Monday Night Raw Review - May 25, 2026

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Oba Femi Confronted Paul Heyman

Brock Lesnar didn't appear in person, but I did like that we got to hear from him in a video package, where he explained why he came out of "retirement"... or did he? They left that up in the air and I assume that was intentional, whether it be because he actually will be done at SummerSlam (in his home state) or because they genuinely don't know where this storyline is headed. Regardless, this was a successful segment in making Femi and Lesnar's rematch official for Clash in Italy.

Intercontinental Champion Penta def. Je'Von Evans

Since Rusev and Ethan Page have both lost to these two in respective singles matches in recent weeks, I fully expected them to get involved and cause the contest to be thrown out. I wouldn't have had an issue with that if it meant getting a Fatal 4-Way with the four of them, but I won't complain about getting a clean finish. This was a ton of fun as I figured it would be.

World Tag Team Champion Austin Theory Attacked Joe Hendry

It was established backstage right before this that Logan Paul was injured at Saturday Night's Main Event and that Theory will remain tag team champ with Bron Breakker because they're both members of The Vision. Theory also made it clear he's coming after everyone who had to do with Paul's injury, so even though Hendry wasn't there at Saturday Night's Main Event, he's been embarrassing Paul with his songs for weeks. I'm ready for Hendry to move on from doing nothing but singing and hopefully that's what this attack will lead to.

Bayley and Lyra Valkyria def. The Judgment Day (Roxanne Perez and Raquel Rodriguez)

We saw this same match a few weeks ago, just with the opposite outcome. In fact, this was a bit messier and the crowd was largely quiet. While I wasn't a fan of the matchup itself, Bayley pinning Perez leaves me thinking she'll be next in line for a shot at Liv Morgan's Women's World Championship. If Stephanie Vaquer isn't back imminently, then they need set someone up as the next number contender to the title and Bayley makes sense for that spot.

Jimmy Uso Confronted LA Knight

Yes, the Bloodline drama is definitely redundant and has been done to death, but admittedly, I found this segment intriguing. Knight and Jimmy have been allies for the last little while, but Knight took issue with how The Usos and Roman Reigns have gone about handling things with Jacob Fatu. I don't know where this is going, but I'm willing it give it a chance. The delivery from both men was especially strong I thought. On a side note, I should note that Knight started the segment declaring for the King of the Ring tournament, which he is guaranteed to not win.

Seth Rollins def. Montez Ford

Why rush into this match on this show when it could have been advertised in advance for next week or whenever? That aside, this was a very entertaining outing. Sure, Ford didn't win, but he didn't need to. I'm just happy he got a chance to showcase his skills on his own for a change. Theory attacked Angelo Dawkins afterward, so that brought Rollins and Ford together, but I don't think that will stick.

Rey Mysterio def. Rusev in an Intercontinental Championship No. 1 Contender's Match

This was another match that was made official backstage earlier in the episode instead of being announced ahead of time. It's cool that we got a number one contender's match on the same show the Intercontinental title was defended. This was good stuff and Mysterio winning was the correct call as it means we're getting Penta vs. Mysterio at some point. Yes, please! Post-match, Dragon Lee helped Mysterio fend off Rusev and Ethan Page.

World Heavyweight Championship Roman Reigns and Jacob Fatu Signed the Contract for Their World Heavyweight Championship Tribal Combat Match at Clash in Italy

We already got a contract signing with Reigns and Fatu before Backlash and it was better than this one, but the mic work here was still solid despite them not saying anything that would get me more excited for their upcoming Tribal Combat match. It didn't end in physicality, but that's okay because I feel like every other segment they've had over the last month or so has ended that way.

Overall Show

Like I said about the final segment, I don't think that, as a go-home show for Clash in Italy, this edition of Raw left me looking forward to the event any more than I was before. However, I very much enjoyed the episode on the whole, specifically for Penta vs. Evans and Rollins vs. Ford. Both of those bouts came out of nowhere (I do wish they would do more setup for some of these matches) and everything else was largely adequate albeit a mixed bag.

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