Welcome to Wrestling Inc.'s weekly review of "WWE Raw," and what a "Raw" it was! Between the overall quality of the matches and the character advancement of the storylines, here at WINC, we thought this episode was one of the better ones we've seen in a while, and as it went on, we just started grabbing stuff we wanted to talk about. As a result, one thing you'll notice about this week's red brand offering is that it doesn't contain a whole lot from the latter part of the show, because by the time it got there we were all already writing about the stuff we enjoyed. And as you may also be able to tell, with one notable exception right at the beginning, we were kind of reaching for things to "hate" this week. So as you read this, please keep the following points in mind:
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- As always, our "Raw" results page is available for anyone who needs the objective details.
- There's a ton of stuff we enjoyed toward the end of the program that we didn't get to mention, including the Sami Zayn?Ludwig Kaiser/GUNTHER promo segment, the excellent Bianca Belair vs. IYO SKY match, and the main event between Damian Priest and Dominik Mysterio.
- If you didn't see "Raw" this week, you're going to want to do yourself a favor and at least hunt down Belair vs. SKY, because it was probably the best TV match WWE has put on in a while.
With that said, here are three things we hated and three things we loved about the 9/16/24 episode of "WWE Raw!"
CM Punk opened "WWE Raw" this week, and if you were expecting a normal promo by the "Second City Saint", you would be disappointed. I have watched many Punk promos for more than a decade, and that was one of the most lackluster promos I've heard from him. There was no passion whatsoever. He seemed to want to be anywhere but Portland.
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Many fans have grown bored of Punk's feud with McIntyre (I have been over it for months), but it's a bigger problem when Punk seems bored of it too. He was going through the lines the devil had in his heart, but he didn't care about the words coming from his mouth. He stated several months ago that he didn't want to do another Hell in a Cell match; judging by this promo, he really doesn't want to do it. The feud should've ended - even if briefly - a few months ago, but it definitely should've ended after the Strap Match.
Now Punk says that he doesn't think he has anymore Hells in Cells in him, and his loved ones are trying to convince him not to do such a brutal match. Of course, he's going to defy them all and compete in this match because he is contractually obligated to. If fans already don't care about it, Punk's promo didn't do anything to change that. It may have made you even more disconnected from the storyline.
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"The Voice of the Voiceless" seems to have lost any meaning in his.
Written bySamantha Schipman
One week out from their "WWE Raw" clash for the Intercontinental Championship, Bron Breakker and Jey Uso met in the ring for a verbal showdown. "Main Event" Uso is still on the hunt for his elusive first singles title, having made attempts to unseat the likes of Roman Reigns, Damian Priest, and GUNTHER since breaking out on his own; now he faces the explosive Breakker in the second defense of this title run. Despite the odds being stacked against him, this chapter of the feud went to Uso as he landed serious digs at his opponent, referencing his short stint in the NFL to really hit a nerve and send him packing with his own spear (Breakker, naturally, returned the favor during the main event segment). The segment laid the foundation for what promises to be a really fun title match, and gave Uso well-needed momentum heading into a title bout nobody really expects him to win.
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Of course it helped that the crowd were super into it, giving the entire segment the "big fight" feel and continuing to place the Intercontinental title on a pedestal as the prestigious championship it should be. But it was also just a classic smack talk session, capped off with the classic wrestling trope of the babyface getting the heat. It didn't reinvent the wheel, but it didn't have to. Sometimes, fewer ingredients allow those present to flourish, and that was on display during this week's show. As I said, you could very well predict Breakker to retain his title and be correct, but a good title reign needs moments like these to give it meaning. With concerns over how Uso could balance future Bloodline Civil War involvement with his break out run, he needs to have moments like these to stay the path. And with Breakker in the midst of his hottest run of his young career, he needs moments like these to cement his place. It was an all-around great segment heading into their eventual clash, setting the stage for them to tear the house down next week.
