WWE RAW 8/26/24 REVIEW

The Judgement Day kicks off

The show starts with the Judgement Day making their entrance and they cut a promo on Damian Priest and Rhea Ripley stating that they deserved their beatdowns and that they were a long time coming. As per usual, when Dominik got the mic, the crowd boo'd him to oblivion. It too him awhile to announce that he was taking part in the intercontinental championship number 1 contenders tournament. The LWO later interrupt and Dom's father Rey cuts a promo on his son stating he's even more of an a hole. They go back and forth and eventually a brawl starts between the Judgement Day and the LWO. 

JUDGEMENT DAY VS LWO 8-MAN TAG MATCH    

This would lead to an 8-man tag team team match between the LWO and the Judgement Day. This is just your average 8-man tag we're used to seeing on raw but there was one amazing shot of all four members of LWO diving off all four sides and we get like an aerial view of it which looks amazing. The match ends after Rey is attempting to go for a splash off the top rope but Liv drags Dom out of the way and thus Rey misses and Dom takes advantage for the win. After the match, the Judgement Day continue the beat down and as Rey is on the announce table and Dom is going to splash, Out comes Rhea Ripley and Damian Priest who take it to the Judgement Day. As Finn, Liv, and Dom are on the ramp, Ripley and Priest stare them down as they hit their finishers on Carlito and JD McDonut. 

I think this rivalry will continue until WrestleMania kind of like the rivalry with Edge. The rivalry with Edge and Judgement Day started at SummerSlam and continued until WrestleMania with the Hell in a Cell match vs Finn Balor. I think the same will happen with Finn vs Damian Priest.

DAMAGE CTRL VS PURE FUSION COLLECTIVE

Damage CTRL beat the P.F.C. after Zelina Vega attacked Sonya Deville in order for the P.F.C. to no longer have a numbers advantage.

I think the women's tag team division is improving as now there are a lot of actual established teams. For years it just felt like the division was just full teams that were just randomly selected womens wrestlers. Like when you don't have any teams on G.M. Mode but you need to have tag team champions so you just group an couple wrestlers together. So it's nice that their is now a plethora of Women's tag teams.

DREW MCINTYRE CUTS PROMO ON CM PUNK

Drew McIntyre cut his usual promo, mocking CM Punk and his fans and this continued until Punk's music hit, but this time he attacked Drew from underneath the ring and he brought a strap (no, an actual strap not a gun) in preperation for their strap match at Bash at Berlin. Security got involved and Punk even attacked the security with the strap and the segment ends with Punk standing tall.

It's very hard to predict who will win this match on saturday. Me personally, I kind of would've perferred a dog collar match like how Punk did against MJF at revolution 2022 and how he did back in the days in ROH, but I guess it might be too violet, BUT this rivalry SHOULD be violet. I think the last match for this rivalry will be a hell in a cell match at bad blood.

KOFI KINGSTON VS JEY USO VS KARRION KROSS - INTERCONTINENTAL CHAMPIONSHIP NUMBER 1 CONTENDERS TOURNAMENT TRIPLE THREAT MATCH

It's pretty obvious who's winning this match. Karrion Kross has no aura, and Kofi Kingston hasn't done anything singles wise since he lost the WWE championship to Brock Lesnar in 6 or 7 seconds. Jey Uso won the match but it's no suprise.

RANDY ORTON FINAL PROMO BEFORE HIS MATCH VS GUNTER SATURDAY

Randy Orton cuts a promo thanking the fans for their support since he came back from injury and focuses on Gunther. He admits that Gunther is a formidable opponent BUT he promises that he will "humble" Gunter at Bash in Berlin. Randy mentions his past demons and compares them to Gunther in the way that he beat his demons and he will beat Gunther at Bash in Berlin.

A really nice promo to help build up the main event of Bash in Berlin despite the absense of Gunther or even Ludwig Kaiser on this show. I don't see Randy winning because it is still so early on in Gunther's title reign. To be honest, I don't see any current main roster wrestler beating Gunther for the World Heavyweight title. I do see Randy being the only person to beat Cody for the Undisputed WWE championship and I would've believed that Randy would win this match if Gunther was champion for like at least 8/9 months but it hasnt been a month yet so yeah.

BRONSON REED VS BRAUN STROWMAN

This match was hyped as a HUGE BIG MAN matchup, like Godzilla vs King Kong. When the match started off it felt like Bronson Reed finally met his match. These two started flinging themselves at each other. Eventually, they starting going backstage and as security was trying to stop them Braun chokeslamed the security. Reed and Strowman eventually brawled into the parking lot when Reed was chokeslam'd onto the car and shoulder tackled onto another car. He later took control after hitting Strowman with a metal pipe and this brawl ends after Strowman is laying on the roof of a car and Bronson Reed hits him with a TSUNAMI. 

XAVIER WOODS VS THE MIZ VS PETE DUNNE - INTERCONTINENTAL CHAMPIONSHIP NUMBER 1 CONTENDERS TOURNAMENT TRIPLE THREAT MATCH

Unlike the earlier match, this one seemed kind of unpredictable. All 3 here are kind of on the same level in terms of how they are presented lately while in the last one, it's clear Jey Uso eclipsed the other two. Match quality wise, this match was actually better as well. Pete Dunne took the win to advance to the fatal 4-way match to the determine the no1 contender for Bron Breakker's intercontinental championship after hitting the Miz withe a bitter end after kicking Xavier Woods out of the ring.

Xavier Woods heel turn is coming, we can tell with the all black attire and constant singles losses. I like that Pete Dunne is finally getting a good singles push. I don't know where Tyler Bate is but I hope we see him soon. I think Pete Dunne would be good pick to face Bron Breakker but it's looking like it will be Jey Uso after that Bron Breakker backstage promo responding to Uso.

CHAD GABLE VS UNCLE HOWDY

The first time Uncle Howdy is competing in a match, he didn't compete when he was with Bray Wyatt when he was still alive. Uncle Howdy came to the ring in Bray Wyatts entrance and it's so perfect down to a tea. Uncle Howdy pretty much dominated the match until Ivy Nile distracted the referee allowing Chad Gable to apply the ankle lock. Howdy countered and the ref was knocked down. Howdy put Gable in the mandible claw only for the Creed brothers to drag him out of the ring and beat him up until the lights went out and went back up so the wyatt sicks attacked the Creed brothers. Back in the ring, Uncle Howdy hits Gable with the sister abigail to pick up the win and the show ends with the Wyatt Sicks standing tall.

It's nice to see both of these groups in the main events of raw because they're not being used on the PPV's but still getting main event treatment. It's a shame that Chad Gable didn't win the intercontinental title but I see him getting there eventually with American Made.

Next week:

- Dragon Lee vs Dominik Mysterio vs Ilja Dragunov

- Zelina Vega vs Sonya Deville