Welcome to Wrestling Inc.'s weekly review of "WWE Raw," the show that's only two hours long now and it feels so good! At least that was the prevailing sentiment among the WINC staff, who uniformly enjoyed having an extra hour of our evening free. As far as the actual two-hour format is working so far ... well, we'll get to that. We'll also get to CM Punk's show-opening promo coming off his big Hell in a Cell win, Bron Breakker rejecting last week's teased babyface turn like Giannis blocking a layup, the token 10-women tag match, and GUNTHER vs. Sami Zayn for the World Heavyweight Championship (and alsoCodyRhodes was there).
Of course, now that "Raw" is a two-hour show, that list actually covers most of it for once, though you are still going to want to check out our "Raw" results page for stuff like Sheamus vs.Pete Dunne, which was a good match but not what this column is for. This column is for laying out the things that gave us the strongest feelings, be they positive or negative. In other words, here are three things we hated and three things we loved about the 10/7/24 episode of "WWE Raw."
This is really strange and painful for me to say, because while I love the fact "Raw" is only two hours until the end of the year and I was very excited to see how things would go, I didn't like the pacing, or a lot much else of this show, at all. By the end of it, it still felt like it dragged.
"Raw" didn't accomplish too much, in my eyes. The quick transition between CM Punk's promo to Seth Rollins' promo to Jey Uso's entrance was fine, but I think we could have at least had some more interaction between Rollins and Punk to light a hotter fire back underneath that feud. The first match was extremely short for a title match, especially with it being Jey Uso's first Intercontinental Championship defense. I also thought we'd be getting some more story progression with Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods, but I guess them both eating a spear from Breakker took care of that for the week. We didn't even get anything more from them backstage, which would have made a lot of sense.
WWE even seemed to be have awkward production issues throughout the night, something you don't usually see in WWE. There were also quite a few pre-taped promos on this show, which I didn't necessarily understand. With "Raw" losing an hour, why on Earth would WWE want to eat up any of the time they still have that could be devoted to matches or promos that actually advance a story, rather than recap something? I also think that the fan video of Cody Rhodes and Kevin Owens' parking lot brawl from Bad Blood was supposed to actually be shown on TV, but that's where these production issues came into play, which was awkward and disappointing.
I don't understand why this was so difficult, when Triple H books "WWE SmackDown," which has always been a two-hour show. It's not like he even attempted to fit in a mass amount of storytelling into two hours and that failed. To me, it felt like Triple H and his creative team just didn't even try to fit in any other stories, outside of GUNTHER vs. Sami Zayn, then a very, very brief GUNTHER and Cody Rhodes stare down at the end of the show. Overall, I rather would have seen an overbooked, extremely fast-paced episode of "Raw," where things could have been scaled back or slowed down throughout the coming weeks, rather than this, and things have to be built upon even more.
Written byDaisyRuth
CM Punk may be away from WWE for a while after his grueling Hell in a Cell match against Drew McIntyre at Bad Blood, but he made sure to sow the seeds for a future rivalry renewed before he left. When Punk first returned to the company almost a year ago, Seth Rollins was audibly and visibly upset at the homecoming of the "Second City Saint" and it was penciled in to be one of the world title bouts at WrestleMania earlier this year. The stars have yet to align properly for the pair to settle it in the ring, however, with Punk's injury at the hands of McIntyre in January spiraling into their months-long vendetta and the "Scottish Warrior" the one to send Rollins away for a stretch.
McIntyre stood in the way of Punk if he wanted to get to Rollins, and at the same time Punk cost Rollins because he was enamored with destroying McIntyre at Money in the Bank. Now, with his tussles with McIntyre presumably (hopefully) over, Punk gave us a good sell of their rubber match while leaving us with a little tease as to what's next. Rollins emerged, and he would later address his ongoing issue with Bronson Reed, but it was his and Punk's brief interaction that served as the segment's takeaway. Even as Rollins turned his attention to walking down the ramp, it was Punk who continued to stare daggers into his back before taking his leave. It's worth noting that Punk has been actively pushing the idea that his feud with McIntyre has taken him to a level of hatred he didn't know he could manifest (as it pertains to non-real glass matters anyway); does that extend to yet another to have made his otherwise fairytale return harder than he'd have liked?
Rollins is more than a comfortable babyface both as his current character and within the bubble of the feud, considering the fact that one of Rollins' foremost gripes with Punk has been the way he spoke of the company during his time away and he is effectively the franchise player of "WWE Raw." And, personally speaking, CM Punk is much better presented as a heel. Couple those points with the narrative arc that Punk is on, someone literally just dragged through the depths of Hell and back, it feels only natural for there to be a breaking point in his character. I really liked the idea of Punk selling the mental and physical impact of his McIntyre rivalry and the blowoff to that feud, then following up with the juxtaposition of a Rollins who had been broken and damaged just weeks ago himself returning with glee and a smile on his face. Punk being gone for a while would strike me as the best opportunity for a change-up upon his return, especially if he is as broken as he purports.
Written by Max Everett
It's no secret to anyone who regularly reads these that there are a lot of things about wrestling that annoy me to my core. One of my biggest pet peeves is having a brand split when it's just going to end up being completely ignored and Superstars will show up on other brands for the sake of appearing.
