WWE RAW 7/29/2024: 3 Things We Hated And 3 Things We Loved

Welcome to Wrestling Inc.'s weekly review of "WWE Raw," the show where the Minneapolis crowd doesn't provide any bad omens for future stadium events there whatsoever! This was the go-home "Raw" before SummerSlam, which can either mean many things happening of great significance or basically nothing happening because there were a few too many weeks to cover and everyone is just kind of killing time. This was definitely the latter type of go-home show, but that doesn't mean we didn't have feelings about it! If you've read this column at all over the past year, you know we can have feelings (both positive and negative) about pretty much anything.

That said, we have to be particularly selective with "Raw," because it's a long show with tons going on even at its most boring. As always, our "Raw" results page is here to help if you need details on the stuff we're not going to talk about, and as always, this right here is the place where the WINC staff throws objectivity out the window and writes from the heart. With that in mind, here are three things we hated and three things we loved about the 7/29/24 episode of "WWE Raw."

If you're going to have a segment on any given weekly wrestling show, it needs to have some sort of point to it whether that be giving a wrestler a win, advancing a storyline, increasing the stakes of a storyline in some way or something else. The opening segment between Seth Rollins, Drew McIntyre, and CM Punk felt like there was absolutely no reason for it to take up any time on this "Raw", let alone be the opening segment of the show to set the tone for everything else and go on for twenty minutes.

While this segment was initially advertised as Rollins laying out the rules for McIntyre and Punk's SummerSlam match as the special guest referee and did (to some extent) promote the match itself, all it turned out to be was WWE saying the match would be No Disqualification without actually labeling it as such and both McIntyre and Punk telling each other (and fans) the exact same thing they've been saying for the past several weeks. This was the perfect opportunity to make an already marquee SummerSlam battle between Punk and McIntyre a specialty match as well as give the pair one last chance to say everything they need to each other on the go home "Raw" before it, but instead of doing that, WWE had Rollins more or less say 'Wait until Saturday to see what the rules are and what I do.' It felt like a waste and a missed opportunity for something that had potential to be great.

Written by Olivia Quinlan

For my money, during a generally listless SummerSlam build, the Wyatt Sicks have consistently been the most entertaining part of the three-hour slog that is "WWE Raw." Bo Dallas has been better in this role than anyone had any right to expect, and the decision to make the Sicks babyfaces instead of heels was inspired. I don't know if I would have paced the thing quite this slowly — and having their in-ring debut occur on next week's "Raw" instead of at SummerSlam is, uh, a choice — but every time I think I'm getting bored, they throw in something new that captures my attention and my imagination all over again.

That happened twice this week. First, the Sicks appeared to scare Chad Gable again, something that hasn't exactly been made novel by the presence of the Creed Brothers. The unmasking of Erick Rowan, Dexter Lumis, Joe Gacy, and Nikki Cross, however, was a welcome and necessary development, as was the announcement of next week's match. It's been a fun month-plus, but it's time for these characters to wrestle now, and I'm glad we're finally breaking the seal on that. I'm also glad WWE isn't doing anything foolish like making the Sicks wrestle in their masks, or continuing to pretend we don't know who these people are (except Pat McAfee, who probably actually doesn't). This angle has worked specifically because after the spectacle of that first appearance, it has stayed grounded and outside the realm of cartoonish nonsense. It'll be interesting to see how the Sicks are presented as wrestlers, but the important thing is that the match is Chad Gable and the Creeds vs. Rowan, Lumis, and Gacy, not Chad Gable and the Creeds vs. Ramblin' Rabbit, Mercy the Buzzard, and Huskus the Pig-Boy.

As for the Lumis therapy video, it was pretty much the same thing. There wasn't a whole lot to it, and for a few minutes I was going "Is this it?" But then Lumis, who never speaks, said the word "run" at the very end, and it was exactly enough of a development for me to be intrigued all over again. Call me a Wyatt mark if you want — you're right — but every time there's even a slight danger of me being out, they pull me back in.

Written by Miles Schneiderman

Usually, I'd find the "host" role for a WWE premium live event to be a little hokey, especially when it's as predictable as a hometown guy or girl-type thing. But in the case of The Miz and Cleveland, as announced tonight for SummerSlam, I'm perfectly fine with it since a Miz-hosted party will surely mean plenty of R-Truth influence throughout which, as we've all either learned or re-learned over the course of the last few years, is a can't lose situation. Beyond that, if my assumption is correct, Truth deserves every last bit of the shine as well.

Not too long ago, on his "Oh You Didn't Know" podcast, Road Dogg talked about the dichotomy that is the thought of Truth as a world champion in WWE not really making sense at this stage of the game versus all that he deserves, given the work he's put in with the company, and in a professional wrestling career that is now pushing 25 years. While I don't see any major singles run for the surefire Hall of Famer (and let's not forget, 53-time 24/7 champion!), I do love the idea of him getting to thrive front and center in several segments throughout arguably WWE's second-most prolific PLE of the year. You're guaranteed to laugh. And if you don't, maybe check your pulse.

