WWE Raw results, Nov. 5, 2018: Drew McIntyre punishes Kurt Angle in high-stakes main event

MANCHESTER — After Baron Corbin attacked Braun Strowman from behind so Brock Lesnar could beat him for the Universal Title last Friday, you’d be forgiven for thinking that The Lone Wolf had some explaining to do. But with a battle for brand supremacy coming up at Survivor Series, it quickly became clear the Acting General Manager-turned self-appointed Raw Team Captain (and aspiring permanent General Manager) would rather keep the past behind him and focus on toppling SmackDown LIVE. In fact, the only time Corbin touched upon the controversy was to write off his actions as a teachable moment for The Monster Among Men, who had attacked him the previous week.

Corbin did automatically slot Strowman into the Raw Men’s Survivor Series team alongside Dolph Ziggler & Drew McIntyre in an attempt to force The Gift of Destruction to team-player status, but it goes without saying that absolutely none of this went as planned. The Lone Wolf’s captaincy was immediately challenged by Kurt Angle, who put his counterpart so thoroughly on the spot that Corbin agreed to a match against the former GM in a match where the winner would be named the captain of the Survivor Series team. And Strowman, unsatisfied with Corbin’s attempt to patronize him, stormed to the ring and instigated an all-out brawl among the roster before chasing the Acting GM behind the curtain.

About the only thing that didn’t blow up in Corbin’s face was his decision to name Alexa Bliss as the captain of the Raw Women’s squad and give her full control over her roster. Like Corbin, Alexa declared her intention to be a purely managerial captain instead of a competitor in the match herself, but that choice proved to be the perfect fit for The Goddess’ penchant for manipulation: Before everything went pear-shaped, the five-time Women’s Champions sanctioned a WWE Evolution rematch of Bayley, Sasha Banks & Natalya vs. The Riott Squad as a kind of show-me-what-you-got test to determine who had the right stuff to join her team.

Lost in all the commotion of Dean Ambrose & Seth Rollins’ acrimonious split has been the fate of the Raw Tag Team Championship, which the pair won moments before The Lunatic Fringe made his move and attacked his brother-in-arms. At the very least, we can cross that loose end off the list: After Rollins seemingly attempted to forfeit the titles, Acting General Manager Baron Corbin (having evaded Braun Strowman long enough to attend to some official business from a secure location) intervened and forced The Kingslayer and his partner to take on AOP in a title match.

Of course, Ambrose was never going to show for this one, so it went about as you would expect: Akam & Rezar feasted on Rollins, who fought the good fight but still found himself flattened by a powerbomb-neckbreaker combo and relieved of the titles in painful fashion. Ambrose finally made an appearance after the match was over, baiting The Architect with the one thing he knew Rollins really wanted. Sliding into the ring, Ambrose asked if Rollins still wanted to know why he had betrayed him, then dropped The Kingslayer once again with Dirty Deeds and left without giving an answer.

Drake Maverick celebrates Akam & Rezar's Raw Tag Team Championship victory.

Come Survivor Series, all eyes will be on a marquee Champion vs. Champion Match between Ronda Rousey — Raw Women’s Champion and consensus Baddest Woman on the Planet — and SmackDown Women’s Champion Becky Lynch, a woman who has become so dominant that she is simply known, to herself and others, as “The Man.” Ronda isn’t certainly looking past Becky, as she made clear in a fiery rebuttal to The Irish Lass Kicker’s opening salvo from SmackDown LIVE. In fact, she welcomes the challenge. But Rousey’s problems, as we were reminded on Raw, do not begin and end with Becky Lynch.

Lest you forget, Nia Jax won a Battle Royal at WWE Evolution to earn a future title opportunity against Rousey, and she reared her head on Raw to both passive-aggressively remind Rousey that she’ll be fighting for an entire locker room at the fall classic and more overtly reassert herself as Ronda’s opponent down the stretch. It was as much a flex from Nia as it was a realization that Ronda might be at a disadvantage that goes beyond armbar vs. armbar at Survivor Series. After all, she has Lynch’s full attention. Ronda, on the other hand, must now keep one eye on Becky, and another down the road to where The Irresistible Force lies in wait.

Returning to singles action did a lot to re-ignite Kurt Angle’s competitive fire. But for all the intensity, integrity and intelligence Angle brought to his main-event battle against Drew McIntyre, The Scottish Psychopath defeated the WWE Hall of Famer at his own game, concluding the match with a rare submission of the Olympic Gold Medalist that snapped Angle’s chances of captaining the Raw Men’s Survivor Series team for a second straight year.

Indeed, minus an early Glasgow Kiss that knocked Angle silly, McIntyre built his game plan largely around submission holds, only reverting to strikes when the Olympian began to rally. The match was functionally over after McIntyre dropped Angle with a Claymore, but rather than pin his opponent, the former NXT Champion decided to demoralize him. McIntyre insulted the Olympian to his face and offered him his leg, prompting a last-gasp Ankle Lock from the legendary Superstar.

It wasn’t enough. The Scotsman retaliated with maneuvers from Angle’s own arsenal, dropping him with the Angle Slam and grape-vining the Hall of Famer in an Ankle Lock of his own that was so agonizing that the gold medalist was forced to submit. It was a less a passing of the torch than a potential blaze of glory for Angle, whose future was openly speculated by the commentary team in what might not have been as much of an overreaction as it seemed. After all, Kurt Angle is no stranger to fighting past his physical limits and letting his spirit carry him through. This is the first time in a long time where even that wasn’t enough.