3 Ups & 5 Downs From WWE Raw (Results & Review - 9 Nov)
Poor creative, average wrestling and more gang wars shenanigans dominate subpar episode.
Promo trains. Impromptu matches. Recycling match hooks. More Gang Wars vehicle stuff.
Welcome to WWE in 2026, where creative bankruptcy is the order of the day, and relying on tropes is the easiest way to fill 2 and a 1/2 hours of Raw programming.
Raw delivered another subpar show that was once again bolstered by a couple of SmackDown superstars appearing on the program. Otherwise, the wrestling was bang average, with 2 of the 4 matches being made on the fly and a main event segment booked midway through the show.
The new tag champs immediately got mauled, not to set up a title feud but to put over another wrestler involved in a singles rivalry with a different superstar.
The brand new Intercontinental Champion endured a parade of potential challengers who walked out and bickered until the authority figure could earn his pay and do what every fan in attendance and watching on TV knew was coming and booked a number one contender’s match.
The creative team recycled a 3-month-old hook for a Judgment Day tag match, with one babyface wrestler promising a surprise tag partner.
At the very least, WWE has booked a traditional Survivor Series match to go along with a men’s and women’s WarGames, which will be the usual bloodless WWE plunder matches.
Oh, and Cruz Montana is already part of the furniture.
Let’s get to it…
Downs…
5. Tag Team Chumps
When Penta and Je’Von Evans won the World Tag Team Titles at Crown Jewel, there was legitimate relief that they had freed the tag titles from The Vision - a stable that somehow managed to not defend the straps once in 4 months.
Surely, 'Mr. Money In The Bank' would help bring prestige and dignity back to these neglected titles.
Penta and Evans opened Raw to celebrate their win, which was a good sign. Then, Bron Breakker took out both men in seconds before calling out Oba Femi for his role in Saturday’s tag title match. Just like that, the new tag champs (including a guy who is all but guaranteed to become a World Champ) were brushed aside and disappeared.
The tag champs would reappear after The Vision caused a disqualification in the impromptu match between Breakker and Femi, essentially hanging out backstage rather than having the back of the guy directly responsible for them winning said titles.
This is typical nonsensical WWE booking: Neuter the new tag champs to put over the guy who is going to show a** to 'The Guy', then have them leave so they can pop the crowd with a run-in save rather than stay to neutralise Logan Paul and Austin Theory.
Penta and Je’Von look like goofs; sidekicks to Oba rather than new champions in their own right. Having them hang around and stay in Femi’s corner would've made a good deal of sense, but maybe not booking them to get owned 48 hours into their reign would have been a smart move as well.
4. Another Unsatisfying Non-Finish
Oba Femi vs. Bron Breakker is a battle for the future of WWE, at least that’s what they tell everyone repeatedly.
That match-up might very well be a great “next generation” collision, but the company has presented it twice to fans, and both matches have ended in disqualifications, with Monday’s bout being an impromptu contest after Oba answered Bron’s challenge for a fight.
The match itself revealed the bones of a good PLE-quality rivalry, but that’s twice WWE has pulled the rug out from underneath fans with a Vision run-in. It’s difficult to tell audiences that this is a much-anticipated, industry-defining feud and then throw it out there with no notice, let them wrestle 10 minutes and have Austin Theory and Logan Paul break it up.
The law of diminishing returns says that if WWE keeps doing this, people are going to stop caring about this pairing. Or, at the very least, fans aren’t going to buy this as the future of the company being on the line.
3. Further Burying Raquel
The booking of Raquel Rodriguez demonstrates how bankrupt WWE creative is in 2026.
The company put the Women’s Intercontinental Championship on Rodriguez in late July, ending the Sol Ruca experiment. Raquel then successfully defended the title once in late August and hasn’t defended it in 10 weeks.
Since then, she’s become a punching bag for IYO SKY, who has now pinned her 3 times in the past 3 weeks, twice in tag matches (whilst Roxanne Perez was RIGHT THERE). This naturally led to Raw GM Adam Pearce forcing Raquel to finally defend her title against IYO next week.
Booking a secondary champion to lose repeatedly on television as a means to create a “feud” for a title match is very Vince-coded behavior, which shows that WWE truly can’t shake its worst habits as an institution. Just get the belt off Rodriguez and onto someone genuinely popular like SKY if you’re not going to book Raquel to do anything interesting whatsoever.
2. Promo Train Leads To Another Impromptu Match
WWE continued to show that they’re bereft of original ideas and went full trope on Monday night.
