Welcome to Wrestling Inc.'s weekly review of "WWE Raw," the show that saw the 946 get yet another new member in the form of Cruz Montana! We have lots to say about that here in the column this week; we'll also discuss our new men's Intercontinental champion, John Cena's news dump about the Classic, and more!If you missed the show, as always, you can catch up by checking out our "WWE Raw" 11/2/26 live blog, which has all the objective information you need to know about Monday's chain of events. If you want to know what the WINC crew thought of those events at least the matches and segments we found most interesting this is the column for you.Here are three things we hated and three things we loved about the 11/2/26 episode of "WWE Raw!"
Well this was a lot wasn't it?One of the biggest talking points heading into the November 2 episode of "WWE Raw" was the first sighting of John Cena in nearly six months. The former 17-time WWE Champion hadn't been seen in the company since his special appearance at WWE Backlash 2026 where he announced the John Cena Classic. Now we have more information on it and it's ... something.Let's start with the one glaring positive which is the premise of putting a spotlight on "WWE NXT," something Cena was very big on when it came to his retirement show in December of last year. He's very aware that the only way WWE and wrestling as a whole survives is with the next generation, so give them the shine now because that's what happened to his generation and it worked wonders.Now on to the rest of the segment. We have another pointless title belt to look at now, and to be honest, the belt is a half-baked job. Structurally similar to Cena's spinner belt but with that modern blandness sprayed all over it, just an ugly looking thing.The fact that the show takes place on the same day as another episode of "Raw" is also something that I think is a bit backwards. WWE is running Wrestlepalooza in Perth, Australia that weekend and "Raw" on that Monday, meaning that a lot of your biggest stars aren't going to be at the John Cena Classic. Before you run to the comments and say "But Cody Rhodes is in it and he's a big star," don't you think the people of Australia paid money expecting to see someone like Cody Rhodes? Probably, which means that both audiences kind of get short-changed with who they will see. There will be people in Australia not getting the full ticket because the people they want are in Disneyworld, and there will be fans in Disneyworld not getting what they want either because they are on the other side of the actual world.But then there was the real kicker, which was people could vote on who wins the whole thing, but only if they sign up to Club WWE. That is what this whole thing is, a big fat promotional campaign to get people to sign up to something that is a worse version of something the company already had ten years ago. Right there is when this whole thing lost me, and even Randy Orton saying "circlej***" couldn't pull me back in. The John Cena Classic is a big marketing campaign masquerading as a nice idea, and I'm already not looking forward to it.Written by Sam Palmer
The feud pitting World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns against Undisputed WWE Champion and former Honorary Uce Sami Zayn leading into Crown Jewel has been fantastic. The champions are making the fight over a meaningless title personal, and it's made their bout for the Crown Jewel Championship on Saturday a must-see.Monday night, Reigns further discredited Zayn and what he's accomplished since leaving the Bloodline. In his very high-and-mighty Reigns way, he said that if he never brought Zayn into the Bloodline, he wouldn't be making millions of dollars every year, and he certainly wouldn't be a champion right now. I really liked the fact Reigns brought up Zayn's WWE WrestleMania 38 match against Johnny Knoxville here, saying "when I found you, you were just Johnny Knoxville's little b****," which teed up what I thought was the perfect response from Zayn. It also brought a little bit of something new, and very specific, into this promo segment.Zayn said that while nobody has forgotten his match against Knoxville at 'Mania 38, they've forgotten who Reigns faced, and he was in the main event. Completely true, for me, at least, and I loved that line. He went a step further and said the most memorable thing Reigns has done in the last five years is "get hit by a chair," and it was Zayn who was swinging it. While not exactly true, Zayn had such fire behind him throughout this entire portion of the promo, it was believable.While I'm not the biggest fan of his heel character, Zayn can cut one hell of a heel promo, and I thought it honestly leaned a bit face. He said that nobody gets to take credit for his championship victory, and he won't be disrespected by Reigns, the fans, or by anyone. He also said he deserved Reigns' undivided attention, as the "Tribal Chief" is currently also distracted by 946, and he was going to get it one way or the other.That led to the closing moment of the night, where Zayn came out after 946 had beaten down the Bloodline, and delivered a Helluva Kick to Reigns. I loved how that line came back around and made a ton of sense, as Zayn would want to get a good shot at Reigns in ahead of their match on Saturday.I love how WWE has made me care about this Crown Jewel match, as Reigns, and especially Zayn, are both excellent promos. It's hot enough to the point I would love for Zayn to be involved in WarGames somehow, but the feud is also good enough that it can be put on the backburner, and heated up again at some point soon enough.Written byDaisyRuth
