Monday Night Raw Review - May 26, 2025

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Seth Rollins and Paul Heyman Addressed the Audience

Bron Breakker and Bronson Reed were also present in the ring with Rollins and Heyman and looked like total stars. Rollins and Heyman effectively hyped up the both of them, though I wish Rollins made it more clear as to why he recruited the man who put him on the shelf last year (and why Rollins would accept the invitation). Otherwise, this was a solid segment to start the show. Will they be known as The Vision going forward?

Penta def. Chad Gable and Dragon Lee in a Triple Threat Match to Qualify for the Men's Money in the Bank Ladder Match

This was far and away the best thing on the entire episode and it wasn't even close. WWE needs to do more matches like this where they give guys as talented as these three the time to go all out. This was a blast. I figured Lee would win with Penta and Gable canceling each other out, but it was actually El Hijo del Vikingo that cost Gable the win ahead of their outing at Worlds Collide, leading to Penta qualifying instead. Hey, no complaints. Penta should shine in that environment.

Rusev def. Akira Tozawa

Rusev had a somewhat competitive contest with Otis a few weeks ago, so it would've been ridiculous for this to be anything more than a squash. Thankfully, Rusev dominated Tozawa in under a minute. The best part came afterward Sheamus emerged and confronted Rusev. From their feud in 2014 to their time in League of Nations together, there's a lot of history between the two. They're the perfect fit for each other right now.

World Tag Team Champions The New Day def. The Creed Brothers and The War Raiders in a Triple Threat Tag Team Match

The drastic difference between Raw and SmackDown's tag team divisions at the moment is honestly wild. Nothing against those involved, but the build to this sucked and half of it consisted of a commercial break. As a result, what we got was good but far from what it could have been. New Day retaining their titles was the right call, but they desperately need fresh competition.

Gunther Confronted World Heavyweight Champion Jey Uso

It was logical to have Uso and Gunther confront each other now that it's official they'll be facing off again for the World Heavyweight Championship in two weeks on Raw, but this was a weak segment. Gunther repeated the same material from prior to WrestleMania 41 and Uso said absolutely nothing of note. In fact, it felt like Uso was off his game and may have even forgotten his lines at one point. I'm just ready for them to get the rematch over with so we can move on from this.

Kairi Sane def. WWE Women's Tag Team Champion Liv Morgan

You had to assume Morgan would be back soon and I'm not surprised it was on this show, especially since there's one spot remaining for the Raw women in Money in the Bank and she makes the most sense to fill it. That said, I'm glad Sane went over here, even if it was because of Raquel Rodriguez and Roxanne Perez arguing at ringside. The match was fine, but it was overshadowed by the drama with The Judgment Day.

Becky Lynch Interrupted Women's Intercontinental Champion Lyra Valkyria

Lynch and Valkyria really continue to bring the best out of each other in every way, including on the mic. This was another excellent segment from them, setting up their rematch for the Women's Intercontinental Championship at Money in the Bank and establishing that it will be Lynch's last shot at the title if she loses (spoiler: she won't). Both women cut strong promos and I liked how this didn't end in physicality.

Seth Rollins def. Finn Balor and Sami Zayn in a Triple Threat Match to Qualify for the Men's Money in the Bank Ladder Match

For a match with such star power, the crowd was shockingly quiet for a majority of this. It was well wrestled and the action was enjoyable, but this should have been hotter than it was. It picked up down the stretch when Reed and Breakker thwarted the interference of Uso and aided Rollins to victory. CM Punk came out at the end to lay out Rollins before running off before the other heels could get to him. Rollins has won Money in the Bank before, but he could realistically win it again if he's going to challenge Uso for his title again eventually.

Overall Show

First and foremost, this Tampa crowd sucked. I'm not saying this was the most exciting edition of Raw, but they should've been louder than they were. The only excuse is that they were exhausted after WWE's long weekend in the city that also included Saturday Night's Main Event and NXT Battleground. That aside, this was a quality show. The Money in the Bank qualifiers give more matches stakes and they're doing a nice job of building toward both Worlds Collide and Money in the Bank, which are coming up in less than two weeks. We know where certain storylines are headed and it's been fun to follow for the most part.

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