Monday Night Raw Review - September 9, 2024

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

The Wyatt Sicks (Dexter Lumis, Erick Rowan, Joe Gacy and Nikki Cross) def. American Made (Chad Gable, The Creed Brothers and Ivy Nile)

Of course, this paled in comparison to the hardcore matches we got at AEW All Out over the weekend, but you had to know what you're getting with the WWE-style Street Fights. By that standard, it was fun and the crowd ate it up. Thankfully, the flow wasn't interrupted at all due to the first hour of the show being commercial-free. They made the most of the extreme environment and The Wyatt Sicks winning was an appropriate ending to their program.

Jey Uso Saved Damian Priest and Rhea Ripley From The Judgment Day

Priest and Finn Balor had a good exchange that successfully set up their match for Bad Blood. I thought WWE might hold off on that for another few months, but this feels like an appropriate time to have the first match in the feud. The rest of the segment was solid and Uso saving Priest and Ripley was logical after how Raw went off the air last week. Ripley vs. Liv Morgan for the Women's World Championship was also made official for the pay-per-view.

WWE Women's Tag Team Champions Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill def. The Unholy Union

Unholy Union started getting more television time toward the end of their run as tag champs, but it will be interesting to see if that continues now that they've lost the belts and their rematch. This wasn't much of a match as what we got was nothing out of the ordinary and the outcome was expected, but hey, at least they didn't have to deal with a commercial break. Damage CTRL teased stepping up to Belair and Cargill next in a backstage segment later on.

Sami Zayn and Bret Hart Exchanged Words with World Heavyweight Champion Gunther

There were rumors late last week that Gunther and Hart would be involved in the same segment on this show and I'm glad those rumors were true. This was an excellent use of Hart as he received a heartwarming homecoming from the Calgary crowd and Gunther was an awesome foil for him, especially with that quip about Goldberg being his favorite wrestler. Plus, Zayn got endorsed by Hart (a lot like he did when Zayn answered John Cena's United States Championship open challenge back in 2015) and Gunther again denied Zayn's challenge. All of this was well done.

"Dirty" Dominik Mysterio def. Dragon Lee

There's a lot of history between these two dating back to last year when they were feuding over the NXT North American Championship. Lee actually beat Mysterio for the title at NXT Deadline last December, but that feels like a lifetime ago because Lee has done nothing of note since then. This was a decent albeit underwhelming match compared to their other encounters, but they could only do so much in the time they were allotted (not to mention Lee was not intended to be the focus).

Natalya, Lyra Valkyria and Zoey Stark def. Pure Fusion Collective (Sonya Deville, Zoey Stark and Shayna Baszler)

Natalya being the mystery partner for the babyfaces was no surprise considering she's Canadian. Personally, I would've been happier to see Trish Stratus in that spot, but it was a logical way to bring back Natalya, who has been off television for the last few months. It was a fairly average outing, but the crowd popped big for the finish. Mind you, beating Pure Fusion Collective doesn't mean much, but it was a meaningful moment for Natalya.

Adam Pearce Confronted Drew McIntyre

CM Punk being kept off the show to sell the attack from McIntyre last week was smart. There isn't much more for McIntyre to say that he hasn't already said during this lengthy feud with Punk, but I liked his brief interaction with Wade Barrett because Barrett held back McIntyre during that aforementioned attack on Punk. An in-ring return for Barrett would be cool, even if it was just a one-off, but I'm not getting my hopes up. They also made Punk vs. McIntyre in a Hell in a Cell match official for Bad Blood. It's been the obvious endgame for months, but I'm looking forward to that being the blow-off (on the exact anniversary of the first-ever Hell in a Cell match, no less).

Rey Mysterio def. World Tag Team Champion Finn Balor by Disqualification

​Knowing what these two are capable of, I didn't find this match to be very exciting. It lacked energy, never really got out of first gear and ended abruptly. With all of that said, this seemed to exist to give Balor more of an edge going into his Bad Blood bout with Priest. He and JD McDonagh will defend their World Tag Team Championship against The New Day on next week's Raw and I suspect Priest will cost them the belts to further the feud.

Jey Uso def. Pete Dunne, Ilja Dragunov and Braun Strowman in an Intercontinental Championship No. 1 Contender's Fatal 4-Way Match

They've laid it on thick in recent weeks that Breakker would be next in line for a shot at the Intercontinental Championship, but I appreciated how Bron Breakker confronted the rest of the participants throughout the show to tease them as possibilities. It was an entertaining, fast-paced main event and the crowd was invested in the action. Bronson Reed attacking Strowman had to happen and that was perfectly executed as well.

Overall Show

Perhaps the biggest news coming out of the show wasn't anything that happened but rather the announcement that Raw will be returning to two hours starting October 7th through the remainder of the year (as long as Raw's on USA Network). I assume it'll go back to being three hours on Netflix in January, but I'll take the two hours for now. I never thought I'd see the day. Regardless, this was a thumbs-up edition of Raw. Hart's appearance, the main event and all of the Bad Blood match announcements were among the highlights, and WWE paying tribute to Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau (a Canadian hockey player and his brother who passed away a few weeks ago in a tragic accident) was nice to see.

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