WWE Raw Results: Winners, Live Grades, Reaction and Highlights After Survivor Series
Welcome to Bleacher Report's live coverage and recap of WWE Raw on November 27.
The return of CM Punk at Survivor Series set social media on fire Saturday night.
The Best in the World was once thought to be unlikely to ever step foot in a WWE ring again, but as the saying goes, never say never in professional wrestling.
Saturday's pay-per-view also featured the babyface teams picking up wins in both WarGames matches, Rhea Ripley and Gunther retaining their respective championships, and Santos Escobar scoring a win over Dragon Lee.
Monday's Raw featured the first comments from Punk following his return as well as all of the fallout from the pay-per-view.
Let's take a look at everything that happened on the show.
Opening Segment
1 of 7Raw opened with a video recapping what went down at Survivor Series with a heavy emphasis on the return of CM Punk. We then got a brand new intro for Raw including different music.
Randy Orton came out to kick things off to a huge pop from the crowd. He seemed really happy to be back and posed for some pics with fans as he made his way to the ring. He even stopped and signed a figure for a young fan.
The Viper said he happily returned when Cody Rhodes called him up, not only because of their friendship but also because he wanted to be part of WarGames with the son of the man who invented the match, Dusty Rhodes.
Orton said he had some unfinished business with The Bloodline, including Jey Uso. That is when Rhea Ripley came out by herself. She said The Judgment Day had taken over WWE while he has been gone. The Viper seemed unimpressed and said "Daddy's back."
The segment ended with Orton promising to take out Dominik Mysterio on Monday night.
This was a great opening segment. Orton did a great job controlling the crowd.
Grade: B
Notable Moments and Observations
- The new intro for Raw might take some time to feel right. It has a lot less energy than the last theme song WWE used.
- The first hour of the show was aired without commercials.
- Orton saying he understood why The Bloodline did what it did was perfect. If he had tried to claim the high road after everything he has done as a heel, nobody would have bought it.
- The crowd chanting "Who's your daddy?" was great.
Tag Team Turmoil
2 of 7After Adam Pearce had a mini meltdown last week, he booked several tag teams to compete in a Tag Team Turmoil match to see which duo would get the next shot at the titles.
Akira Tozawa and Otis represented Alpha Academy to start the bout against Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano. Here is the order of eliminations:
- DIY eliminated Alpha Academy
- DIY eliminated Indus Sher
- The Creed Brothers eliminated DIY
- The Creed Brothers eliminated The New Day
- The Creed Brothers eliminated Imperium
Having the first hour of the show be commercial-free was a good move because it allowed WWE to finally give the tag team division some attention, which it has sorely needed for months.
The Creeds getting so much time really allowed them to show off and give fans who don't watch NXT a better idea of what they can do.
Result: The Creeds win a shot at the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championships
Grade: B
Notable Moments and Observations
- The quick segment with R-Truth was kind of funny. Jelly Roll looked happy to be there.
- Tozawa hit a nice gutbuster to Gargano.
- The way Tozawa fell into Johnny Wrestling's knee strike looked brutal.
- WWE not having Ivy Nile wrestle feels like a big mistake. She is so much more valuable as a performer than she is as a manager.
- Watching a man stand up while holding another grown man above his head will never stop being impressive.
- Brutus fell right on top of Vinci when he hit The Brutus Ball. It did not look fun.
Ivar vs. Bronson Reed
3 of 7Cody Rhodes declared himself as the first entrant in the 2024 men's Royal Rumble match. This led to Shinsuke Nakamura addressing him from the big screen.
The Artist used the video as a distraction so he could sneak up behind The American Nightmare and blow red mist in his face.
After a break, Ivar and Bronson Reed met for a fight.
Ivar and Reed are two of the biggest guys in WWE, but they are also both capable of surprising people with their speed and agility, so this wasn't just two big dudes hitting each other.
Both Superstars tried to overpower each other with everything they had. They each displayed their monumental strength and striking ability throughout the bout.
Matches like this are few and far between nowadays, so it was a nice change of pace to see two big meaty men slapping meat. Big E was probably smiling from ear to ear while watching this.
After Valhalla was ejected from ringside, both men were counted out while fighting in the timekeeper's area. They continued to fight through the crowd until security tried to break them up. They used the guards as weapons against each other.
This was just plain fun from start to finish. The ending will upset some, but it will lead to a rematch that should be even better.
Result: Double Countout
Grade: B+
Notable Moments and Observations
- Nakamura's promos in Japanese are so much cooler than his English ones.
- Wade Barrett talking about big-guy heat at the gym was hilarious.
- Reed's suplex to Ivar was impressive.
- Ivar breaking the LED ring apron with a crossbody was pretty cool.
