WWE TV - 11/10 - 11/16/2025 - More Than A Greening

[Dolfan in NYC]

 I looked out this morning and the sun was gone. Turned on some music to start my day...

We got ourselves a new US Champion!   And she's Canadian!

(I do wonder if Ethan is about to get the call up himself --- or if he already has.)

 I lost myself in a familiar song... I closed my eyes and I slipped away!

Also, John Cena's career is rapidly approaching the end... so why not empty the Vault~ 

 

 

 It's more than a feeling, when I hear that old song they used to play... I begin dreaming, 'til I see Marianne walk away.... I see my Marianne walkin' away!

Tonight!  Raw welcomes John Cena home for the last time! 

Such a punchable, punchable face on AP.

(This song being a debut is akin to a rookie's first at bat being in Game 7 of the World Series and hitting the ball out of the stadium. RIP Delp.)

Enjoy your week!

[Curt McGirt]

That whole album was a home run (over half of it hit singles), and it was all recorded by Tom Scholz in his basement with guitar pedals he made himself because he was a genius engineer who went to MIT and worked for Polaroid. The label were a-feared that this was a solo project so he auditioned the whole band in front of them, got a ten album deal, shipped the band off to LA as a decoy and did the whole thing himself. 

[The Natural]

John Cena wins the WWE Intercontinental Championship for the first time and is now a Grand Slam Champion. Congratulations, John Cena.

[The Natural]

[Eivion]

The lead into Cena/Dom was fun. The match itself was good fun as well. Its nice to see Cena become Grand Slam champ right before the end of his career. Hope Sheamus can get the same treatment by winning the iC title at some point.

Rusev/Priest was oslid, but was never going to be able to follow Cena beating Dom for the title in Boston.

Skipped the Punk/Vision segment. Logan Paul kills so much of my interest in the Vision. I did see later that War Games was set up. Kind of annoyed given WWE already has the crowd hot for the MFTs vs. Wyatts Sicks. They should have been given the War Games match. It also seems so half-assed as well to give it to a feud with less than the usual number involved.

Vaquer/Raquel was pretty solid though not the smoothest. Th epost match with Nikki's turn got the biggest reaction which makes me just a little sad as Raquel deserves more love.

Sheamus/Nakamura was another solid match. Dug Nakamura busting out a sling blade however bad it looked. Given how the rest of the night went I liked that the post match had a handshake between faces.

Charlotte/Alexa vs. Kabuki Warriors was another match that could have gone smoother but mostly built into something good. Was nice to see this one get a decent reaction compared o the rest of the non-Cena/Dom aspects of the show. The Nia/Lash attack and post match beating leading to Io & Rhea making saves was nice enough. Kind of wish they gave it another week of brawling to ge to War Games though in all fairness Kabuki Warriors have been beefing with the face side for several weeks-months now os it made some sense.

 

Nothing blow away match wise though Cena/Dom and the tag titles match were the standouts and nice. I enjoy War Games, but I do hate how piss poorly they always build it. It feels particularly odd since HHH used to do so much better of a job of building to it in NXT. Beyond that I think they kind of fucked up making Cena/Dom the opener. I get wanting to focus on current feuds, but that was always going to be the main event to a Boston crowd so it really made it harder for the rest of the show to draw back the crowd's interest. They managed to by the main event, but it was a gradual struggle that only started to gain some momentum with Nakamura/Sheamus. That was just a shitty position to put everyone in. Not bad show generally speaking, but still a bit disappointing as Cena's last Boston show (though Cena's stuff was fine).

[Niners Fan in CT]

Triple H starting off the show was such bullshit.  We didn't need him all in the videos like Puffy to announce Cena.  His Dana White wannabe act is one reason why I've stopped watching regularly.  

After that the show got pretty good.  I was hoping Dom would be Cena's final opponent but this was a nice consolation prize.  Boston deserved to receive one last Cena match and it was a big one,  John winning his first I.C. title.  That was good stuff.  

Rest of the show was ok,  I tapped out after a while. 

[Curt McGirt]

I kept trying to watch and got through some of it. Sheamus/Nakamura was alright but Sheamus is just gonna hulk up and win anyway. He really needs someone to beat the bricks off him to make it an even-looking match and I don't think Nakamura is up to the task anymore. I was gonna watch the Rusev match but then I thought about Rusev and my brain's response was "fuck Rusev" so I didn't. What I caught of the two women's matches was solid enough. Missed all of the Cena/Dom match because every time I turned back there was one person talking, then another person talking, and then three persons talking, and yadda yadda yadda no thank you. 

The real turn-off was the fucking Riyadh resort commercial. They open with a bunch of sportswashing and then show a bunch of sheiks walking toward the camera in slo-mo with their shades on looking all too cool for school. Fuck you guys. Then they threw in Anthony Hopkins and Morgan Freeman winking at the camera to explain what? "We also pay movie stars to come out here and be feted in phony awards shows"? The gambling part was likely covered by the wrestlers in a later commercial, "look at the WWE Superstars playing poker at our grand retreat made by slave labor in the middle of the desert!" I turned Raw on just in case something special happened and because I still have Netflix, but it always puts a bad taste in my mouth. 

[Dolfan in NYC]

Jevon is going to end this match looking like the gay couple in Weapons 

 

[NoFistsJustFlips]

Was Raw live last night? I thought US events always aired live. But this one had to be filmed on a 1-hour tape delay or something. Cena's IC Title win was trending on Twitter at 630pm Easten time, an hour and a half before the show even started.

[The Natural]

[FireThunder]

Ladies and gentlemen, Joe Hendry.

