WWE RAW 8/26/2024: 3 Things We Hated And 3 Things We Loved

Welcome to Wrestling Inc.'s weekly review of "WWE Raw," the show that's going to be really weird to associate with Joe Tessitore in a few months! This week's episode came on the last Monday before WWE Bash in Berlin and was mainly devoted to advancing those feuds, though we also got the Intercontinental title tournament going. We have that to talk about here, and a lot more, thought there's always plenty of stuff we have to skip on a two-hour show — sorry, hyper-babyface Randy Orton promo and Pure Fusion Collective taking yet another loss to go with their incredibly unfortunate name.

Fortunately, you can read all about that stuff on our "Raw" results page, and we have other things to talk about — things that made us have big feelings! Did we go all tingly for the Terror Twins wearing each other's shirt? Were we properly awed by Bronson Reed's dive onto Braun Strowman, who happened to be lying on the roof of a car? And most importantly, did the entire Wyatt Sicks angle just go up in smoke due to a terrible mask and wig? Here are three things we hated and three things we loved about the 8/26/2024 episode of "WWE Raw."

Damian Priest and Rhea Ripley have been on an absolutely phenomenal run as the Judgement Day expats, the Terror Twins. They have been largely successful in all of their antics, and even in their fumbles, they are naturally dominant and ambitious — the reason that they fail, if they do at all, is because they were too brave, too ready to enact their revenge that they were overtaken by the wily, cowardly heels. Priest and Ripley are consistently the red brand's strongest babyfaces, and their segments are always one of the highlights of the show.

If Garfield got to watch Priest perform his picture-perfect South of Heaven chokeslams every week, I don't think he would hate Mondays as much as he does.

Priest and Ripley enacted revenge on the Judgment Day once again in the aftermath of the night's opening match, after Finn Balor's heel faction demolished the LWO (which, side praise for involving a different faction other than the Terror Twins on this feud — great way to diversify their booking). Priest and Ripley cleaned house, and while the two could not quite crush the skulls of their main rivals immediately, the combo of a South of Heaven chokeslam and a Riptide shook the ring so hard, an earthquake reader somewhere in California went off. The final shot of the remaining Judgment Day members is especially interesting. It was not just Liv Morgan and Dominik Mysterio — who are the Terror Twins' usual targets, given their upcoming match at Bash in Berlin — but it was Morgan, Mysterio, and Balor. It's nice to know that WWE has not forgotten who Priest's real target is: Balor. It is a nice glimpse of continuity that WWE does not always make so apparent in their production and cinematography, and so a provocative ending shot to remind the audience of Priest and Balor's ongoing feud is welcome.

There is, however, room for improvement; this feud is feeding families, but with talent of this caliber, we need this feud to feed generations. All parties involved — the Terror Twins and Balor, Mysterio, and Morgan — have proven themselves to be strong characters. Their personalities are almost too big, their vitriol and hatred running almost too deep, to be limited to post-match run-ins and scrambles throughout the red brand's various venues. There needs to be something to spice up this feud, especially if it is to extend past Bash in Berlin as the segment's ending shot would suggest. Both sides of this feud have been pretty good at raising the stakes, but for their intensity, the stakes should be nearly twice as high as they are now. I want to see property damage, I want to see more intense promos that cut to the core of a person — I want to see violence that would justify the implosion of one of the red brand's most powerful factions.

The Judgment Day and Terror Twins' feud is, consistently, a Monday night highlight. If they can get a bit crazier, it'd be *the* highlight.

Written by Angeline Phu

There was a member of The New Day in each Intercontinental title tournament match Monday night, and exactly neither of them are moving on. In the first match, Kofi Kingston took on Jey Uso and Karrion Kross; Uso pinned Kross to advance. In the second match, Xavier Woods competed against The Miz and Pete Dunne; in a bit of a surprising move, it was Dunne that advanced, as WWE seem to be set on reestablishing Dunne as a singles wrestler with Tyler Bate being injured.

