Monday Night Raw Review - October 17, 2022

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Bobby Lashley and Brock Lesnar Brawled

I loved how the show opened with Lashley already talking and calling out Lesnar. They wasted no time in getting to their brawl and Lashley standing tall was the right call after Lesnar laid him out last week. This was a strong segment that didn't last long and it didn't need to. Raw has done a much better job of opening with a bang since Triple H took over and I hope they continue to shake up the usual formula for the show like this in the future.

The O.C. (Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows) def. Alpha Academy

I've been pretty consistent with this in recent years, but there haven't been too many Good Brothers matches that I've seen that have been above average. They need to be in the ring with the right team at this point and this was well wrestled, but the crowd being quiet early on was not surprising. Post-match, Finn Balor challenged The O.C. to a six-man tag team match against The Judgment Day at Crown Jewel and we also got the setup for AJ Styles vs. Dominik Mysterio later in the night. Interestingly, Crown Jewel takes place on the same day Anderson was scheduled to defend his NEVER Openweight Championship at a New Japan Pro-Wrestling and it looks like that won't be happening now.

United States Champion Seth "Freakin" Rollins Attacked Mustafa Ali

Rollins feels like the perfect fit for the United States Championship right now. He has the potential to have a hot reign heading into WrestleMania 39, starting with this Ali feud. Both guys played their roles well and all of Rollins' bragging created a feeling of doubt heading into his title defense with Rollins. Ali isn't over at the moment, but hopefully this program can help with that as he can get a great rub from working with Rollins.

WWE Women's Tag Team Champions Damage CTRL (Dakota Kai and IYO SKY) def. Raw Women's Champion Bianca Belair and Candice LeRae (Non-Title)

This stemmed from Belair saving LeRae from Damage CTRL last week. Damage CTRL are set to defend their tag titles against Raquel Rodriguez and Shotzi this Friday on SmackDown, so it would have been bad booking for them to lose here. This was good stuff with all four women having solid showings and Belair brawling with Bayley at ringside protected Belair in defeat. Yes, this means Bayley vs. Belair isn't over yet. That makes sense with WarGames right around the corner, but I'm curious if Bayley will earn herself another shot at the Raw Women's Championship before then.

Baron Corbin def. Dolph Ziggler

Happy Corbin is no more. Huzzah! We haven't seen Corbin on WWE TV since he left SmackDown with JBL almost two months ago. Detractors of Corbin will hate this pairing, but I'm honestly all for it and believe it's a breath of fresh air for Corbin. Personally, I prefer his badass persona from NXT and his first year on the main roster, but at least this is an improvement over Happy Corbin. Baby steps, I suppose. JBL mentioned that Corbin was traded to Raw in exchange for Rey Mysterio to SmackDown and I appreciate that attention to detail. Ziggler being JBL's first opponent on Raw was fitting given Ziggler was Corbin's first foe when Corbin arrived on Raw six years ago. This was more competitive than it needed to be, but Corbin winning was obviously the correct call.

Dominik Mysterio def. AJ Styles

Even after two years in the ring, it's still difficult to take Dominik seriously when he faces stars the caliber of Styles. The positive is that Styles can carry him to a quality contest and that was the case here, though Dominik winning was questionable. I guess you have to give the kid some credibility, but the problem is that Styles has lost a lot this year (probably more often than he's won) and having him lose a week after The O.C. reunited wasn't exactly ideal.

Dexter Lumis vs. The Miz Went to a No Contest

There were segments throughout the night where Miz attempted to get out of this match by feigning a knee injury. He was ultimately cleared to compete but attacked Lumis while Lumis was making his entrance, so the bout never got underway. It was nice to see Miz get one over on Lumis for a change, but I was disappointed we didn't get the advertised match. On the bright side, Johnny Gargano told Miz multiple times backstage that he knows what Miz did to Lumis that started this whole thing and is willing to share with the world, so at least we're finally getting some progression on that front.

Elias Returned; United States Champion Seth "Freakin" Rollins def. Matt Riddle

Outside of the Ezekiel stuff in the spring and the summer, I haven't been excited about anything involving Elias in years, but admittedly, I was looking forward to seeing what he'd have in store on this show. I was entertained by his interaction with Riddle, but ultimately, I was underwhelmed. The subsequent match from Riddle and Rollins delivered as expected and Riddle was protected in defeat with Elias inadvertently costing him the match. I don't need to see more from Riddle and Rollins (that rivalry should be definitively over), but does this mean we're headed for a feud between Riddle and Elias? Ali fending off Rollins at the end effectively furthered that feud as well.

Overall Show

This edition of Raw lacked the energy that last week's "season premiere" had and the crowd was surprisingly dead for most of it. That didn't help, but all in all, it was a solid show. Corbin and Elias aren't going to light the world on fire, but they're two more additions to the roster. The first hour was the strongest and the hype died down from there, not to mention that the matches were given less time this week, but it was far from a bad show, especially since they were able to build toward next week's Raw, Crown Jewel, and even Tuesday's NXT.

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