Welcome to Wrestling Inc.'s weekly review of "WWE Raw," the show where it appears that we can finally say Seth Rollins' recent injury might not be a work! Yes, this week's episode was bookended by Adam Pearce vacating the World Heavyweight Championship and Jey Uso earning the right to face CM Punk for it, and we'll talk about both those things here in the column. We also have some other stuff to cover like our new World Tag Team Champions and Becky Lynch losing another match to Maxxine Dupri before finding some choice words for Paul Heyman and some stuff we didn't care about as much, like Dominik Mysterio retaining the men's IC title and Nikki Bella making her return.
As always, if you missed the show and need to know absolutely everything that went down regardless of what stood out to the WINC staff, check out our "Raw" results page. If you want to know our opinions on the stuff that did stand out, here are three things we hated and three things we loved about the 10/20/25 episode of "WWE Raw."
As a character, many fans know Paul Heyman to be a man who will say whatever he needs to in order to stay on the good side of whatever talent or talents he's managing. While that may make for a great way to generate heat for him from the fans, it doesn't exactly work as a kayfabe reason for him to have abruptly pivoted his loyalties from Seth Rollins to Bron Breakker.
For the most part, the opening promo segment of this show was perfectly okay if not, forgettable. Adam Pearce provided a concise explanation for the extend of Rollins' shoulder injury and how a new World Heavyweight Champion would be determined before Bron Breakker confronted him. The problem more so came at the end of the segment when Heyman explained his reason for betraying Rollins.
Although I can understand that WWE had to change courses quickly when Rollins sustained his shoulder injury, it still doesn't really explain why Heyman had to cut a promo explaining that he had always been loyal to Breakker over Rollins in a manner that felt more contradictory than anything. Heyman clearly knew what he was doing when he betrayed Roman Reigns and CM Punk to join Rollins at WrestleMania before Breakker had ever entered the picture on-screen, so to have him turn around and say otherwise by claiming he was always loyal to Breakker the entire time felt silly. It actively felt like WWE was trying to retcon that plot point in the minds of fans in the hopes that they would forget to quickly explain the sudden turn on Rollins. It would've made much more sense to have Heyman that while he initially joined Rollins seeing him as the future of the wrestling business only to have later realized that Breakker was the real future and ultimately side with him.
Written byOliviaQuinlan
130 days ago, Finn Balor and JD McDonagh won the World Tag Team Championship from The New Day. On July 28, they defended them against LWO. Monday night, they defended them for just the second time during their entire title reign, and they lost them. It should have been an exciting moment, but ... meh.
Before this week, AJ Styles and Dragon Lee had tagged together just two times and competed as a trio with Penta. Ten days ago, Styles confirmed his plans to retire sometime next year. This win felt like it was just to give Styles another title before he retires. There's nothing wrong with that, but it feels odd since he has only teamed with Lee twice and because Judgment Day only defended them twice in just over four months.
Tag team wrestling isn't much of a priority in WWE and even less so on "Raw." New Day held the title for 72 days and only defended it twice. Prior to that, War Raiders lost their titles on their fifth defense. When Balor and McDonagh (Balor and Damien Priest held the titles on two occasions) held the tag titles last June, they lost them on their third title defense. You get the picture. Although Styles being one half of the champions will hopefully mean the titles get defended more, I don't have much faith that it'll happen based on WWE's track record for the last year. If they let Styles and Lee defend them more regularly, maybe they can make the titles mean something again, but as the division stands now, this title change didn't do much for me.
Written by Samantha Schipman
In recent years, Becky Lynch has very clearly made it her mission to build up and legitimize the next generation of female WWE stars. Her primary project, obviously, has been her protege Lyra Valkyria, but we've seen her work with several young, unproven stars of the women's division in an attempt to make them, from Xia Li to ZoeyStark to Tiffany Stratton. Most recently, Lynch appears to have turned her attention to Alpha Academy's Maxxine Dupri, and the results so far have been promising or at the very least, entertaining!
