Becky Lynch Starts the Show, The 2024 WWE Draft, Gunther VS Xavier Woods
Monday Night Raw kicked off this week with Logan Paul and Damian Priest congratulating one another whilst Patrick Mahomes also made an appearance! Becky Lynch then arrived to start the show as The Man talked about how much it meant to her to be the brand-new Women’s World Champion. Liv Morgan then came out to say that she’s the only reason why Becky’s the Champ before Nia Jax interrupted and demanded a match with one of them before she leaves for Friday Night SmackDown. Becky and Liv weren’t great here, but I thought Nia did a good job (again).
Grade: C+
Stephanie McMahon then kicked off Night 2 of the 2024 WWE Draft by announcing that Raw had selected Imperium’s Gunther and Ludwig Kaiser as well as Damage CTRL whilst SmackDown had retain Jade Cargill and Kevin Owens. Gunther then arrived as he was set for the first match of the night against Xavier Woods. Gunther is definitely in the Top 5, probably even Top 3 performers in the world, and he looked great once again here. Xavier Woods also did a good job selling The Ring General’s attacks, and it even got to a point where Kofi Kingston wanted to throw in the towel. Woods pleaded with Kofi not to before Gunther made “Creed” tap out in a nasty-looking submission. Good work from both men!
Grade: B-
Jey Uso Interrupts Logan Paul, Sami Zayn VS Bronson Reed: Intercontinental Championship, Candice LeRae VS Maxxine Dupri
Jey Uso cut a promo on Damian Priest and Logan Paul backstage before Logan and IShowSpeed announced the picks for the Second Round of the 2024 WWE Draft. CM Punk and Braun Strowman are sticking on Raw whilst The Pride (Bobby Lashley and co) and Tiffany Stratton will remain on Fridays. Always nice to see people return, so I’m happy for Strowman. Logan Paul then cut a promo that was quickly interrupted by Jey Uso before the United States Champion talked about how Jey can’t win anything on his own. Finn Balor and JD McDonagh then arrived before LP was handed 3 Super Bowl Rings by none other than Patrick Mahomes! However, this didn’t work out too well for the Heels as Logan accidentally nailed JD right in the head before Braun Strowman ran down to make the save. The segment then ended with Braun staring a whole through Mahomes, and this was totally fine as it was just a bit of fun!
Grade: C+
Chad Gable managed to get R-Truth to agree to a Championship match against Alpha Academy before Sami Zayn blasted Gable right in the head! Booker T then got into a disagreement with Drew McIntyre backstage before Sami Zayn made his way down to the ring as he was ready to defend his Intercontinental Championship against Bronson Reed. I like both of these guys, I think they’re very, very good, and the match was pretty decent. However, you knew it wasn’t going to end clean as after Zayn rocked Reed with the Helluva Kick, Chad Gable arrived to cause the DQ before Bronson delivered a massive Tsunami followed by him wiping out Master Gable to stand tall with the IC Title in hand. I’m not kidding when I say that a Triple Threat Match between these three guys could be special!
Grade: B-
Round 3 of the 2024 WWE Draft saw Raw select The LWO and Drew McIntyre whilst SmackDown retained Legado Del Fantasma and brought over Shinsuke Nakamura. Drew McIntyre then stormed out in a foul mood before CM Punk appeared in a Skybox to mess with the head of McIntyre. More on this later. Chad Gable once again called the rest of Alpha Academy “losers” backstage before Bron Breakker and Sheamus were chatting backstage. Drew McIntyre then stormed past the both of them before Candice LeRae took on Maxxine Dupri. Maxxine got in quite a lot of offense here, which is okay as she’s improving and LeRae knows how to sell well to make others look better. Rather interestingly, Indi Hartwell threw Ivy Nile into the ringpost which distracted Dupri before Candice hit the Wicked Stepsister to score the win. Nice to see The Poison Pixie bringing back some of her old manoeuvres.
Grade: C+
CM Punk Promo, Liv Morgan VS Nia Jax, The Awesome Truth VS Alpha Academy: World Tag Team Championships, The 2024 WWE Draft Concludes
The LWO got into an argument with Dominik Mysterio backstage before Drew McIntyre stormed into the Skybox, only for CM Punk to make his entrance down to the ring. Punk trash-talked McIntyre, and basically said that he was better than Drew in every way. Whilst this didn’t go long, that honestly made it better, and I’m genuinely really looking forward to their eventual match, which is impressive given I’ve actually never seen Punk wrestle in a one-on-one match!
Grade: B
Round 4 of the 2024 WWE Draft then took place as SmackDown picked up Naomi as well as Chelsea Green and Piper Niven whilst Raw retained The Judgment Day and signed NXT’s Ilja Dragunov. Along with Carmelo Hayes on Friday, this is my favourite pick of the Draft cause Dragunov is special! Liv Morgan then made her way down to the ring as she was about to go one-on-one with Nia Jax. I found this to be a bit odd as whilst it was decent, it felt like there was too much going on. Tiffany Stratton was watching at ringside before she was attacked by Naomi and this distracted Nia enough for Liv to hit the ObLIVion to score the 3 count. I’ve seen WWE do countless DQ finishes when these women are involved, so why they didn’t here I don’t know!
Grade: C+
Booker T talked about the potential NXT Superstars that could be selected in the Draft before Adam Pearce talked about his delight about not having to deal with Chelsea Green anymore. We then got Round 5 of the Draft as selected The New Day and Lyra Valkyria whilst SmackDown picked Pretty Deadly and Candice LeRae and Indi Hartwell. Lyra was so happy when she heard her name, I love seeing stuff like this! The Awesome Truth were then out as they put their World Tag Team Championships on the line against Alpha Academy. To be honest, this was very short, and after a couple of crazy bumps by Akira Tozawa, The Miz and R-Truth hit the Truth Crushing Finale to score the win. All this did was further Chad Gable’s annoyances with the rest of his group, which I guess is okay!
Grade: C+
Damian Priest talked down on the rest of his Judgment Day members before JD McDonagh revealed the effects of getting nailed in the head by 3 Super Bowl Rings! Becky Lynch then spoke to Liv Morgan before Damage CTRL sent a small warning shot and we then got the Final Round of the 2024 WWE Draft as Raw selected The Final Testament and Bronson Reed whilst SmackDown picked up DIY and Blair Davenport. Blair Davenport was so emotional over this, but she fully deserves it, as does every other NXT star who got Drafted this past week!
The Judgment Day VS Jey Uso, Andrade, and Ricochet
And in the Main Event, Jey Uso, Andrade, and Ricochet teamed up to take on The Judgment Day in six-man Tag Team action. This was a pretty simple Main Event, but it was helped by the fact that all six men involved are supremely talented! Most importantly though, Damian Priest had Jey Uso in position for the South of Heaven before JD McDonagh got involved for some unknown reason! This ultimately led to “Main Event” Jey hitting a Spear followed by the Uso Splash before the show went off the air with Jey staring down the World Heavyweight Champion. Priest cannot allow The Judgment Day to get anywhere near his Title defense, because otherwise, he’s screwed!
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