This was, overall, a pretty drab, boring episode of “Raw,” at least for me. Where it found life, though, was basically any time Chad Gable and GUNTHER were on screen. Their promo exchange, which started with GUNTHER’s championship celebration speech and turned into him accusing Gable of being a terrible father for wanting his family to come watch him lose again, was absolutely excellent and included some of Gable’s best work on the mic as an earnest babyface who wants another shot at the belt. The subsequent brawl ended up bringing out Tommaso Ciampa to help Gable and Otis, and the six-man tag match that came out of that was probably the best contest of the night, and ended with Gable notching yet another win over Imperium, tapping out Giovanni Vinci. All in all, it seems like we’re heading for a fourth GUNTHER vs. Gable match for the Intercontinental title, and I really hope they let Gable win this time now that GUNTHER has officially broken the Honky Tonk Man’s record. He’s the perfect guy to hold that championship, and it’s officially time for GUNTHER to move on to bigger and better things.

Admittedly, I’m not sure how and why Ciampa fits into this whole thing. Him helping the Academy came out of nowhere, and I’m struggling to come up with a reason for it beyond “they needed another babyface for the six-man.” Johnny Gargano remains resolutely off TV, but it seemed like there was yet another DIY tease Monday night, with the finish of the six-man resembling the finish of the tag title match at “NXT” Takeover: Toronto in 2016, where Ciampa and Gargano won the belts. Does that mean anything? Or is this just all they could find Ciampa to do right now?

Wild theory: Ciampa turns on Gable and joins Imperium, replacing an ousted Vinci. Wilder theory: Ciampa turns on Gable and Gargano returns as a heel, setting up Alpha Academy, who have Maxxine Dupri, against an evil DIY and Candice LeRae/Indi Hartwell. That would rule.