Two weeks ago, Dupri scored a count-out victory over Lynch in what was probably the best match of her career so far. This week's women's IC title match wasn't quite at the same level, but it was still impressive in two distinct ways. First, Lynch's heel work continues to be top shelf and once again got the "Raw" audience much more invested in the match by the end than they were at the beginning. Her Donald Trump parody character, and specifically the way it translates in the ring, is beyond incredible, and the perfect thing to get crowds on their feet for Dupri's natural babyface energy. Second, Lynch technically lost this match to Dupri once again, this time by disqualification when Lynch deliberately hit Dupri with the title belt to end the match. Showing the audience how scared she is of Dupri she's so worried about Dupri taking her title that she'll eat another loss to keep the gold safe is about as effective a way of putting Dupri over as anything short of having Dupri actually win the belt.
That's actually the one flaw in the ointment here; at this point, it's going to be hard to accept any resolution to this feud that isn't "Dupri wins the belt." Lynch might be all about helping the next generation, but her actually dropping the title to Maxxine Dupri feels like a stretch, even if the story they've been telling appears to call for it. I'll reserve judgment until I see what they actually do, but I'm a little worried about the possibility of all this very productive work getting slapped with a very un-productive ending. That said, Lynch continues to be entertaining as hell in this role, Dupri looks like she's finally improving in the ring and growing as a wrestler, and the matches themselves have been better than any of us had a right to expect going in. Even if they don't stick the landing, I'm very gratified by the extent to which I've been enjoying the ride.
Written byMiles Schneiderman
"The Man" is back.
Alright, that might be jumping to conclusions, but in Becky Lynch's backstage promo segment against the treacherous, "snake oil salesman" Paul Heyman, shades of her former glory shone through every venomous word that cut at "The Oracle's" frantic disposition. Lynch, a woman who made her career off of her tough-as-nails babyface mic work, worked wonders tonight, and even though heel Lynch is worth her weight in gold, I can't help but giggle and kick my feet at the thought of our beloved "Man" coming back to screens.
Moments after Heyman's pleas for The Vision's places in Monday night's World Heavyweight Champion Battle Royale were shut down by Adam Pearce, Lynch confronted Heyman, who immediately delved into his desperate blabbers. You can say anything you want about the Hall of Famer, but you have to admit, Paul Heyman is very good at being very pathetic.
As Heyman blabbered on and on, Lynch met him with a cold stare and when I say "cold," I mean *cold.* Lynch has been seen on television with her own share of blabber and chatter (as she should, as a heel). For her to indulge in complete opposite, a silent stare, is powerful. Her ice-cold, unimpressed gaze could put the fear of God in anyone, especially as someone as snivelling as Heyman, more than words ever can. Call it whatever you want presence, aura, a vibe Lynch's dead, silent stare was a statement in and of itself.
When Lynch finally did talk, she didn't *just* talk. She grabbed Heyman's shirt and tie, and unceremoniously pulled him in. She whispered lowly, cruelly. Again, we have the juxtaposition of her recent heel character with Monday night's silence. The stark contrast grabs your attention immediately why is mouthpiece Becky suddenly falling silent? Why is the typically cowardly heel Lynch, a woman who has hid behind her husband, suddenly grappling with a Hall of Famer? While the content of her promo doesn't entirely track I don't buy that Rollins was fully aware of Heyman's involvement in The Vision's Judas plot Lynch speaks so convincingly that you have no other choice than to believe it.
By the time Lynch was done threatening Heyman's next proteges on her husband's behalf, Heyman had (probably) soiled his pants, and I had fallen deeper in love with Lynch (if that was even possible). I enjoy heel Becky for who she is, but I will always appreciate "The Man:" especially in a division who is hurting for a face-of-the-brand babyface outside of Stephanie Vaquer. Whether "The Man" sticks around beyond this point is anyone's guess, but I'm glad that we saw a glimpse of her Monday night, if only for a moment.
