6 Ups & 5 Downs From WWE Raw (Oct 2 - Results & Review)

1. A Barnburner Main Event

As much as WWE booking an impromptu title match during the contract signing is an aggravating trope and terrible practice, one is hard-pressed to rage against it when the result is the Intercontinental Championship main event that closed Raw between Tomasso Ciampa and Gunther.

The two men battered each other for nearly 25 minutes, with Ciampa giving Gunther every bit of offense he could handle, wearing the IC champ down with chops, submissions and repeated knee strikes. Gunther kept driving forward with his own chops, sleeper holds and slams.

Fans were ready to buy a title change for a program that is just a few weeks old and saw the contract signing and payoff in the same night. That’s more of a testament to how fantastic both men are and how believable the match was. Gunther was too much for Ciampa though, getting him to pass out to a sleeper and retaining his title.

This immediately transitioned into an Imperium beating from Ludwig Kaiser and Giovanni Vinci, but Johnny Gargano returned from whatever black hole he fell into and DIY reunited to take the Europeans out.

Just like that, Ciampa was presented as a dangerous, accomplished veteran, and a wildly popular (from several years ago) tag team re-formed to combat an incredible heel tandem.

It goes without saying, but this could be highly entertaining if booked correctly, but everyone has seen how Gargano has been booked on the main roster thus far, so this is at best a tentative positive part of the entire package.