There may be north of 1,500 episodes of WWE’s Monday night cornerstone program, but this is Uncrowned’s inaugural Raw recap. And with Crown Jewel just over the horizon on November 2, tonight’s episode was light on the in-ring wrasslin’ and heavy on the story progression.
Let’s get right into the action just like Raw did, with an angry Rhea Ripley stomping into the arena (which was shown from the cool backstage walkout perspective). Ripley hopped on the mic to call out her current enemies, Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez, but instead it was bright pink Money in the Bank briefcase holder Tiffany Stratton who appeared, their contrasting aesthetics really standing out.
Liv and Raquel popped out to jump Rhea, ultimately setting up the night’s main event matchup: Liv and Raquel against Rhea and her unlikely partner, Tiffany.
Speaking of tag teams, let’s talk about the first match of the night.
Damage CTRL vs. Bianca Belair & Jade Cargill (for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles)
In a match that saw Kairi Sane survive a monstrous powerbomb and Iyo Sky land a sweet missile dropkick into a kip-up, it was outside interference that determined the winner. Iyo’s hair was grabbed by Jakara Jackson and her face was elbowed by Lash Legend, creating an opportunity for Bianca to finish the job.
WINNERS (and still): Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill.
Bron Breakker then cut a pretty cold promo, during which he discredited Jey Uso’s accomplishments and promised him an ass-kickin’. It’s two minutes of hostility and it’s excellent.
Meanwhile, Seth Rollins and Bronson Reed were both shown begging Adam Pearce to let them fight each other after their recent clashes, and frankly I’d like to see this happen. It’s one I could see going either way, with Rollins conquering the big bully or Reed really carving out his place as a dominant force by beating the illustrious Visionary.
I hope you have an appetite for tag team action, because guess what…?
The War Raiders (Erik & Ivar) vs. Otis & Tozawa
The artists formerly known as the Viking Raiders showed up and were met with a bit of resistance from Otis until the surprisingly nimble and remarkably forceful duo ultimately over-powered ’em and got the pinfall on Tozawa.
It was a short match, but the War Raiders looked sharp and perhaps the tag team division should be on notice.
WINNERS: The War Raiders.
Cody Rhodes then popped out and said some heartfelt things to the city of St. Louis before being interrupted by Gunther, who he’s set to face for the inaugural WWE Men’s Crown Jewel Championship on November 2. They traded verbal jabs, with the standout blow being Rhodes reminding Gunther of this:
“I beat the most dominating champion in company history and I have already slain a frightening beast.”
Is that a Brock Lesnar reference as many are speculating, or are WWE fans simply programmed to think Brock every time they hear the word “beast?”
Bron Breakker vs. Kofi Kingston
Kofi mounted more offense than you might expect he’d be allowed against a beast, but he fell victim to a beautiful belly-to-belly followed by one of Bron’s gnarly spears — which, in my opinion, has really risen to the top tier of the industry’s spears. After being battered, Xavier Woods emerged and took a clubbing blow from Bron before Jey Uso saved the day with a spear and a superkick.
WINNER: Bron Breakker.
More segment action followed showing Jimmy Uso attempting to talk to Jey, who was not interested in a chat.
Like, really not down…
The Miz vs. R-Truth
The Final Testament came out and the Miz got distracted, so Truth rolled him up for the win, but a pissed off Miz hit him with a Skull-Crushing Finale.
WINNERS: R-Truth.
👑 Uncrowned Gem of the Night 👑
If you blinked at the start of the Miz and Truth’s match, you might’ve missed some quick Wyatt Sicks symbols flashing on screen. If you look up the coordinates below, you’ll be shown the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, which happens to be the site of Raw next week. 👀
Rhea Ripley & Tiffany Stratton vs Raquel Rodriguez & Liv Morgan
In your main event was … yet another tag team match. There’s always something electric about unlikely tag pairings (e.g. Owen Hart and Yokozuna, Tajiri and William Regal, The Rock ‘n’ Sock Connection). Sadly, Rhea and Tiffany seem like a one-off duo and their match abruptly ended when Nia Jax popped up and attacked Liv, because that’s what one does when they’re just over two weeks away from scrapping for the Inaugural WWE Women’s Crown Jewel Championship.
Nia smashed Liv with a brutal Annihilator and Tiffany was about to cash in her Money in the Bank until “Dirty” Dominik Mysterio came to save the day for Liv, ruining what would’ve been an exciting turn of events for fans.
And that’s a wrap on the night, folks. Tonight’s Raw garners just 5.5/10 Crowns 👑.
Hopefully consuming copious amounts of tag team action will hold you over until next week.