Monday Night Raw Review - October 9, 2023

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Drew McIntyre Saved World Heavyweight Champion Seth "Freakin" Rollins From The Judgment Day

McIntyre stepping up to Rollins as his next challenger was interesting. Rollins' direction wasn't clear coming out of Fastlane, but McIntyre makes sense given he doesn't have much else going on. I know he's in the midst of a slow-burn heel turn, but that story can still be told with him chasing the title. Damian Priest nearly attempted a Money in the Bank cash-in here, but McIntyre thwarted it. I'm happy Rollins vs. McIntyre was announced for Crown Jewel so early.

Ivar def. Kofi Kingston in a Viking Rules Match

The Viking Raiders are undefeated in Viking Rules matches (there had only been two of them previously), but this was the first one-on-one Viking Rules match. Ivar and Kingston had yet another entertaining affair here that once again allowed Ivar to showcase his skills as a singles star. I don't expect him to get an aggressive push on his own, but beating a former WWE Champion is a nice accomplishment for him (for whatever that's worth). This should mark the end of the feud as I don't believe Erik is due back anytime soon.

Raquel Rodriguez vs. Nia Jax Ended in a No Contest

This had a basic layout with Rodriguez trying to pick up Jax a few times but failing. I assume there will be a payoff eventually, most likely in whatever multi-woman match they're setting up for the title. This was decent while it lasted and the non-finish was logical. Rhea Ripley and Shayna Baszler went at it afterward and they'll rekindle their rivalry one-on-one next week. A Fatal 4-Way for the Women's World Championship at Crown Jewel seems to be the direction they're headed in.

Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champions Cody Rhodes and Jey Uso Agreed to Defend Against Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens

Thankfully, Rhodes and Uso were not interrupted by Judgment Day but rather Zayn and Owens, who have a reason to be upset considering they lost those titles to Judgment Day last month and couldn't regain them. They're an actual tandem, whereas Rhodes and Uso are a makeshift team. The mic work here was strong and set up the night's main event effectively. On a side note, Zayn coming out to the wrong entrance music by accident and acknowledging it at the beginning of his promo was funny.

Bronson Reed def. Ricochet and Shinsuke Nakamura in an Intercontinental Championship No. 1 Contender's Triple Threat Match

Shinsuke Nakamura attacked Ricochet beforehand after some of the battles they've had on Raw recently, so that gave him an out for losing. I want Gable to ultimately be the one to dethrone Gunther as Intercontinental Champion, but not right now. That left Reed as the best choice to go over. He's been racking up wins lately and I'm stoked they've led him to a title shot in what should be a great big-man match with Gunther. This was a fun Triple Threat.

Drew McIntyre def. JD McDonagh

Judgment Day sent McDonagh out there to take on McIntyre so he could prove himself after playing a part in their loss of the tag titles at Fastlane, and he definitely did not. In fact, this was essentially a squash with McIntyre dominating a majority of the match and winning in a matter of minutes. Normally, I'd like to see it be a bit more competitive, but with McIntyre challenging for the World Heavyweight Championship at Crown Jewel, this was what it needed to be.

NXT Women's Champion Becky Lynch def. Tegan Nox

I loved the profile package that aired for Nox beforehand. WWE has a lot of work to do to get her over with the audience, but they've done a commendable job in the last few weeks. Of course, she was never going to win here, but I appreciate that this got as much time as it did and that she was made to look credible in defeat. Despite the quiet crowd, this was really good. We also saw Xia Li pop up backstage for the first time in ages and confront Lynch, so that might be a match we see on Raw before Lynch's next scheduled title defense on Night 1 of NXT Halloween Havoc against Lyra Valkyria.

Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champions Cody Rhodes and Jey Uso def. Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens

I fully expected interference from Judgment Day or a just a non-finish ahead of Judgment Day versus the winners of this match next week, but instead, we got a clean main event with very entertaining action. The two teams worked wonderfully together, the crowd was into it, and it was a straightforward finish. Plus, Owens and Zayn embraced with Rhodes and Uso (whose tag team finisher is sick, by the way) afterward. This felt like the end of any tension these teams had with each other, but I could also see this culminating in a Triple Threat tag team title match at Crown Jewel.

Overall Show

Similar to last week's SmackDown, we found out that next week's show will be the "season premiere" of Raw, thus making this the "season finale." It's just words that don't mean anything with wrestling, but I'm excited that they're stacking the show for next week with some big matchups. This was a very enjoyable edition of Raw that had a lot going for it, and I don't think that's a coincidence with the news that dropped earlier today about Triple H being "knighted" by Endeavor to be in complete control of Creative. It certainly showed this week and here's hoping it continues.

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