That certainly was one hell of a way to close out Monday Night Raw.
Heading into the final half-hour of Monday’s program, Raw was trending toward a middling-at-best grade, avoiding some of the pitfalls of recent weeks, but still not delivering a genuine “wow” moment.
Then came that final 30-plus minutes.
Chad Gable, Dragon Lee, and Rey Mysterio stole the show with an incredible triple threat for the Intercontinental Championship that was too fast to accurately recap. Suffice it to say, this was yet another match from Gable that wrestling fans should go out of their way to catch. He’s turning the IC Title back into the workhorse championship.
Then the Usos arrived and demanded a showdown with 946.
While much of this Gang Wars storyline between 946 and the Bloodline has been comically bad, they managed – for one night, at least – to land the plane by avoiding the campy dialogue and cartoonish violence, and by involving the one wrestler who really needed to acknowledge this angle and become part of it.
The rest of Raw was bang average at best, but the show really was elevated by that Intercontinental Championship triple threat. It’s becoming a cheat code for Paul Levesque when booking the program.
Let’s get to it…
DOWNS…
4. Is This Any Good?
Sorry, that’s a legitimate question after watching Lola Vice versus Lyra Valkyria (loser has to change her initials so reviewers can keep track of the action easier).
Vice picked up the win after Bayley provided a distraction, popping out from under the ring like Hornswoggle and grabbing Lyra’s foot, and then reappearing on the other side to grab her hair.
The match highlighted some of Lola’s kicks, strikes, and submission attempts, and she picked up the win with her MIA spinning backfist. The action was fine for what it was, and it allowed the Raw newcomer to notch another win.
But does any of that matter? Lola is a prospect with promise, but she’s not setting the world on fire between the ropes.
Since arriving on Raw, she’s had zero character development besides having a bit of a temper (maybe a little stereotypical fiery Latina personality). The vignettes announcing her juxtaposed her vibing in a party scene (hence Vice City) with Lola demolishing a heavy bag and a sparring partner. None of that has really been explored during her short run; it’s just been a couple of short segments that have led to a two-and-a-half-star match.
WWE bills itself as the company that tells stories. Well, maybe they’d do well to put in a bit more effort with Vice rather than just tossing her out there in the ring until she feels like part of the furniture. Winning middling matches where the focus isn’t on her but rather is on Bayley under the ring isn’t going to get her to the next level.
3. Totally Unlikable
We can't WAIT for @Steph_Vaquer and @BeckyLynchWWE to battle ? pic.twitter.com/E4eJ4o6iS2
— WWE (@WWE) October 20, 2026
When Becky Lynch and Stephanie Vaquer returned on the same night, the immediate reaction from much of the wrestling fan and critic communities was that this would inject the Raw women’s division with some much-needed energy and excitement and could produce several interesting permutations of matchups.
Instead, what has happened has been an unqualified disappointment, outside of a shock title switch at a house show that no one saw.
Vaquer captured the Women’s World Championship at a live event in Santiago, Chile, only to lose it back to Liv Morgan at Money in the Bank in a bad triple threat that she demanded after attacking Liv and Becky during their underwhelming number one contender’s match.
Through it all, the three women have been mostly unlikable characters, with Vaquer looking like a fool for demanding a match and then immediately ceding the title back to Liv, and Lynch seemingly unable to portray a babyface – even a situational one.
Monday, Becky approached Vaquer and Raw GM Adam Pearce in the trainer’s room as they discussed Stephanie needing another week to heal. Lynch suggested that she get first crack at Morgan’s world championship since Vaquer is sidelined.
Pearce deemed that since Stephanie was out of action, no one would be fighting anytime soon. Lynch smugly pointed out that Adam’s one job is to make matches, and now he was refusing to do so. This led to another one-on-one match to determine the new number one contender, despite both women having just lost a PLE match for the title.
Vaquer gets less cool by the day, while Lynch continues to burn through any babyface goodwill. It’s a very odd dynamic, and it’s not even producing good matches in the ring, so what’s the point?
2. No-Funko Bop
Generally speaking, anytime you present a product where massively over Dominik Mysterio jobs in his hometown to a giant Funko Pop head, it’s automatically a dump of a product.
