopped and took a moment with her to acknowledge it. 
• McDonagh was the only one who didn't get to speak during the opening segment. 
• The Judgment Day's breakup is coming. The way Bálor looked at Priest when he claimed to be the leader of the group said it all. 
• The way Rollins dropped Mysterio when he hit a suplex counter looked painful. 
• Dom's use of the Pedigree to counter was kind of creative. 

Otis vs. Shinsuke Nakamura

We returned from a break to see Ripley still yelling at Pearce. She ended up having a brief moment with Zoey Stark that almost turned into a fight but ended with Mami retreating.

Last week, Shinsuke Nakamura picked up a win over Akira Tozawa; this week, he had a chance to face one of Tozawa's Alpha Academy allies, Otis.

The powerhouse took control early and dished out a lot of punishment. He even did one of Nakamura's own moves when he stomped on him in the corner repeatedly.

It took quite some time for The Artist to get the upper hand. Otis was in control for the majority of this bout and even countered the Kinshasa once. It took three Kinshasas to finally put him down for the three-count.

This match was mostly one-sided and made Otis look like a beast. Judging by how it ended, it looks like Gable will likely have a contest with Otis soon.

Even though this wasn't the most exciting performance, it did a good job of making both men look strong.

Result: Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Otis

Grade: C+

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Notable Moments and Observations

• The video package for Nakamura was awesome. It feels like WWE finally knows how to present him as a heel. 
• It's hard to believe Otis and Gable have been aligned for three years.
• Otis could have a great run in Japan. His size and athleticism would allow him to fit right in.

Piper Niven vs. Tegan Nox

WWE aired a special video package for Nox before she and Niven had their match.

Natalya was at ringside with Nox, which means they will likely be the next team to challenge for the women's tag belts.

This was a standard powerhouse vs. underdog type of contest. Niven did a good job dominating Nox while Chelsea Green yelled encouragement and instructions from ringside.

Natalya and Green ended up getting into a fight at ringside that almost cost Niven the match. She managed to get her foot on the bottom rope to prevent a pin, but Nox pinned her with a crucifix a moment later anyway.

This bout was uneventful, and the crowd being so quiet certainly didn't help.

Result: Tegan Nox defeated Piper Niven

Grade: C-

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Notable Moments and Observations

• Niven hit a nice suplex from the apron into the ring. 
• Nox's hair always looks freshly dyed. It must be hard to keep it looking that bright. 
• Wade Barrett made a great Papa Shango reference on commentary. 

Tommaso Ciampa vs. Ludwig Kaiser

Johnny Gargano accompanied Tommaso Ciampa to the ring for his match against Imperium's Ludwig Kaiser, who had Giovanni Vinci by his side.

Vinci tried and failed to bait Ciampa into following him into a sneak attack to start the bout. Ciampa easily took control and slammed Kaiser's head into the announce table.

Once Kaiser took control, he slowed the pace down so he could dish out precise offense. Vinci was ejected from ringside after the ref caught him cheating right before the commercial break.

These two men have had many matches over the years, so they know each other well. They used their chemistry to deliver a solid performance that highlighted their strengths.

Even though Vinci was ejected, he showed back up to hit Gargano with a running kick. The distraction allowed Kaiser to roll Ciampa up for the pin.

The ending was a bit contrived, but the match as a whole was cromulent.

Result: Ludwig Kaiser defeated Tommaso Ciampa

Grade: B

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Notable Moments and Observations

• Kaiser does so many little things between each move that add to his performance. Even the way he turns his nose up at the crowd stands out. 
• It may be a simple move, but Imperium's Mr. A+ Everything has a really good clothesline. He puts a little something extra on it to make it look more painful. 

Xia Li vs. Indi Hartwell

This match came about after Xia Li defeated Candice LeRae two weeks ago. She also took out Becky Lynch before last week's Battle Royal and was not allowed to compete as a result.

Indi Hartwell took control early but as soon as they rolled out of the ring, Li shoved her into the ring steps to take over.

LeRae did her best to hype up the fans at ringside, but it seemed like most of the people in the arena didn't care about this match, and that had a big impact on the overall presentation.

