Monday Night Raw Review - October 4, 2021

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Bianca Belair Confronted Raw Women's Champion Charlotte Flair and SmackDown Women's Champion Becky Lynch

The actual mic work in this segment was fine, but I felt the segment itself lasted way too long. They took the long road to establishing it would be Belair vs. Flair the main event on this show. It wasn't a first-time-ever encounter as they faced off on NXT last year before Belair got called up, but I still would've held off on doing it so it could have meant more down the road. I'm happy Belair and Lynch ended up on the same show so they can continue their feud and Belair can hopefully avenge that SummerSlam loss to Lynch at some point.

United States Champion Damian Priest def. Jeff Hardy

I don't know what earned Hardy another shot at the United States Championship seeing as how he lost a random six-man tag team match last week on the show, but for whatever it's worth, he wasn't pinned in the Triple Threat at Extreme Rules. This wasn't as entertaining as their original one-on-one match a few weeks ago, but it was still solid. Priest scores another win while Hardy prepares to leave back to SmackDown. Post-match, Austin Theory emerged and asked Hardy for a selfie before attacking him. That's a nice feud to start Theory off with, giving him a notable name to defeat since Hardy is leaving for SmackDown. I'm also intrigued what Hardy meant when teased unveiling a new "ego." Could that be hinting at the return of Willow?

Shayna Baszler def. Dana Brooke

Baszler is back to being the badass she was in NXT and I absolutely love it. This is the version of Baszler we should have gotten from the get-go on the main roster, but better late than never, I guess. As for Brooke, I honestly can't remember the last time I remember seeing her on Raw, but it was definitely when Mandy Rose was still around and they were teaming, so maybe June or July? She's still abysmal in the ring, so Baszler beating her in under two minutes was necessary. Baszler vs. Doudrop was teased afterward, but they'll have to blow that off before Crown Jewel now that they're on separate shows.

Angel Garza and Humberto Carrillo def. Mustafa Ali and Mansoor

Garza and Carrillo are really clicking as partners. Garza absolutely has the potential to be a breakout singles star, but he's probably better off in the tag team ranks for now. This was a rematch from a few weeks ago, and although it was fun while it lasted, it was way too short. Both of these teams have since been drafted to SmackDown, so I'm sure we'll get more matches between them on Friday nights.

WWE Champion Big E and Drew McIntyre def. Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode

The promo segment that preceded this match was brutally boring. It felt like it would never end. I appreciate Ziggler acknowledging his history with McIntyre and Big E, but I just can't bring myself to care about him or Roode at this point. They've been booked like losers and there's nothing interesting about them. That's why this match fell flat for me despite being well worked. On the bright side, at least Big E vs. McIntyre for the WWE Championship was made official for Crown Jewel. Obviously, McIntyre isn't winning, but it's nice that WWE is having him put over Big E before he leaves for SmackDown.

Kevin Owens Attacked Akira Tozawa

Owens was about to cut his first promo as a member of the Raw roster when he was interrupted by Tozawa, who he hit with a Stunner without saying a single word. In other words, this was a waste of time. Maybe they'll have a match next week on Raw, but really, what does it matter? I know the Owens character has always given off this vibe, but it truly feels like he doesn't care anywhere and is counting down the days until his contract expires.

WWE Women's Tag Team Champions Rhea Ripley and Nikki A.S.H. def. Natalya and Tamina

I don't think anyone was clamoring for a rematch between these two teams, but since Natalya and Tamina are now on separate shows (as revealed on Raw Talk), it made sense to blow off this feud here. There wasn't much to the match as it didn't last long at all, but what we got was decent. I never cared for Natalya and Tamina as a team, so I have no problem with them being broken up. As for Ripley and Nikki, they work well as a team, but I have no idea where they go from here.

Bobby Lashley Accepted Goldberg's Challenge for a Match at Crown Jewel

You had to know this was coming, but Lashley vs. Goldberg is now set in stone for Crown Jewel. The best thing I can say about it is that it won't be for the WWE Championship because Goldberg is clearly winning. I just hate that Lashley is going to lose again after already getting pinned four times in recent weeks. Their mic work in this segment was pretty good and hopefully the rematch is better than their awful encounter at SummerSlam.

The New Day (Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods) def. Cedric Alexander and Shelton Benjamin

Hurt Business beat New Day for the Raw Tag Team Championship last December and New Day regained the gold from them three months later on Raw in March. Alexander and Benjamin have since reunited, only to suffer another loss to New Day, who are on their way to SmackDown. Seriously, this made no sense at all. I know Alexander and Benjamin were selling the beatdown from Goldberg, but I wouldn't have booked this bout to begin with. I'm not even sure if Hurt Business is actually back yet or not because they yet to address it in a promo.

Raw Tag Team Champions RK-Bro Attacked AJ Styles and Omos

Randy Orton vs. Omos was teased all night long and, unsurprisingly, WWE didn't deliver on it. I wasn't overly excited for it in the first place, but there was nothing satisfying about this angle at all despite WWE playing it up like RK-Bro got their better of the heels. It was just a weak way of furthering the feud, which has lost a lot of its juice compared to how hot it was going into SummerSlam. I'm looking forward to Crown Jewel so we can finally be done with this rivalry.

Raw Women's Champion Charlotte Flair vs. Bianca Belair Ended in a No Contest (Non-Title)

This match really should have felt bigger than it did considering it was the first time these two have faced off on the main roster. What we got was good albeit forgettable. The non-finish didn't help with that, but at least it protected both women from taking an unnecessary loss. The ending to the show with Lynch getting involved and then Sasha Banks standing tall was a repeat from what we saw on SmackDown last Friday. It's possible we get a rematch at Survivor Series, but I assume Lynch will still be champion by then and it will be Flair vs. Lynch for the millionth time.

Overall Show

Much like Night 1 of the 2021 WWE Draft, I thought most of the moves made on Night 2 made sense, though I would have switched the order of some of the picks around. Otherwise, this was the best-structured Draft they've done in years, though I realize that's not saying much. Beyond the Draft stuff, this was a pretty tame edition of Raw. Most of the matches were shortchanged for time and felt inconsequential because WWE is in a holding pattern until the new rosters go into effect after Crown Jewel, but at least we got some decent hype for the pay-per-view, if nothing else.

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