WWE Monday Night Raw Review: 24/11

Roman Reigns Starts the Show, Gunther VS Carmelo Hayes: The Last Time is Now Tournament (Quarter-Finals)

The final Monday Night Raw before Survivor Series kicked off with Roman Reigns coming down to the ring to address his return at Madison Square Garden! Before Roman could really say anything, Cody Rhodes interrupted to ask Reigns what’s in it for him (in terms of being in WarGames), and Roman simply said that he’s in it to protect The Usos! Cody then said, “Welcome to my team” which brought out CM Punk, who laughed off this statement whilst also telling Reigns that he doesn’t need his word for anything! The Tribal Chief then reminded Punk that he ruined his life earlier this year, but it doesn’t matter right now as he hates The Vision even more! However, this segment would end on a bit of a tease, as Roman Reigns made it clear that he thinks that a World Championship would look way better on his shoulders, but he never eluded to which one! Probably because Roman wants both! There was plenty of star power in this segment, but it’s definitely not Cody Rhodes’ team!

Credit: WWE

Grade: B-

After Paul Heyman told Logan Paul that he’d be teaming up with Drew McIntyre to take on The Usos in the WarGames Advantage Match later tonight, we were ready for the first match of the night as Carmelo Hayes looked to stun Gunther in the Quarter-Finals of The Last Time is Now Tournament! Gunther was a heavy favourite to win not only this match, but the tournament as a whole, whilst Carmelo Hayes is arguably the person in the field who needs/would benefit from facing John Cena the most! However, with this match taking place in the Quarter-Finals, expectations of a Melo win were pretty non-existent, and let’s be honest, nobody in this field is beating The Ring General! However, having said that, Carmelo genuinely got some decent underdog momentum, nailing Gunther with a Tornado DDT on the outside, nearly giving him another count-out victory! Hayes even kicked out of a Powerbomb and impressively managed to get out of a submission hold, but in the end, Melo would eventually succumb to a second Powerbomb as Gunther finally picked up the victory! Genuinely, I think that this match should’ve been the Final!

Grade: B

Dominik Mysterio Promo, Rey Mysterio VS JD McDonagh

After The Usos got Roman Reigns, CM Punk, and Cody Rhodes hyped up ahead of WarGames, Dominik Mysterio came down to the ring to cut a promo about how he’s going to beat John Cena in his hometown of San Diego, California, to take back his Intercontinental Championship! This is when John Cena’s music hit, but it of course wasn’t John Cena, as it was some small dude that came out dressed like Cena! The guy was clearly paid by Dominik, who then booted Little Cena in the face! This was honestly such an odd, bizarre, stupid, but also kind of funny segment, and it ended with Rey Mysterio coming out just in time for his match with JD McDonagh!

Credit: WWE

Grade: C+

The actual match between Rey Mysterio and JD McDonagh was pretty decent, JD McDonagh continues to be given more and more flowers every week (rightfully so), and Rey did some nice moves too! Finn Balor kept being a nuisance on the outside, with the referee seemingly against chucking Balor out, but Rey managed to deal with Finn in a pretty effective manner, before Mysterio nailed JD with both a 619 and an MP to get the W!

Grade: B-

Becky Lynch and AJ Lee’s War of Words, Penta VS Solo Sikoa: The Last Time is Now Tournament (Quarter-Finals)

After Adam Pearce agreed to keep Raquel Rodriguez in Title contention after Survivor Series, The New Day were stunned to hear that they will be facing AJ Styles and Dragon Lee next week for the World Tag Team Championships! The Heel team of this weekend’s Women’s WarGames were then all in the ring next, as Becky Lynch started the promo by saying that she’d assembled this team herself! Becky was excited to fight alongside Asuka and Kairi Sane, whilst she knows how much of a boost it is to have Lash Legend and Nia Jax on her side! This is when the Babyface team came out, as AJ Lee fired a promo back at Becky, stating that she’ll “bite” in WarGames! Rhea Ripley then attacked Nia Jax with a microphone as a brawl broke out, with Team RHIYO standing tall!

Grade: C+

The second match of the night in The Last Time is Now Tournament was up next as Solo Sikoa went one-on-one with Penta in an attempt to advance to the Semi-Finals! Unfortunately, this match didn’t really get to last that long, with an injury to Penta meaning the match was called off as soon as we got back from the back! A part of me is hoping this was done as a way to protect Penta from being pinned, but honestly, I can’t see that! Penta has had a very strong debut year in WWE, but this could set him back months! Also, we’re now getting Gunther VS Solo Sikoa in the first Semi-Final, and I can’t imagine that that was the original plan!

Grade: -

WarGames Advantage Match: The Usos VS Drew McIntyre and Logan Paul

After Maxxine Dupri was threatened by both Ivy Nile and Roxanne Perez, and Stephanie Vaquer claimed that Nikki Bella isn’t as smart as she thinks she is, it was Main Event time as Drew McIntyre and Logan Paul teamed up once again to take on The Usos in the Men’s WarGames Advantage Match! I thought the wrestling in this one was alright; Drew and Logan do tend to work quite well together, and The Usos are consistent workers! As always with these advantage matches, the Heels should always be winning them because that makes the WarGames Match itself a far more compelling story! There were moments where it was unclear as to which direction WWE were wanting to go, with CM Punk and Cody Rhodes running down to deal with the outside threat of Bron Breakker and Bronson Reed! However, after Jey Uso wiped everyone out with a dive, Logan Paul took advantage of all of the distractions to roll up Jimmy Uso for the victory, meaning Team Vision will have the advantage this Saturday! As soon as the match was over, CM Punk attacked Logan from behind before Roman Reigns eventually had to come down to the ring to fully take out the Heels! However, this is when Brock Lesnar’s music hit, as the show went off the air with an epic 5-on-5 stare-down!

Grade: B-