WWE RAW HITS & MISSES (9/10): Mezzera’s take on two hour Raws coming, Breakker confronting challengers, McIntyre-Barrett, Wyatt Sicks vs. American Made, more

Two Hour Raws Coming – HIT: I have seen some fans complain about Raw going back to two hours for October-December, but those people are stupid. This is the biggest Hit of 2024! Please Netflix, keep it that way!

Wyatt Sicks vs. American Made – MISS: I know the live fans responded well to this match, but this was garbage to me. I’m not a fan of these kinds of matches. There were a few cool spots like Eric Rowan using the ripped off barricade as a weapon, but overall I didn’t enjoy the match. I know that it is No DQ, but the fact that Uncle Howdy could just get in the ring and make it a 5-4 handicap match at the end, giving the babyface team the advantage, and getting no blowback from the announcers, was a big Miss. And I would much rather see all 4 members of American Made getting a push and being treated better than all 5 members of the Wyatt Sicks who aren’t good wrestlers and are only over by playing on the sympathies of the fans who are nostalgic for a dead man. I hope that this is the end of the feud and American Made can move on to something better and more worthy of their talent.

Balor – Priest – HIT: Finn Balor isn’t a sidekick. I liked this verbal encounter between him and Damian Priest. They both played their parts well. The physicality at the end with the rest of Judgment Day, Rhea Ripley and ultimately Jey Uso getting involved all worked well. We are getting the expected Balor vs. Priest match at Badd Blood which should be good, although will likely be overbooked. I expected Uso to win the fatal four way main event to become the #1 contender for the Intercontinental Championship, but this angle made me think that Judgment Day could interfere, which made the outcome a little less sure in my mind.

Breakker Confronts Challengers – HIT: WWE did a nice job of building to that main event with Bron Breakker confronting the various challengers in the back throughout the show. The one with Braun Strowman stands out as being a good verbal exchange. This made me want to see the two Bron/Brauns face down the line, where Breakker could get over even more with some impressive power moves on the monster. Overall, these scenes built anticipation for the main event and planted seeds that Uso wasn’t the only potential winner.

Check out the latest episode of the Wade Keller Pro to stream Wrestling Post-show covering the latest episode of Raw: CLICK HERE to stream (or search “wade keller” on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or any other iOS or Android app to subscribe free)

Bel Air & Cargill vs. Dawn & Fyre – HIT: This was a good Tag Team Championship match, a rematch from Bash in Berlin. I like Isla Dawn & Alba Fyre as a team. Hopefully, they don’t go into obscurity following this loss. Obviously it was the right call to keep the Titles on Bianca Bel Air & Jade Cargill, but WWE needs to do a better job of building challengers for them, and keeping the women’s division stronger than it has been lately.

Hart/Gunther/Zayn – HIT: This was a good use of Bret Hart in his hometown of Calgary. He got a great reaction as you knew he would. He did a fine job. Gunther was great in his interruption. His line about how Bret was his second favorite wrester, just behind Bill Goldberg was awesome. Sami Zayn was great in his interruption, still trying to get Gunther to give him a World Title match. Hart ended the segment strong by calling Gunther a coward for ducking the challenge. It was all well done, and Zayn vs. Gunther will mean something when it finally happens.

McIntyre – HIT: Drew McIntyre was great in bragging about what he did to CM Punk last week, and why he did it, while claiming to have ended Punk’s career. It was intriguing how he got upset at Wade Barrett. What will that lead to? Is Barrett returning to the ring? Will he have some bad news for McIntyre? But, before we got answers to that, Adam Pearce came out to stop McIntyre from attacking an announcer, and to make the big announcement that McIntyre would face Punk inside Hell in a Cell at Badd Blood.

Balor vs. Mysterio – HIT: Having Judgment Day and the LWO banned from ringside after what happened earlier in the night during Dragon Lee vs. Dominik Mysterio (a solid, not quite Hit-worthy match) made sense for this match between Finn Balor and Rey Mysterio. I liked the ending of this match as it painted Balor as unhinged, out to injure his opponent, not really caring about the outcome. It didn’t feel like a copout non-finish like these types of finishes often do in WWE. This one worked with Balor getting himself DQ’d for holding Mysterio in the ropes past the referee’s 5 count.

Main Event – HIT: I knew that Bronson Reed would get involved to take Strowman out of this match, but it was so well done despite the predictability of it. That was a very memorable spot that WWE can play for a long time to help continue get Reed over. While I predicted that Uso would win, there was enough doubt, that they might go with Ilja Dragunov. Reed, Uso, Dragunov, and Pete Dunne all performed well here. It was a good match that didn’t overstay its welcome even though it went pretty long. Uso was the right winner, and should have a good match against Breakker. Hopefully, it won’t involve Judgment Day, but that is a possibility since Uso is clearly still involved with them too.

Jon Mezzera is PWTorch.com’s WWE Raw Hits & Misses Specialist, providing his point of view for Raw each week. Email him at jmezz_torch@yahoo.com.

Stay right here and keep the flow going. We think you’ll like to read this next…

RECOMMENDED NEXT: WWE Raw shifting back to a two hour format for final three months of 2024, info on whether it will be two hours on Netflix

OR CHECK THIS OUT AT PROWRESTLING.NET: Powell’s WWE Raw Hit List: Jey Uso vs. Pete Dunne vs. Ilja Dragunov vs. Braun Strowman for a shot at the Intercontinental Title, Bret Hart, Gunther, and Sami Zayn, Finn Balor vs. Rey Mysterio

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9y8Iu15jC9g