Welcome to Wrestling Inc.'s weekly review of "WWE Raw," the show that's become something of a banger Intercontinental title match factory in recent months.This week's continuation of the trend saw Jey Uso claim the championship from Bron Breakker, finally winning his first singles title. We also got Drew McIntyre responding to CM Punk's solo promo last week with a solo promo of his own, GUNTHER once again refusing to grant a World Heavyweight Championship match to SamiZayn, and the continued frustrations (and slowly blossoming heel turn) of Xavier Woods.
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We'll talk about all that and more in this column as always, there are plenty of things we won't be covering, but if you missed any part of the show, you can always catch up via our "Raw" results page as we break down the WINC staff's strongest opinions on the red brand's latest offering. Here are three things we hated and three things we loved about the 9/23/24 episode of "WWE Raw."
Part of me wants to be angry that Liv Morgan vs.Rhea Ripley isn't blowing off in a Hell in a Cell match at the event that exists to commemorate Hell in a Cell. It's the (possible) culmination of a long, deeply personal feud with character strands that go back literal years, but it doesn't get the all-time grudge match stipulation because obviously that has to go to the dudes instead. There's a strong urge in my little progressive leftist heart to get publicly upset about this.
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Here's the thing, though: I don't really want two Hell in a Cell matches on one show (the concept always felt diluted and overexposed after Vince made a PPV out of it) and CM Punk vs. Drew McIntyre is a better fit. Punk vs. McIntyre has become a very serious feud, with the social media taunting and bracelet possession giving way, particularly over the last couple weeks, to grim and gritty hatred. That's what Hell in a Cell is for. Love it or hate it, Rhea Ripley vs. Liv Morgan has not been that kind of feud. Obviously the characters hate each other, but while Punk/McIntyre has gotten gradually more serious, Ripley/Morgan has remained pretty firmly in the territory of soap opera and camp, largely thanks to the performance of Dominik Mysterio. It's a tone that doesn't work for Hell in a Cell, but you know what it works great for? A match with Mysterio trapped in a shark cage hanging above the ring. Hell yes.
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Honestly, the more I think about it, the more perfect it is. The stipulation:
- Gets Dominik directly involved, which he should be, he's a major character in this storyline
- Avoids what's become the standard trope for these matches of Dom creeping out to ringside and interfering, explained in kayfabe by the simple fact that Rhea has seen it several times now and is sick of it
- Makes the match less predictable and opens up any number of possibilities for the finish
- At least gives the match a cage theme, making it feel thematically of a piece with Hell in a Cell
- Specifically puts "Dirty Dom" back behind bars, much to his hilarious terror
Yeah this is brilliant, actually. Y'all have fun with Punk and Drew and their violent hatred or whatever, I want to see Dominik Mysterio freak out because he's going back to jail.
Written by Miles Schneiderman
I really hate to say this because Sami Zayn winning the Intercontinental Championship from GUNTHER at WrestleMania 40 was an excellent moment and a really great match between these two men... But, their battle for GUNTHER's World Heavyweight Championship just isn't doing it for me over the past few weeks. To better explain it, I suppose I should say the lack of a battle for the championship. GUNTHER keeps ducking Zayn, with good reason, I should admit, because Zayn has already beat him for a belt and GUNTHER wouldn't admit he's scared, but GUNTHER playing the chicken s*** heel isn't a good look. We were made to believe he was the biggest, baddest IC champion ever with his historic reign, and I don't think he should be ducking anybody.
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I think the real problem here is that this story is playing out on a show with a feud that's already gone on for an eternity and that feud is even more so repetitive than GUNTHER constantly telling Zayn "no." I won't go off into any kind of rant about Drew McIntyre and CM Punk (today, at least), but I truly believe that feud is overshadowing the biggest title on the brand for many reasons. For the initial repetitive factor, with McIntyre and Punk saying the same things over and over week in and week out, that really diminishes GUNTHER constantly baiting Zayn into thinking he has a match, then shutting him down. This week, I really thought we'd be getting the confirmation that GUNTHER and Zayn would be on the card for Bad Blood, but it seems like WWE is officially keeping these premium live events to just five matches. Which is fine when it comes to thinking about length of shows on a Saturday night, but one more match isn't going to be the end of the world, especially when it's for one brand's top championship that should be showcased on all PLEs, in my humble opinion.
