Fight Forever Match of the Week: RK-Bro vs. The Dirty Dawgs (11/29/2021)
Welcome to Wrestlevolve’s Fight Forever Match of the Week. Here we’ll highlight one match from the week in professional wrestling and talk about why it was one of our favorites. It could be a 30-minute epic or the exciting culmination of an entertaining feud. It might be a pay-per-view bout or a really solid TV match. Wrestling resonates with everyone differently, so feel free to let us know what your match of the week was in the comments!
Wrestling doesn’t need to be this big, overly complicated ordeal. Sometimes it feels like WWE forgets that, and that’s exactly why whenever the company gives us a straightforward battle, it just works. The team of RK-Bro (Randy Orton and Matt Riddle) defended the Raw Tag Team Championships against The Dirty Dawgs (Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode) on the November 29, 2021 edition of Monday Night Raw, and, well, it just worked.
Could you call this match a classic? Maybe that would be a stretch. But was it entertaining? Was there great back-and-forth action between the two teams? Were there exciting moments? False finishes? Fun spots? Check, check, check, check, and check!
Sometimes I wish Robert Roode had a good singles run on Raw like he did on NXT. But then I see him just killing it with Dolph Ziggler, and I can’t help but feel like he’s putting together some great work with his tag team partner. Speaking of which, Ziggler is as solid as ever, and he’s one of those talents whose blend of offense and selling never gets old. As such, The Dirty Dawgs are always enjoyable to see on TV, and that much was true on this night.
On the other side of things, Randy Orton seems to be in a comfortable spot. It’s still a bit odd seeing him be a part of a comedic tag team, but his no-nonsense style plays spoiler to Riddle’s silly demeanor quite well. And though Orton isn’t necessarily doing much to reinvent himself here, he’s still as well-rounded as ever. Meanwhile, Riddle delivers a lot of the hard-hitting blend of pro wrestling and MMA maneuvers that make him a strong member of the Raw roster.
But back to the match itself. No, you probably wouldn’t call this one a classic, but it was an excellent TV match, and you could argue that it would’ve made for a great pay-per-view bout.
At one point, Orton and Riddle went for stereo RKOs on Roode and Ziggler, but this was reversed by The Dirty Dawgs. This led to Riddle and Roode heading to the outside while Ziggler hit the Zig Zag on Orton. This looked to be it as the crowd in attendance couted along with the referee, but shockingly, Randy Orton was able to kick out of his opponent’s finisher just before the count of three.
The final moments of the match saw Dolph Ziggler go for a superkick, only for Randy Orton to counter it into a rollup. But instead of going for a standard schoolboy rollup, Ziggler rolled through, got to his feet, charged at Orton, and was met with a devastating RKO — sold to perfection. This spelled the finish as RKO-Bro got the pin, retaining the Raw Tag Team Championships in the process.
This would’ve been a very good match either way, but that finish ruled, and essentially propelled into great match territory.
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