Powell’s WWE Raw Hit List: Randy Orton vs. Ludwig Kaiser, CM Punk and Drew McIntyre, Sheamus vs. Pete Dunne, Bronson Reed vs. The Miz in a No DQ match, Triple Threat for the WWE Women’s Tag Titles

By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)

WWE Raw Hits

Judgment Day attacks Damian Priest and Rhea Ripley: It was refreshing to see the babyfaces come off as intelligent by acknowledging that Dominik Mysterio’s request for a match without anyone at ringside was a trap. Priest looked valiant for saying that it was worth the risk in order to get his hands on Dom. Ultimately, this was a necessary segment in that it put needed heat on the new and somewhat depleted version of Judgment Day.

Randy Orton vs. Ludwig Kaiser: The verbal exchange between Orton and Gunther that opened the show was well done. And this was a quality match even if it felt a bit out of place in the main event slot. Kaiser has a really bright future, but he doesn’t feel like a main event player yet. It will be interesting to see if Orton’s star power and the involvement of Gunther was enough to hold the audience.

Sheamus vs. Pete Dunne: My favorite match of the night. It was a bit surprising to see Sheamus win the match clean as opposed to having Dunne steal a pin to keep this going, but I’m sure they’ll come up with something if there’s more to come from these two.

Bronson Reed vs. The Miz in a No DQ match: It was another great week for Reed and he didn’t even have to put his body through performing six Tsunami splashes. It’s been impressive to see how quickly Reed has gone from being just another mid-card act to becoming a monster heel. Braun Strowman coming out afterward sets up an interesting match and one can only hope that the plan is to use Strowman to give Reed even more of a boost.

Kofi Kingston, Xavier Woods, and Odyssey Jones vs. Karrion Kross, Akam, and Rezar: The Hit is all about the story of Woods being annoyed by Kingston’s relationship with Jones, which was laid out nicely during a good backstage discussion. The Woods character has a right to be upset and yet Kingston also did a good job of explaining where his character is coming from. This storyline has made Kingston and Woods more interesting than they’ve been in a long time. Now if they could just ditch those ridiculous Ninja Turtles outfits.

Ivy Nile vs. Maxxine Durpi: An in the middle rather than a true Hit or Miss. Nile and Dupri showed good intensity, but the match was all about setting up the Wyatt Sicks attacking American Made afterward.

WWE Raw Misses

CM Punk and Drew McIntyre: Mixed messages. Last week, Punk literally said that McIntyre could keep the bracelet that has Punk’s wife and dog’s name on it. Punk came back this week and was all about wanting the bracelet back. That said, I like the strap match stipulation for their Bash in Berlin match. They could go with the frequent strap match finish of having the heel steal the win by giving up the majority of the offense only to follow the babyface in touching three corners behind him before somehow beating him to the fourth corner. Or they could give the Punk the win only to have McIntyre get under his skin afterward by pointing out that Punk has yet to pin him. Either way, I don’t expect this to be the blowoff match to their feud.

Alba Fyre and Isla Dawn vs. Iyo Sky and Kairi Sane vs. Shayna Baszler and Zoey Stark in a Triple Threat for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles: The crowd’s reaction to the entrances and the actual match was telling. These teams are not over. Sky and Sane never had an actual babyface turn, so the crowds taking to them slowly is to be expected. On the bright side, Fyre and Dawn mean more with each successful title defense. If the creative team shows enough patience, they should be able to get fans invested in seeing Jade Cargill and Bianca Belair chase them for the titles as opposed to their matches strictly getting by based on the star power of the challengers.