Just days before WWE arrives in Atlanta for its Bad Blood premium live event, Raw featured a packed card and several segments devoted to hyping up Saturday's show.

Braun Strowman and Bronson Reed settled their unforgettable rivalry in a Last Monster Standing match, while CM Punk and Drew McIntyre spoke ahead of their punishing Hell in a Cell clash.

Who emerged from the high-profile battle of behemoths and what did The Straight Edge Superstar and Scottish Warrior have to say before their final battle?

Find out with this recap of the final episode of September.

Match Card

Announced in advance of the September 30 broadcast were:

• Last Monster Standing: Braun Strowman vs. Bronson Reed
• LWO (Dragon Lee, Cruz Del Toro and Joaquin Wilde) vs. The Judgment Day (JD McDonagh, Dominik Mysterio and Carlito)
• Rey Mysterio vs. Xavier Woods
• Kofi Kingston vs. Chad Gable
• Lyra Valkyria vs. Zoey Stark
• Promos from CM Punk, Drew McIntyre and new intercontinental champion Jey Uso
  

Jey Uso Kicks Off Raw

New intercontinental champion Jey Uso followed a recap of his victory over Bron Breakker from last week's show by hitting the ring, flanked by his son, to open the show.

Overcome with emotion, he talked about how much his first singles title victory meant to him and the advice his mother gave him ahead of it.

Breakker interrupted but instead of attacking Uso or talking trash, he shook Uso's hand in the center of the ring to close out a relatively brief opening segment.

Grade

A

Top Moments and Takeaways

• "They didn't know me. They know me now, though," Uso said of a career spent as a twin and how his championship win validated him as a singles star.
• "Go out there and show them who you are," Uso recalled his mother telling him ahead of last week's match.
• This was a great way to kick off the show in that it highlighted the most talked-about star from last week's event and served as what appeared to be an official babyface turn for Breakker. It benefited both men and got it out of the way on a night when there are bigger fish to fry, for lack of a better phrase.

Rey Mysterio vs. Xavier Woods

Xavier Woods' frustration over a recent slump resulted in a tense backstage confrontation with Rey Mysterio, giving away to the night's first matchup.

Mysterio controlled most of the match, proving to the former King of the Ring just how hard it is to beat a world title-caliber competitor.

Late, though, Woods grabbed the Hall of Famer's iconic mask and pulled it off.

The momentary distraction allowed Woods to score a tainted schoolboy roll-up for the win.

Result

Woods defeated Mysterio

Grade

C+

Top Moments and Takeaways

• The reaction for Woods was decidedly muted and more negative than anything we have heard for The New Day over the last decade, proof that this turn is working.
• This was a solid, if unspectacular, one-on-one contest. Too much of it occurred during the commercial break and most of it focused on Mysterio in control, but it still ended appropriately with Woods demonstrating the lengths to which he is willing to go at this point to secure a victory.
• Backstage, Sonya Deville and Shayna Baszler attempted to intimidate Lyra Valkyria ahead of her match with their Pure Fusion Collective teammate, Zoey Stark. 

Lyra Valkyria vs. Zoey Stark

Lyra Valkyria and Zoey Stark squared off in a match with its roots back in the Queen of the Ring tournament.

The Valkyrie overcame the dangerous Stark and mounted a babyface comeback late, but without Natalya and Zelina Vega to counteract the presence of Sonya Deville and Shayna Baszler at ringside, she fell victim to the numbers game.

Deville delivered an undetected knee to the head, and Stark scored a big win with her Z-360 finisher.

After the match, the heels beat down Valkyria until Katana Chance and Kayden Carter made the save, begging the question: Where were they 10 seconds earlier when Pure Fusion Collective cheated to win?

Result

Stark defeated Valkyria

Grade

C+

Top Moments and Takeaways

• Backstage, Kofi Kingston revealed to Woods that Uso offered him a shot at the Intercontinental title, but he declined in favor of his tag team partner. Woods vs. Uso for the gold next week.
• Stark might be the most underrated wrestler in the women's division while Valkyria, for all of the exposure she has gotten across NXT and the main roster here in 2024, feels somehow underutilized.
• It will take a creative overhaul to get fans to root for Chance and Carter. They have great energy and are a fun team between the ropes, but the fans have nothing to care about, which hurts their ability to forge that all-important connection.

