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.
Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett
