Monday Night Raw Review - October 7, 2024

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

CM Punk Addressed His Hell in a Victory at Bad Blood; Seth "Freakin" Rollins Put Bronson Reed on Notice

I guarantee you that these promos would've been spaced out if Raw was still three hours, but I liked that they took place back-to-back so they could briefly face off and plant the seeds for a WrestleMania match between the two. Punk put over the effects of Hell in a Cell big time and said he didn't know what was next for him, which tells me that he'll be going away for at least a month until after Crown Jewel. As for Rollins, his message for Reed was short and sweet. I really hope their match is saved for the pay-per-view.

Intercontinental Champion Jey Uso def. Xavier Woods

One of the drawbacks of Raw going back to two hours is that matches like this one aren't going to get a ton of time. Sure enough, most of this match consisted of a commercial break and we barely got to see it. It was a nice little matchup but way too short. The most interesting part was when Woods refused to shake Uso's hand afterward. They're heavily teasing a heel turn for Woods, but I remain skeptical that they'll actually go through with it. Finally, I'm fully in favor of Bron Breakker staying heel with his post-match attack on Uso and The New Day.

Sheamus def. Pete Dunne in a Good Ol' Fashioned Donnybrook Match

This was the perfect stipulation to use for the blow-off of this feud considering their history with it. I was looking forward to them beating the hell out of each other and they did not disappoint. This was a blast. That White Noise through the tables at ringside was a wild spot and the crowd was hot for the finishing sequence. I really enjoyed this feud and I hope Dunne is ultimately elevated coming out of it.

Lyra Valkyria, Natalya, Zelina Vega, Katana Chance and Kayden Carter def. Pure Fusion Collective (Sonya Deville, Zoey Stark and Shayna Baszler) and The Unholy Union

Ah, the "get everyone on the show" women's match that were a staple of the two-hour Raw episodes back in the day. That was when it was still the Divas division and there were not other women's segments on the show. Unfortunately, that was the case this week, which can't become a recurring problem with Raw for the remainder of the year. I don't care about any of the existing rivalries in this match, but it was well wrestled while it lasted. Triple H needs to do a better job with the women's midcard stories, specifically on Raw.

World Heavyweight Champion Gunther def. Sami Zayn

It's cool that this took center stage on Raw (it would've been slotted in the middle of the show at Bad Blood and been overshadowed by the bigger moments), but in retrospect, I would've preferred to see it on pay-per-view so it wouldn't have been hurt the time constraints and commercial breaks. What we got was entertaining and the final few minutes in particular were great. Gunther vs. Cody Rhodes at Crown Jewel should be terrific, but the build feels like a waste since nothing will be affected after the event.

Overall Show

This was our first two-hour Raw in over a dozen years and it had its fair share of pros and cons. On one hand, you can tell most of the matches got less time than they would have if it was three hours and guys like Priest and Balor weren't even featured. That said, the two hours flew by and I thought they largely filled the time well, bookending the episode with two title matches. This was a thumbs-up show in my book, but there's some stuff they can improve upon in the remainder of the year.

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