Monday Night Raw Review - September 22, 2025

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins Confronted Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes

It was established at the end of Wrestlepalooza that the men's and women's world champions of Raw and SmackDown will face each other for the second straight year at Crown Jewel, and these two didn't waste any time confronting each other and beginning the build for their bout. This was the usual excellent stuff from Rollins and Rhodes and there's even more history for them to touch on than there was in 2022 when they last feuded. I still don't care about these Crown Jewel Championship matches because nothing meaningful is on the line, but hopefully they can make the most of it and we can get more strong segments like this one over the next three weeks.

Penta and The War Raiders def. Grayson Waller and The New Day in a No Disqualification Match

This was a rematch from a few weeks ago. Needless to say, it paled in comparison to all of the hardcore matches at AEW All Out from Saturday, but for a WWE No Disqualification match, this was good and had some fun spots. I'm all for Penta winning with the Destroyer more often. I know I've said this several times before, but can we please finally move on beyond Penta feuding with New Day and Waller?

Women's World Champion Stephanie Vaquer Addressed the Audience

Vaquer's English is still a work in progress, but she's improving. This was a basic segment with Vaquer briefly talking about the new Women's World Champion, but it was well done as well as necessary as far as establishing that Vaquer is now at the top of Raw's women's division. Her main roster run is off a great start, so I hope she can continue to build momentum and be booked like the star she is.

Bayley def. Roxanne Perez

Bayley and Perez feuded for a few months earlier this year, but for some reason, there was never a on-on-one blow-off. They worked well together as you'd expect, but this was more about progressing Bayley's split personality with her starting out in hugger mode and then showing heel tendencies by the end and afterward toward Lyra Valkyria. Meanwhile, Perez can't buy a victory these days.

Rusev def. World Tag Team Champion JD McDonagh

Rusev was shown roughing up Dominik Mysterio backstage to start the show, so that's how this bout came about. They had a nice match, but it was a weird dynamic with both guys being heels. Mysterio could've interfered right before the finish but opted now to, so they're teasing tension with The Judgment Day. Stop me if you've heard that before. Mysterio being a babyface on his own feels like the direction they're heading in, but he should lose the Intercontinental Championship Rusev first.

Jey Uso def. LA Knight

I'm shocked WWE didn't bother to announce this for the show beforehand because it's been at least a month in the making, especially if it was going to have the finish that it did. Granted, The Vision's interference caused Knight to lose, but it didn't end in a disqualification like I thought it would. The actual match was enjoyable, even though I'm not sure where this is supposed to be leading.

Rhea Ripley def. Asuka

I couldn't tell you the last time the women main evented Raw, so this was a treat. Similar to Knight vs. Uso, it was not advertised in advance. This was entertaining and I'm glad they were able to have the match they were capable of. Kairi Sane's interference backfired, so I liked that Ripley won but not decisively. The post-match angle with The Kabuki Warriors laying out Ripley and IYO SKY sets up the long-awaited tag team match for Crown Jewel.

Overall Show

Although there were parts of the show that dragged, this was a thumbs-up episode with solid storyline progression, quality wrestling and build for Crown Jewel. Some storylines need to move a bit quicker, but on the whole, there's a lot more to like about Raw right now than SmackDown, and I appreciate the earlier start time for as long as we have it.

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