8 Ups & 3 Downs From WWE Monday Night Raw (September 25 - Results & Review)
2. Dominik Mysterio Vs Dragon Lee
There was zero effort made to try and make sense of this match happening before the planned Mustafa Ali NXT No Mercy title fight that now can't happen at all, but that was the only complaint from an improbably thrilling television bout that comfortably became the best of Dominik Mysterio's career.
A main roster coming out party for Dragon Lee against an ostensibly overmatched Champion, this fused his lung-bursting offence with company-branded Sports Entertainment high drama to craft a minor miracle right out of the top drawer.
The booking was strange but not unprecedented. Mysterio has quietly improved beyond the original "if he ever gets good, this is finished" magic of the character, but was humiliated by Cody Rhodes last week. Whilst much of this evidently existed to showcase the Challenger and NXT as a brand overall, credible clean wins here and there will do the work in legitimising him as The Judgement Day continue their hostile takeover of WWE. One of the most unlikely triumphs of 2023, people will speak about this match at the end of the year if WWE remember how high a pedestal it was placed on here.