JD McDonagh faced Joe Hendry Monday night, the latest development in their epic feud over a substandard satire performance in which Hendry alleged that JD’s mum slept with a Funko Pop, and that’s how we ended up with McDonagh. It’s worth noting that this bit of story has been rewritten, and now the Funko Pop head is described as JD’s twin rather than his true father.
But that’s not the worst part. Raw emanated from San Diego this week. The last time WWE broadcast from this city, Dominik Mysterio was on top of his game, winning the Intercontinental Championship back from John Cena in his hometown to a massive pop. Fans recognized Dominik as a serious star and treated him with a hero’s welcome.
Monday night, they saw Mysterio, 11 months removed from that career high, bumping for a novelty Funko Pop head being worn by a little person. Dirty Dom received a stomp on the toes and a headbutt from the Funko, drawing little reaction from the crowd. The payoff to this entire shtick was for McDonagh to finally grab a guitar and waffle the Funko mid-match. Yep.
The match was just “eh.” JD won with his flying headbutt. Get it?
1. Tag Title Props
WWE supposedly has a rule that says a champion must defend their title within 30 days or they are forced to relinquish the title. We’ve seen this plot vehicle used recently with Chelsea Green after she suffered an injury.
However, that rule is enforced unevenly, to say the least. Part-timers like Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns famously have gone months without defending their world titles. Roman has had two gaps of more than 30 days during this World Heavyweight Championship reign alone.
Some of the worst offenders in WWE today, though, are wrestlers who are on Raw every week wearing their titles, despite never defending them.
The Vision won the World Tag Team Championship more than 100 days ago in July and have not defended their titles in a televised bout once. They’ve wrestled a few tag bouts in that time, but they never put the titles on the line. (They have defended the titles at house shows several times, including last weekend in Hawaii.)
What’s the point of strapping up Bron Breakker and Austin Theory, other than to give them props to carry around on television and look important? They aren’t defending the titles despite being onscreen every week.
Perhaps Penta and Je’Von Evans will challenge them for the titles after their run-ins with The Vision last week and on Monday. But until then, they’re only justifying the case for re-unifying the tag titles.
UPS...
5. Babyfaces Prevail
These Crown Jewel champion-versus-champion matches can sometimes feel completely forced, a matchup dictated by the calendar rather than an actual rivalry or issue. How WWE chooses to promote them varies.
On the women’s side, Liv Morgan versus Chelsea Green certainly feels underwhelming. Green is still considered the “accidental” champion, an interim champ who won a ladder match because Rhea Ripley was injured. Morgan just won her title back from Stephanie Vaquer and has spent far more time preening about her greatness than wrestling this year.
Last week’s rivalry launch was uneven at best, so this week, they leaned into a different title program. Iyo Sky teamed with Chelsea to take on Roxanne Perez (who pinned Green last week) and Women’s Intercontinental Champion Raquel Rodriguez, who is now in Iyo’s crosshairs.
All four women had a perfectly acceptable tag match, with the important highlights being Green diving to the outside to take out Roxanne and Liv (who had interfered), allowing Iyo to get a Rey Mysterio-esque rollup on Rodriguez for the win. That win sets her up for a title match, while Chelsea got a bit of a make-good by splatting the Women’s World Champion and the woman who pinned her.
4. Keeping Penta Busy
Once a wrestler wins Money in the Bank, it becomes an interesting case study in what WWE does with them if they hold onto the briefcase for a period of time. Do they beat them in matches, with the plan to rehab the character by cashing in the briefcase? Or do they win mid-card matches while waiting for that elevation?
The latter is somewhat what unfolded Monday night, with Penta winning his first televised match since winning MITB, defeating Bron Breakker in a hot little TV match. The crowd remained into the action, with Penta countering a press slam into a DDT and turning a spear into a Penta Driver. Breakker had a no-nonsense approach from the opening bell, no-selling Penta’s offense and double-legging him after a few chops. He caught a springboarding Penta with a spear for a close two-count near the end of the match.
That’s when Austin Theory and Maxxine Dupri got involved, providing a distraction and trying to use the briefcase. But Je’Von Evans – or at least a mummy that looked like the Young OG – made the save and walloped Breakker, exacting a measure of revenge. Penta nailed the Mexican Destroyer for the win.
Penta feuding with The Vision for a bit until he moves on to the next challenge is a perfectly good move in the short-term, especially as long as he keeps winning – and he keeps using his pyro-shooting briefcase.
