Welcome to Wrestling Inc.'s weekly review of "WWE Raw," a show that this week featured no fewer than three women's matches, including a world championship main event after Stephanie Vaquer was deemed medically unable to compete. The WINC staff actually have thoughts about all three women's matches, not to mention the fact that there were three women's matches in the first place, here in the column this week. We'll also discuss the opening Sami Zayn promo (though we don't have much to say about his WWE title defense) and the strange absence of content in the red-hot Bloodline vs. 946 feud.If you missed Monday's show, as always, you can catch up by checking out our "WWE Raw" 10/26/26 live blog, which contains all the objective info you could possibly want. If you're more interested in the WINC crew's subjective opinions about the matches and segments we found most interesting (for better or worse) this column is your jam.Here are three things we hated and three things we loved about the 10/26/26 episode of "WWE Raw!"
I know that there are going to be those out there who enjoyed this Sami Zayn promo from the opening moments of this episode of "Raw", and I have nothing but respect for that. I've been a long time fan of Zayn myself, but I just can't help but feel like the promo segments he's been cutting over the last few weeks have gotten really old and repetitive at this point.Zayn didn't really say anything he hasn't said in this segment, nor did it really accomplish very much to further the storyline between him and World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns heading into their Men's Crown Jewel Championship match. I will admit that I did like this a little more after Je'Von Evans got involved as it was something a bit different, but it didn't felt like it did enough to totally change my mind about the Zayn portion of this being much of the same thing we've gotten over the course of the past few weeks. When you combine that with the weird lead-in of Pearce announcing the Women's World Championship match between titleholder Liv Morgan and Becky Lynch, this just wasn't something that was for me and I would love to see WWE do something else with Zayn in these segments.Written by Olivia Quinlan
While I liked Giulia and Blake Monroe's street fight on "SmackDown" on Friday, I absolutely loved Bayley and Lyra Valkyria's feud-ending no disqualification match tonight. These women beat the hell out of one another, with Valkyria taking the brunt of it, and they put on one of the best women's matches in WWE in recent memory.I'm usually one to complain about feuds going on too long, and while this should be one of those complaints, as they've been fighting since before Saturday Night's Main Event in July, this never really got old to me. Bayley's absence there for a while following Valkyria beating her down after their SNME match certainly helped, and this wild bout put a nice bow on things. This was exactly the kind of match these women needed to have.This match got all the time it deserved, which was fantastic. It was full of plenty of weapons spots, and big spots involving those weapons, many of which got an audible "AH!" out of me, and it didn't slow down at any point.I thought Bayley looked strongest throughout this, though Valkyria certainly didn't look like a slouch, and some of the spots she took were pretty wild to suffer through and just keep on going. Valkyria hit a few big moves of her own, too, including a big dropkick that sent the back of Bayley's head crashing into the steps, and she also had an excellent counter where she got a chair up to protect herself against Bayley's elbow drop.The table spots in the match were also excellent, the first when Bayley sent them both through one set up against the commentary desk with a dive, and the second where she sent Valkyria through another with an elbow drop, leading to the end of the match. Bayley got Valkyria back in the ring, and made her tap out to a cross face, which she applied with a kendo stick across Valkyria's face, keeping things brutal to the very end.Because I'm sure it will be speculated about online, this could possibly be Bayley's last match in WWE. Her contract situation has been the subject of reports for months. I don't know what to think about that, as it feels very un-Bayley-like for her to go over if it is indeed her final bout in the company. But, if it is, I personally don't mind that she got the victory, as I think it makes sense with Valkyria's unhinged character.Written by DaisyRuth
After it's been such a big deal on the red brand for weeks, from near-vehicular homicide to adding new members and finally, last week, Roman Reigns getting involved, the lack of the 946 vs. Bloodline feud on this show was really surprising. Reigns wasn't advertised for Fresno, but I still expected to at least see the Usos and Solo Sikoa in person after the faction ran off 946 and stood tall to end last week's episode.We did see both factions in pre-recorded segments, one where Royce Keys called out Solo Sikoa for a match on "Raw" next week in Brooklyn, then another where Sikoa accepted, but after how hyped up things have been for quite some time now, it all felt pretty weak. I guess WWE could be pacing things out, since Survivor Series isn't for another month, but it just felt odd.Seeing Reigns in a pre-recorded segment also kind of took me out of things, as I obviously knew he wasn't at the show, so it had to have been recorded last week. Maybe that's just a me thing, because seeing him standing in the background of something could be perceived as better than not seeing him at all, but it just wasn't for me. Not to mention the Bloodline's segment was actually pretty poorly shot, with Sikoa barely in focus until the very end despite being in the foreground.If the Usos and Sikoa cut a promo in the ring, only to be confronted by 946 in their video segment, with Sikoa accepting Keys' challenge in front of the crowd, that would have made a bit more sense to me. This episode of "Raw" felt all over the place in moments, starting with Stephanie Vaquer being pulled from the number one contender's match against Becky Lynch, then Sami Zayn's opening promo feeling like it went on forever. With how strange the show felt at points, seeing the consistent Bloodline in a short in-ring segment, especially with the crowd reaction they always get even without Reigns, would have made things feel a bit more normal.Written byDaisyRuth
