WWE Raw 14th of October 2024

Our WWE RAW results tonight include Rhea Ripley kicking off the show and Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes returning to the red brand. Plus, Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill will defend the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship against Kairi Sane and IYO SKY, Kofi Kingston will take on Bron Breakker, and The Miz will clash with R-Truth.

Bianca Belair, Jade Cargill, Cody Rhodes, Gunther, Rhea Ripley, and others are shown arriving as the broadcast team hypes up the show.

Rhea Ripley Kicks Off The Show
Rhea Ripley comes to the ring to kick off WWE RAW. She says she’s not done with Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez. Ripley makes it clear that she wants to whoop their asses. Tiffany Stratton interrupts Ripley and says that she has a message from Nia Jax. She warns Ripley to stay out of Jax’s business. Ripley responds by saying that she doesn’t have time for this but offers to welcome her back to RAW the Ripley way. Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez charge the ring, and the four women brawl.
Morgan hits Stratton with the Money in the Bank briefcase and stands tall with Rodriguez.
Grade: B
RAW being taped undercut Stratton’s appearance, as it could have been a cool surprise. Having Morgan and Rodriguez attack Ripley and Stratton kept the cross-brand feud going. Jax getting involved later in the show feels predictable at this point, but WWE is effectively teasing Stratton potentially cashing in on Morgan.

A video package hypes up the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship match.

Backstage, Rhea Ripley tells Adam Pearce that she wants to face Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez. He agrees to the match but says she has to find a partner. Tiffany Stratton interrupts and expresses her frustration. Pearce suggests that Ripley should team up with her, and Rhea agrees.

WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship: Jade Cargill & Bianca Belair (c) vs. Damage CTRL (IYO SKY & Kairi Sane)
Lash Legend and Jakara Jackson are shown in the crowd. Cargill and SKY start the match and feel each other out. Cargill gains the upper hand. Belair tags in and maintains the advantage. Sane tags in, and Damage CTRL double-teams Belair. Sane dives onto Cargill at ringside.
After a commercial, SKY is grounding Belair in the ring. She catches Belair with a stomp after a roll-through. Belair rallies with a Spear. Sane and Cargill tag in and go back and forth. Sane traps Cargill in a sleeper hold. Cargill powers her way out of it. She dumps Sane with a back-breaker. She gets a two-count with a powerbomb. Sane evades a double-team move. SKY rocks Belair with a springboard dropkick. Damage CTRL gets a two-count with a double-team elbow. Cargill saves Belair from SKY’s mooonsault. Cargill and Belair slam Sane into the barricade.
Sky takes down the champions with a springboard moonsault. SKY argues with Legend and Jackson, and Legend hits her. Belair hits SKY with the KOD for the win.
Winners and still WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions: Bianca Belair & Jade Cargill
Grade: B
Most Cargill and Belair defenses lack suspense, as they’re such a powerful team. SKY and Sane have more credibility, so this match had more going for it in that regard. Legend and SKY interfering kept SKY and Sane strong and let the NXT duo remain in the spotlight coming off of their match on WWE SmackDown.

Finn Balor and JD McDonagh are shown backstage, and they approach Adam Pearce. Balor says he wants a rematch with Damian Priest. Pearce says they have an obligation to defend their titles, and he is setting up a tournament to crown their contenders. Balor is frustrated, and he walks away. Morgan says she, McDonagh, and Balor can focus on keeping their titles. She also introduces them to Raquel Rodriguez.

A video package hypes up American Made, with Chad Gable saying they’ll show the world what it means to be American Made.

Bron Breakker Targets Jey Uso
In a taped message, Bron Breakker comments on attacking Jey Uso. He explains why he turned on Uso, saying that he congratulated Uso out of respect, but Jey threw it back in his face. Breakker says they are not the same, as he does not need his family’s help or their name. He says he will surpass them someday. Breakker says Uso has been sucking off his family’s legacy for years, and now he wants to do it on his own. He makes it clear that he’s coming back for the WWE Intercontinental Championship, and Jey’s family can’t save him.
Grade: A
Breakker brought the heat here with a fairly short promo. He continued to take shots at Uso by contrasting how they both come from wrestling families use their legacies in different ways. The rematch between the two is shaping up nicely, as these promos are adding more emotion into the story.

