HEYDORN’S WWE RAW RECEIPT 10/24: Johnny Gargano sees a lot of screen time, but lacks direction

This week’s episode of WWE Raw has wrapped. Let’s take a stroll down memory lane and relive some of the madness.

-Paul Levesque is leaning on The Judgement Day quite a bit to fill time on Raw each week and they continue to make the most out of their opportunities. Two major factors stand out as to why the act making progress. One, it’s not trying to masquerade around at the top of the card yet. It’s a mid-card act right now and is properly placed there. Two, the whole is stronger than the parts. All four members of the group are helping the others shine a bit and creates for a team that feels like a team. This is working for what it is.

-Dominik Mysterio comparing himself to Eddie Guerrero was amazing. Amazingly obnoxious and riddled with nonsense, but it worked. One thing to watch moving forward is where Dominik goes now that his feud isn’t directly with his father. That helped buoy him up and now he very much needs to show growth on his own and turn into a personality that can play more notes than just obviously silly comparisons.

-How about Rhea Ripley? She’s getting over and if WWE plays their cards right, they have a WrestleMania match waiting between her and Bianca Belair.

-It doesn’t feel like The Good Brothers ever left WWE. Same old, same old with them. For what it’s worth, it seems that they like it that way.

-We still don’t know the truth about The Miz and I’m not sure we care more now than last week either. Not a good sign concerning the segment itself. Gargano and Miz make sense, but Johnny Gargano and R-Truth together isn’t the best use of Gargano. We got a bigger dose of Gargano against Baron Corbin, but I’d like to see some focus around him and not just him as a utility player for Triple H.

-Must we lean into the “control” narrative with Damage CTRL? Like, the group has been around since August and don’t control anything. Not a good story.

-Stoner and childlike Matt Riddle is back I guess? I’ll give his first name back if we can see the Riddle that cared about winning matches and reminded everyone of his fighting credibility once in a while.

-Elias is Elias and I can’t believe WWE is still in the Elias business.

-Good match between Austin Theory and Mustafa Ali. Ali sells like a million bucks and is believable in the ring. The Seth Rollins situation is a tough one to navigate and was fully self-inflicted. The song and the fans’ desire to see Rollins isn’t going to help this story with Ali. Seth needs to decide what he wants to do and do it. Looking forward to Ali vs. Rollins soon.

-It absolutely sucks that Omos vs. Braun Strowman is happening at Crown Jewel. That’s a WrestleMania match. Period. Shameful.

-JBL is nauseating. In some ways he’s a perfect fit for Corbin and in others it looks like a guy out there just trying to hang on to a paycheck for as long as he can.

-Bianca Belair vs. Bayley was very well-done even if you knew that some type of distraction was on the horizon. A title match looms, but I’ll take it as both have chemistry in the ring.

-Good to see Nikki Cross back and with a personality that makes infinitely more sense for her. She’s going to be in the mix at the top of the Raw women’s division for a bit it seems and what’s wrong with that? If nothing else, she’ll put all she can into the personality and go in the ring.

CATCH-UP: 10/24 WWE RAW TV RESULTS: Doucette’s “alt perspective” report on Bayley facing Belair in non-title match, Anderson vs. Balor, and more