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WWE RAW REPORT
SEPTEMBER 23, 2024
ONTARIO, CALIF. AT TOYOTA ARENA
AIRED LIVE ON USA NETWORK
Commentators: Joe Tessitore, Wade Barrett
Ring Announcer: Samantha Irvin
Attendance: WrestleTix reported earlier that 8,606 tickets had been distributed; arena is set up for 8,616. More tickets have been sold since then. Subscribe to WrestleTix on Patreon for detailed up-to-date information. The arena has a capacity of 11,089 spectators when configured for concerts.
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PWTorch editor Wade Keller is joined by PWTorch’s Darrin Lilly to review WWE Raw LIVE tonight right after Dynamite. Join us and let us know your thoughts on Raw during the show.
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[HOUR ONE]
-After “Then, Now, Together, Forever,” they cut the arena lobby as fans were lined up in the lobby for merchandise (a cool scene that I’ve been pushed AEW to do for years to capture the energy of their fans and gives viewers at home a more vicarious experience).
-Joe Tessitore and Wade Barrett narrated as they showed the arrivals of Bron Breakker, Jey Uso, Drew McIntyre, Dominik Mysterio & Liv Morgan (arriving inn a classic convertible low-rider that bounced as they drove up). As they entered the arena through the garage entrance, chaos broke out with Braun Strowman and Bronson Reed brawling at a merchandise table oddly set up where wrestlers enter the arena. (Where is the filter for this stupidity of having fake walls, fake merch tables where no fans are allowed, and fake concession stands that look nothing like modern-day concession stands?) Dom and Liv observed their fight as officials separated them, then strolled into the arena as Liv’s music played. Barrett talked about the raw sexual magnetism around Dom. Tessitore said Dom is “a style mishap with regrettable grooming choices, an unsightly mustache, a mullet.” Tessitore plugged Liv vs. Rhea Ripley at Bad Blood.
Liv and Dom entered the ring after circling the ring. Liv said they just did a victory lap. She threw to a clip of the Judgment Day’s attack on Damien Priest after he won last week’s match. Liv said she promised to take everything from Ripley and she has. She called Dom the most gorgeous man in the whole entire world. She kissed him. She was interrupted by Ripley’s music.
Ripley walked out, mic in hand. She said she needed Liv to shut up. Fans chanted, “Mami!” Liv yelled for them to shut up. Ripley entered the ring. Dom stepped up to her. Ripley asked what she was going to do. She told him to get out of her face. Liv said maybe she’d have kept Dom if she cared about him half as much as she cared about Priest. She said she’ll beat Ripley because she is smarter than her and she had her beat mentally for months. She asked why she had to come out there and interrupt their victory lap.
Ripley said she is fully cleared for Bad Blood. She said she had a message for both of them. She then revealed that because Dom has interfered in their matches, he’ll be where he belongs – “behind bars.” She said he’ll be hanging in a shark cage. Dom showed signs of extreme distress. Ripley then got in Liv’s face and said without Dom to help her, she’ll regain what she never lost, her Women’s Title. She then headbutted Liv, gloated, and left the ring. Barrett called Ripley a disgrace.
(Keller’s Analysis: Fun, basic segment. Liv seems to be more comfortable in this role by the week and her mic work was pretty good here)
-They went to Tessitore and Barrett at ringside. They reacted to the previous segment, then threw to a videwo package on nthe Gunther-Sami Zayn angle last week with Ludwig Kaiser attacking Sami.
-Sami made his ring entrance. [c]
-Tessitore plugged that toy version of the Lucha Low Rider that Dom and Liv drove to the arena is available in stores now.
(1) SAMI ZAYN vs. LUDWIG KAISER
The bell rang 20 minutes into the hour. At 3:00 Sami clotheslined Kaiser over the top rope and then chopped his chest at ringside. Sami leaped onto the ringside barricade, but Kaiser knocked him off balance and into a chair. They cut to a break at 3:30. [c]
Sami made a comeback and landed an exploder suplex into the corner and then set up a Helluva Kick. Kaiser moved. Kaiser then knocked Sami into the ringside stairs. Kaiser ran around ringside and kicked Sami against the stairs. Sami beat the ref’s count. Kaiser went back to beating on Sami. Kaiser tried to pin Sami with hit feet on the rope for leverage. The ref caught it. Tessitore showed appropriate outrage as such a cheating tactic. Sami set up a Helluva after Kaiser complained to the ref, but Kaiser countered with a leaping roundkick for a near fall at 8:00. Sami soon finally landed the Helluva Kick for a clean win.
WINNER: Sami in 10:00.