I understand that WWE has a match to get people excited about at WWE Crown Jewel between Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes and World Heavyweight Champion GUNTHER, but a Champion vs. Champion Match wherein the winner receives the WWE Crown Jewel Championship pretty much writes itself and doesn't need a ton of build or television time. There was no reason to have Rhodes appear twice in this week's show, especially in a quick backstage segment that he didn't really say anything in and a stare down with GUNTHER following his successful title defense against Sami Zayn. On a show that already felt chaotic and messy enough, it didn't really need the addition of Rhodes and it felt like he contributed very little to the show. Rhodes is already involved in enough things on "WWE SmackDown" as is with his new alliance with Roman Reigns to take down The Bloodline, the return of Jimmy Uso, being attacked by Kevin Owens, and the inevitable Men's WarGames match in November that he will seemingly be involved in. He doesn't need any more storylines right now, and having him appear briefly on "Raw" was pretty pointless.
Written by Olivia Quinlan
I know I said last week that I was fine with Bron Breakker moving on from the Intercontinental Championship, but after what transpired at Bad Blood with us finding out that World Heavyweight Champion GUNTHER will be forced (for lack of a better term) to take on Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes for the Crown Jewel Championship rather than defend his own title against someone worthy, this is fine for me. Especially because it keeps Breakker as a bad guy, which he's born to do, and also keeps him in the mix of a title picture, even if it is one he lost.
Last week, I guess I wasn't 100% convinced with Breakker's little sly smile at new Intercontinental Champion Jey Uso, when Uso told Breakker there were "some dawgs" in the crowd. He didn't look entirely genuine, and I know I wasn't the only one to think that. I was convinced then, however, he was going for GUNTHER's title following a backstage segment where they came face-to-face, but, silly me didn't know about the new championship in Saudi Arabia.
Monday's segment with Breakker coming out after Uso's first televised title defense and spearing the heck out of everyone made sense, but more important, made Breakker look strong. That first spear looked like it came out of nowhere when he hit Uso, and the whole "super spear" when he runs at top speed around the ring is always impressive. I'm never sure about the whole "automatic rematch clause" thing in WWE these days, but with how strong Breakker is still built to be, I think he should get one. Possibly at Crown Jewel against Uso, and he doesn't have to win there, it could always be some kind of wonky finish or disqualification before he moves on. Since I'm not sure, especially on these new two-hour episodes of "Raw," where GUNTHER and the World Heavyweight Championship go next, I think it's safe to keep Breakker around the IC title like this. Just keep him looking strong and like a monster, and may he can win the belt back from Uso after he "Yeets!" his way to a few feel-good moments.
Written by DaisyRuth
In one of "Raw's" numerous pre-taped segments, the Women's World Champion Liv Morgan pulled up and exited her car alongside her new muscle, Raquel Rodriguez, and the most important thing about her title reign her boyfriend, "Dirty" Dominik Mysterio. Morgan spoke to Jackie Redmond briefly, but the segment didn't accomplish anything and Morgan elected to shepherd her entourage back in the car and leave. Later, there was a 10-woman tag team match that featured the Unholy Union and Pure Fusion Collective teaming up against Natalya, Zelina Vega, Kayden Carter, Katana Chance, and Lyra Valkyria. The match wasn't very long and didn't serve a purpose besides, of course, checking "women's match" off the list for the show.
Cramming 10 women into a single match, a women's champion who barely defends her title and whose reign revolves around a man it's giving Divas Era. One of the biggest feuds of the summer has turned into a complete waste of time, and neither Morgan nor her rival, Rhea Ripley, appeared in the ring this week.
During the "Bad Blood" post-show press conference, Paul Levesque said he doesn't see the difference between men and women in terms of card representation.. Yet only the women got shoved in a pointless match that didn't move forward any feuds or storylines. As always with women's wrestling, it's one step forward, three steps back; if this trend continues during "Raw's" two-hour period, fans will have to resort to #GiveWomensWrestlingAChance.
Written by Samantha Schipman
As a card-carrying Sami Zayn fan, I should probably be upset or something about the fact that he didn't win the world title Monday night especially since I had almost managed to convince myself he was about to. It felt like there were too many factors working in his favor: the upcoming Saudia Arabia show, the new Crown Jewel title match against Cody Rhodes, and perhaps most dramatically, the Bad Blood confrontation between GUNTHER and Bill Goldberg. The stars had aligned, it seemed ... until they didn't, and Zayn passed out in the vise-like grip of GUNTHER's sleeper hold.
Honestly though, I can't muster a negative opinion about that match. It was so much better for just being a true main event talent showcase with a clean finish than it would have been as a messy schmozz-fest with a ref bump spot and a Goldberg interference spot, setting up a match between one of the best wrestlers on WWE's current roster and a 57-year-old who hasn't performed in nearly three years for the benefit of Mohammed bin Salman. That's not how I want Sami to win the title, it's not how I want GUNTHER's reign to end, and I sure as s*** don't want to watch Goldberg wrestle in the year 2024. Much obliged to WWE for rescuing me from my own fandom-based desires. This is why we shouldn't be bookers.
Also, the match just flat-out ruled, and for all GUNTHER's posturing about Zayn not being worthy, this was just the latest tick in the "Sami is world title material, actually" column. This wasn't the "miracle win" story that they did at WrestleMania, with Sami being dominated for a lengthy period of time before finding a way to pull out the victory. From start to finish, Zayn looked like he belonged in the ring with "The Ring General," and he was literally fingertips away from breaking the hold that finally beat him not by making him tap, but by putting him to sleep. It was the best kind of loss, particularly for a character and a performer like Zayn, and it feels so much better just to have watched it than it would have for Sami to have the belt handed to him by Goldberg.
I remain confident that Sami Zayn will be a world champion in WWE. I am also very much okay with it not happening this week, and getting a phenomenal wrestling match instead.
Written by Miles Schneiderman