One Last Promo from CM Punk and Drew McIntyre

Five days before they step inside Hell in a Cell, CM Punk and Drew McIntyre delivered their finals words with security separating them and the titular steel structure surrounding the squared circle.

McIntyre credited his rival for teaching him to hate, while Punk claimed The Scottish Warrior will not be praying to God or the devil at Bad Blood but, rather, to him.

The intense promo ended on that note, with the opposition staring each other down with pure hatred in their eyes.

Grade

A

Top Moments and Takeaways

• "You've been back for a year, you've been injured for four months, and you're going to be gone forever and it's all because of Drew McIntyre," the Scot said.
• "You have turned me into the fictitious boogeyman my harshest critics portray me to be," Punk said. 
• Punk promised to send McIntyre back to Scotland in a box.
• The content of the promo was nothing new, but the intensity with which Punk and McIntyre delivered it was extraordinary. They portrayed two men with undying hatred for each other. This was a money promo, and both men were up to the task.

• R-Truth is back, revealing to The Miz that he got them a match against AOP Monday night. This, after he interrupted a serious conversation between The Hollywood A-Lister and Braun Strowman that ended with the former being brushed off again.

LWO vs. The Judgment Day

Ahead of a busy Saturday night in Atlanta for the faction, The Judgment Day sought to settle their differences with the LWO, as Dominik Mysterio, JD McDonagh and Carlito squared off with Dragon Lee, Cruz Del Toro and Joaquin Wilde.

A fun six-man tag team contest, at which WWE excels, concluded with the heels picking up the win when Finn Bálor capitalized on a distraction from women's world champion Liv Morgan and shoved Wilde from the top rope, allowing McDonagh to deliver the Devil Inside for the win.

Result

The Judgment Day defeated LWO

Grade

C+

Top Moments and Takeaways

• Remember when the 450 splash was a finisher? Ditto the Coast-to-Coast.
• This was a heat-building match and spotlight for The Judgment Day but little else. The ring work was solid, and LWO can almost always be counted on for a strong showing, but this did little for anyone except give the heels a momentum-building win.

Chaos Reigns Between The Terror Twins and The Judgment Day

Back from the break, The Judgment Day had a few words for The Terror Twins.

Bálor told Damian Priest neither he nor The Judgment Day ever needed him, and Morgan vowed to remain the greatest women's world champion ever before Rhea Ripley interrupted.

Priest attacked from behind, but the numbers game proved too much for the babyfaces again, and The Judgment Day stood tall to close out the segment.

More heat-building for the heels, who no longer feel like they are predestined to leave Atlanta victorious.

This was fine for what it was but not all that different from a few weeks ago, when the heels stood tall over their fallen foes.

Grade

B

Top Moments and Takeaways

• "I don't have a heart," Bálor told Priest.
• Ripley revealed that Mysterio is extremely claustrophobic, playing up the shark-cage gimmick. 
  
• "Priest attacked them, Joe! What are you watching?" Wade Barrett told his dismayed broadcast partner, Joe Tessitore.
• In a pre-taped video, Sheamus challenged Pete Dunne to a Good, Old-Fashioned Donnybrook, which will be brilliant if The Bruiserweight accepts.

Kofi Kingston vs. Chad Gable

The dissension within The New Day continued to rear its head as Kofi Kingston squared off with Chad Gable in singles competition.

Gable worked the left leg of his opponent throughout the commercial break, but the former WWE champion proved his resilience and absorbed everything the Olympian threw at him to stay in the fight.

Late, he wiped out American Made's Julius and Brutus Creed at ringside and had Gable set for the Trouble in Paradise when Woods grabbed the heel's ankle seemingly to help his teammate.

Kingston crashed and Gable delivered Chaos Theory for the win.

Result

Gable defeated Kingston

Grade

B

Top Moments and Takeaways

• A pre-taped promo from Damage CTRL's Kairi Sane and Iyo Sky saw them issue a challenge to the women's tag team champions, Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill.
• Kingston and Gable was a predictably good match that was too short but still highlighted some quality in-ring chemistry.
• The Kingston-Woods story is rapidly developing into the most engaging on the show. That Karrion Kross was spotted earlier in the background of their backstage vignette suggests Woods is giving in to his manipulation in what would be the first major victory for the heel and his Final Testament faction.