If you ask me who's more likely to win the Women's Crown Jewel Championship between Liv Morgan and Chelsea Green, I'm more inclined to pick Morgan just because of how strongly she's been booked by WWE as of late. With that in mind, Green certainly did not come off looking very strong here by being pinned by Morgan in their Six Woman Tag Team Match pinning Judgment Day against Green, Tiffany Stratton, and IYO SKY.Regardless of who actually wins at Crown Jewel, Morgan and Green should both be looking really strong heading into the Premium Live Event as the two top women's champions on "WWE Raw" and "WWE SmackDown." It helps to keep fans interested and guessing as to what comes next, but Green taking the pin here makes her look really terrible. There were two other women on her team who could've easily taken the pin instead of Green to at least keep her looking a little bit stronger, and it didn't really make much sense to me as to why Morgan was the one pinning Green here. It felt like such a baffling choice that took away from what was otherwise a perfectly fine match.Written by Olivia Quinlan
This week was a "WWE Raw" like much of the past weeks' episodes, in that Chad Gable put the Intercontinental Championship on the line to great effect, putting on a very good match that left one wanting more in the best way possible. Where it differentiated, however, was Gable losing the title to this week's opponent, Ethan Page. And I, for one, am more than okay with Page as Intercontinental Champion.What made this match tantalizing other than the title change was that it flowed in such a logical way; every move had purpose and even the movement between the moves carried some of that for good measure. Seeds were sown in the earlier stages to bloom in the later, with Gable selling a neck injury and Page looking for any which way to steal the title as he eventually would.This was the culmination of Gable's title run, putting himself through the ringer to justify his hold on it. He was beaten coming into it, and he had a kinesiology taped target on his neck. He still managed to target a limb of his own, driving at the left leg after smashing it against the ring posts.He was relentless in searching and cinching in the ankle lock. But it turned out to be that push that failed him, leaving himself open to be kicked back onto one of the seeds sown earlier: a turnbuckle exposed. Page then planted him on that neck with an Ego-Plex to take the title.What a match. What a moment. Hopefully, Gable moves on to bigger and better things, though he will presumably continue with Page. But in that same vein, one hopes Page will take on the baton and have as good of a title run as Gable has had, if not better.Written by Max Everett
After defeating Lyra Valkyria in the end of their feud (for now), fans have wondered what's next for Bayley. On "Raw," we seemingly got an answer. During a backstage segment, Bayley was talking to Adam Pearce when she was interrupted by Jade Cargill, B-Fab, and Michin. Michin told the decorated women's champion that Pearce wasn't talking to anyone of importance. Cargill warned Bayley to get out of her face before she ended up like Charlotte Flair. Bayley told her that people talked about her and that she's pathetic, as are Michin and B-Fab. They took offense to that and a short time later, they jumped Bayley backstage.If this is planting seeds for the women's WarGames match, it's not off to a great start. It felt like they were building up a feud between Cargill and Bayley only. No one came to Bayley's aid. Even if they don't like her, why wouldn't "Raw" talent be mad that women from "SmackDown" invaded their show and attacked one of their biggest stars? Not only did they disrespect her during the segment with Pearce, they beat her down during a segment that was already happening. No one cared enough to help her.The Baddies have had an ongoing feud with Flair, Alexa Bliss, and Tatum Paxley. That seems like a more natural story for a WarGames match. If they wanted Bayley in the match, The Baddies could've started with them and then Flair could convince her former Horsewoman to join their team. This seems like a convoluted way to get to a WarGames match.Written by Samantha Schipman
The 946 are officially ready for the yet-to-be-announced WarGames match at the end of the month with the addition of "WWE NXT" star Cruz Montana, the former TNA World Champion Mike Santana. Montana made his debut on WWE's developmental brand in July, and has at least one "NXT" match remaining when he goes one-on-one with Dion Lennox in an unsanctioned bout on Wednesday. That didn't stop him from appearing tonight in a mask to neutralize World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns in his hometown of New York City, however.The main event saw Royce Keys take on the Bloodline's Solo Sikoa, which of course ended in a disqualification right when it looked as though Sikoa had the match won. The in-ring action wasn't terrible, but the crowd didn't seem to be into it, probably, in part, because they knew the outcome. That changed a bit when Reigns' music hit after the bell rang, and he came out with the Usos to even the numbers game. The inevitable brawl started in the ring, and when Reigns had the scene cleared and Keys down with a Superman punch in the ring, he looked for the spear, but was intercepted by a masked man.While WWE makes it easy to get sick of the whole masked men gimmick, there had to be a fifth member of 946 to even things out for a five-on-five WarGames match, with Fatu presumably returning to rejoin the Bloodline, so this was still exciting. There had been rumors online about Montana possibly being the final member, but I just wasn't sure what his plans were in "NXT." He revealed himself, by first pulling out his gold chains from underneath his shirt, before pulling off his mask to show himself to the crowd.Montana then took it upon himself to beat down Reigns further in the ring, while the rest of 946 caused further destruction. That led to Jimmy Uso being handcuffed to the bottom rope, and a final appearance by Sami Zayn to Helluva Kick Reigns, his Crown Jewel opponent. The end of the show was exciting, and this is one of the best WarGames builds in recent memory.I won't mind in the slightest if 946 gets involved in Montana's possibly final match in "NXT" this week. WWE has been loading, and hyping, up the card, as the show will go up against "AEW Dynamite: Blood & Guts," and this certainly added some much-needed intrigue to the Montana vs. Lennox bout. The faction is the most interesting thing in WWE right now, and Montana's inclusion only helps that fact.Written byDaisyRuth