Adam Pearce is shown speaking with Bronson Reed, and he tells Reed that he can’t have Reed putting everyone at risk. Reed says he’s sorry that he crossed a line, but he would have won the match if not for Rollins. He wants to know when Pearce will book the two of them in a match and he continues to force the issue. Reed says he wants the spotlight, and he wants to face Rollins to prove he’s a top guy. Pearce responds by saying that he will talk to Rollins.

WWE World Tag Team Championship Number One Contender’s Tournament: The War Raiders (Erik & Ivar) vs. Alpha Academy (Otis & Akira Tozawa)
Otis and Ivar start the bout and duke it out. Tozawa tags in, but Ivar overpowers him. The War Raiders double-team Tozawa and dominate him. Erik knocks Otis off the apron, and the War Raiders continue to control the match. Otis tags back in and takes the fight to them, but Ivar drops him with a kick. The War Raiders double-team Tozawa and score the win with The Fallout.
Winners: The War Raiders
Grade: A
This gets an A for what it was, less so for the actual quality of the match. The War Raiders returning gives the RAW tag team division a needed boost, and it’s to see them back in action, given the injuries they were dealing with. Some points have to be taken off here because WWE has squandered the momentum that Otis built up when he turned on Chad Gable.

Backstage, Seth Rollins speaks with Adam Pearce, who is reluctant to let him face Bronson Reed due to his injuries. Rollins says he needs this fight, and Pearce needs it if he wants the best version of Rollins for his show.

Cody Rhodes Returns To WWE RAW
Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes comes to the ring. He addresses the live crowd and says he is proud to be standing in a city with such rich history as he highlights St. Louis. Rhodes brings up more recent history as he says something special happened in this building not long ago; he says it was right here when the fans first chanted “We want Cody.” He thanks them, and World Heavyweight Champion Gunther interrupts him.
Gunther says he has to be honest, as there’s not a lot of negative things to say about Rhodes. He highlights Rhodes and WWE’s booming business. He says he has a lot of respect for Rhodes. Gunther twists it and says that Rhodes loves to be everybody’s darling, as he says that everybody’s friend is no one’s real friend. He says that he expects the best version of Cody Rhodes at WWE Crown Jewel. Rhodes counters by saying that’s his greatest strength. He also says that he is not surrounded by friends, as evidenced by what’s been happening to him. Rhodes turns it on Gunther and says that he breaks when he gets uncomfortable.
Rhodes tells Gunther that he has never been in the ring one-on-one with him. Gunther says Rhodes spoke like a true secondary champion. Rhodes says that Gunther has become a frightening beast. He brings up how he has slain a frightening beast before. Rhodes extends his hand, and they shake.
Grade: A-
Cody Rhodes pandering to the St. Louis crowd got the segment off to a slow start, but it really picked up when Gunther came out. Gunther respecting Rhodes and giving him credit gave the exchange legitimacy, as did Rhodes speaking highly of Gunther. They both made compelling points, with Gunther highlighting Rhodes’ weakness and Cody saying that he has already slain a frightening beast before. This went a long way in adding excitement to their match at WWE Crown Jewel.

A vignette hypes up Dragon Lee and his journey over the past year, as he also looks forward to his road ahead by saying that he was destined to fly.

