4 Winners & 4 Losers From Last Night's Monday Night Raw (October 14th, 2024)

This week's episode of WWE Monday Night Raw was pre-taped directly after last week's episode. The big story of the night saw chaos unfold in the women's division. Tiffany Stratton arrived at Raw and was thrust into tag team action with Rhea Ripley against Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez. Nia Jax also invaded Raw to crush Ripley and encourage Tiffy to cash in her Money In The Bank contract on Liv Morgan, but Dirty Dom would save her from that fate.

Bron Breakker set up an Intercontinental Championship rematch with Jey Uso on next week's Raw by beating Kofi Kingston, Cody Rhodes and Gunther came face-to-face ahead of their meeting at Crown Jewel, and The Miz delivered a Skull-crushing Finale on R-Truth after his former partner embarrassed him in their singles match. Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill successfully defended their Women's Tag Team Championship against Damage CTRL and a Men's Tag Team Tournament began with The War Raiders returning to book their place in the semi-finals.

Winners

Bron Breakker & Jey Uso

High Drama Around The Intercontinental Championship

It's been a confusing few weeks for fans of WWE's Rookie of the Year. After flirting with life as a good guy, Bron Breakker followed up his attack on Jey Uso and The New Day with a video montage that firmly nailed his heel colors to the mast. Breakker doesn't care for family legacy and is coming back for Uso's Intercontinental Championship, cementing his comeback run with a crunching victory over Kofi Kingston on Monday Night Raw.

Kofi Kingston was the perfect foil for the return of Breakker's mean streak. Not only does he have the prestige of being a former WWE Champion, he also made Bron's physical style look like a million dollars. Xavier Woods arrived to make the save as Bron was ready to pick apart Kingston's carcass before Jey Uso hit Breakker with multiple superkicks and a spear from hell of his own. All of which leads to a rematch between them for the Intercontinental Championship on next Monday's episode of Raw. This feud feels every bit as Main Event as Jey Uso's nickname.

Liv Morgan vs Nia Jax

How To Make The Best Of A Bad Situation

Reaction has been almost unanimously negative to the Champion vs Champion idea for the upcoming Crown Jewel PLE. While the concept is pretty difficult to attach value to, in the women's division at least, it's given stories more room to breathe and characters some much-needed new focus. Raw was again invaded by SmackDown's women's division with severe impact. Rhea Ripley and Liv Morgan are still locked in a feud, but the involvement of Nia Jax and Tiffany Stratton in their stratosphere is a welcome new component to their rivalry.

Rhea Ripley opened the show by calling out Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez. She would get her wish but not before being greeted by SmackDown's Tiffany Stratton. Nia Jax and Stratton were both laid out by Ripley on Friday's episode of SmackDown, but Tiffany's mic time was cut short by a beatdown from the Raw Women's Champion and her new conspirator. A tag match was booked for a fun main event which saw Rhea and Tiffany tagging like Barbie and Wednesday Addams against Morgan and Rodriguez. Nia Jax would arrive to crush Rhea and Liv Morgan, encouraging Stratton to cash in on the downed Raw champion, who was saved by Dirty Dominik Mysterio. It's convoluted but everybody is making the most of it.

Tag Team Wrestling

A Big Week For Tag Teams Everywhere

As pointed out on this week's SmackDown's Winners & Losers, Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill are doing their damnest to bring attention and prestige to the Women's Tag Team Championship. Raw saw the start of a tournament to find contenders for the men's Tag Team belts. This Friday will see the WWE debut of the Motor City Machine Guns. There is a lot going on across all facets of tag team wrestling in WWE, which is a very welcome change.

All of this could be a coincidence, but this feels like WWE making a concerted effort to revamp Tag Team wrestling. Damage CTRL vs Belair and Cargill felt like a marquee match, filled with all-stars and superstar action. NXT duo Jakara Jackson and Lash Legend would verbally follow up their feud with Bianca and Jade from the front row and cause further chaos at ringside, attacking Iyo Sky and costing Damage CTRL the match. Just like that, another rivalry is born.

Finally, there was enormous fanfare for the return of the War Raiders on Raw (the team is no longer known as the Viking Raiders). A great team with a rich history, this is a further chance to showcase NXT talent in the post-Vince McMahon creative landscape. They suffered the dreaded name change (The Viking Experience) and have been treading water on the Main Roster since 2019. The War Raiders are a magnificent team that has been underutilized. Their victory over Alpha Academy in the tag team tournament is a great first step towards that redemption.