Written byAngeline Phu
While I'm certain it couldn't have been easy for WWE creative to pivot following Seth Rollins' injury and him being stripped of the title, I thought a battle royal was kind of a strange way to determine CM Punk's opponent for Saturday Night's Main Event next week. I don't know if it's maybe the frequency of battle royals in WWE, or the fact there were already a few clear potential options for a number one contender, but this just didn't land for me.
Sure, it was kind of interesting, but there wasjusta number one contender's triple threat last week, the one where Punk came out victorious. It would have made sense to me to run LA Knight versus Jey Uso, as they were the two people Imost expected to come out victorious in the battle royal since they were involved in the triple threat match, especially with "Raw" General Manager Adam Pearce removing Bron Breakker and BronsonReed from the match entirely.
It ended up being Uso to win the match, and though Iwill agree that his story with Jimmy is somewhat interesting, despite us having seen their drama before, it was just too predictable of a win for me and seemed like a waste of a battle royal. I don't know why WWE just didn't run Uso versus Knight, with Breakker and Reed banned from ringside, or something. The only relatively unpredictable aspect to this was Intercontinental Champion Dominik Mysterio being in the final two alongside Uso, rather than Knight.
I expected to see Breakker and Reed come out to cause some kind of chaos after the match with Uso, but that didn't happen. Despite me complaining about things being predictable here, it's kind of silly that they didn't come out to mess with Uso and Punk after the match. Reed and Breakker apparently just sat quietly in the back while the battle royal was going on, which didn't make much sense at all.
Whatever it was tonight, probably a combination of all of this, the battle royal just wasn't it. The predictable match, with a predictable winner, only leads to yet another predictable match and winner at Saturday Night's Main Event. Seems like now's the time to give Punk the title for him to hold until WrestleMania, if Rollins is going to be back, with the Usos feuding once again. It all feels very uninspired, and I guess I was looking forward to some new blood in the title picture with Breakker.
Written byDaisyRuth
The main event this week was hardly inspired, with CM Punk having earned his opportunity at the World Heavyweight Championship that had been stripped from Seth Rollins in the opening segment, and a battle royal announced to determine his new opponent. To cut a long story short, Jey Uso won the battle royal and finally secured a one-on-one rematch for the title he had lost to Gunther months ago.
That in itself, personally, doesn't feel like an issue; Uso has seen this year legitimize the "Main Event" moniker and for a time he had been clawing at the opportunity to remain in that spot, torn between familial conflict alongside Jimmy and Roman Reigns against The Vision and his own singles pursuits. While he was taking the knocks to his momentum as the babyface "YEET Man" fans had become enamored with, there was an undertone growing between Reigns and Jey. One of understanding that it takes difficult and vilifying decisions to remain at the top, putting oneself before others, and carrying the self-importance of the "Tribal Chief."
At Crown Jewel in Perth, that came to a head when the Usos' assistance came at the detriment of Reigns against Reed, and Jey was given a stern reminder that together they were being picked apart. It appears to be a message that Jey has taken aboard, whereas Jimmy has yet to grasp it feeding into this idea that one knows what it's like in the main event and the other simply doesn't and that fed into the battle royal.
Jimmy had spent the entirety of the match treating it as a tag team bout, saving his brother at each and every turn before time came towards the end of the match for that to be repaid. Only, as said, Jeygets itnow, and saw Jimmy's struggle with LA Knight on the ropes as an opportunity to ensure he remains at the top. Thus, he eliminated both at the same time, and then rather aptly yeeted Dominik Mysterio over the top rope to win the entire thing, ensuring that he will be (pending Bron and Bronson's responses) facing Punk for the World Heavyweight title. It's not the most exciting match-up that could have come from tonight, but it did very well to extend the dynamic between the Usos and at least promised a solid match-up between two of the former titleholders from the past few months.
Written byMax Everett