(Keller’s Analysis: No surprise Sami would get a clean given he’s in line for a World Hvt. Title shot. A good match, as you’d also expect, from these two.)
-Gunther walked out to his music after the match. He paced at ringside and for weeks he was begging for a title match. He said Ontario, Calif. is the right place for it. He told him tonight is the right place to step and tell him “No!” He laughed and dropped the mic. Barrett chuckled too.
-They went to Tessitore and Barrett at ringside. Tessitore asked emphatically how Gunther can continue to deny Sami when he beat him at WrestleMania.
-Clips aired of Xavier Woods flipping out last week at Kofi Kingston.
-Backstage, Xavier was rubbing his chin and staring off into space. Kofi approached him and said he’s been thinking a lot about what he said. Xavier said emotions were high. Kofi said “Don’t even trip man, it’s water under the bridge.” Kofi said with that behind them, they need to get the New Day back on track for their tenth anniversary coming up. He pulled out Bootie Os and a trombone. Xavier said that’s all fine when they were on top, but they haven’t been champions for three years and they’re losing a lot. Kofi said he understands they should be serious. Kofi told Xavier that for the next few weeks, he can be in charge to get them back on track. American Made approached them and laughed at them.
When New Day pretended the Wyatt Sicks were behind them, American Made acted scared. Chad Gable said they’re done with the freaks. Xavier and Kofi wanted a match against the Creeds. The Creeds and Gable approved. [c]
-They went to Tessitore and Barrett at ringside. They threw to a video package on the lead-up to Breakker vs. Jey.
-Backstage, Liv and Dom were yelling at Adam Pearce about the cage stip for Dom. Pearce said the decision was final. Dom said he can’t be locked up again. Liv asked Pearce if he cared about Ripley’s cheat shot earlier. “No, I don’t,” he said. “Have a great Monday.” Carlito and J.D. McDonagh walked up to them. Liv told them to send the LWO a message tonight. McDonagh turned and ran into Ilja Dragunov and said he’d see him around.
(Keller’s Analysis: It’s great to follow up on the earlier revelation and show Dom and Liv still distressed over Dom being suspended in a cage above the ring at Bad Blood.)
-Dragon Lee made his ring entrance. [c]
(2) CARLITO (w/J.D. McDonagh, Liv Morgan, Dominik Mysterio) vs. DRAGON LEE (w/Joaquin Wilde, Cruz Del Toro)
The bell rang 53 minutes into the hour. After ringside interference from McDonagh and Dom, Rey Mysterio showed up and leaped off the ringside barricade at them. Dragon Lee rolled up Carlito for a two count after the chaos at ringside. Dragon Lee finished Carlito seconds later.
WINNER: Dragon Lee in 2:30.
-Karrion Kross approached Miz backstage. Kross told Miz the match against Bronson Reed is a really bad idea. Kross said nobody around there respects him anymore. Miz suspiciously asked what Kross’s angle is. Kross said monsters come in all different shapes and sizes and then turned to leave. Kross smiled and said, “Yes, they do.” [c]
[HOUR TWO]
-They showed a aerial scene of the Las Vegas Strip.
-They showed “women from Netflix” cheering at ringside. Tessitore said that he loved they were there.
-Cathy Kelley asked Sheamus if he’s done with Pete Dunne. Sheamus chanted “Call him Butch!” Fans joined in briefly. Sheamus said he has a score to settle. “Let’s make this an English-Irish thing!” he said.
-Miz made his ring entrance for his scheduled match against Reed. Reed made his entrance next. When he arrived at ringside, Strowman leaped off the ringside barricade at him. (He has awful peripheral vision, apparently.) Strowman ripped off his t-shirt and chokeslammed him onto the ring apron. Miz went up to Strowman and complained. Reed leaped through the ropes and tackled both of them. Security ran out. Reed knocked two security guys down and landed a Tsunami on them. Strowman tossed another security guy over the top rope. Reed and Strowman squared off. More security ran out, but Reed and Strowman beat them up. Then they collided mid-ring with a double-clothesline. They beat up a record number of security guys. Tessitore called them “poor guys.” Strowman stood tall in the ring as Reed was pushed up the aisle by surviving security guys. [c]
-A promo aired for Saturday Night’s Main Event. Tessitore said he loves the retro music (“Obsession”). Then they showed former NFL quarterback Mark Sanchez showed Tool’s lead guitarist Adam Jones.