Bronson Reed

Character Development For The Monster From Down Under

Arguably the breakout star of WWE's Summer, Australian two-legged wrecking crew Bronson Reed showed why he has a long-term future as a major player on Monday Night Raw. His sit down with Adam Pearce may have started like an HR meeting, but Reed's intensity had flickers of greats like Samoa Joe and Taz. Bronson laces his words with just enough truth for them to pierce the viewer, proclaiming his acts of violence as just declarations of ambition to climb the ladder.

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Naturally, all of this leads to a blockbuster match-up against Seth Rollins. The Architect did not take kindly to the idea of being a sacrificial lamb in Reed's quest for the recognition he craves. His segment with Pearce involved having to convince Raw's GM that he was healthy enough to take the match. Rollins vs Reed feels big time. The specter of CM Punk will loom large over this feud but his Hell In A Cell injuries will keep him out of action until after Crown Jewel season.

Losers

The OG Bloodline

Jimmy and Jey Are Not On The Same Page. Yet.

There was to be more drama with Jey Uso before the night's end. As cameras followed him backstage after his confrontation with Bron Breakker, Jey's open locker room door would reveal a waiting Jimmy Uso. After walking away from his brother asking if he had a second, Jey would be confronted a second time. This time, Jey would answer more directly.

As Jimmy started to explain, with the audience having no idea of what the question was, Jey would authoritatively tell his brother "I said no", before an ominous "get out of my face". It was a rare moment to look at an emotionally shaken and unforgiving side to the joyous vibe of Jey Uso. It feels like there is going to be a long road to an OG Bloodline reunion if it is to happen at Survivor Series.

Pre-Taped Shows

A Full Week Between This Show Airing Causes A Slight Disconnect

It feels incredibly retro that this week's episode of Monday Night Raw was pre-taped straight after last week's show on October 7th, as the Raw roster is currently taking part in a UK tour. There is no clear answer for why Raw wasn't recorded in the United Kingdom, as is traditional, but the gap between the recording and airing of Raw this week undoubtedly harmed the show.

The availability of online spoilers takes the sense of occasion out of the whole show for the television audience. If a big Championship had changed hands, internet wrestling coverage would have been so flooded that it would have been impossible to avoid. This vital component removes a sense of jeopardy from this week's show, which means these pre-taped shows are likely to be a thing of the past once the show moves to Netflix in January.

Cody vs Gunther

The Men's World Champions Search For Meaning Beyond Bragging Rights

There is just no way around it, this match feels like it is being uncomfortably shoehorned into the WWE schedule. On SmackDown, Cody Rhodes is locked in a nuanced story that is rich in depth, spanning years, and developed over time. Cody's current situation with Kevin Owens is the most engaging story in wrestling, their shared friendship with Randy Orton and his "are they friends or aren't they?" relationship with Roman Reigns is dovetailing that story arc to perfection.

As he thanked the live crowd in St Louis for kick-starting the "thank you, Cody" movement last year, Cody was interrupted by Gunther. The Austrian taunted The American Nightmare over his current situation on SmackDown, but that only shone an increasingly bright light on the severe lack of reason to emotionally invest in this encounter. The match is certain to be phenomenal but the conflict between Gunther and Cody has all the depth of an ant's swimming pool, where the synthetic prize is a made-up championship and some bragging rights. After King and Queen Of The Ring introduced real stakes in the shape of a SummerSlam title shot, everything around the Crown Jewel Championship feels like a misfire.

The Miz

The Man You Love To Hate Is Back

It would have to take a cold heart to not love R-Truth. One of WWE's greatest comedy performers of all time, his run with The Judgment Day last year and his reunion with The Miz in The Awesome Truth has been one of the best periods of his long career. There is no doubt, his enormous popularity will one day see him in WWE's Hall Of Fame. All of this warmth and fuzziness is why R-Truth is the perfect victim for the re-emergence of The Miz's dark side.

After turning on his former partner last week, Miz wanted a match. Truth would score the pinfall win by roll-up as Miz was dealing with The Final Testament at ringside. Truth would then be thrown back into the ring by Authors Of Pain and The Miz delivered a thunderous Skullcrushing Finale. While this was a needed change of pace for the duo, it's hard not to wonder where the A-lister is exactly going, especially if he's about to get entangled with one of the WWE's coldest acts, The Final Testament. Miz's penance could arrive in the shape of The Wyatt Sicks, whose logo would flash on screen during the opening seconds of this match-up.

The Final Word