Sami Zayn and Gunther Promo

Sami Zayn continued his pursuit of the World Heavyweight Championship by interrupting Gunther's in-ring promo.

He stated his case and The Ring General again scoffed, not giving in to Zayn.

Eventually, the prospective No. 1 contender did what Gunther did during his feud with Damian Priest: He made it personal. He brought up the champion's father and how he treated him poorly following his loss to Zayn at WrestleMania 40.

That sparked a fire in the Austrian, leading to physicality that ended with Gunther standing tall and finally awarding Zayn his title opportunity.

Grade

A

Top Moments and Takeaways

• A new Wyatt Sicks video aired. It was clearly a warning to an unknown entity but more significantly was what appeared to be a quick shot of a returning Alexa Bliss in the closing seconds.

• Joe Tessitore revealed that Ilja Dragunov suffered a torn ACL at a live event over the weekend and will miss six to nine months of action.

• Zayn used Gunther's own mind games against him. It worked as The Ring General lost his cool and gave into his rival. It will be interesting to see how Triple H and Co. explore that element because the intensity with which he reacted when Zayn brought up his dad has the scent of undiscovered creative potential.

The Awesome Truth vs. Authors of Pain

In a match made earlier in the night, The Miz and R-Truth battled The Final Testament's AOP.

A hot start by R-Truth became stunted by Akam and Rezar as they isolated him.

The beloved babyface created separation and tagged Miz in, only for The A-Lister to turn on him with a big boot, much to the delight of Karrion Kross, who had played Devil's advocate with the former WWE champion.

Miz walked out on his partner, leaving AOP to score a much-needed win.

Result

AOP defeated Awesome Truth

Grade

B+

Top Moments and Takeaways

• Akam and Rezar shouldn't be out here selling Truth's John Cena-lite offense. It kills whatever aura they have left. 
• This was well done in more than one way. Not only did The Miz finally turn heel after weeks of frustration and another tag match he did not ask for, but it also paid off the Kross angle. The prophet of The Final Testament has spent months targeting the likes of Miz and Woods; and in one night, he saw his efforts pay off with the start of their descents. 

Last Monster Standing: Braun Strowman vs. Bronson Reed

The weeks-long rivalry between the behemoths Braun Strowman and "Big" Bronson Reed culminated Monday night in a Last Monster Standing match that promised utter chaos and delivered.

Strowman delivered a chokeslam through the announce table to start the match. Reed answered with a Death Valley Driver off production equipment and through a table.

Guardrails were destroyed, "fans" in the front row were downed, and Strowman flew off the top rope before crashing into security and Reed at ringside.

Late, a superplex broke the ring a la The Big Show and Brock Lesnar, leaving both men struggling to their feet.

From out of nowhere, Seth Rollins made his return and delivered the Stomp to Reed to ensure he did not answer the count of 10.

Result

Strowman defeated Reed

Grade

A+

Top Moments and Takeaways

• The crowd exploded for Rollins' return. Any doubts about his star in the world of professional wrestling continue to be disproved with every one of his appearances. He is the guy he says he is.
• This was a car-crash classic, an epic brawl between two superheavyweights. This had a bit of everything without delivering a single catch-as-catch-can pro wrestling match and that is exactly what it did not need. This was pro wrestling's version of Die Hard, an overstuffed showcase of spots featuring two monsters that ended with a logical run-in and the escalation of Reed's feud with Rollins. Superbly executed by all involved.

Overall Grade

As a go-home show for Bad Blood, this was fine.

We got the final hype for Punk vs. McIntyre and the matches featuring The Judgment Day and Terror Twins, but everything else was focused on the continuation of ongoing storylines and the culmination of one of the great heavyweight feuds in recent memory.

Throw in the return of Rollins, the escalation of the Woods heel turn and The Miz's return to the dark side, and you had a notable show that both sold the premium live event while also convincing fans to come back to next week to see what is up with so many of the ongoing stories.

Which is exactly how is should be.

A strong show earns a strong grade.

Grade: B+