WWE Monday Night Raw: AJ Styles defeats Randy Orton in main event

WWE Monday Night Raw kicked off another edition of the show, coming off of Survivor Series where the superstars representing the Raw brand stood tall.

The stars of WWE Monday Night Raw stood tall after another year winning the rights of “Brand Supremacy” at Survivor Series. This week’s edition of Monday Night Raw turned its attention to new storylines featuring the men and women that represent the red brand of WWE, leading into the next developments of action.

The tag team champions, the New Day, did not get any rest on their day off, as they had to face off with the Hurt Business with their tag team titles up for grabs.

Shelton Benjamin was all over Xavier Woods at the start of the match. Benjamin was controlling and punishing Woods early, even catching Kofi Kingston on the ring apron. The fight would spill to the outside where neither Benjamin nor Kingston would get into the ring in time, leading to a double-count out. However, instead of letting things end like that, the match was restarted.

With the match restarted, the focus turned to Kingston’s knee after a bad spill over the top rope. That allowed the Hurt Business to continue to assault the former champion without him being able to tag out. Woods was able to tag in, but even he was unable to maintain his momentum. He did get the finish for the match, however. After Kingston took out Alexander, Woods hit a sunset flip on Benjamin and pinned him to keep the titles around their waist.

The WWE champion, Drew McIntyre, needs a new challenger. To get there, three matches were set for Monday with a triple-threat planned for next week to determine the next contender. Matt Riddle vs. Sheamus was the first match of the trio.

The two men were physical from the very start of the match. Sheamus came with the power game, while Riddle attempted to keep his opponent ground with grappling. Neither man was able to maintain the advantage for extended swings, but they continued to violently beat each other up.

Sheamus started to overwhelm Riddle, landing an Alabama Slam, big knee and more. Both men broke out their entire repertoire of moves, but neither would go away. With both men hurt, Sheamus went for the Texas Cloverleaf, but Riddle countered into a pinning combination to get the win.

Lana backed her way into the WWE Raw women’s title picture and right into a one-on-one match with Asuka. Lana attempted to give Asuka a fight, but things never got underway. Shayna Baszler and Nia Jax were outside the ring and a fight broke out with the tag team champions attacking Asuka, leading to a DQ win.

But that led to a tag team match with Asuka and Lana taking on Baszler and Jax. Lana was isolated as the tag team champions began to pick her apart. Asuka finally was able to get the tag and started to take out both champions. The fight spilled outside the ring where Lana was able to dodge a charging Jax. Baszler tried to attack Lana, but she was rolled up by Asuka for their team to get the win.

Keith Lee and Bobby Lashley faced off in the next one-on-one match to advance to next week’s triple threat. Lashley attempted to overpower Lee, but this was one of the few times he was unable to assert himself over his opponent. This match ended up outside and it would be there that Lashley was able to get Lee off his feet, after crashing him into the steel post.

That helped Lashley get his power over once the action returned to the ring, but Lee did not stay down for long. MVP got involved by pushing Lee into the steel post for the second time. When Lee got back into the ring, he found himself almost in the Hurt Lock. MVP then jumped into the ring to attack Lee, causing the disqualification on Lashley.

Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross were once friends, but that fell apart into the ladies fighting on Monday. Cross was reluctant in attacking Bliss but that did not stop her from assaulting her former partner while she laughed. Bliss tricked Cross into thinking she was seriously hurt before planting her with the Sister Abigail, pinning her in the middle of the ring.

The main event was a singles match for the final slot in the No. 1 contender match next week between AJ Styles and Randy Orton. Styles got off to a fast start, but the old thumb to the eye trick slowed him down. Orton did not remain on the defense for long though, as he was all over Styles once they got back inside the ring.

Orton was on his way to winning the match before the building went red and the Fiend showed up, startling the former champion. The Fiend’s presence was enough to get Orton off his game, opening the space for Styles to win and move on to next week’s match.

November 23 Monday Night Raw results

The New Day defeated the Hurt Business via pin fall

Matt Riddle defeated Sheamus via pin fall

Asuka defeated Lana via disqualification

Asuka and Lana defeated Shayna Baszler and Nia Jax via pin fall

Keith Lee defeated Bobby Lashley via disqualification

Alexa Bliss defeated Nikki Cross via pin fall

AJ Styles defeated Randy Orton via pin fall