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I think GUNTHER is holding on to the World Heavyweight Championship for quite some time, and now, we're looking at a title defense at Survivor Series: War Games in November at the earliest, if he isn't defending against Zayn at Bad Blood. To be quite honest, I don't think this feud is something that has enough gas to get to November, especially if I'm getting bored of it already. Maybe we'll have a great match on an episode of "Raw," but I also wouldn't want either man (especially Zayn) or the World Heavyweight Championship to be done dirty like that. Here's hoping that once another redundant feud wraps up on "Raw," Zayn and GUNTHER can go full steam ahead and take its place as an interesting main event feud.
Written byDaisyRuth
Regardless of how you feel about Triple H's usage of "long-term storytelling," I'd go as far to say that people enjoy variety. Even if a feud is, say, six months, it can feel exponentially shorter if the segments are varied, the stakes shift, and the promo material continuously escalates the tensions between all involved parties as time goes on. The best mic workers can begin to sound trite and uninspired when they are cutting the same, lengthy mid-card promos week-in and week-out, and even the most violent feud even feuds inspired by vitriolic, real-life heat can begin to fizzle out into nothing but the lukewarm radiations from the heater you broke out during these cold, autumn months.
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Drew McIntyre and CM Punk's feud has fizzled out into hot shower levels of heat. Heating pad, perhaps. Nowhere near the inferno-level temperatures they once were at.
Perhaps hating on McIntyre and Punk again feels as overdone as the feud itself. However, I think it's really interesting and we have not discussed this point in these opinion pieces before just how overdone the war of words is. For nearly a year now, we have been subjected to this saga-adjacent McIntyre and Punk feud, but have only seen about a handful of segment types from them. Really! When was the last time McIntyre and Punk had a sanctioned match with anyone but each other? When was the last time we had a classic backstage brawl? When was the last time anybody has been brought into this feud as a serious figure, with actions that mattered, apart from Seth Rollins (come on, you think that staredown between McIntyre and Wade Barrett drastically altered the landscape of this feud)? Premium live events not included, this feud has consisted mainly of promo segments, and while Punk and McIntyre are some of the most authentic people on the microphone in WWE right now, there are only so many promos you can cut before they all start to sound the same. This feud would've benefited tremendously from just a throwaway match where Punk or McIntyre ran interference, or a legitimate backstage assault. Anything but another promo segment.
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This is a problem with unoriginality. Just look at the other feuds on "Raw" Sami Zayn and GUNTHER have had a handful of unique segments that included other faces (Ludwig Kaiser, you could even argue Bret Hart) as legitimate actors whose presence significantly impacted the progression of their storyline. Bronson Reed and Braun Strowman have had several backstage brawls, yes, but their backstage brawls have featured unique sequences and different endings. There doesn't seem to be a problem with booking unique, weekly events to keep a storyline fresh, so why is Punk and McIntyre a feud that is so popular that it is being given the esteemed stipulation of Hell in a Cell at Bad Blood relegated to the same promo, the same method of storytelling, week after week?
The problem is not with long-term storytelling. It is with senseless repetition.
Written by Angeline Phu
November will mark 10 years of The New Day, so of course WWE has been hinting at cracks in the relationship of Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston. Those have really become apparent over the last two weeks of "Raw." Last week they received a shot at the World Tag Team Championships, but came up short. Part of the reason was outside interference due to the Judgment Day's presence. The LWO showed up to try to even the odds, but it backfired. Following the match, an enraged Woods blew up at his partner and even shoved him. Kingston tried to make him see reason by explaining that he knew Judgment Day would Judgment Day, so he asked for backup. Woods explicitly asked that Damien Priest and Jey Uso let them handle things themselves. Woods took this to mean that Kingston thinks that they can't win without Big E.
