WWE RAW 10/02/2023: 3 Things We Hated And 3 Things We Loved

Welcome to Wrestling Inc.'s consistently spectacular weekly review of "WWE Raw," the show where contract signings are sometimes for matches that happen later the same night! It turned out to be a slightly different "Raw" than we were expecting this week — Becky Lynch wasn't medically cleared to compete in her planned "NXT" Women's Championship match against Tegan Nox, and Jey Uso vs. Damian Priest was also called off — but there was still plenty going on, including an impromptu Intercontinental Championship match, Drew McIntyre vs. The Miz, and more matches being set up for Fastlane this Saturday.

But how did this hastily rewritten "Raw" go over with the WINC writing and editorial staff as viewers? It's not a question that tends to result in a comprehensive overview of the entire three-hour extravaganza; you always have our live coverage for that kind of thing. For those interested in our entirely subjective (but still impeccably correct) opinions, we present three things we hated and three things we loved about the 10/2/23 episode of "WWE Raw."

I didn't get the chance to write about this when it happened, but I happen to think WWE made a huge creative mistake in not having Chad Gable end GUNTHER's Intercontinental title run a few weeks ago, just before GUNTHER broke the record. I feel about that match the way other people feel about Cody Rhodes vs. Roman Reigns at WrestleMania. You had the chance to really make a guy, and you didn't take it. And while I was heartened initially by the fact that the feud seemed to be continuing, it still felt a little bit like the moment had passed.

Then Gable lost a match clean to Bronson Reed two weeks ago, and then he and Otis lost a tag team match clean to Imperium this week, and now it looks like Imperium might have moved on to DIY, and I'm starting to get really worried that "they pulled the trigger too late" is the best case scenario at this point, and that the more likely scenario involves not pulling the trigger at all. Which would just suck so hard, man. Chad Gable has been casually having great matches on "Raw" basically since Paul Levesque took over creative, if not before; he's the perfect guy to hold the IC belt after GUNTHER because he's an absolute workhorse who can embody all the traits you typically want in an IC Champion while also being elevated by the belt itself. Can we please just give him the thing? I would have done it before GUNTHER broke the record just for narrative reasons, but if you really needed him to break the record, fine. He's done that now. It's past time, for me, that GUNTHER was dethroned, and I can't think of a single better option to dethrone him but Gable, and they already sowed the seeds of another match between them ... but I don't know. Not sure if it's happening at this point. The tag loss Monday night was deflating, and the promo Gable cut backstage was ... I don't know what it was, but it wasn't explictly "Don't worry, I'm challenging GUNTHER for the title again," which is what I was after.

And hey, maybe I just need to let it play out, as they say. Maybe Gable as Intercontinental Champion is still the plan. But momentum is everything in wrestling, and frankly I don't trust WWE creative to do the things I want them to do, so I'm just gonna keep being worried about it until it actually happens.

I can confidently say that I felt pretty indifferent about Monday's "Raw," but one thing that I did not feel that way about was the storyline between Tegan Nox and Natalya.

Natalya provided some backup to Nox in an effort to neutralize the threat of Piper Niven during the latter's match with Chelsea Green, and hugged her after she emerged victorious. Seeing as Nox was advertised for an entirely different match — plus the fact that Natalya has exhibited some heel-ish tendencies as of late, the two squared off in a No. 1 contender's match last week — I can't say I definitely saw this show of respect coming but it was a refreshing change of pace.

It's become easy to see where storylines are headed in the modern era, and part of what makes the program between Nox and Natalya so interesting is the unpredictability of it all. Whether it results in the two forming an alliance and possibly going after tag team gold, or Natalya assuming the role of the jealous veteran and starting a feud, remains to be seen, but nonetheless I think it'll be cool to see how this storyline continues to unfold over the coming weeks.

Following in the footsteps of The Bloodline with long-term storytelling not seen enough in pro wrestling these days, The Judgment Day has done a lot, for a lot of people, for an extended period of time. From elevating Damian Priest to near-main event level, to reinvigorating Finn Balor's career, to helping turn Dominik Mysterio into arguably wrestling's most hated villain, to establishing Rhea Ripley as WWE's most dominant female since Chyna, there is no arguing all that TJD has accomplished.But it's now time to keep things moving forward, as The Judgment Day has now become more like a never-ending year-plus.

We've already been through every incarnation of Cody Rhodes, Sami Zayn, Kevin Owens, and now Jey Uso vs. whatever combo of Balor/Priest/Mysterio makes sense at the moment — and now we're about to get Rhodes and Uso challenging for the WWE Undisputed Tag Team Championships at Fastlane on Saturday. Please, at the risk of ruining all that has been built in the individuals, let that be the beginning of the end for the faction. No more teased tension between the members. No more ultimatums. No more Judgment Day thread throughout every show. It's just time.

