WWE Monday Night Raw Review: 17/11

Linus O'Howell
2 days ago
5 min read

John Cena’s Final Monday Night Raw Appearance, John Cena, Sheamus, and Rey Mysterio VS The Judgment Day

John Cena arrived in Madison Square Garden to a thunderous ovation as the reigning Intercontinental Champion was set to make his “final-ever” appearance on Monday Night Raw! John was ready for a fight, and whilst he said a few things, he was quickly interrupted by Dominik Mysterio who wanted a rematch for his IC Title! However, Dominik made it clear that he wants it to be on his terms, and that’s why their rematch will take place at Survivor Series in Mysterio’s hometown of San Diego, California! Cena was happy to accept this challenge, but he still said he was looking for a fight, and this is when the rest of The Judgment Day arrived to start a beatdown, only for Rey Mysterio and Sheamus to run down to make the save! This then led perfectly into the opening match of the night, and I’d say it was a pretty fun one! Dom, Finn Balor, and JD McDonagh are all amazing sellers; they put on a great showcase for the fans against three legends of the game, and it was a nice way for John Cena to end his Monday Night Raw career! Eventually, after Rey nailed Dom with a 619, and Sheamus wrecked Finn with a Brogue Kick, Cena dropped McDonagh with an AA to get the win!

Grade: B

The Last Time is Now Tournament (Round 1): Solo Sikoa VS ?, Alexa Bliss Promo

Paul Heyman warned Adam Pearce and Nick Aldis of what’s to come regarding The Vision’s final member for WarGames before Stephanie Vaquer was once again attacked by Nikki Bella! The sooner that feud ends, the better! Bayley then laughed off Asuka’s offer to join her team at WarGames, before Solo Sikoa made his way down to the ring to face a mystery opponent in the First Round of The Last Time is Now Tournament! Whilst an NXT Superstar would’ve been nice, the surprise we got was pretty cool as Dolph Ziggler made his return to WWE to try and become John Cena’s final opponent! The crowd popped big for this, it was a really awesome moment, and the match we got itself was also pretty fun! Dolph even came close to winning at one point following Radio Silence (aka the Zig Zag), but in the end, Sikoa was able to score the win with a Samoan Spike! A nice little moment for old DZ!

Grade: B

Alexa Bliss was out next to call out Charlotte Flair, questioning why she would leave her to get hurt just because of her dislike of Rhea Ripley, and this brought out The Kabuki Warriors, Lash Legend, and Nia Jax to surround Bliss 4-on-1! However, Rhea Ripley and Iyo Skyn then ran down to make the save, before Charlotte Flair arrived to even the odds! I have no idea where Lyra Valkyria sits in all of this; I expected her to be involved at WarGames, but I guess for now we just have to wait and see!

Grade: C+

Women’s Intercontinental Champion: Becky Lynch VS Maxxine Dupri, Gunther VS Je’Von Evans: The Last Time is Now Tournament (Round 1)

After weeks of training, Maxxine Dupri was ready for the biggest night of her life as she went one-on-one with Becky Lynch for the Women’s Intercontinental Championship! Whilst their first match together was still their best one to date, this was well done and benefited from a good amount of drama! Maxxine locking in the ankle lock was fun; you knew Becky wasn’t going to tap, but it was still well done, whilst Lynch getting in the face of Jessika Carr was a nice callback to their recent history! Having said that, how on earth did WWE allow Carr to be the referee for this match?! Anyway, just as it looked like Lynch was moving into position to secure another successful Title defense, AJ Lee’s music hit for the first time since Wrestlepalooza, creating a distraction which allowed Dupri to deliver a flying crossbody to score one of the unlikeliest wins of 2025! Yes, Maxxine Dupri really is the brand-new Women’s Intercontinental Champion!

Grade: B-

There was no messing around on this week’s edition of Monday Night Raw as The Last Time is Now Tournament continued with Gunther returning to the ring to face Je’Von Evans in the shows’ Main Event match! This was so good, like I knew it would be fun, but this was so much fun! Gunther being back served as a reminder that he is indeed one of the best wrestlers in the world, someone WWE misses when he’s away, whilst Je’Von Evans continues to show out in a standout 2025! The fact that Je’Von delivered the first two chops of the match was such a good route to go, and this only made Gunther’s beatdown feel more personal! What I also liked about this match is that it feels like something WWE could run back as a proper feud in a few years down the line, and I like that prospect very much! Despite Evans’ best attempts to “get bouncy” and show resilience (he literally kicked out of Gunther’s trademark Powerbomb), The Young O.G. eventually had no choice but to tap as The Ring General’s relentlessness to win showed no signs of stopping! Oh, and one last thing, Gunther came out to his old Imperium music (YES)!

Grade: B+

The Men’s WarGames Teams are Complete

After AJ Lee was semi-celebrating with Maxxine Dupri (the real party started when the Alpha Academy arrived), the final segment of this week’s edition of Monday Night Raw, live from the “World’s Most Famous Arena” Madison Square Garden, was supposed to be a war of words between the two teams set to face off inside WarGames at Survivor Series! However, that didn’t happen, as after Paul Heyman introduced his Vision team (of Bron Breakker, Bronson Reed, Drew McIntyre, and Logan Paul), CM Punk, Cody Rhodes, and The Usos all arrived to start a full-on brawl! This was rather even, with the Babyfaces getting maybe a little more offense in, but it didn’t matter as Brock Lesnar then showed up to destroy the “star-studded” team! Heyman seemed over the moon about the beast of a team that he’s assembled, with Brock flooring Cody with a pair of nasty German Suplexes to end the show! Or so we thought, as Roman Reigns’ music then hit as The Tribal Chief gave us an awesome stare-down between him and The Beast Incarnate, with Reigns sending Lesnar to the outside with a Superman Punch to properly end the show! It’s honestly a little amusing to me that Jimmy Uso is in this match, but as far as this segment itself goes, it was really good!