A quiet crowd can destroy the momentum of a bout, and the way it ended didn't seem to help. The ref called an end to it after he declared Hartwell could no longer compete after taking a kick to the head.

This contest was short and did little to make either woman look good. Becky Lynch showing up at the end looking for revenge helped, but this segment fell flat.

Result: Xia Li defeated Candice LeRae

Grade: D+

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Notable Moments and Observations

• WWE should bring back the lightning graphics for Li's entrance. 
• LeRae almost looked like she was cosplaying Christina Aguilera in her "Genie in a Bottle" music video. 

The Miz vs. Ivar

Last week's Fatal 4-Way No. 1 Contender's match ended with The Miz earning himself a shot at the Intercontinental Championship, but the way it was supposed to end was Ivar and The A-Lister getting the pin at the same time.

Ivar attacked The Miz after it was over to set them up for this bout, which likely would have been for the title shot had last week's bout ended as intended.

The Miz did a good job playing the underdog against his larger opponent. Whenever he works as a babyface, he incorporates moves he doesn't usually use to get little pops from the crowd.

Bronson Reed came out to have a closer look after he got into an argument with Ivar earlier in the show.

This was another match that made sense from a storyline perspective but did little to excite the fans at first. The Miz working as a babyface is going to take some time to get used to, so he isn't getting universally positive reactions yet.

The action between the ropes was solid and the crowd was getting more into the match as it progressed. The Miz ended up getting the win by using the ropes for leverage. Reed attacked Ivar after it was over and hit the Tsunami.

Result: The Miz defeated Ivar

Grade: B-

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Notable Moments and Observations

• Barrett said Ivar was wearing a crown made of bird skulls. 
• Valhalla had cool face paint this week.
• The way The Miz was driven into the apron looked painful, but Ivar's low crossbody to him afterward looked even worse. 

Finn Bálor and Damian Priest vs. Cody Rhodes and Jey Uso (Tag Team Championships)

The main event of this week's show was a tag title bout with Bálor and Priest defending the WWE Tag Team Championships against Uso and Rhodes.

The company gave this bout the final 35 minutes of the show with entrances included, so they had plenty of time to ensure this was the highlight of the night.

Uso and Bálor started for their team with a furious lockup. The Irishman scored the first takedown, but Jey was right back to his feet. This quickly developed into a brawl involving all four competitors.

With this quartet, it's almost a foregone conclusion the match would be good. They are all veterans who have held dozens of titles across multiple promotions, so the main event was in safe hands.

The only downside was that the outcome was predictable, but how we got there might have been surprising to some. Drew McIntyre showed up and hit Uso with a Claymore Kick while the ref was distracted to give The Judgment Day an easy path to victory.

Result: The Judgment Day defeated Jey Uso and Cody Rhodes to retain the tag titles

Grade: B+

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Notable Moments and Observations

• The announcers kept avoiding saying how many people would be on each WarGames team. It's usually five, but it feels like WWE might go with four this year.
• Samantha Irvin really went for it with the pre-match announcements. 
• Ripley told Priest he was the leader of the team for WarGames, but she clearly still thinks of herself as the overall ruler of the stable. 
• Priest gave McDonagh a jacket to officially induct him into The Judgment Day before the match. 
• Bálor is one of those guys who makes everything look easy. He's one of the smoothest performers on the entire roster. 
• Part of the ring post fell off when Priest threw Rhodes into it. 

The Final Word

This week's Raw wasn't a strong episode, but it did its job of building up most of the feuds that will make up the Survivor Series card.

It was nice to see so many different women get the spotlight throughout Monday night. Even those who weren't in action were given time to speak either in the ring or in backstage segments.

The best match on this show was the main event, but the opening tag bout and Kaiser vs. Ciampa were both enjoyable, too.

A few interesting possibilities were set up throughout the show, including McIntyre joining The Judgment Day for Survivor Series and a potential Ivar vs. Reed showdown.

WarGames is always a fun stipulation for WWE, so this year's Survivor Series should be a memorable pay-per-view that hopefully includes a few surprises.

Grade: C+