New Intercontinental Champion Ethan Page came out to gloat about his title win last week, arriving to the arena in a sports car with 4 models on his arm. Before he could really get going, Chad Gable walked out to congratulate Page...and to call him an a**hole.
Before we could get to the requisite challenge for a rematch, Big Cass walked out to demand a title match. And you can see where this was going, because Rey Fenix made his way to the ring to stake his claim to an IC Title match since he had beaten Page a few weeks ago.
If you’ve watched more than 5 episodes of Raw in your lifetime, you knew what was coming next: Raw GM Adam Pearce appeared on the ramp to make a Triple Threat bout to determine Page’s next opponent for the Intercontinental Championship right then and there.
Promo trains are almost always insufferable, pointless and character-defying, and this one was no different. Why on earth would Cass stand there between Fenix and Gable and just argue with them on mic, when his entire gimmick has been “stacking bodies” and attacking much smaller men (like the guys flanking him)?!
Gable bickering for a title match seconds after saying he lost “fair and square” also doesn’t compute.
This also made for the second impromptu match in the first hour of the show, begging the question: What was Pearce planning to do for that first 60 minutes if people hadn’t come out the argue in the ring? Vamp? Do card tricks?
1. 946 Gets Owned
You almost have to feel bad for Cruz Montana, which is not something one would envision saying after he got called up to the main roster.
Montana debuted last week as the latest hooded figure to join the 946, helping to turn the tide against The Bloodline. Monday, he was just another guy getting mauled by the full-capacity Bloodline (with Jacob Fatu returning). One week in, and the former NXT Champion might as well be any random jobber getting tossed around with the rest of the group.
The confrontation between Royce Keys and Roman Reigns lasted all of 2 minutes before their lieutenants made their way out, but not before we saw The Bloodline light fire to 946’s beloved box truck (which apparently was a family heirloom). Keys was paralysed with shock until Reigns dropped him with a Superman Punch.
The brawl itself was fine, but it all led predictably to Roman grabbing a mic and doing his best William Regal, declaring that they’d square off at Survivor Series in WarGames.
Maybe after the PLE, the Bloodline can stuff 946 into a crate labeled “NXT”.
Ups…
3. Surprisingly Competitive
On paper, Bayley vs. Michin sounded like a time-filler of a match, something to take place to enable the inevitable run-ins that would set up a women’s WarGames match.
Whilst that was true, these veterans nonetheless strung together a nice little sequence through the second half of the match, turning what started as a nothing bout into a decent little back-and-forth. Michin landed her Eat Defeat finisher, but she couldn’t capitalise, and then she and Bayley fought over the 'Role Model’s' attempted elbow drop, only for Bayley to finally hit it for the win.
The brawl afterwards involving Fatal Influence, Jade Cargill, B-Fab, Charlotte Flair, Tatum Paxley and Alexa Bliss had its problems - Lainey Reed was an eternity late attacking, leaving Charlotte standing there waiting to dodge her – but it was far from the worst thing that happened on the show.
2. Oba Back In Action
It might've been in an impromptu match that ended in a disqualification, but Oba Femi finally had his first televised match in a month when he tossed Bron Breakker around.
Femi is a solid promo and an imposing figure whenever he’s on camera, but his greatest strength comes when he’s in the ring throwing wrestlers about with ease. His intensity and presence come through best when he’s beating up some hapless opponent.
Although the match didn’t have a satisfying conclusion, Oba looked pretty good here, and he and Breakker have decent chemistry. However, it felt like they were throttling it down a notch because they knew the match was ending in a DQ.
Just give us Femi vs. Austin Theory next week and let him squash 'The Pressure' in 90 seconds. Then, WWE can do the 6-man tag.
1. Tradition!
Kudos to WWE for finally bringing back a traditional 5-on-5 Survivor Series match later this month, and for stacking it from the jump.
It would've been easy to just throw a few guys out there to say you held an elimination tag match for old time’s sake, but making it 'Team USA' vs. 'Team Mexico' and getting Cody Rhodes and Rey Mysterio to serve as captains was a smart move.
Cody and Rey had their mutual admiration society cut short by Dominik Mysterio and JD McDonagh, with 'Dirty Dom' making plays to join both squads and getting shut down. CM Punk made his way out to offer his services to Rhodes, who accepted. Rey would later enlist Penta, and Cody recruited prospect Je’Von Evans.
The segment setting all of this up was lightweight stuff, but it was fun and demonstrated that this match will have some firepower to it. 'Team Mexico' will probably look to AAA to fill out most of the squad, but just having a traditional Survivor Series match is a welcome addition to the show.