WWE RAW 8/05/2024: 3 Things We Hated And 3 Things We Loved

Welcome to Wrestling Inc.'s weekly review of "WWE Raw," the show that isn't usually this good, but holy s***, sometimes it really is this good! For the most part, the Wrestling Inc. staff were united this week in the belief that Monday's episode was awesome, among the best (if not the best) of 2024. Unfortunately, no amount of quality wrestling TV can change our headline formula, and there was still the occasional thing to dislike. But when you read the "hated" entries this time around, just know that none of us were able to be mad very long, because we were too busy enjoying the other parts of the show.

As always, "Raw" is much too long for us to cover comprehensively, and in this case that means we're leaving out amazing stuff like Ludwig Kaiser vs. Sheamus, or important stuff like Randy Orton challenging GUNTHER for the world title, or bizarrely fascinating stuff like Odyssey Jones joining The New Day. But the heart loves most what it loves most, and with only three loves available, we could only discuss the best of the best. For all that other stuff (and more) you should really be checking out our "Raw" results page. But if you want to know how we felt about the best and worst parts of the red brand, here are three things we hated and three things we loved about the 8/5/24 episode of "WWE Raw."

There has been an uptick in the amount of screentime female wrestlers are getting, both in WWE and AEW. While this is a positive for fans of female wrestling and diversity within the industry in general, there are still some critiques to be had about it. For example, why are the talents of Lyra Valkyria and Shayna Baszler limited to a not-even-ten minute match?

In a "WWE Raw" that was very ambitious with its schedule from the get go — this week's card sought to host Wyatt Sicks' in-ring debut, the implosion of The Judgement Day, and the debut of twice-drafted Odyssey Jones, among other announcements — it is understandable that Valkyria and Baszler's match would not be considered a high-priority segment. That speculated assignment in and of itself is disappointing, but it is not directly connected to the internal perception of female wrestling; Valkyria and Baszler were just collateral damage. However, just because something is not high-priority does not excuse it being half-baked, as their match felt on Monday.

Valkyria and Baszler have proved that they have what it takes to hang in the ring. Valkyria has incredible in-ring capabilities, and has displayed proficiency in high-flying maneuvers and strength-based moves, as was observed with her sit-out powerbomb onto Baszler. Baszler, known around the block as a "submission magician," is a two-time "NXT" Women's Champion, a former tag team champion, and holds a victory over the protected Ronda Rousey. There is no doubt that these women are great — not from a vast majority of fans, not from WWE — and what they did in the ring was not bad.

The disqualification finish, courtesy of Sonya Deville and Zoey Stark, felt uninspired. It is not like The Judgement Day's disqualification finish, which led to Damian Priest absolutely mowing through the competition. Instead, it felt like it was planned in order to make Deville and her trio look strong, which is a curious instance when Damage CTRL come in and even the odds.It is definitely odd to book Deville to take a pin shortly after a disqualification finish that intended to make her trio look "strong." It feels like all the work that Valkyria and Baszler's match did — however little it was — went up in smoke the minute that SKY pinned Deville, the leader of their faction. Why sacrifice Valkyria, if you were going to make Deville and her trio look weak anyway?

Why does this match feel like a formality, like WWE is just trying to fill some random quota on women's matches? That's a loaded question, but the bottom line is that Valkyria and Baszler's match was unsatisfying and relied on weak booking. It's to the point where a longer match between SKY and Deville would've had a more positive impact than two women's matches — at least SKY and Deville got in-ring time. Monday night, Valkyria barely got time to spread her wings and fly, and Baszler looked lazy. Nobody won.

Also, the soup commentary from Michael Cole and Pat McAfee? Come on. Take this seriously.

Written by Angeline Phu

Four championships changed hands at SummerSlam, and three of them — the Intercontinental, WWE Women's, and World Heavyweight titles — had only been on the shoulders of Sami Zayn, Bayley, and Damian Priest since WrestleMania 40. That's a pretty quick turnaround for a title reign, especially as compared to some of the year-plus reigns that have characterized Triple H as a booker, but it's still better than what happened to The Awesome Truth and A-Town Down Under, the two teams that won tag team gold in Philadelphia.

