WWE MONDAY NIGHT RAW - November 21st, 2016

PREVIEW

THE HEADLINER
Welp.
That’s two nights in a row WWE blew me away with the end of a show. All due respect to Samoa Joe, though, TakeOver: Toronto had nothing on the greatest squash in the history of our sport.
Ok, that might be hyperbole, but... maybe not? Goldberg pinned Brock Lesnar in record time to close out Survivor Series, and suddenly we don’t know what to expect from the pay-per-view (PPV) main event scene at Royal Rumble 2017 and WrestleMania 33. Other than that part-timers are gonna get marquee spots and big paydays. But that’s really nothing new.
According to WWE.com, we’ll get more information about Goldberg’s plans at Air Canada Centre tonight. Is he hanging up his boots, or did saying Brock was “last” mean “last after a three show deal”?
The Beast Incarnate isn’t on the bill, but if they’re going to advance the program, Paul Heyman will probably be there to do the talking.
Interesting times...


THE TITLE SCENE

► The Universal champion got himself disqualified from the men’s elimination tag eventually won by Team SmackDown last night. While that certainly didn’t endear Kevin Owens to Roman Reigns or Seth Rollins, the last two guys left in the match for the red team, they already had beef with KO. It’s his best friend, Chris Jericho, who was so distraught Owens used his list as a foreign object that he got eliminated himself. Could we finally be seeing unrepairable cracks in JeriKO?

► New Day had a similarly bad showing in the traditional Survivor Series match for tag teams, as the tag champs were the second eliminated - and first from Raw - in a match eventually won by team red. The duo who ended up winning it for Stephanie McMahon & Mick Foley was Cesaro & Sheamus, and they’ve been rewarded with another shot at Kofi Kingston, Big E & Xavier Woods’ straps tonight.

► Raw won the women’s elimination tag, too, at the Nov. 20 PPV. But there was no celebrating between the survivors, as Bayley got the pin and was promptly jumped by Women’s titleholder Charlotte. The Hugster’s been rumored as the next challenger for the Queen’s throne, and this sure looked like the next step in setting up that program.

► It didn’t require him to actually pin or submit Kalisto, but Brian Kendrick kept the Cruiserweight championship - and the whole division - on Raw when Baron Corbin attacked him first before getting his revenge on the SmackDown luchador Sunday night in Toronto. More important now is the fact Rich Swann picked up another win on the Survivor Series Kickoff. Pretty hard to deny Swann’s top challenger status at this point... can Kendrick make it to 205 Live with the strap?


OTHER STUFF TO KEEP AN EYE ON:

► The potential end of a friendship isn’t the only fallout from the men’s tag match we’re keeping an eye on tonight. Rollins asked for “assurances” for his participation, but we never learned what those were. Will he try to collect, even in defeat?

► Steph promised heads would roll if Team Raw lost in Toronto. Does going 2 out of 3 count as a win, or will she look to punish the squad that lost? How will that factor into Seth, Roman, Braun Strowman, Owens and Jericho’s futures?

► It wasn’t really his fault, seeing as Maryse rang the bell and tricked him into thinking Miz tapped, but Sami Zayn failed to win and bring the Intercontinental title to Monday nights. Will he face any blowback from that outcome? What’s next for an underdog who keeps coming up short?

RED VAGINA