While it may have been obvious, having Kingston and Woods advance would also have been logical. They have been hinting at a potential split for months. Tension has been higher with the addition of Odyssey Jones to the mix. The tell-tale sign of a potential heel turn came when Woods wore black gear Monday night. Even if they're doing a slow burn break up of New Day, we could've gotten a tease if Kingston and Woods were forced to face one another, especially if it came in the finals with the winner becoming Bron Breakker's contender. New Day has always been supportive of each member's singles aspirations. Even if they didn't make it to the finals, having one member keep the other from advancing to the next round would have add to the tension and made things more interesting (or stressful, if you don't want them to break up).

Written by Samantha Schipman

When a Drew McIntyre promo segment was announced as part of this week's show ahead of time, I cringed a bit, and not because what he's done throughout his feud with CM Punk has been bad. On the contrary, largely, it's been fantastic, both in terms of physicality and promo work, blending the lines between reality and fiction and furthering the story with beats like praying for Punk to get injured (as he did at the Rumble), flaunting t-shirts with clear shots at Punk's expense, and yes, even stealing the bracelet that has seemingly polarized wrestling fans and pundits far and wide (who clearly don't get the notion of something symbolizing the personal turn after turn that this has taken). But at some point, as the late, great Owen Hart would say, "enough is enough, and it's time for a change."

So back to my learning that McIntyre would be speaking, I quickly pivoted from cringe to hope, leaning into any chance that they'd break the mold of Drew talks, "I hate you Punk," then Punk talks, "Give me back my bracelet, you jerk," then Drew talks again, "[something about] your wife and your dog," and then Punk finally snaps and some violence ensues. We got that deviation in the form of Punk's music hitting and McIntyre waiting for him only to be surprised from behind by Punk, with strap in hand, firing away without saying a word. Apparently, he'd been hiding under the ring, and even put out a live Instagram feed, which I'm all for too. Whatever you have to do to shake things up a little, because that is exactly what this needs.

They're good now, at least until this weekend's Bash In Berlin event, where the time for talking is over and they can just focusing on being strapped up together and beating each other from pillar to post (literally). From there, though, they're going to have to get creative again, because it sure seems like this one won't end in Berlin, as we're too far away from new feuds for either man, with one of those being a blood rivarly against Seth Rollins for Punk that is likely to stretch all the way out to WrestleMania 41. I don't know what the new wrinkle will be, whether that's Rollins getting back involved in some way or whatever else, but it's going to need something. With my faith rewarded, even ever-so-slightly, I can go back to trusting the vision and feel good about the powers that be also thinking just what I'm saying here.

Written by Jon Jordan

I will absolutely be the first to admit that Braun Strowman taking a Tsunami from Bronson Reed as he lays on top of a car was a cool and unique spot. However, that wasn't exactly enough to save the match between the pair, as everything that happened prior to that moment was both messy and confusing.

Reed and Strowman put on a solid enough match as is and it was nice to see Reed given a legitimate opponent to wrestle against, but not showing the referee count the pair out or call off the match made the ending feel convoluted. It put a damper on the in-ring action that had preceded it, and it was confusing to watch as a viewer leaving you to fill in the blanks and try to figure out what exactly had happened without being visually shown it or even told by commentary. Beyond that, having Reed and Strowman brawl through the backstage area was fine, but it made having the match itself feel a little pointless seeing as that took up a sizable portion of the encounter between the pair and could've easily occurred without having the two meet in the ring. It seems clear that their program isn't over yet, so why not save a match for another show even if that means next week.

Written by Olivia Quinlan

The fact that the Intercontinental Championship still feels like a major deal in WWE rather than just a "whatever" secondary title following GUNTHER's historic reign with the belt is a really nice thing that the company has going on right now; it's something I'm kind of amazed that they're getting right. I didn't feel this way when they were doing tournaments and qualifier matches for the United States Championship when Logan Paul still held the title over on "WWE SmackDown," but for some reason, this IC title tournament feels very different on "Raw." I fully believe we have GUNTHER to thank for that, initially. The work that Sami Zayn did with Chad Gable and Gable's heel turn was excellent, and more recently, with new champion Bron Breakker (albeit that feud was a bit redundant) was very good as well, especially when Breakker got a SummerSlam moment (I love the "Biggest Party of the Summer," so I'm officially making that a thing) with a big championship win.