Now then, beyond Truth, it's important to give Miz some flowers here too, which is hard for this particular writer/wrestling fan to do if he allows himself to revert to his former unappreciative self. Miz has done nothing but perform his varying roles to perfection over the years and in this latest run with Truth, he's been the perfect ally. I'm sure that will eventually blow up, as wrestling relationships are wont to do, but even that will be a perfect scenario for the once-and-again quintessential heel in Miz and what has become just about the biggest babyface persona one could conjure up in the one and only R-Truth.

Written by Jon Jordan

Across wrestling promotions, one of the common complaints is the lack of women's matches on weekly programming. Some promotions stick to one women's match per episode and occasionally have two matches on other programming. "WWE NXT" consistently features multiple women's matches weekly, along with segments and promos. There's no reason that fans should be begging for women to get more matches regularly. Yet, here we are.

Wrestling rosters are disproportionately male, so they men almost always get more matches overall. Sometimes, like Monday night, there is a lone women's match between multiple women — that's their loophole for saying they gave more women in-ring time. On a three hour show, it's inexcusable. Sure, there were segments featuring women, but it shouldn't be either/or, either get a backstage segment or a match. No, you have the time to have multiple women's matches AND backstage segments. When matches are cut for time in WWE, it's nearly always the women who have their matches cut. This has been the norm for decades and that is not hyperbole.

Although Rhea Ripley's return has forced her to challenge Liv Morgan to get her title back, it's still a prop in the story. The focus has been on Dominik Mysterio. Morgan's entire title reign has been about seducing "Dirty Dom". She has only defended the title twice on TV since becoming champion. Ripley's first concern when she returned was about Dom and Liv's relationship, not the title. Both their promos this week for their match at "SummerSlam" were centered around a man, even though the title is what's only the line. There's also only two women's matches scheduled for the PLE, by the way. One per brand.

One women's match in three hours feels like an afterthought. Someone was going down their run sheet and realized there were no women's matches. In order to check that off, they went with a trios match because it gets six women in the ring and they can pat themselves on the back because this match led to the return of another trio of women. Why have multiple women's matches when you can put six in a ring and then bring three more and meet your quota of women for a show in less than 15 minutes?

Written by Samantha Schipman

While I couldn't agree more with my esteemed colleague that only one women's match being booked for an entire three-hour "Raw" was infuriating, WWE at least figured a way to mollify me somewhat with the return of Damage CTRL. I have no idea how well a babyface (I think?) version of the group will play, but "cheer for these bad-asses who are about to kick their opponents' faces into the backs of their heads" is a pretty tried-and-true winning formula, and honestly I'm just happy to have them back on the show and back in the ring.

No offense to the other female talent on "Raw," but the division needed Damage CTRL back in the worst way. Things have been fine, but you can't take three of your top five in-ring workers out of the equation without suffering a drop in quality, especially with Rhea Ripley not wrestling right now (presumably to make sure she's medically cleared for SummerSlam), Liv Morgan also not wrestling right now (presumably because ... uh ... she's the champion or something, I don't actually know) and Becky Lynch still apparently a free agent. Damage CTRL feuding with Sonya Deville, Shayna Baszler, and Zoey Stark immediately boosts "Raw's" average match quality, and beyond that, the three active members of Damage CTRL (plus the injured Asuka) have a presence and command of the crowd that someone like, say, Lyra Valkyria still has yet to master.

In other words, whether they're wrestling or not, the show is better with Damage CTRL around, and I was extremely happy to see them return.

Written by Miles Schneiderman

Though we've had our fun as a collective lately on what some have dubbed the "GUNTHER Hearst Helmsley" approach to "The Ring/King General's" challenge for Damian Priest's WWE World Heavyweight Championship, I haven't yet had my say. And while I don't feel as passionately as some of my colleagues on the matter, in terms of GUNTHER calling Priest "street trash" and dancing far too closely to the infamous HHH/Booker T "people like you" promo from way back when (after all, this is wrestling and heels gon' heel) this feud never needed any of this.

When GUNTHER won King of the Ring, and rightfully so, on the heels of his record-setting, 666-day run as Intercontinental Champion, he was on the verge of seeing the sort of natural heel-so-good-he-becomes-a-face transition that only happens ever-so-fleetingly. The fans were ready, which is usually all that takes. Instead, as the weeks wore on, GUNTHER went full holier-than-thou classist on Priest, and though it can now be argued that Priest will reap the benefits of the babyface push from all of this, that seemed to be in the works anyway, what with The Judgment Day crumbling more and more by the day of late. That twist sets GUNTHER's evolution as a character back significantly, opens him (and WWE in turn) up for the type of criticism he has received for the portrayal from my comrades and others, and more than anything, takes away from what could have been more of a culmination than the King of the Ring distinction itself.

What should have been was a classic wrestling match, earned through one of the few remaining sports-centric presentations in a tournament like King of the Ring, likely resulting in a win for GUNTHER, who is more than ready to be a top tier champion. I imagine he still comes out on top and, in time, all will be well, since, if that's the case, the end result remains what it was always going to be for both GUNTHER and Priest. But what took place in the middle for us to get here was at best unnecessary and at worst, offensive. I don't necessarily take the latter stance but at this point, I've seen enough to know that it wasn't needed even in the least, and sometimes there's a lot to be said for the benefits of the path of least resistance, especially in this day and age.

Written by Jon Jordan