3. Leaning On Rich History
There are plenty of problems with Roman Reigns’ character portrayal as a smug, overconfident, and egotistical babyface who draws “OTC” chants at every turn, but his encounter with Sami Zayn still did something.
Maybe it’s their long history and callbacks to better days in 2022-23 when WWE was humming, but the show-opening segment between Roman and Sami clicked pretty well. Reigns and Zayn expressed their affection for each other, hugged, and talked about their shared experiences of the burden of being a world champion, the disrespect they face, and the pretenders who challenge them. Mind you, this was heel Sami carrying on and babyface(?) Roman agreeing at every turn.
Reigns then turned the lovefest into a recruitment pitch, trying to enlist Sami in the Bloodline’s feud against 946. He said that the most important title Zayn has held has been Honorary Uce and suggested Sami should once again stand with the Bloodline.
When Zayn countered that he was busy fending off his own challengers on SmackDown, Roman took aim at the Undisputed WWE Championship, calling it “a title” rather than “the title” that he holds. Things broke down from there, with Sami calling out Roman’s arrogance, and the Tribal Chief saying that the WWE Title “hasn’t meant sh**” since WrestleMania 40 (when he lost it).
Sami yelled back that Roman wasn’t going to minimize the title or his accomplishment winning it, becoming increasingly angry that Roman wasn’t even sweating him and their upcoming Crown Jewel champion-versus-champion match. This led Reigns to question whether Zayn would even be champ by the time the Saudi PLE rolled around.
Setting aside the screwy face-heel dynamics with Reigns being the under-fire babyface champion acting like a complete heel toward the other heel champion, Roman and Sami have always been great together, and the strength of that relationship carried this segment. The two will likely collide again in the week before Crown Jewel, so it will be interesting to see how they ratchet up the aggression and tension then.
2. Gang Wars Finally Get A General
Since it began, WWE’s Gang Wars between 946 and the Bloodline has felt like an undercard feud masquerading as a main event rivalry. Roman Reigns has stood on the sidelines, seemingly oblivious to everything happening while the cartoonish violence continued to increase.
Monday, the silliness finally dissipated when the Usos called out 946, which obliged. The group was waylaid by a surprise attack from Solo Sikoa, but they had a four-on-three advantage and took control… until Roman Reigns finally joined the party.
The Tribal Chief stood with his cousins and led the attack on 946, helping to clear the ring and stand tall as Raw went off the air.
Even if Roman is not there every week (he won’t be), this was notable because it was the first time Reigns truly got involved or did more than simply reference 946. Say what you will about him being an absentee champion, but Roman’s star power carries weight, and his absence diminished this story greatly. By being part of it – even for one week – he’s acknowledged 946 and validated the feud.
Yes, the entire premise is still stupid, and it very well might slink back to the “down” column next week when the next vehicular assault or kidnapping takes place, but this at least grounded the feud as something serious and not an angle relegated to the Bloodline B-Team.
1. Wild IC Triple Threat Steals Show
Since winning the Intercontinental Championship, Chad Gable has been a one-man hit factory, churning out excellent television matches while defending his title.
Monday, he decided to battle two of his former opponents at the same time: Dragon Lee and Rey Mysterio (in his hometown). The result was a scintillating match worked at a blistering pace that featured counter after counter, and stacked sequences that built off one another.
Gable and Dragon had a nice powerbomb reversal sequence that ended with Lee hooking in the Styles Clash, only for Rey to springboard crossbody Dragon to break it up. Gable hooked ankle locks on both repeatedly. They had a fun moment with Dragon hitting his diving double stomp on Mysterio, then charged at Gable in the other corner, only to be thrown into the turnbuckles.
Rey looked to have the match won after taking out both men with 619s and then nailing Dragon with a frog splash, but Gable saved at the last second. Mysterio nearly pulled off a miracle in his hometown, but Gable managed to lock in a rollup for the win.
The good feelings did not last, though, as Ethan Page attacked Rey and Chad, while Big Cass wiped out Dragon outside. Page made it clear that he wanted the IC Title, setting up Gable’s next feud.
The attacks also provided an immediate page-turner (no pun intended) from the sting of Rey losing and focused fans’ venom on All Ego and Cass. Nicely done.
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