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Written by Max Everett
I had a feeling I was going to be writing this at some point (but I did give it some time to give him a chance), and now, after giving Joe Tessitore a few weeks on commentary on "Raw" alongside Wade Barrett, and having listened to him on Saturday during the Florida Gators versus Texas A&M game, I can officially say it. I do not like Tessitore on commentary, and he's a straight football voice, and that's all I can hear when he speaks, to the point it almost takes me out of the show. This week was a prime example of that, but I will admit, it could be a tiny bit of recency bias after listening to him call a football game. But, that counts only for his delivery. There were some instances that me, a professional wrestling fan for the past two decades who grew up listening to the likes of Jerry Lawler and Jim Ross, just couldn't get past.
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Tessitore, for a play-by-play guy, doesn't seem entirely up to speed with his names of moves. This was something I even commented to my husband, watching by my side, when he asked me the name of a move when Tessitore didn't mention it. That obviously might come in time, but I thought maybe WWE would at least help the guy along somehow, if not with a full script, maybe just by including him and Barrett in match rehearsals? I don't know how things go behind-the-scenes, but in a predetermined show, it seems like something that could be relatively easily remedied. The two glaring instances I noticed from him this week was when he called Bianca Belair's "kip out" a "kick up" minor, but as someone who grew up attempting to kip up from the floor after watching Shawn Michaels do it over-and-over, it was something that stood out. The other was Tessitore calling Damian Priest's South of Heaven chokeslam way too early, before he even successfully hit the move before ending the main event. Again, minor, but Tessitore had already gotten on my nerves as a commentator earlier in the night.
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It could be because I'm used to Michael Cole's energy levels when ridiculous things happen on the show, but Tessitore was just over-the-top and not believable. He was insufferable in the parts you could actually hear backstage during Bronson Reed and Braun Strowman's brawl. Also, can someone please tell me what a "bucket of Yeet" is? I believe he said that twice, and I didn't see buckets of anything coming from the crowd, thankfully, just normal chants. Maybe I was just overtly grumpy and picky about what I didn't like on this show, which was pretty darn good overall this week, but Tessitore is just not doing it for me as a stereotypical football/ESPN voice. When I hear him I hear college games, not WWE.
Written by DaisyRuth
Is it too late to enter a nominee for the Oscars? Xavier Woods deserves at least a nomination, if not the award itself, after his performance Monday night.
Woods and Kofi Kingston took on The Judgment Day's Finn Balor and JD McDonagh in a match for the WWE World Tag Team Championships on Monday's episode of "WWE Raw," and reminded the Portland crowd why they are one of the most successful tag teams in the history of WWE. Woods and Kingston looked to regain tag team gold in their match gold they have not held since April 2021 but instead they found crushing disappointment as outside chaos screwed the legendary team out of another tag title reign. After the match, Woods exploded on Kingston, and showed depths of his rage that he has not shown before. His anger spilled over into the backstage area as he accosted the LWO. Then, Kingston revealed that he had been the one to request help from the LWO help that ultimately cost them the tag titles.
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Woods showed his huge range as an actor in his multiple segments this week, and his complex emotions are quickly pushing this long-coming New Day implosion storyline up the list of the red brand's most compelling storylines. Honestly, after the much-deserved departure of Odyssey Jones, whether WWE would continue this storyline alone was uncertain. For them to commit to the implosion is impressive enough, but for Woods to go the extra mile and really show the depth and complexity of his character with his stellar performances that is a whole other thing. Woods and Kingston didn't even need to continue this storyline after Jones left, but the fact they did, and are doing it extraordinarily well, speaks volumes to their love for the craft and their love for the stage.
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There is beauty in subtlety, and Kingston is doing a great job at building himself up to be the babyface that can reflect Woods' complex anger all the way to the nosebleeds. Like, Kingston's performance in vacuum, in and of itself, is not much to write home about. It's good, but not revolutionary. When it is paired with Woods' stellar performance, though, it becomes like a speaker for Woods' rage through Kingston's ambivalence and nearly toxic positivity, we can see the depths of Woods' emotions more clearly.
