Monday Night Raw Review - November 17, 2025

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

AAA Mega Champion Dominik Mysterio Confronted Intercontinental Champion John Cena; Cena, Sheamus and Rey Mysterio def. The Judgment Day (JD McDonagh, Finn Balor and AAA Mega Champion Dominik Mysterio)

With this being Cena's final Raw as an active competitor, it was important to make this as special as possible and they were successful. This will probably be the last time Cena gets to address the audience since his remaining appearances will be at Survivor Series and Saturday Night's Main Event. It was established that Cena and Dominik will have their rematch for the Intercontinental Championship at Survivor Series and that has to be where Dominik gets the belt back. While I would've preferred Cena have a singles match for his final Raw, the impromptu six-man tag team match was still fun and it was cool to see Cena team up with Sheamus and Rey again.

Nikki Bella Attacked Women's World Champion Stephanie Vaquer

Although this was the weakest thing on the entire episode, it still served a purpose and was perfectly fine for what it was. Bella's first heel in several years was nothing special and the crowd largely did not care. Not only that, but Vaquer having to lay there and listen to Bella talk when the attack wasn't that intense was an odd choice. Despite all of that, this did a fine job of setting up Bella challenging Vaquer for the Women's World Championship at Survivor Series. 

Solo Sikoa def. Dolph Ziggler in a The Last Time Is Now Tournament First-Round Match

There were better choices WWE could have gone with as Sikoa's mystery opponent, but there were worse choices as well. Ziggler hasn't been gone from the company long enough for this to feel like a huge happening, but he has history with Cena, so I get it and the crowd was happy to see him. The match itself was solid and Ziggler bumped his ass off for Sikoa as only he could. It wouldn't be a Dolph Ziggler matchup without him losing clean.

Charlotte Flair Saved Alexa Bliss, IYO SKY and Rhea Ripley from Nia Jax, Lash Legend and WWE Women's Tag Team Champions The Kabuki Warriors

Flair walking out on her WarGames team on last Friday's SmackDown was an intriguing development and exactly what was needed to heat up the build for this bout. That said, it felt rushed for Flair to get back on the same page with her teammates all of three days later. Oh well. Bliss cut a good promo prior to that and it was an effective segment on the whole.

Maxxine Dupri def. Becky Lynch to Win the Women's Intercontinental Championship

This wasn't quite on par with their previous encounters and the crowd was quiet in the middle of the match, but they told a logical story with Dupri fighting from underneath throughout and the crowd coming alive for the nearfalls. AJ Lee returning and distracting Lynch provided her with an out to lose and give Dupri the big moment. Dupri's nowhere near among the best women's wrestlers on the roster, but they've managed to get her over with the audience during this feud and I have no issue with her taking the title, even if it's only a brief run. Plus, the Lee vs. Lynch rivalry doesn't need anything at stake, and this gives them a reason to want to be in WarGames to settle their score.

Gunther def. Je'Von Evans in a The Last Time Is Now Tournament First-Round Match

I had high hopes coming into this contest and they did not disappoint. Evans has been one of my favorite wrestlers to watch all year and Gunther never ceases to deliver, so unsurprisingly, this was a blast of a bout. Evans had a strong showing in defeat and Gunther was always the odds-on favorite to come out on top in the tournament. Hopefully it's not long until Evans is on the main roster so these two can run it back eventually.

World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk, Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes, The Usos and Roman Reigns Brawled with The Vision, Drew McIntyre and Brock Lesnar

I assumed we'd find out one of the final members on either team in this segment, but I wasn't sure if they'd actually reveal both. WWE ended up going all out and giving us an amazing ending with both Lesnar and Reigns returning to join their respective WarGames teams. This was complete chaos and the crowd ate it up. Apparently the show went off the air abruptly, but watching it unfold in person was fantastic. I maintain the WarGames is as unnecessary as ever, but they managed to get me more excited for the men's match this year than I was before this.

Overall Show

WWE tends to put their best foot forward whenever they're in Madison Square Garden and that was certainly the case with this show. It was an incredibly newsworthy night with multiple return, significant Survivor Series developments, the progressions of the Cena tournament, the title change and it being Cena's final Raw. I was fortunate to be in attendance and it was definitely an enjoyable experience. Raw can't hit these highs every week, but this was very much a memorable episode that breezed by. It's too bad WWE rarely puts this same amount of effort into SmackDown these days.

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