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Last night's edition of WWE RAW, in the middle of NFL season, felt mostly just there, but there were nevertheless a couple of important developments, along with some hints about things to come as the end of this wretched year begins to come in sight.
We learned that the program between Drew McIntyre and Randy Orton would conclude at Hell in a Cell in the appropriate match, which is all to the good, but more interesting things happened, interspersed between other things that just felt like they were going through the motions.
Who got the most and least out of last night's episode of WWE RAW?
New Champs in WWE! More RIGHT HERE
Winners from WWE RAW: Mandy Rose and Dana Brooke
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The newest members of the RAW roster, Mandy Rose and Dana Brooke, teamed up with Asuka last night against the trio of Natalya, Lana, and Zelina Vega. The first thing about this match is that it told you how badly Asuka needs some legitimate competition as champion on the brand.
But further to the point was the establishment of Rose and Brooke, which this did successfully enough, if sloppily. Mandy Rose pinned Lana to get the win for her team. The latter was then put through a table by Nia Jax just for the hell of it.
Lana apparently has gotten on management's wrong side. As long as Natalya is with her, there's a chain around her leg.
But Mandy Rose and Dana Brooke were the newcomers, so their victory was the more notable part of this equation.
Winners for WWE RAW: Braun Strowman and Keith Lee
Yes, sign me up for this, right away.
It's obvious that either Braun Strowman will move back to WWE RAW or Keith Lee will move over to SmackDown in the Draft. Considering that Lee just got to RAW, it is likely that The Monster Among Men will move to the Red brand.
And if this is the feud we can expect, the WWE Universe is in for an interesting few weeks.
Both men whetted our appetites last night, which is fine enough for now.
Losers from WWE RAW: Apollo Crews and Ricochet
"We're gonna keep coming back till you're tired of us," said Ricochet on WWE RAW. He and his partner Apollo Crews went on to lose to The Hurt Business yet again.
It is has become very clear that the Creative don't have much for Ricochet on WWE RAW. Apollo Crews' push evaporated rather quickly as well. Both of them have been punching bags for months.
It's time for the Hurt Business to move on so that we can, too. Fortunately, the actions of the third man in the trio, Mustafa Ali, would later suggest that is what will happen.
Winner from WWE RAW: Murphy
Another angle that WWE needs to move on from is the Monday Night Messiah vs. Mysterio family story. We seem to have finally gotten that, or at least a hint of it, last night, as Murphy attacked Seth Rollins, his benefactor, on WWE RAW after he refused to apologize to Rey Mysterio's daughter over some text messages.
Murphy got the better of the exchange, before Rollins played possum and laid him out.
Let's hope we start to see a Murphy vs. Rollins feud now and we can move on from the Mysterio angle. It has the potential to put Murphy on a higher plateau on WWE RAW, though he will likely lose.
Winner from WWE RAW: Mustafa Ali
The biggest winner of WWE RAW last night by far was Mustafa Ali. For a few months now, Retribution has been showing up at random, attacking people. We don't exactly know the reason for this, only that the faction wishes to tear down the powerful and build a new WWE in a revolution of sorts.
Last night on WWE RAW, we found out that Mustafa Ali was the mastermind behind the movement all along, as he directed Retribution to lay the Hurt Business out.
In turn, we now know that Mustafa Ali is no hapless competitor like Ricochet and Apollo Crews. He can actually hurt people.
He turned heel in the move, but it was in line with his previous personality. He's always spoken for the less powerful. Now he's just doing it in a different tone.
It was a masterstroke and is Ali's biggest opportunity since he had to leave the Elimination Chamber angle in February 2019 due to an injury. After the Draft, things should get clearer about his immediate agenda.