-Drew McIntyre made his ring entrance. They showed a clip of Punk’s promo last week. Barrett hyped the Hell in a Cell match between them. Scattered “C.M. Punk!” chants as Drew stood in the ring. He promised to make Punk bleed and promised he’d have to kill him. “I’m prepared for this to be the end of C.M. Punk if you’re prepared for this to be on the end of Drew McIntyre,” he said. (I think he meant to reverse those names.) He said they’re ready for this to end. He said he didn’t want to get back in HIAC. He said in his past HIAC matches, it’s broken thing in him that are still broken to this day. He said his wife has begged him for months to get away from Punk “because she can see what this is doing to her husband mentally.” Fans chanted, “C.M. Punk!” He said the match will happen regardless of what their family’s want.
Drew promised to make Punk bleed “a lot.” He said he’ll make him feel more pain and suffering than he ever has before. He said it’s always been good vs. evil. He said Punk has always seen himself as a God-like figure, but he’s just a man who he has broken easily in the past. He said he will break him easily in HIAC. He threw the mic down and left to his music.
(Keller’s Analysis: That was straight forward and very good, buck it also lacked any twist or originality which kind of signals that everyone is ready to get past this and use new material on a new feud.)
-Kelley interviewed Pearce about the Reed-Strowman situation. Pearce said it’s gone too far. He said a regular match isn’t enough. He said they will wrestle next week in a Last Monster Standing match. Pearce heard yelling in the background. The camera followed Pearce who discovered Pete Dunne shoving a cricket bat against Sheamus’s throat and then bashing him across his back. Pearce yelled for a medic as security ran up and pushed Dunne away. [c]
-Unholy Union made their ring entrance.
-Backstage Bianca Belair & Jade Cargill interacted with Kairi Sane & Iyo Sky backstage. Belair said whoever wins tonight, they’re keeping their titles.
(3) UNHOLY UNION (Alba Fyre & Isla Dawn) vs. KAIRI SANE & IYO SKY
As Sane & Sky made their entrance, Tessitore said industry podcasts were saying Iyo Sky and Belair had one of the great matches of the year. The bell rang 26 minutes into the hour. They cut to a break at 2:00 with Dawn and Fyre in control. [c]
Fyre and Dawn dealt with a near misfire, giving Kairi a chance to make a comeback and hot-tag in Iyo. For the finish, Iyo landed a Fyre with an Over the Moonsault after Kairi landed an Insane Elbow on Dawn at ringside.
WINNERS: Sky & Sane in 10:00 to earn a Women’s Tag Team Title match
-Kelley interviewed Breakker backstage. Breakker said it’s game day and that means the dogs are barking in Ontario. Fans barked. His tone shifted from enthusiastic to sinister. He said there will be a winner and a loser and the IC Title deserves “the right Superstar” to carry it over their shoulder. He said someone’s getting their ass kicked and it won’t be him. He said he’ll be champion for so long, Jey will have time to work his way back up in the standings.
-Tessitore plugged they’re revisit the Roman Reigns-Cody Rhodes segment at the Georgia Tech Football Stadium. [c]
-Tessitore threw to a replay of the Cody-Reigns cinematic segment from Smackdown.
-Tessitore plugged Cody & Reigns vs. Solo Sikoa & Jacob Fatu at Bad Blood.
-The New Day made their ring entrance. [c]
-Tessitore plugged NXT on The CW in Chicago next Tuesday night.
-Sami Zayn gave Jey a pep talk backstage.
(4) THE NEW DAY (Xavier Woods & Kofi Kingston) vs. THE CREED BROTHER (w/Ivy Niles, Chad Gable)
The Creeds made their ring entrance. The bell rang 58 minutes into the hour.
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[HOUR THREE]
After several minutes of back and forth action, all four were down in the ring and they cut to a break at 5:00. [c]
The ref missed a legal tag by Kofi. As Kofi protested, the heels triple-teamed Xavier on the other side of the ring. Tessitore expressed outrage. Kofi got the hot-tag finally at 12:00. He leaped off the top rope onto Julius for a near fall a minute after a leap onto Brutus and Gable at ringside seconds earlier. Kofi landed a Boom Drop and played to the crowd.
Xavier tagged in and attacked Gable who was in the ring. Tessitore said he made that choice instead going after “the task at hand.” Julius landed a high knee to Xavier. He fended off Kofi, then tagged in Brutus. Brutus landed a top rope Brutus Ball onto Xavier who was lifted onto Julius’s shoulders which was good for a three count. Tessitore said Xavier had preached for composure, but he lost his temper. Barrett agreed the loss was on Xavier.
WINNERS: The Creeds in 15:00.
