RAW In A Nutshell: Who Will Face McIntyre Next?

We begin this week as all other wrestling weeks-with RAW In A Nutshell. The question of the week: who will face Drew McIntyre next?

That is a question we expect to have answered by the end of RAW. AJ Styles, Keith Lee and Matt Riddle tangle in a triple threat match for that honor.

Not just any triple threat, but a sudden death one (whatever that means, compared to other triple threats?).

So, that is certainly the biggest question of the night. Beyond that, we expect other TLC preparations, as the final PPV of 2020 is just a few weeks away now.

So, who will face McIntyre next?

Let’s crack open this Nutshell and find out!

Best Match of the night:

I suppose I can go with the triple threat match, as it was good and carried the highest stakes.

Runner up would be the main event tag. It was good, it had enough teases (Sheamus turning on Drew? Possibility of a cash-in?), though my one complaint is it could have not been the main event.

Worst match of the night:

Really was not feeling Reckoning and Dana Brooke.

It was short, so that’s a plus?

Beyond that, we had Mia Yim unmasked, and Ali yelling at her that Retribution doesn’t lose (except, that’s most all they’ve been doing).

Star of the Night

I shall give the nod to AJ Styles, purely on the strength of him becoming #1 contender. I suppose it’s better than the injured Braun Strowman, and while Styles is that good…a new face would have been nice.

Spot of the Night:

The Symphony of Destruction match gave us a few.

I really thought we were going to see some creative three man spot, when Lee interrupted Styles trying to deliver the Styles Clash to Riddle.

Didn’t happen, but I would have popped hard for that.

Upset of the Night:

Maybe Cedric over Xavier Woods? But, probably not.

Holy Sh** Moment of the Night:

How about a few.

WWE allowing Xavier to acknowledge his new gig with G4? Shocking to an extent, considering WWE’s stance on outside work.

I am sure WWE has vetted that gig and all, but when you have an edict to leave certain platforms and fire a Superstar over related comments…and then have a different Superstar push his own stuff?

That’s a double standard, is what that is. Approved or not, the optics don’t look great.

Also, holy cow but Asuka and Lana won again. Even if it ends up being wicked short, I think I am totally down for an Asuka/Lana tag title reign.

Plus, we had Miz and Morrison beating down Sheamus…

LOL Moment of the night:

OK, so it may not have been heard in a normal setting, but Drew calling AJ Styles and his bodyguard “Jackass and the Beanstalk” did make me smile.

Noteworthy Moment:

AJ Styles is the new number one contender.

The Miz nearly cashed in, but was thwarted.

Mia Yim’s mask completely fell apart and came off. The upside here is she did not spend time during the match trying to adjust her mask or otherwise keep it on…

Interesting exchange between The Fiend, Alexa Bliss and Randy Orton…but it seems almost lost in the shuffle of the rest of the show.

Overall lowlights:

Maybe it was me, but this show felt like it never quite got going. It had some promising matches, but a few likely did not need to happen.

Like, less is more, give fewer matches more time to run?

Also, while Matt Riddle still shines in the ring…backstage it’s cringeworthy. Like, too much funny and to what end?

Overall highlights:

Good work out of Orton, The Fiend and Alexa Bliss again.

AJ Styles as number one contender is likely a safe play if nothing else. Styles should give McIntyre a strong match.

Curious to see where things are going with Cedric and The Hurt Business. Like, he beat Xavier Woods, does that give his side another shot at the titles?

And what was up with him walking up the ramp happy and away from MVP and Shelton Benjamin?

After the final bell:

I await some word or confirmation that RAW was a crazy mess, like other recent shows. Maybe that would explain why the show felt like it was stuck in a lower gear.

Like, someone needs to nudge Vince and be like…you have a lot of real talented Superstars, but you need to step aside and let someone or some people with a better vision or plan, come in and push the right buttons.

TLC has plenty of potential, I suppose…just don’t know if we will like where it all ends up. But, we do know who will face McIntyre next.