It's a little bit of a headscratcher as to why this was a non-title match, but that didn't stop it from being a very good match between IYO SKY and Raquel Rodriguez this week. At this point it's been made abundantly clear that SKY could wrestle a blanket to an instant classic, and she did well to accentuate the best of Rodriguez in a match of high-flying and fast pace clashing with sheer size and power.SKY started off quick as she would need to do to get Rodriguez rocked, with the opening stages becoming a game of how much she could do before she was inevitably caught and grounded for a stretch of dominance from the champion. That turned the contest into one of survival and then a back-and-forth that effectively did what wrestling does best.The babyface was the physical underdog but career veteran; the heel was physically domineering and, as a rising star on the cusp of the world title picture, had more of that point to prove. That's the basis for a solid David vs. Goliath contest and between them they had the graps to back it up. It was given the time it deserved to flourish into an enjoyable contest, one that could really have only been made better with more time and probably the title on the line.It goes to show that programming benefits from just stripping back on the hokey entertainment aspects and letting two wrestlers do what their job description entails. This was one really good match on a show chock full of really good matches and it made for a fun time while also serving future programming. It's clear in retrospect that the reasoning behind making this a non-title match was to hand SKY the win and precede the eventual title match at a later date. One could argue that wasn't necessary, but it is a promise that there will be another match further down the line, and if it is a title match with added time then there's no reason that can't be better than this one, which is exciting. That makes one want to watch the subsequent shows much more than ruining a finish with interference.Written by MaxEverett
The October 26 episode of "WWE Raw" was, for the most part, very good. Lots of great wrestling, good promos, and it didn't feel like there was any wasted motion between segments. Everything seemed to flow together nicely but that all changed when we got to the main event.In the final match of the night, Liv Morgan defended her WWE Women's World Championship against Becky Lynch in an impromptu bout that was originally meant to be Lynch taking on Stephanie Vaquer. However, due to Vaquer not being medically cleared, Lynch was fast-tracked to a title match, much to the disdain of the champion who had a severe case of "booboo face" when she walked out, to the point where I actually thought she might have been told that she was dropping the title. That didn't happen of course, but it would have been a lot better than what actually happened.The match itself was fine, nothing special but nothing terrible either. If anything it was when everything started going downhill where the match looked like it could enter good territory. The Judgment Day came out to provide a distraction which didn't pan out as well as they wanted as Lynch got the better of Raquel Rodriguez and Roxanne Perez, but they got the last laugh. Lynch cut off an Oblivion from Morgan and hit a Manhandle Slam that led to Perez and Rodriguez interfering for a disqualification finish.Non-finishes are never going to sit right in this day and age. I get you want to keep your top stars strong, but this is such a common theme in WWE it's actually hilarious how many people are afraid to be left looking at the lights. Morgan is going into a champion vs. champion match with Chelsea Green next week let her get the win properly. It doesn't have to be clean, but at least let her look like, you know, a champion.Everything that happened afterwards was overbooked to death, but Tiffany Stratton was the cherry on top of all of this because, in case anyone forgot, she tried this same trick on "WWE SmackDown." The fact Stratton has teased a cash-in two shows in a row leaves you thinking that this going to be a trend for weeks, or maybe even months, and that just isn't what you want. You can only tease something so many times before people get sick of it and just want her to cash-in, not because the fans want to see Stratton as champion, but because it gets rid of the briefcase for another year. A rough ending to what was a solid show overall.Written by Sam Palmer
WWE has not been great about booking women for a long time and has waded back into #GiveDivasAChance territory, particularly on "SmackDown." Imagine my surprise when not one, not two, but three women's matches were booked for tonight's "Raw." They were all given time to breathe and tell a story. It was a nice change of pace from what we normally get.Bayley and Lyra Valkyria have been telling a months long story that culminated in a no disqualification match tonight. The match was brutal and they didn't hold back. Bayley and Valkyria delivered a PLE worthy match in a match befitting of their feud.Immediately after their match, it went into a promo from IYO SKY. Her match with Raquel Rodriguez started next. This was a solid match that didn't have any outside interference from the Judgment Day until after SKY got the win.The women main-evented the show and it was for Liv Morgan's title just days before Crown Jewel. She faced Becky Lynch after it was announced Stephanie Vaquer wasn't medically cleared. These two delivered a really strong match and Lynch was moments away from winning when WWE did what they always do: have a main event match end due to outside interference. Roxanne Perez and Rodriguez attacked Lynch to save Morgan from losing. This led to Morgan's Crown Jewel opponent Chelsea Green getting involved and Tiffany Stratton attempting to cash in on Morgan. Dominik Mysterio pulled Morgan from the ring and the ref didn't make her get back in the ring (this same scenario played out on "SmackDown," minus Mysterio).Despite the DQ finish, all three matches were really strong. It proves that when given the time, the women will deliver, and it's something they should lean into every week.Written by Samantha Schipman
