WWE RAW 9/16/24 REVIEW

- Mike Mueller, Senior Editor

The September 16, 2024 episode of Monday Night Raw opens with a shot of CM Punk pulling up to the arena, and getting out of his car while leaving the driver door open. I’m not sure if WWE creative is watching AEW on a weekly basis but that was pretty much exactly how Jack Perry opened Collision last week. To quote my 19 year old nephew, that seems sus. 

Once in the Ring, CM Punk reminded us that he has way more matches in his old bones than we think, but if he’s being honest, he has zero Hell in a Cell matches left in his body. His sister and his wife told him not to take this match. The angel on his shoulder begged him not to take this match. But he told Drew that if he was pushed far enough, it would bring out the devil in CM Punk, and that’s exactly what happened. 

“I am prepared for this to be the end of CM Punk, and if you are prepared for this to be the end of Drew McIntyre, then I will see you in hell.” This was a more serious and somber tone from Punk then we’ve seen in the past, but absolutely perfect for the situation at hand. 

SHEAMUS VS PETE DUNNE

The story of this match was Pete Dunne continuing to focus on Sheamus’ hand, while Sheamus focuses on hitting Pete Dunne as hard as humanly possible. At one point, Sheamus delivers a nasty Alabama slam onto the announcer’s table. In order to drive home that this is truly a personal rivalry, one bringing out a side of Sheamus we haven’t seen in some time, Sheamus busted out a few offensive maneuvers that I personally have never seen from the Celtic Warrior, including a top rope diving knee, and a second rope powerslam.

The match concludes when Dunne tries to pull a shillelagh from under the ring. Sheamus intercepts it, but the ref takes it away. As the ref’s back is turned, Dunne pulls a ridiculously large cricket bat from under the ring and cracks Sheamus with it. I can’t help but wonder, when they were putting the ring together, did anybody on the ring crew go “hey, this doesn't belong here?” Anyway, logic sometimes has no place in wrestling, and Sheamus had no chance of kicking out after that whack. Pete Dunne gets the victory, and this feud will continue. 

NATALYA VS ZOEY STARK

The war between Pure Fusion Collective and the grouping of Natalya, Lyra Valkyria, and Zelina Vega has been brewing for several weeks. Last week, Natalia and crew won a 3-on-3 match. This week, the momentum continues to build for the hodgepodge trio as Natalya was able to use her veteran prowess and catch Zoey with an unexpected rollup for the win. PFC is frustrated but there’s nothing they can do about it. They simply got outsmarted.

This was Natalya’s first singles match since June and the crowd really didn’t care. It’s a shame because Nattie is such a solid worker. 

RIVALRIES CONTINUE TO BUILD

Backstage, Rhea Ripley is ready to conduct an interview when she is interrupted by Finn Balor. Finn continues to blame Rhea and Damian Priest for their exodus from Judgment Day. “You claimed to care about us, about your family, but in reality you only ever cared about yourself.” Finn says Rhea and Damian are the reason he didn’t win the World Heavyweight Championship last year, and in all honesty, he’s right. Finn then admits what we’ve all been thinking for quite some time now: He was the one who encouraged Dominic to turn his back on Rhea and go with Liv instead. 

In the ring, Jey Uso and Bron Breakker confront each other. Bron points out that Jey has been here for 14 years, and while he is undeniably one of the biggest stars in WWE, Bron has accomplished more in 6 months as a single’s star than Jey has done in a decade and a half. Ouch, truth hurts.

Jey admits that Bron has that “dog” in him, but in their title match next week, Jey is going to dog walk his ass. Bron takes that on the chin, but when Jey doubles down, saying that Breakker’s title run is going to be just as short as his NFL career, that crosses the line and Breakker wallops Uso. He goes for a running spear, but Jey is able to get in a spear of his own and Breakker has to hobble away while Uso holds the IC title up in the ring. 

WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: NEW DAY VS JUDGMENT DAY

This marks the first defense for the Judgment Day (Finn Balor and JD McDonagh) since they won the titles 71 days ago. It goes to show the general lack of focus on tag teams in the current WWE landscape. As a big fan of tag team wrestling, this bums me out. 

Before the match started, Xavier Woods talked with Jey Uso, Rhea Ripley, and Damian Priest and told them he respects them, but this is something the New Day needs to accomplish on their own. No matter what, don’t interfere. The trio understand Woods’ motivation and say they’ll respect his wishes. 

