Monday Night Raw Review - October 14, 2024

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Women's World Champion Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez Attacked Rhea Ripley and Tiffany Stratton

Ripley got involved in Nia Jax's business on Friday's SmackDown, so Jax sent Stratton to Raw to get revenge on Ripley. Their verbal exchange was fine and it seemed to be setting up a match between the two (which I would've liked to see) before Morgan and Rodriguez laid them both out. Adam Pearce forced them to team for the night's main event. The drastic difference in dynamic between Ripley and Stratton made their brief interaction enjoyable.

WWE Women's Tag Team Champions Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill def. Damage CTRL (IYO SKY and Kairi Sane)

I know Belair and Cargill just regained the gold at the end of August, but I was hoping for a title change here, if only so Belair and Cargill can finally part ways and begin building toward one of them turning heel. At this point, I assume it's being saved until closer to WrestleMania season. This could easily lasted longer, but what we got was good. At least Damage CTRL were protected in defeat with Lash Legend and Jakara Jackson costing them the win.

War Raiders def. Alpha Academy (Otis and Akira Tozawa) in a World Tag Team Championship No. 1 Contender's Tournament Match

We haven't seen a bracket for this tournament yet, so I don't know how many matches it will consist of exactly. At any rate, War Raiders returning is awesome. It's been over five years since they've gone by that name and they have their old entrance music back, too. If they're going to be babyfaces, it's strange that they faced a team as beloved as Alpha Academy, but this was a solid showcase for them, nonetheless.

Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes and World Heavyweight Champion Gunther Went Face-to-Face

For as little as I care about the Crown Jewel Championship concept (for both the men and women), it's cool that we're getting a mini feud between these two out of it. This was an excellent segment to build toward their bout and I appreciated that it didn't end in physicality. I don't know how they'll approach the finish or who will win, but I have no doubt the match itself will deliver.

Bron Breakker def. Kofi Kingston

This stemmed from Breakker attacking The New Day and Jey Uso last week. We only got to see half of this match due to the commercial break, but it was a pretty average outing. Breakker won decisively won as he should have and Jey fended off Breakker afterward. Pretty basic stuff. Speaking of Jey, Jimmy Uso attempted to confront him twice backstage and Jey turned him away both times. The O.G. Bloodline reunion teases continue.

R-Truth def. The Miz

I can't imagine that there are many people who give a shit about Truth feuding with Miz, so it was probably for the best that this was kept short and sweet with Truth rolling up Miz for the win. Karrion Kross has been playing his role exceptionally well, but I'm curious what the endgame is supposed to be (no, I don't think Miz is joining The Final Testament). I'd rather see Kross get a serious singles push, but I've given up on that ever happening.

Rhea Ripley and Tiffany Stratton def. Women's World Champion Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez by Disqualification

The Morgan vs. Ripley rivalry is at the end of its shelf life, so I wouldn't blame anyone for not being invested in this random tag team match. We still have yet to hear from Rodriguez or why she's aligned with Morgan (though it's safe to assume it's because of their history as partners), and Stratton was simply there to fill a spot as Ripley's partner. It was a well-worked main event, but the non-finish was the only way to ensure everyone was protected and the execution was lame. Worse yet, Ripley vs. Morgan can't be blown off until at least Survivor Series because we're getting Morgan vs. Jax at Survivor Series and I'm not exactly excited for that, personally.

Overall Show

If it wasn't already obvious from the dead crowd, this was a taped show. WWE is on tour in the United Kingdom right now, so this show was taped immediately after last week's episode. That's why there were more video packages and backstage segments than usual. Even with a two-hour runtime, this edition of Raw didn't have a whole lot of energy yet was mostly solid with several storylines progressing and hype for Crown Jewel.

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