-A vignette aired on Damien Priest vs. Finn Balor at Bad Blood with soundbites from Priest. He talked out their crew that became a family. He said Balor appeared to become “a brother to keep.” He said Balor, though, became envious once he became World Champion. He said Balor was smilingon camera, but when the cameras stopped rolling, he was the fits person out the door wearing a face of envy.
(Keller’s Analysis: Nice video segment. I liked Priest noting that the Balor on camera was different than the one once cameras stopped rolling.) [c]
-A brief vignette aired on Shayna Baszler, Sonya Deville, and Zoey Stark.
-Backstage, the LWO met up with a heated Xavier and Kofi. Rey Mysterio said regarding last week, “Our bad for the miscommunication.” Xavier said he doesn’t want the apology unless it comes with a shot at the tag team titles. Rey said he knows they’re upset, but they didn’t do it intentionally. Rey said they’ll persevere. Xavier said he should giving advice to his son Dom. Fans gasped. Rey said he doesn’t have time for this and turned to leave. Xavier took issue with Rey saying he had time for Balor, but not him because he wasn’t a singles champion. When Kofi stepped in, Xavier got heated. Rey said he’s got a match against him next week. Kofi told Xavier it was unnecessary. Xavier was exasperated and went on about how people disrespect them all the time.
(Keller’s Analysis: It seems like Xavier and Kofi are having genuine fun now for the first time in years instead of pasted-on over-the-top please-make-this-gimmick-stop “fun” they’ve been doing for most of the last ten years. Xavier and Kofi are believable in these segments.)
-They showed Jey Uso in the concourse surrounded by fans, then making his way to the ring to his song. Tessitore held “A SoCall Yeet” sign and smiled and danced and encouraged Barrett to join him.
(Keller’s Analysis: WWE should prohibit play-by-play announcers from being overtly partisan geeky super-fans of wrestlers and their entrances. It’s cringy and unbecoming.) [c]
-A vignette aired hyping Last Monster Standing. (Uhhh, credit to the production crew for putting that together, with tons of special effects, in the last two hours since Pearce made the match?)
-Tessitore and Rey hyped Xavier vs. Rey for Raw next week.
(5) BRON BREAKKER vs. JEY USO – Intercontinental Title match
Breakker’s ring entrance took place next. The bell rang 38 minutes into the hour. Fans chanted “U-so!” early. Breakker retreated to the floor after Jey connected with a punch. Jey then dove through the ropes and knocked Breakker into the desk. They cut to an early break at 2:00 with fans chanting, “Yeet!” [c]
Back from the break, Breakker was in control. Breakker scored a two count at 9:00, then did five quick push-ups right afterward. Barrett asked how many athletes could do that this deep into a fight. Tessitore called it arrogance. Jey fired back with an enzuigiri and then he clotheslined Breakker over the top rope. He played to the crowd before diving though the ropes. Breakker recovered and hit Jey out of mid-air with a forearm. Breakker bashed Jey into the announce desk. Then he leaped off the ring apron and landed a clothesline. With both down at ringside, they cut to another break at 11:00. [c]
Back from the break, Breakker had Jey grounded mid-ring with a chinlock. Jey escaped and punched away at Breakker as fans counted along. They fought back and forth with big moves and exchanged near falls. Breakker ran ringside and speared Jey. He threw him back into the ring and charged, but Jey speared him instead. Jey climbed to the top rope and landed an Uso Splash for a very close, dramatic near fall. Fans were so ready to pop. Breakker sat up. Fans chanted, “Ref, you suck!” (which is way better than “This is awesome!” because it indicates they’re wrapped up in who wins, not thinking about how exciting it is or how many stars to give it). Jey caught a charging Breakker with a superkick. He then tackled Breakker through a ringside barricade. Jey threw Breakker back into the ring and landed a spear. He landed another top rope splash for the win.
WINNER: Jey Uso in 21:00 to capture the Intercontinental Title.
(Keller’s Analysis: That felt like a “moment” on Raw because of the build, Jey’s history, Breakker’s arrogance as a cocky rising star, and – yes – Tessitore’s excellent call of the action. Tessitore is really good already, improving week by week and getting more comfortable with a spot-on tone and enthusiasm. Fans have been looking for Jey to be validated for a while in this way.)
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OR CHECK THIS OUT AT PROWRESTLING.NET: WWE Raw results (9/23): Powell’s live review of Bron Breakker vs. Jey Uso for the Intercontinental Title, Sami Zayn vs. Ludwig Kaiser, Drew McIntyre on facing CM Punk in a Hell in a Cell match
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PWTorch editor Wade Keller is joined by PWTorch’s Darrin Lilly to review WWE Raw LIVE tonight right after Dynamite. Join us and let us know your thoughts on Raw during the show.
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