SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
WWE NETWORK REVIEW: RAW TALK
NOVEMBER 9, 2020
AIRED ON WWE NETWORK
REVIEW BY NICK MORGAN, PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR
Hosts: Charly Caruso, R-Truth
This week’s guests: Riddle & Keith Lee, Nikki Cross, and Drew McIntyre
– Charly welcomed everyone to Raw Talk and introduced R-Truth. They spent a little while discussing the 24/7 antics that ultimately resulted in R-Truth ending up with the 24/7 Title again. After which they discussed that Survivor Series is only two weeks away and hyped the World Championship match next week between Randy Orton and Drew McIntyre and the Tag Team Championship match between Hurt Business and New Day on next week’s Raw.
– Charly introduced two members of the Raw Survivor Series team, Riddle and Keith Lee and questioned them about the contention among the members of the team. Lee pretty much said that all would be fine and that the so-called captain A.J. Styles should just calm down. R-Truth then went there and asked Riddle what his problem is with Batman. Yup, one week and we are already going to the Riddler jokes for poor Matt Riddle. Sigh. Truth even told a stupid riddle which I will not justify by repeating here, Okay, I will. “In an all-redwood one story house, what color are the stairs?” (No stairs in a one-story house, get it…)
– They then reviewed the Raw team and Charly ran down all the accolades of the team members and Lee said that even though the Raw team is really good, the Smackdown team is a group to be cautious of and is filled with great superstars, blah, blah, blah. With that, Charly thanked them for coming and moved on to the next segment: Nikki Cross.
– Nikki came right out and said that she has a lot to discuss and that she is angry. Charly recapped what was going on with Nikki, Alexa, and the Fiend, and Nikki acted exasperated but said that she was not going to give up on Alexa. It seemed like Charlie was trying to get Nikki to say that she wanted to in some way bring Alexa back (a match perhaps, no one said it, but that seemed to be what they were hinting at).
– Nikki did a very good job at being exasperated at not being able to explain things and that this all seems to be the Fiend’s fault and that he has some hold over her. Nikki said she thinks that her friendship with Alexa is more powerful than whatever hold the Fiend has over Alexa. Near the end, Nikki said, “Slap some sense into her (Alexa),” which I think is now a pretty clear hint that a match is coming.
– After Nikki left, Charly welcomed Drew McIntyre to discuss his upcoming championship match with Randy Orton. Drew came out shirtless, why? I don’t know, but moving on. Drew called Randy a “dick” and did his affable shtick for a bit, before transitioning into the serious angry Drew stating that he was going to drive his boot into Randy’s face (the Claymore) and regain his WWE Title.
– While not the ultimate promo work, Drew did a very good job here laying out his wants and desires and cutting a somewhat “old-school” wrestling promo for leading up to a championship match. Drew switched over to Miz and dumped on him for a bit, really burying him and saying that Miz must be “compensating” for something in that he is always bragging about all his supposed successes. Good cut on Miz.
– To conclude the interview, Charly asked what it would be like to face Roman at Survivor Series should he get his title back, and Drew said that it would be quite a fight. He didn’t put Roman down at all, just saying that he would do his best.
FINAL THOUGHTS: First things first; I really think that they need a different co-host beside R-Truth. By staying in character so strongly he really adds very little and seems to be there purely for comedy relief. There is nothing wrong with that, but if Raw Talk is going to be a place to promote future fights and engage the audience in these characters, they actually have to take it a bit more seriously. They should look at Talking Smack where Sami Zayn adds humor but does it while also advancing the guests storyline and provides them with something to work off of. Truth just provokes head shakes.
As for the show this week, it was pretty bland. Riddle and Keith Lee were not very compelling despite Riddle’s over the top “Bro” act. Nikki was okay, but really didn’t show a ton of emotion. Drew was fine, but we have seen it all before. I think part of the problem is that to a large degree they are either promoting a pointless Survivor Series match or an angle (Nikki & Alexa) that really won’t go anywhere for a few weeks, at least. Now Drew is in a championship match next week, but we have seen this match and rivalry so many times over the past few months that there is not much left to say.
At 24-plus minutes the show is an easy watch and while on the scale of things not very important, it was fun to watch, especially if you like the guests.
Well, that is it for now, see you all next week. Until then, take care and stay safe.
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