WWE Raw results, Nov. 4, 2019: Team Red strikes back as NXT attempts takeover

Queens unite to battle Women’s Tag Team Champions Asuka & Kairi Sane in non-title action.

This team of Charlotte Flair & Natalya might have some legs to it. One week after scoring a victory as an impromptu pairing, the two former SmackDown Women’s Champions earned a win over the WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions. While that isn’t exactly an upset on its face, there is something to be said for the manner in which the two Queens won the match. Flair and Natalya fought their way to an old-school, come-from-behind grinder that saw Natalya lock Asuka in the Sharpshooter to score a rare submission victory over The Empress of Tomorrow.

Many will rush to anoint Charlotte & Natalya as champions-in-waiting after this, and that’s certainly a possibility. But the locker room is full of women who thought they were ready for the champions and found out otherwise. The road to the title is long, but consider this a promising beginning.

No longer “The Best Kept Secret,” Buddy Murphy locks up with the exciting Cedric Alexander on Raw.

After just a few weeks, Buddy Murphy is looking like Raw’s biggest late-round steal in the WWE Draft. The onetime Best Kept Secret impressed once again in action on Raw, this time against fellow former Cruiserweight Champion Cedric Alexander in a rematch of Murphy’s Raw debut two weeks ago. The result was no different than round one despite an inspired effort by Cedric, who isn’t far behind Murphy right now but was severely hamstrung by an injury to his left wrist. Alexander hung tough even with the one hand available to him, turning to his legs with a suicide dive-plancha one-two. But he paused to admire his handiwork at a crucial junction rather than finishing the job, and Murphy capitalized with a leaping knee to the back and Murphy’s Law to conclude the bout.

Carolina competes on Raw for the first time as she teams with Sin Cara to battle the ruthless duo of Zelina Vega & Andrade.

Sin Cara surely suspected that bringing on masked luchadora Carolina would give him a little extra something in his rivalry with Andrade. To be sure, she has. But even her presence wasn’t enough to stop The International Sensation from sliding to 0-3 against his rival, and she even had the distinction of suffering the deciding pinfall in the Mixed Tag Team Match that served as Sin Cara and Andrade’s third matchup in as many weeks.

Though, to be perfectly fair, this match wasn’t so much about Sin Cara or Andrade as it was about Zelina Vega, who has made it clear for a week now that she was out for payback against the masked newcomer who humiliated her last week. La Muñeca did that and then some, even securing the win by herself after Andrade was dispatched by Sin Cara on the outside. Despite Carolina’s attempts to down Vega with a powerbomb, Zelina sent her tumbling into the turnbuckles and flattened her with a basement hurricanrana to secure the win. And anybody who thought Vega was merely part of the problem is surely rethinking that mindset right now. If nothing else, this match proved she’s a problem unto herself.

The Super Athlete locks up with the menacing Drew McIntyre as Bobby Lashley and Lana look on.

Getting back at Bobby Lashley for stealing Lana isn’t going to come quite as easily as Rusev thinks. For one, The All Mighty backed out of Rusev’s challenge by claiming a torn groin (don’t ask how he supposedly did it) and Lashley seems to have held onto some contact info from that big Team Hogan vs. Team Flair rumble last week. Not only did Drew McIntyre step up to take Lashley’s place against Rusev, but Randy Orton came calling at a crucial juncture to stop The Bulgarian Brute from tearing Lashley apart.

That juncture came when The All Mighty interfered in the match, bending a crutch over Rusev’s back and revealing his “injury” to be little more than a ruse. The interference gave Rusev the disqualification win but also had the unintended side effect of opening Lashley up to retaliation from Rusev. Orton struck before he could deliver it, dropping Rusev with an RKO and teeing up a two-on-one attack that was narrowly thwarted by the arrival of Ricochet. The former United States Champion sent Orton scrambling with a kick to the face and scored a twofer by dropkicking Lashley off the apron into Lana, clearing the ring and giving Rusev some much-needed backup. If nothing else, Rusev has friends in his darkest hour. That’s got to count for something.

Humberto Carrillo teams with Montez Ford & Angelo Dawkins to battle the United States Champion and “The Best Tag Team in the World.”

The Street Profits’ victory over The O.C. remains a sore spot for the good brothers despite their Tag Team World Cup victory — AJ Styles, Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson even grew visibly agitated each time the Profits repeated the mantra, “The Street Profits beat The O.C. on Raw” in advance of a Six-Man Tag Team Match that also included Humberto Carrillo, and would have ended in a loss for the so-called “Best Tag Team in the World” if not for some timely dirty pool by Styles.

The Phenomenal One proved to be the difference-maker in the match, even as Carrillo — who’s come up short against Styles several times — seemed to have learned from previous mistakes. While the 205 Live veteran dodged the Phenomenal Forearm, he had no answer for Styles’ flagrant bending of the rules. The United States Champion stacked his foe up, placed his foot on the ropes outside the ref’s vision, and pressed down to earn a three-count that ensured The O.C. reign as the world’s best starts victoriously — if not just a little dirty.

After making short work of a local tandem, Erik & Ivar send a message to Raw’s tag team division.

The Viking Raiders may still hold an undefeated record in traditional tag team matches, but they suffered defeat all the same at WWE Crown Jewel when The O.C. pinned them to claim the WWE World Cup and the title of best tag team in the world. In one sense, then, Erik & Ivar’s decimation of another yet another poor local team, the East Hampton Polo Boys, was a rare instance of the Raw Tag Team Champions needing a rebound win. But in another, it was a reminder of their skills for the one team that has been able to beat them and might be looking past them. (This is to say nothing of The Undisputed ERA and The Revival, who'll battle the Raiders in a Triple Threat Match at Survivor Series.) Based on tonight’s results and The Viking Raiders’ post-match warning, to do so would be a terrible, terrible mistake.