WWE Raw Results: Winners, News And Notes On October 19, 2020

WWE Raw featured another head-scratching show as the season premiere kicked off with the apparent demise of RETRIBUTION at the hands of The Fiend. Matt Riddle made his Raw debut against AJ Styles, Lana challenged Asuka for the WWE Raw Women’s Championship and Elias’ live performance was crashed by Jeff Hardy.

Raw’s main event featured a big-man matchup between Keith Lee and Braun Strowman.

WWE Raw was up last week for Night 2 of the WWE Draft, garnering 1.855 million viewers.

WWE Raw Ratings—Last Five Weeks

• October 12, 2020—1.855 million viewers
• October 5, 2020—1.686 million viewers
• September 28, 2020—1.822 million viewers
• September 21, 2020—1.678 million viewers
• September 14, 2020—1.689 million viewers

WWE Raw—Key Competition

• NFL Monday Night Football—Arizona Cardinals at Dallas Cowboys

Pro Wrestling Bits—Mustafa Ali’s RETRIBUTION is Doomed to Fail

WWE Raw Total YouTube Viewership Last Monday

12,505,648 views (Up from 13,268,790)

• Most-Viewed: The Fiend and Alexa Bliss Arrive on Raw (2,669,380 views) 
• Least-Viewed: Why did Elias Attack Jeff Hardy (139,599 views)
• Median Viewership: 597,510

WWE Raw Results: Monday, October 19, 2020

Opening Segment Featuring The Fiend, Alexa Bliss and RETRIBUTION

The fact that RETRIBUTION suddenly finds itself at odds with red-hot act The Fiend, Alexa Bliss is a terrible sign for their staying power. Mustafa Ali’s burial could come earlier than even I predicted (see above).

The Fiend and Alexa Bliss feel like the biggest deal on Raw and it isn’t even close.

The Hurt Business def. RETRIBUTION

Bobby Lashley made T-BAR submit only for the entire RETRIBUTION stable to be wiped out by The Fiend. I had no hope for these poor souls, yet forecasting that they would be buried by Survivor Series was still too optimistic. This simply just is not a young person’s company.

AJ Styles def. Matt Riddle

AJ Styles with “huge person” Jordan Omogbehin as his manager seems so promising to me, even in a company that has no idea how to book up-and-coming talent.

Tonight’s theme is to extinguish all hope for WWE’s future. Let’s see how this works out for the company when it’s current television rights deal is up in 2023.

Asuka def. Lana—WWE Raw Women’s Championship

After shockingly beating Asuka, new Raw women’s champion Lana finally got her revenge on Nia Jax by putting her in a unique new submission. Just kidding, Lana got squashed and was once again put through a table by Jax. Nothing to see here.

Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler def. Dana Brooke and Mandy Rose; Peyton Royce and Lacey Evans and The Riott Squad—Fatal 4-Way

The unnatural manner in which WWE forces its women to walk. Can you imagine Ronda Rousey strutting down the aisle like the way Peyton Royce and Mandy Rose were forced to? What 1970’s fan fiction am I watching?

In true WWE fashion, it was unclear as to whether or not the Women’s Tag Team Championships were on the line. In the end, it didn’t matter as Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler prevailed.

Elias Performs Live

As much as I love Elias, he consistently performs at the bottom of WWE’s social media viewership numbers each week he is on television, which somewhat indicates this segment could be a big ratings loser.

Elias overachieved with his performance. If the goal really is to make him into a heel, it’ll be difficult to do so through his musical act given his talent. He needs to go out of his way to be bad, beyond the obvious lip-synching.

Jeff Hardy’s ambush of Elias came so much later than I thought it would. The man even had the common decency to let Elias finish his entire set.

Kofi Kingston vs. Sheamus

Today I learned The New Day is technically still a stable and are akin to Johnny Appleseed.

Big E made a welcomed cameo on the virtual board during this match, and of course, he was shirtless. Mark Henry pulled up virtually as well.

Tucker and “El Gran Gordo” def. The Miz and Morrison Appear Live

Tucker sure took his time sticking up for his friend after being drafted to Raw last Friday.

Otis appearing on Raw in a mask as “El Gran Gordo” was actually a very funny way to get around the brand extension and I didn’t mind it one bit.

The Miz and Morrison’s talking segment felt like it lasted longer than the Dallas Cowboys’ night on Monday Night Football.

Being distracted by the WWE 24/7 division—as The Miz was prior to losing—is just as bad as being in the division itself.

Mandy Rose has moved on and appears to have eyes for “El Gran Gordo.” The woman has a type.

The Firefly Fun House Featuring Alexa Bliss

This was essentially a highlight reel of Bray Wyatt destroying Ramlin’ Rabbit until the debut of Alexa Bliss, dressed as Freddy Krueger. I’m dying to know what Nikki Cross thinks about all this.

Bray Wyatt, Alexa Bliss and The Fiend are the only positives that are desperately piecing together this show.

Braun Strowman def. Keith Lee

I was certain this was going to be another Keith Lee match with a non-finish until Braun Strowman began selling his ribs before the opening bell, then I felt there may be hope.

With Keith Lee as the babyface in this match, the fact that he was exploiting a wounded Brauns Strowman was very unbecoming of a good guy. Could this be the beginning of WWE turning another ready-made babyface into a heel?

Keith Lee losing to a wounded Braun Strowman via low blow and big boot was unacceptable. Lee needs to find a way back to NXT asap.

Randy Orton Confronts Drew McIntyre from Inside Hell in a Cell

Randy Orton opened with the cliche that anybody who enters Hell in a Cell leaves a part of themselves left behind, which is a very accurate description of what happened to Seth Rollins’ career after last year’s Hell in a Cell against The Fiend.

Had I not watched the past three hours of this show—or, for that matter, the past two years of Hell in a Cell—and known what WWE was all about, this segment would have made me excited to watch this weekend’s Hell in a Cell main event between Randy Orton and Drew McIntyre.