And maybe there's hope. Mami herself even warned Mysterio that if he didn't recapture the "NXT" North American Championship in a rematch against Trick Williams tomorrow night, he shouldn't even bother coming home. Balor has the JD McDonagh alliance waiting in the wings, Priest has the Money In the Bank briefcase, and Ripley still has the WWE Women's Championship around her waist, so there's plenty for all of the players in the group to continue onto separately.

It's been a fine run, but the faction's reached its limit. Time to move on.

I know, I know, I wrote about loving the Drew McIntyre storyline last week, and I even took special care to shout out The Miz for his work. I'm not trying to be repetitive — it's just that, to me, it's far and away the best thing happening on "Raw" right now, at least from a character standpoint. I love it when wrestlers acknowledge tropes, particularly those that seem particularly tied up with being a heel or a babyface, and I really love it when those tropes are subverted. What McIntyre is doing right now is textbook trope subversion. Is he still a babyface if he openly refuses to do babyface things, like get involved on the right side of battles he didn't start, or forgive people when they apologize? He says he's a good guy. He thinks he's a good guy. But at a certain point, your character has to be defined by what you do, not what you say.

And then on the other side of things, we have The Miz, who is over here just utterly aghast at all these tropes Drew is brutally subverting. Miz wants McIntyre to do a full heel turn, because that's what you do. That's how it's done. To do anything else — to act like a villain but still be hostile to him, The Miz, who is now a fellow villain — is to not play by the rules of the WWE game. From Miz' perspective, he tried to stand up for Drew after he acquired a slightly more heelish worldview, and was then repaid for his fellowship with pain and mockery, because Drew is too selfish to pick a side and stick to it. It's the most warped, twisted logic you've ever heard — but in a weird way, it makes sense. And that's why The Miz comes extremely close to actually being sympathetic in the ensuing match, in which he's not even given the time to change out of his suit before this massive Scotsman beats him up.

Brilliantly, the match ends up revolving around the prototypical heel move of exposing the turnbuckle pad. Miz tries, but is caught. Then McIntyre uses his sword (!) to distract the referee, exposes the turnbuckle pad, throws Miz into it, and wins. And as he himself yells afterward, it's all fine, because he'll just say sorry and everyone will be friends with him again. Right?

Just ... absolute chef's kiss to all of this. I'm looking forward to inevitable McIntyre vs. Cody Rhodes feud more than I've looked forward to a Cody feud in a long time.

I was excited to see Cedric Alexander back in action for the first time since competing on the June 19 episode of "Raw," but I was far less excited to see him lose to Bronson Reed.

I will be the first to admit that Alexander got much more screen time than one might have anticipated. It was refreshing to see him come right out of the gate with strikes in a move that was pretty psychologically sound. With that having been said, I quickly changed my tune when Reed hit a couple of moves and the Tsunami to score the win.

I'm not the biggest fan of Reed to begin with, but this brings up a broader issue for me. In the case of Reed, it's really starting to feel as though this push he's being given is hindering any sort of momentum that the stars he's facing are receiving. He's no exception to that rule, as this kind of thing has a tendency to appear on WWE quite often.

We knew there would be a contract signing between Tommaso Ciampa and GUNTHER on Monday's episode of "Raw" but we had no idea it would lead to the two being hotshotted right into the main event. And while things didn't work out for the challenger as far as the Intercontinental Championship goes, the main event spotlight never hurts — and on top of that, he finally found a friend he'd been missing for quite some time, which means there's plenty of hope for the two in terms of storylines moving forward.

In what you would expect from a Ciampa/GUNTHER showdown, there was extreme physicality throughout the match, beginning with a shove from Ciampa during introductions that left visible hand prints on GUNTHER's chest immediately. Late in the match, following a series of chops from Ciampa, GUNTHER countered with chops of his own before Ciampa would halt the counterattack with a kick, only buying him seconds before a pair of GUNTHER powerbombs and a sleeper ended the match soon after.

As GUNTHER left the ring, his minions entered the fray, and Ludwig Kaiser and Giovanni Vinci attacked a fallen Ciampa in the ring, delivering boots to the corner on the challenger. Cue, at long last: Johnny Gargano's music! DIY is back! Gargano hit the ring and quickly tossed Kaiser before leaving a vulnerable Vinci right in the middle of the squared circle. And then, he hit the corner, delivering the visual cue that Meeting In the Middle was about to put the lights out for Vinci. We saw Gargano's hand gestures. We saw him motion to Ciampa to get up and do the same. We saw Ciampa delivering a devilish smile and we were ready for the trademark DIY finisher.

Unfortunately, the show didn't seem to be timed out correctly, and it faded to black before the move could be executed. But that's fine. DIY is back, and the Intercontinental Championship got main even minutes and showcase, and Tommaso Ciampa was part of it. And did I mention that DIY is back? All (or at least a lot) is right with the world.