Bron Breakker vs. Kofi Kingston
Kingston takes the fight to Breakker right away and drives him into the corner. Breakker drops Kingston with a shoulder tackle. He takes control and sends Kingston hard into the corner with an Irish whip. Kingston rallies with a dropkick. Breakker drops Kingston again by trucking into him. Breakker is in control as he continues to ground Kingston after a commercial.
Kingston rallies again with a flurry of offense. Breakker takes control once more and gets the win with a Spear.
Winner: Bron Breakker
Breakker is about to attack Kingston after the match, but Xavier Woods makes the save. Bron walks away but blindsides Woods. Jey Uso then comes down and brawls with Breakker. He drops Breakker with a Spear. Uso stands tall with Kingston and Woods.
Grade: B+
Nothing wrong with Breakker picking up a quality win over a former WWE Champion here. Kingston got some offense in, but the outcome was never in doubt. Woods making the delayed save kept the tension within the New Day brewing, while Uso brawling with Breakker continued to heat up their feud as well.

Rhea Ripley is shown backstage, and she speaks with Damian Priest. She tells him she can handle herself tonight. Priest says that as long as Ripley has beef with the Judgment Day, he does too. But he agrees that it’s time for him to be the champion again.

Jey Uso is shown walking backstage. He enters a room, and Jimmy Uso is standing there. Jimmy asks if he has a second, and Jey walks away.

R-Truth vs. The Miz
Truth does some dancing. The feed is interrupted by the Wyatt Sicks’ logo. Karrion Kross and The Final Testament walk to ringside. The distraction costs The Miz, as R-Truth rolls him up for the win.
Winner: R-Truth
The Miz refuses to hug R-Truth after the match. The Authors of Pain roll R-Truth back into the ring, and The Miz drops him with the Skull Crushing Finale.
Grade: B-
The match was a bit of a dud, as it was short and mostly focused on R-Truth’s antics. The Wyatt Sicks’ interruption, along with the Final Testament costing Miz but helping him after the match, added some intrigue here. The Wyatt Sicks have taken a bit of a backseat recently, and a potential program with The Miz doesn’t feel like the best way to heat them up.

Jimmy Uso is shown watching backstage. He finds Jey Uso and again asks to talk to him. Jey tells him to get out of his face and walks away.

Rhea Ripley & Tiffany Stratton vs. Liv Morgan & Raquel Rodriguez
Morgan and Ripley start the match, and Ripley takes control right away. Morgan tags in Rodriguez, who squares off with Ripley. Stratton tags in and showcases her athleticism. She sends Rodriguez to the outside. Stratton argues with Ripley, and Morgan is launched onto them by Rodriguez.
After a commercial, Rodriguez and Morgan continue to control the action. Rodriguez gets a two-count with a suplex on Stratton. She hits Stratton with a back-breaker and maintains the advantage. Ripley tags in and clears house with a flurry of offense. She slams Morgan with the Riptide, but Rodriez breaks it up. Ripley and Rodriguez brawl at ringside, and Nia Jax attacks Ripley. The referee calls for the bell.
Result: No Contest
Jax helps Stratton up. Ripley takes the fight to Jax. Morgan blindsides Ripley. Jax turns her attention to Morgan and slams her. She hits Morgan with the Annihilator. Stratton teases cashing in her briefcase on Morgan, but Dominik Mysterio saves her.
Stratton is clearly frustrated as RAW comes to an end.
Grade: B+
The unusual pairing of Rhea Ripley and Tiffany Stratton was a fun combo. It was great to see Raquel Rodriguez back in action. The ongoing dynamic of outside forces preventing Ripley from getting her revenge on Liv Morgan is being done well. Nia Jax interfering was a given here, but the closing angle helped build up her match with Morgan.

WWE RAW Review
The show was lacking energy because it was taped. SmackDown stars crossing over gave it a boost. The promos from Rhodes, Gunther, and Breakker were particular highlights, as was the return of the War Raiders. The Miz/Wyatt Sicks combo is somewhat concerning given the way that the group has cooled off. Two tag team tournament matches, and the competition as a whole, could be a shot in the arm for the tag team division.
Overall, this was a serviceable chapter on the road to WWE Crown Jewel, and next week’s episode should get RAW back on track.
Grade: B+

What did you think about this week's WWE Raw? #WWERaw

— JJA Sport Studio (@jjasportstudio) October 15, 2024