Those two teams met in the ring Monday night, and it was by far the worst part of "Raw," by which I mean it was the only bad part of the best "Raw" of 2024. Austin Theory and Grayson Waller somehow seemed to lose momentum as an act after winning the WWE Tag Team Championship, which has already changed hands twice since their WrestleMania victory — but it was still the right decision to put them over The Miz and R-Truth, whose nostalgia act World Tag Team Championship reign ended six weeks ago even though it should probably have ended two weeks after it began. Is it too late to just insert them back into the Judgment Day storyline like they never left? Newfound babyfaces Damian Priest and Rhea Ripley currently have a numbers disadvantage against their former "family," Priest was always the member of Judgment Day who didn't hate Truth, and now that Priest is no longer a heel, it would make sense to rekindle that relationship. We've already got Sami Zayn and Jey Uso teaming again, why not just backtrack with Truth too?

It's a pretty big indictment of the tag team division that WWE chose to split the Unified belts apart at Mania, finally separating them from the stable-centric stories of The Bloodline and The Judgment Day, and now, four months later, the titles are back in the hands of The Bloodline and The Judgment Day. Maybe that's why WWE is reportedly bringing in the likes of the Motor City Machine Guns and the Lucha Brothers, to revitalize the division with a blood sacrifice of big indie names. Or maybe those teams just want to hang out on The CW Network and do fast things with Nathan Frazer.

Written by Miles Schneiderman

I promise this portion of our article isn't a hate piece on CM Punk, Drew McIntyre, or Seth Rollins separately. I have an issue with the beaded friendship bracelet that keeps getting passed around and seems to be the new source of the feud between these men. McIntyre even pulled it out this week to taunt Punk after beating him at SummerSlam. I don't believe a fan actually gave that bracelet to Punk, because where would the story be, then? (Somewhere interesting, obviously.) I feel like someone backstage had to have made that to fit a script and it's a terrible story.

Punk and McIntyre have basically been feuding for more than six months now. Whether it was a work or shoot at Survivor Series when Punk came back, I was convinced that McIntyre was so angry that Punk was back and he wasn't made aware of it that he stormed out of the arena. Then, after a whole litany of things I'm sure I can't even remember, McIntyre is blamed for injuring Punk during his first WWE in-ring appearance in years at the Royal Rumble. Which leads me to one of my favorite lines in recent memory, "I prayed this and it happened." Absolute brutality from McIntyre. Scripted or not, he put his whole chest into saying that for the first time, so there has to be at least some meaning behind it. Then, Punk screws McIntyre at Clash at the Castle by donning a referee shirt and sliding in the ring.

Which leads me to my most recent example. McIntyre wins the Money in the Bank briefcase, with no Punk problems during the match. He goes to cash it in, Punk screws him (and Rollins) over once again, and McIntyre remains without gold. So, this man has screwed McIntyre not only in his home country, but out of the title at least twice. I think that's grounds enough for a feud.

But oh no, even before MITB, it was revealed that McIntyre stole the bracelet that bears the name of Punk's wife and dog on the June 21 edition of "WWE Raw." Which, at the time, was a fun little touch, but didn't appear to be anything serious and really wasn't at MITB. Sure, McIntyre could taunt Punk, but now they appear to be actually fighting over this bracelet. Their entire SummerSlam match seemed centered around it, with Rollins even getting involved and picking it up, and getting a GTS for it.

This week, once again, McIntyre appeared in the crowd and taunted Punk with this bracelet around his wrist. WHAT. You grown men have so many other things to be fighting about after months and months and this is the hill you're both choosing to die on? It's becoming a joke in the wrestling community, and with such a hot feud that's becoming a laughing stock, it's a crying shame.

Written by Daisy Ruth

WWE has been pushing Bronson Reed as a big star over the course of the last few months, but it hadn't felt like the treatment the company wanted to give him was the manner in which the audience was perceiving him. While he did go after the Intercontinental Championship for a large part of that time, Reed was primarily relegated to the midcard, and didn't have any notable interactions with main event stars nor go after the World Heavyweight Championship (aka the main and central title of "Raw").

All of that changed Monday night though, when Reed left Seth "Freakin" Rollins laid out in the ring after landing six Tsunamis on him.

It finally feels as though Reed is being treated as the monster WWE was trying to make him be months ago. His actions made a statement, left a lasting impact on the audience in a moment that was well executed and unique, and made sense in the context of his motivations. He told Adam Pearce that he would take care of things himself when Pearce refuses to give him a shot at Sheamus, and while at first, it seemed that was in reference to "The Celtic Warrior", he still kept his word albeit in an unexpected way. It was a fantastic way to bring fan investment to Reed, and lays out what looks to be promising groundwork for him.