WWE has a potentially generational storyline on their hands. Woods and Kingston are playing their parts perfectly here, and the payoff for the New Day's implosion is going to be one of the top storylines in WWE, whenever it happens. When Woods finally turns on Kingston, you can best believe I will be seated with a bucket of popcorn, because if this week was any indication of the New Day's theatric capabilities, the boys are going to eat this feud up.
Written by Angeline Phu
Having been overwhelmingly positive about all things Wyatt Sicks since their long-awaited arrival back in June, I hate the fact that I'm hating anything about them right now, but I just think another QR code rabbit hole was the last thing they needed after some significant momentum from in-ring performances from one and all and the apparent end to their feud with Chad Gable and American Made. It was and is time to advance the characters, both in the context of the group and also, ever-so-slightly, as individuals, and now I fear that we're going to see a series of these cryptic images, web sites, poems, and whatever else when we don't really need any of that at this point.
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Naturally, I'll go back to a point I've tried to make once or twice already in that trusting the process hasn't led us astray all too often anymore so perhaps there's something big afoot. Off the top of my head, I can only think of one thing that could possibly be and that would be something related to an Alexa Bliss return, but Monday's multimedia shenanigans didn't seem to point to anything too obviously an indicator of that. If there's some other big reveal to be had with this group, my concern would only heighten, as I think the only potential add they should make at all is indeed Bliss. Growing this group any further or heading in an unexpected direction at this point would only unnecessarily complicate things and give the haters all kinds of fuel. I'll hold out hope that this leads to something with Bliss but my gut tells me it's more of an effort to rehype the mystique behind the group and therein lies the potential problem.
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With three successful in-ring performances in their pocket, the time was right to move this faction forward in a more linear manner. All the concerns about how they'd perform as wrestlers were effectively quelled (perhaps save for some adjustments needed to Uncle Howdy's mask and wig but I digress) and now we're flirting with the very hocus pocus that those who were pessimistic about what this group would become overshadowing the core performance element that they're all here to do in the first place, which is to wrestle. I hope I'm wrong here, be that in the form of a Bliss return or maybe they just get right back to work and pick up the momentum without too much of a hiccup. But for the first time since they arrived, I feel a little nervous about where this is all headed.
Written byJon Jordan
Bronson Reed and Braun Strowman never really got round to starting their match in an official capacity this week, and yet they somehow managed to deliver more stupendous excitement in a way that couldn't be defined by a win or a loss. In case you hadn't realized, both Reed and Strowman happen to be colossal guys. But they are colossal guys capable of moving like a freight train when the time calls for it. Evidently, someone made that call this week, and what unfolded was non-stop Kong vs. Godzilla energy: the top ring rope unable to withstand Reed almost literally exploding from its fixings, Reed throwing a fan (probably, hopefully, a planted fan) at Strowman like he was a sack of potatoes, Strowman running the train to send Reed through the barricade, then getting put through a table backstage, and returning the favor to finally drive himself and the Kiwi through drywall. That seems like a lot, right? But it certainly didn't feel that way. It was stroke-for-stroke, move-for-move, and well paced for a brief segment.
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For Strowman, it felt like a call back to his best form throughout 2016-17, during which time he became thermonuclear with the fans after flipping an ambulance containing Roman Reigns after putting him in there with the catchphrase, "I'm not finished with you!!!" And there was an element of narrative progression with their ongoing feud, foregoing the hit to either competitor's momentum that would come from a definite result, while also giving the fans a degree of what they wanted to see. In a world of rapid work rates and increasing the degrees achieved in a splash, there is a niche for those with a much larger frame. Reed is seeking to make that niche is, while Strowman will feel that is a spot he has more than earned by now. So the feud makes total sense; it makes total sense to extend the idea of the unstoppable force meeting the immovable object, it makes total sense to let both guys do what they do best, and it makes total sense that they would want to keep the ball rolling without hitching a win to either guy. A titanic collision fused with a relentless spotfest one might say the very essence of what WWE should be.
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It's also just hilarious.
Written by Max Everett