I love Breakker as a performer and I enjoy everything he does in the ring, but I was worried about the title overall following GUNTHER moving on from it. I wondered if it would still feel as special as it did, as prestigious as it did when it was around the waist of the "Ring General." Thankfully, the men who have held the gold following GUNTHER have proved me wrong, and Breakker is doing his own excellent job of elevating it. The fact that a bunch of guys are vying for a shot at his title makes both the Intercontinental Championship as a whole look great, as well as Breakker himself as champion.

Monday night, both Pete Dunne and Jey Uso advanced in the tournament, which I think were solid choices from an in-ring aspect, though it would've been cool to see some story advancement with the New Day, but we can do that elsewhere on the show. We got the announcement that next week's "Raw" will feature two more triple-threat matches that will include Sheamus taking on Bronson Reed and Ludwig Kaiser, as well as former "WWE NXT" stars Ilja Dragunov and Dragon Lee in a match with Dominik Mysterio. While I know who I'd like to win in both of those matches, I don't know exactly who will win, which makes it all the more interesting. WWE also dropped the rules of the tournament this week, and the winners of these triple-threat matches will then go on to a fatal four-way to determine just who has earned the right to challenge Breakker for the Intercontinental Championship. I love multi-man matches and the chaos they bring, so I'm really looking forward to this, whether it's on an episode of "Raw" or an upcoming premium live event. Wrestling fans are going to be eating good when it comes to the Intercontinental Championship the next few weeks, and it's a beautiful thing to behold.

Written by Daisy Ruth

The Wyatt Sicks had one of the best buildups prior to their main roster debut. Even after all of the creepy interactive elements and cryptic vignettes, they continued to be a dominant presence on "WWE Raw," with an immediate main-eventing feud with American Made, high-quality costumes, and meticulously produced elements for their arrival on the scene. For the longest time, there was not a bad thing to be said about the Wyatt Sicks and their presentation.

That is, until Monday night. WWE spent all of this time, effort, and money into making the Wyatt Sicks' presentation absolutely perfect, and the things that kill the immersion are a busted wig and a mass-produced mask. I only pray that the disappointment drips from my words.

I understand how frivolous it sounds to hate (and I truly mean that, in every sense of the word) a whole match simply because of a poor costume. It also needs to be noted that Uncle Howdy — and the Wyatt Sicks as a whole — are built off of their image and appearance, more so than any other wrestler on the roster. Their whole aesthetic, this dusty and gritty appearance — that is their character. They are these larger than life, inhuman entities, so why is Bo Dallas' real hair sticking out of the Uncle Howdy wig, like WWE couldn't fit a wig cap into the budget? Why is the wig itself so patchy? Why is that mask so dull and lifeless? Uncle Howdy is built off of the magic of immersion and the aura bestowed unto him by the smoke and the visual. So, when WWE cheapens out on that foundational aspect of Uncle Howdy — and it is foundational, because as we heard from commentary this week, Uncle Howdy is biologically still only human — they jeopardize the entire castle that they built on top of that foundation. The discrepancy between the effort put into the Wyatt Sicks' hype material (vignettes, non-fighting segments, etc.) and Uncle Howdy's in-ring presentation is extreme, and in its extremities the cheapness of the whole contest is put on full display.

The Wyatt Sicks' source material makes this even messier. This faction has very much been sold as a memorial to Wyatt, from the people involved (not just Dallas, but Erik Rowan) to the firefly entrance and other small details. So, when this match is literally impossible to pay attention to because of poor costuming and booking — things that directly reflect on a character and faction's fiber respectively — the negativity is compounded by the messy situation WWE finds itself in. I am not implying that Wyatt's original source material was subpar. WWE is solely to blame for the poor quality of this match. The costume was so cheap, it distracted viewers from the actual wrestling. Interference American Made and the Wyatt Sicks cheapened the emotional impact of the actual wrestling. WWE had the resources to polish this main event before it was performed, and they did nothing.

Uncle Howdy's in-ring debut flopped, ultimately, because of negligence.

Written by Angeline Phu