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This week, Woods apologized to his partner, who quickly accepted it. He came bearing Francesca II, a plastic Booty-O, and two boxes of Booty-Os. Woods said that when they were champs, that stuff was fun. But since they're trying to get back on track, they should be more serious. Kingston relented and said that for the next few weeks, Woods gets to call the shots. Could this be planting seeds that it will actually be Kingston that turns?
After yet another loss, Woods was upset. LWO approached with Rey Mysterio trying to apologize, but a spicy Woods wasn't having it or any power of positivity. He told the legend to save his advice for his son. Woods also thinks that no one respects him because he's never held singles gold. Mysterio wasn't here for the disrespect and challenged him for a match next week. Kingston told him that his actions were unnecessary.
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We've never really seen this side of Woods. It's nice to see some character development from someone we've known and loved for so long. It also hurts my heart because I know this break up is coming. As much as I don't want them to split, I know that it's going to be great TV for the next few months and I'm always happy to see the spotlight on them. I hope that this chapter of their story is told well and that they are given the freedom to tell their story in a way that's true to them as a New Day dawns.
Written bySamantha Schipman
I can't imagine it's an easy feat to fill a three hour slot of television every single week with different matches, promos, backstage segments, and video packages for your audience, and it's something that WWE has been doing on a weekly basis every Monday for a number of years. With that said, doing an entire fifteen to twenty minute block of them with one match in between them to break it up a little feels a bit drastic. That time could've very easily been filled with an in-ring promo to build one of the many storylines currently going on "Raw" or another match of some sort, especially something involving the women's division when you consider that the only things concerning it were a short opening segment with Liv Morgan and Rhea Ripley and a women's tag team match later on in the show.
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Filling so much time on a show with videos is bad enough as is, but when you have one of Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes meeting on a Georgia Tech football field that had already aired this past Friday on "SmackDown", it becomes redundant and tedious to watch. Yes, WWE wants to create hype and interest for the pair teaming up at Bad Blood to take on The Bloodline, but that entire storyline has been exclusive to "SmackDown" and the video itself wasn't well-received (at least not amongst the Wrestling Inc. team). Showing it again on "Raw" in its entirety felt nonsensical, and would've been easy to find on social media for those who haven't seen it that want to. There was no reason to air the video again, and really spotlighted just how much time WWE was trying to eat up on Monday's show.
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Written by Olivia Quinlan
I've been a self-professed Jey Uso fan since his initial break-out run in 2020, so for him to finally break the ceiling to become a singles champion was special to watch as a fan. After failed attempts at the WWE Universal, World Heavyweight, United States, and Intercontinental titles in the years since, it started to become a worrying trend with the immensely popular "Main Event" Uso. However, his popularity never waned, and that popularity was rewarded at the end of an exhilarating match-up with Bron Breakker. It delivered in the intensity that was teased during their verbal showdown last week, with compelling near-falls and would-be moments. It very much sold the idea that this was a prize fight, with both literally crawling to transition to their next move in desperation to keep the advantage.
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Both played their roles to perfection, with Breakker gaining severe momentum only to be cut down by a well-placed counter, presenting believable strategy between the competitors played to their strengths. The atmosphere was thick with anticipation for the potential coronation of Uso; so when it finally happened the crowd's pop was immense, and it reinforced a true milestone in his burgeoning singles career. I would also hope that the title win was a statement of intent from WWE, considering Uso's potential involvement in The Bloodline angle, that he will not be lost in the shuffle and become a question of 'What if?' and that he has been legitimized in his billing as a top star. Either way, in the vacuum of the moment itself, it was thoroughly well-deserved and I look forward to the stories to come.
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Written by Max Everett