The New Day controls most of the match, but it doesn’t take long before the rest of Judgment Day comes out to undoubtedly cause interference. Before they can do so, the LWO makes their appearance and a brawl breaks out. At one point, Kofi Kingston decides to jump from the top rope, crashing into all of them. This leaves Woods alone in the ring with McDonagh. Woods hits a diving elbow and has McDonagh pinned for several seconds, but no count is happening because THE REFEREE IS ON THE OUTSIDE OF THE RING BREAKING UP THE SCRUM. There’s literally no reason for the referee to have gone on the outside of the ring. When do they ever do that? This ref should be fired. Your job is to control what is going on inside of the ring.

Of course, Finn and JD take advantage of the distraction and get the win, retaining their titles. Post match, Xavier is upset with Kofi because Kofi asked the LWO to have his back. Woods wants to know why the LWO knew the plan for their tag team match but he didn't. Woods is irate and storms off. While his reaction was perhaps a bit extreme, his frustration is legit. Is this finally the end of the New Day?

BRAUN STROWMAN VS BRONSON REED (kinda)

This match never officially started, but who the hell cares? As soon as the two were in the ring, Strowman throws Reed into the turnbuckle and Reed immediately rips the top rope off of the post. If that wasn’t insane enough, Strowman then goes to do his running choo-choo train spot on the outside of the ring, and Reed lawn dart’s a fan from the front row directly into Strowman! Strowman then hurls his body into Reed as they crash through a barricade. They continue to brawl in the back where Strowman flips a golf cart and then Reed lands a Tsunami off of an equipment trunk, sending him and Braun through a couple of tables. This whole sequence happens in less than 4 minutes. This unhinged segment harkened back to the Attitude Era in the best possible sense of the word. 

Once that chaos is squared away, we now see Sami Zayn in the ring. Sami says he needs to hold gold again, and not just for his own sake. The WWE needs a world champ who will defend the title week in and week out. He points out that Gunther is afraid of Sami, because he knows Sami will beat him just like he did at Wrestlemania. Ludwig Kaiser then comes out to defend Gunther’s honor. Sami shuts that down right quick.

“Gunther doesn’t need you to speak for him. In fact, Gunther doesn’t need you for anything. And you know what I think? I don’t think you need Gunther either.” Sami is spitting truth and this causes Gunther to come out before Sami’s mind games affect Kaiser any further. Kaiser ends up attacking Zayn, but the seeds have been planted. Sami is winning the war of wits against Gunther. Will it be enough to get the title off of him? Only time will tell. 

BIANCA BELAIR VS IYO SKY

This was a fantastic match from bell to bell. Bianca showed off her ridiculous strength when the two women were on the outside of the ring. Belair lifted Iyo up for a suplex, but instead of dropping her right then and there, she WALKED UP THE STAIRS with Iyo in that position and eventually dumped her into the ring. Belair got in a few more moves, but as she went to put Iyo away with the Kiss of Death, Sky was able to counter it and turn it into a small package, picking up a very rare singles victory over Bianca Belair. Belair is in shock, but her tag team champion partner, Jade Cargill is there to lend support. While she’s supportive now, one can’t help but wonder: if this team loses their titles because Bianca gets pinned, will Jade be tempted to cut ties? 

MAIN EVENT: “DADDY” DOMINIC MYSTERIO VS DAMIAN PRIEST

Before his match against Finn Balor at Bad Blood, Priest has his chance to get some revenge on Daddy Dom. If you’ve been watching wrestling long enough, you knew how this one was going to play out. Priest controlled much of the matchup, as he should given that he's the stronger babyface going up against a smaller cowardly heel. 

Despite being whipped for most of the match, Dom continues to stick around and kick out after several powerful moves from Priest. Of course, he’s not doing this on his own. Liv is by Dom’s side and puts Dom’s foot on the rope during a pinfall attempt. This enrages Rhea Ripley who absolutely spears Liv into next week, accidentally taking Wade Barrett along with her. At least Liv will have some company during this time travel. 

Eventually Priest is able to thwart off the rest of the Judgement Day and catch Dom as he goes for a frog splash. Priest hits the South ofHeaven and gets the win. After the match, Judgment Day starts their beatdown of Priest and Rhea. Jey Uso comes out for support but Bron Breakker appears and catches Uso with a spear out of nowhere, allowing Judgment Day to stand tall as we go off the air.

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

One thing WWE has been doing so well lately is the intertwining of storylines. Jey and Rhea have this quasi-platonic friendship going on, but he also has a real feud going with Breakker. To have Jey come out to help Rhea and Priest, only to be thwarted by Breakker (who has no allegiance to Judgment Day) is really fun and smart booking.

Overall, this Raw was a little paint by numbers, and we really didn’t get much progression of storylines, but seeing Xavier Woods get pushed to the brink of explosion, AND the insanity that was the Reed/Strowman segment, makes this episode of Monday Night Raw an above average viewing experience. We’re not in the business of star ratings here, but if pressed, it would be a solid 3 out of 5.