 

[Curt McGirt]

9 hours ago, Dolfan in NYC said:

Jevon is going to end this match looking like the gay couple in Weapons 

Yeah but can he eat a whole pack of hot dogs with buns and condiments while watching TV is what I want to know. 

[Ramo2653]

So the LMS match turned into something pretty great by the end there. The hard network out kinda caused a bit of a rushed finish since they had to get the Oba return in there too but that's a pretty good way to end a feud.

Gold Rush looks to be shaping up.

[Shartnado]

This is going backwards a little bit, but I wanted to see earlier US title Open Challenges by Ilja and the first one was against Alestair Black.

It was funny seeing Black/Vega now doing the "Karrion Kross/Scarlett Entrance", eventhough Black is the originator of that one. Also, if there is one person who you could put in Scarlett's place for that entrance and have it be an improvement, it would have to be Vega, so yay!

On the NXT side, Mariah May still exists inside Blake Monroe?!? Now that is just about the most awesome thing in recent times (on NXT/WWE side of things)! That's spectacular!

Edited November 12, 2025 by Shartnado
Moved onto this week's NXT...

[Dolfan in NYC]

 

 

[hammerva]

I think we need to worry less about Blake Monroe acting like Mariah May and acting more like Bayley current character.  What is the difference except that Bayley has not just a devil but an angel as well

 

[Cliff Hanger]

That LMS match was WILD. 

Skylar Raye looked like she nearly killed poor Fallon with whatever that rolling thing was-I was afraid she'd get a concussion, a neck injury or both. 

1 hour ago, hammerva said:

I think we need to worry less about Blake Monroe acting like Mariah May and acting more like Bayley current character.  What is the difference except that Bayley has not just a devil but an angel as well

 

The distinction is probably too granular to really get away with doing both, but I feel like there's enough storytelling distance between "villain with a mask of elegance and poise who has a buried 'real self' who's just a thug and the constructed self-image is afraid people will see through it" and Bayley's Hollywood DID. 

[Shartnado]

Back when Pete Dunne signed his previous 5 year deal it was reported (no idea if there was any truth to it or not) that Triple H had made Dunne some "promises". THIS is has to be what he was talking about at the time!

Edited November 12, 2025 by Shartnado
needs more space

[Dolfan in NYC]

 

[Shartnado]

On 11/11/2025 at 5:15 PM, Dolfan in NYC said:

Jevon is going to end this match looking like the gay couple in Weapons 

 

I have no idea what this means but I do have an hunch that it doesn't mean "very much together and happy"! 

[blitzkrieg]

I know how it was like a running joke of NXT stars losing their first/last name when they went to the main roster but I really hope Skylar Raye loses her last name. That name combination doesn't work for me, brother.

[Eivion]

Jasper/EGA was fine but nothing interesting. Troy winning the title was dumb. He is just not ready to be on his own, and the speed title is an ill fit. 

Thea/Alba was more drawn out than expected and pretty solid overall. Its always good to see Alba getting in a proper showcase.

Skylar/Fallon was mostly just a showcase for Skylar. Thought it was alright. Skylar has some decent moves though she isn't the smoothest yet.

Tavion/Briggs was pretty solid. Dug the beating Tavion took and the finish with Briggs bringing his loss on himself.

Trick/Ricky was damn good and easily the best match either had in NXT this year. They starte doff well and actually hit harder and heavier as the match went on with Trick even getting busted open a little hard way. Oba's return post match was surprising. Not sure I like it if only because I thought for sure he would be a Royal Rumble surprise next time he showed up on tv anywhere.

 

Not a bad show wrestling wise with Trick/Oba being the big stand out here and well worth catching. Story wise a lot of the final bits for Gold Rush came together. It was mostly ok though nothing too memorable. Night 1 looks solid though Night 2 feels like its missing a big defense.

[Curt McGirt]

21 hours ago, Shartnado said:

I have no idea what this means but I do have an hunch that it doesn't mean "very much together and happy"! 

One guy ended up (spoilered for people that want to watch Weapons. DO NOT READ ANY SPOILERS IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE MOVIE YET BUT YOU WANT TO.)

Spoiler

headbutted to death by the other one to where his entire head and face was caved in. And the other guy got hit by a car and splattered all over the street. It was preeeetty gross. 

The funny part was, they had just sat down to a nice meal of... an entire pack of hot dogs with buns and condiments on a TV tray between the two of them, ostensibly made by one of the dudes for the other alone? Like he was gonna sit there and eat ALL of them? It's WEIRD. 

 

Edited November 13, 2025 by Curt McGirt

[Dolfan in NYC]

46 minutes ago, Curt McGirt said:

One guy ended up (spoilered for people that want to watch Weapons. DO NOT READ ANY SPOILERS IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE MOVIE YET BUT YOU WANT TO.)

  Hide contents

headbutted to death by the other one to where his entire head and face was caved in. And the other guy got hit by a car and splattered all over the street. It was preeeetty gross. 

The funny part was, they had just sat down to a nice meal of... an entire pack of hot dogs with buns and condiments on a TV tray between the two of them, ostensibly made by one of the dudes for the other alone? Like he was gonna sit there and eat ALL of them? It's WEIRD. 

 

The Hot Dog scene...

Spoiler

... was a tribute to Zach Cregger's best friend, the late Trevor Moore, who's favorite meal was 7 hot dogs. 

The entire movie is about grief and moving past the loss of people you love. 

 

Which, unfortunately will be apt for Je'Von on Monday... 

Anyway...  Creed had some thoughts on Monday's title switch:

 

[Dolfan in NYC]

Dollars to donuts, someone will have say the name of Leonard Aloysius's opponent before he can appear.  

That said...  the other Cena tournament match... 5 letters, one word...  Yeesh.