8 Ups & 3 Downs From WWE Monday Night Raw (September 25 - Results & Review)

Downs…

3. Tommaso Ciampa Vs Ludwig Kaiser

Ludwig Kaiser Tommaso Ciampa

Call it spoilt for choice or just plain spoilt, but reality of the raising of the quality bar in wrestling over the last decade or so has resulted in matches such as these being lost to time before the show has even ended, let alone the week.

Tommaso Ciampa Vs Ludwig Kaiser was good, but great is the new good, and when the bell-to-bell doesn't thrill, WWE's angle advancement has to count double. In this case, both developments here left a little something to be desired. Calling out the Intercontinental Champion, Ciampa got his Gunther showdown next week, but the titleholder put a contract signing in the way of that, and had his own boring business to get to.

The Imperium in-fighting sucks. Ludwig Kaiser and especially Giovanni Vinci living in some vague fear of Gunther's wrath feels more rote sub-Roman Reigns that how exactly the group would act in hard times. The chain-of-command stuff here (Vinci screwing up is Kaiser's problem, Kaiser screwing up will land him in hot water with 'Der Ring General') was trash too. These belong on the show for Gunther's incredible reign with the secondary title and having banger matches, not being caught doing their admin.

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Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 7 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 30 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz", Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 50,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett