Monday Night Raw Review - October 14, 2019

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Raw Women's Champion Becky Lynch def. Charlotte Flair to Earn the First Pick of the WWE Draft for Raw (Non-Title)

Sasha Banks was originally supposed to represent SmackDown here, but an injury suffered at Hell in a Cell kept her out of action. She was replaced by Flair and I appreciate the effort from the ladies beforehand to remind viewers via their promos of their rivalry from only a few short months ago despite teaming up recently. It's virtually impossible for them to have a bad match, but this wasn't their most amazing encounter. If nothing else, the crowd was into it. SmackDown should have gotten the first draft pick on Night 2, but then again, Lynch shouldn't be losing a non-title matchup to Flair. We're bound to be seeing even more matches between them with Flair joining the red brand.

Andrade def. Ali

Andrade going to Raw in the first round is huge for him, the same way it was for Drew McIntyre on Friday night. Time will tell if he'll actually be put in a program on Raw or if he'll continue to flounder like he did on SmackDown. Andrade and Ali once again worked well against each other and put on a nice little match. Ali is another individual who deserves more television time following the Draft.

The Viking Raiders def. Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode to Win the Raw Tag Team Championship

Viking Raiders had a tough first few months on the main roster. They've been undefeated since they got called up, but they were being booked to face local athletes for months and months and shockingly (and I say that sarcastically) didn't get over. Turning face and having competitive matches the last few weeks was the best thing they could have done. They had a great match with Ziggler and Roode and the crowd popped big for the finish. The title change was necessary with Ziggler and Roode moving to SmackDown as a unit later in the night.

Aleister Black def. Eric Young

For the five people that care, yes, Eric Young is still employed by WWE, and after this weekend, he has officially been signed to the Raw brand, for whatever that's worth. He barely put up a fight as Black won with ease. I'm happy Black switched shows, just because he did next to nothing over on SmackDown. Here's hoping he actually gets used to his full potential on Monday nights and doesn't waste time begging for a fight in pointless backstage segments.

Ricochet def. Shelton Benjamin

Ricochet has been spinning his wheels since losing the King of the Ring tournament, so I really hope he can find direction coming out of this Draft. It's nice to see him picking up victories, but they don't mean much if they don't lead anywhere. If nothing else, this was a fun little match with Ricochet impressing as always. Benjamin is a good hand to have in the ring, but I've given up on WWE ever doing anything of note with him.

Braun Strowman and Tyson Fury Signed the Contract for Their Match at WWE Crown Jewel

I guess the Brand Split rules don't go into effect again until after the Draft, but this should have happened on SmackDown considering Strowman is now a SmackDown Superstar. As far as contract signings go, it was pretty tame and the mic work from both guys was fine. I'm actually shocked it didn't end in physicality or a brawl of some sort. They're going to have to try a little harder to sell fans on their match at Crown Jewel because it doesn't seem to have much buzz at the moment.

Buddy Murphy def. Cedric Alexander

These two had a hell of a feud on 205 Live at this time last year, so it was cool to see them rekindle their rivalry on Raw. Their amazing chemistry together shined through in this outing, and although it could have lasted a few more minutes, it was fun while it lasted and both guys had strong performances. This was a case where both Alexander and Murphy need wins and thus I didn't want to see either of them lose. However, Murphy is a fresh face on Raw, so he benefited more from the victory than Alexander would have.

WWE Women's Tag Team Champions The Kabuki Warriors def. Lacey Evans and Natalya (Non-title)

Kabuki Warriors followed up their monumental win over Lynch and Flair last week by facing a team who isn't even a team this week. Yes, Natalya chose to pair up with Evans, who she just got done fighting with a week ago. Was this supposed to be a heel turn for Natalya? Why would she and Evans want to team with each other? Neither of those questions were answered, and with the crowd not having any incentive to cheer for one tandem or the other, the match fell flat. Natalya and Evans have since been split up in the Draft anyway, so I honestly have no clue what purpose this was intended to serve.

Overall Show

I'm not sure what to say about this show exactly. The angle at the end with Seth Rollins "burning down" the Firefly Fun House felt forced and only made Seth Rollins more unlikable than he already was. Plus, weren't we supposed to get a six-man tag team match at some point with The O.C. against Street Profits and a mystery partner? I thought the draft picks would have highlighted the night, but the order of most of them was so outrageous that it's difficult to constitute Night 2 of the Draft a true success (at least not until we see the aftermath). Outside of the Draft, this was a nothing show. There was some solid wrestling, but most of the matches felt like filler. We'll find out next week if WWE intends to take this Brand Split seriously or not, but either way, I'm ready for new storylines to start because Raw doesn't have a lot to get excited about right now. On a side note, I'll have my full thoughts up on every draft pick from Night 2 in another post here on the site sometime on Tuesday.