6 Ups & 4 Downs From WWE Monday Night Raw (3 November - Results & Review)
DOWNS…
4. An Underwhelming First Reveal
THE LAST TIME IS NOW TOURNAMENT BEGINS NEXT WEEK! ? FIRST ROUND MATCH JUST ANNOUNCED:
SHEAMUS vs. SHINSUKE NAKAMURA!
Could one of these men be John Cena's final opponent? pic.twitter.com/rYlcHrivrBAdvertisement— WWE (@WWE) November 4, 2025
When it was announced during Saturday Night’s Main Event, the Last Time Is Now Tournament to name John Cena’s final opponent sounded like a great idea. An all-star tourney of 16 wrestlers vying to be the last man to challenge Cena could provide some intrigue and interesting matchups, even if they didn’t really deliver on their promise of surprises with non-WWE wrestlers entering the mix.
Then came Monday, and Raw GM Adam Pearce announced the first four competitors. Woof.
Next Monday, Rusev will face Damian Priest, while Shinsuke Nakamura will take on Sheamus. While you could argue that there are two former world champions in that group, and two of the four were former rivals of Cena, neither match jumped off the page (though Rusev/Priest is somewhat intriguing).
Granted, there are 12 names still to be revealed, but this first announcement didn’t exactly inspire confidence. There’s plenty of time to swing this the other way, and the matches could deliver. First reactions, though, do carry some weight.