Written by Olivia Quinlan

After a SummerSlam full of betrayals and intense emotions, Damian Priest came to Monday's edition of "WWE Raw" with a chip on his shoulder and a laser-like focus on JD McDonagh, who took him on in in-ring action at the behest of Balor and the new Judgment Day. By the time the segment ended, the announce table was in a state of disarray, McDonagh was brutally beat, and Priest embraced Rhea Ripley as the lines between The Judgment Day and Ripley and Priest — the Terror Twins — solidified.

Don't call it a comeback for Priest. From a standing ovation-worthy San Juan Street Fight at Backlash 2022 to a banger match against GUNTHER at SummerSlam, Priest has been at the top. His star power shone in his match against McDonagh, which brought all the rage and all the pain to Balitmore. The sounds of Priest's forearms strikes onto McDonagh were echoed by ahh's and ooh's from the insanely active crowd (which definitely played a role in building the aura for a successful segment), and despite not being the most successful wrestler on the roster, McDonagh saved no expenses when it came to his selling.

Finn Balor came in to break up the match via disqualification, which would normally be a trite ending. Priest, however, was booked to look like a veritable main eventer and one of the strongest people on "Raw," as he single handedly fought off McDonagh, Carlito, and Dominik Mysterio. If it weren't for the work of Liv Morgan, the Judgment Day's newest member and Ripley replacement, Priest would have run straight through Balor as well.

Motionless in White never sounded so good.

Ripley interrupted Morgan and Mysterio's beat-down with a hunter-like efficiency. She plucked Morgan right off of the barricade when Morgan tried to escape, and nearly sent her through the table with a Razor's Edge before Mysterio interfered. While it was slightly disappointing to not see Morgan get her comeuppance — and it was a bit more disappointing to not see the WWE Women's World Championship talked about in the calculus of this feud — it made more sense to protect Morgan and the championship than not.

Ripley is one of the greatest on the women's roster who can go toe-to-toe with the men, and her clean headbutt onto McDonagh proved it. The Terror Twins are about to be one of the most over babyfaces on "Raw," and the absolutely awe-inspiring South of Heaven chokeslam from Priest onto McDonagh probably qualifies for a Guinness World Record. Ripley and Priest have always worked well in The Judgment Day, but now that they're on their own, their chemistry is off the charts. I am also very excited to not have Ripley engrossed in a romance with Priest or Jey Uso. She's perfect where she is: a bada**.

The Terror Twins have a bright babyface run ahead of them, and their feud with The Judgment Day is going to feed families. "Raw" just ended, and I already can't wait for next Monday.

Written by Angeline Phu

Since April 1 of last year, after watching the debut of "Bray Wyatt: Becoming Immortal" and its closing shot of an Uncle Howdy tease, the wait was on for me, with both excitement and a lingering trepidation, looking forward to just how Taylor Rotunda (as Howdy/Bo Dallas) and whomever else would pay tribute to Wyatt. While I always had faith they'd do it justice, to say the very least, my fear came about in the risk that lies there, as it almost has to be absolutely perfect, especially if it were to become anything long term. Upon their incredible "Raw" debut, my fears subsided, and they earned my trust forevermore, particularly once they posed for the crowd in familiar Wyatt Family-esque style. I felt alone there, however, as many fans and pundits alike expressed concern about what would happen once one or all of the members of the group competed in the ring, as would eventually come to pass.

After this week, if any doubts remain to that end, I don't get it. Entering to Wyatt's final WWE theme song was brilliant, though perhaps slightly predictable. I wasn't sure if they'd ever use the actual full song or just continue on with the tolling of a single piano key from the intro as they'd done to this point but I'm so glad they did. It was a fantastic tribute, as was "Yeah yeah yeah" shoutouts from both Howdy and Erick Rowan. "We want Rowan" chants from the Baltimore crowd — possibly the first time those have ever been uttered, at least with such enthusiasm — were a beautiful touch as well. And the pose, post-match, once again felt every bit a real-life celebration as it did part of the storyline.

But the in-ring action itself is what deserves some emphasis and credit here, as so many doubted it, and I can't quite understand why. It's not as though any of the three were going to wrestle in their bulky masks or over-the-top Wyatt puppet costumes and it certainly isn't as though any of the three were going to lose the skill and experience they'd already demonstrated in each of their careers. For Dexter Lumis and Joe Gacy, as well as for Nikki Cross as Abby the Witch, this now presents the best opportunity they've had in their time with WWE, and for Rowan and Rotunda, a once-in-a-lifetime chance to take what began as their fallen brother's creative brilliance and bring it to what they deem as a satisfying conclusion. Whenever that may come, and hopefully not for a long while, I have every confidence that it will be equal parts excellent and appropriately emotional all the while.

Written by Jon Jordan