- Reed caught Ivar coming off the apron but was too tired to hold him up for long.
Nia Jax vs. Zoey Stark
4 of 7After a backstage segment, Zoey Stark and Nia Jax ended up in a singles match this week.
Stark used her speed to avoid Jax and hit a few strikes early on, but The Irresistible Force's size and power eventually became too much for her to manage.
This wasn't a particularly exciting contest, but it did a good job showing how much Jax improved during her time away from WWE while also making Stark look like a competent powerhouse babyface.
The second half of the match was much better than the first. You could hear the crowd reacting more with each move. Jax scored the pin, but Stark had a good showing.
Result: Nia Jax defeated Zoey Stark
Grade: C+
Notable Moments and Observations
- Shayna Baszler made a very funny joke during the backstage segment. You just need to watch it to know what it was.
- WWE has to stop doing the thing where it has someone enter the ring and then wait through a break and a few video packages before their opponent comes out. It makes no sense to have Jax just standing out there the whole time.
- Jax used her time off wisely. She got in much better shape and moves around a lot better than she used to.
- Stark's corkscrew senton looked really good.
Chelsea Green and Piper Niven vs. Natalya and Tegan Nox (Women's Tag Titles)
5 of 7Seth Rollins came out to give a promo but before he could say too much, the crowd started to chant for CM Punk.
The Visionary called Punk a hypocrite and said he didn't want to spend a single second talking about him. As he began to discuss who his next challenger would be, Drew McIntyre marched to the ring.
He said he needs to get his focus back after losing at WarGames and the way to do it is to win the world title Rollins has right now.
The Visionary revealed he is defending the title against Jey Uso next week, which led to the Scot hitting him with a headbutt out of nowhere that busted him open a bit. Uso came out to help Rollins drive him off.
After a break, Chelsea Green and Piper Niven put the women's tag titles on the line against Natalya and Tegan Nox.
The odd-couple champions had a hard time combating the recently formed duo they were facing but managed to take control during the break.
Niven picked up the win for her team with a crossbody to Nox. She hoisted up both belts as Green celebrated at ringside.
This match was fine, but it was basically filler.
Result: Piper Niven and Chelsea Green defeated Natalya and Tegan Nox
Grade: C
Notable Moments and Observations
- It looks like Rollins' reaction after Punk's return on Saturday was just him working.
- The mind games McIntyre used were great.
- Chelsea Green makes sure every second she is on screen is used to the fullest. She is one of the most entertaining people on Raw.
- Nattie seemed more fired up than usual during this match.
Dominik Mysterio vs. Randy Orton
6 of 7The main event of this week's show was the match between Orton and Mysterio that was set up during the opening segment.
Dom tried to take control early but was quickly thwarted when The Viper hit a shoulder tackle. JD McDonagh encouraged his stablemate to get back into the ring, which just led to Orton beating him up some more.
Surprisingly, Dom was able to get in some offense and The Legend Killer did a great job selling for him before he took over again.
Jelly Roll was sitting in the front row and got into an argument with McDonagh. He pushed JD and Dom before shaking hands with Orton.
The Viper and Dom put on a fun main event that gave the crowd plenty of reasons to chant and cheer. Orton scored the win with a nice RKO.
Result: Randy Orton defeated Dominik Mysterio
Grade: B
Notable Moments and Observations
- Wade Barrett admiring Orton's physique was kind of funny.
- Orton is one of those guys who can't hide when he is having fun. There's just this look on his face when he is enjoying himself.
- Dom has gotten much better at selling in 2023. He does a lot more little things to make each hit he takes seem like it makes a big impact.
- Orton took a good bump into the steel steps.
- The way Orton threw Dom onto the announce table looked awesome.
CM Punk's Promo And the Final Word
7 of 7The first thing Punk said when he got to the ring was "It looks like hell froze over." He made a quick hockey joke to get a laugh before saying he was feeling more like himself again.
He said he has changed and that he is finally home, which got a big "CM Punk" chant going. He thanked the crowd for never forgetting him even when he wanted to forget himself.
He said his wife (and former WWE wrestler) AJ Lee is doing well and sends her regards and that he was welcomed back with open arms by almost everybody.
All in all, this was a pretty tame promo when you consider what people expected him to say.
This week's show had more energy than most episodes of Raw, and while some of that can be credited to Punk's return, it wasn't all him. It felt that way across the board.
Orton and R-Truth being back after long breaks was welcome by many fans, although The Judgment Day didn't seem too happy that Truth got powdered sugar all over their couch.
Most of the matches were decent. If you only watch one, make it Reed vs. Ivar. Any time you get to see two talented big men fight, you should take that opportunity. They pushed each other to their limits.
Grade: B+
