WWE Monday Night Raw Review: 31/08

Women’s Intercontinental Championship: Raquel Rodriguez VS Sol Ruca

Credit: WWE

The Usos pulled up to the arena, only to get completely destroyed by Royce Keys and OTM! A furious Jacob Fatu would then storm into ringside and cut a seething promo on his former friend, all whilst this week’s edition of Monday Night Raw was supposed to be starting with Raquel Rodriguez defending her Women’s Intercontinental Championship against Sol Ruca! Eventually, that match would get underway, with Raquel continuing her positive 2026 with another good showing! Sol Ruca was really good in NXT; I know that for a fact, but her run on the Main Roster so far hasn’t been that impressive! Even when she was IC Champion, something felt off, and it’s important that Sol sorts that out soon! As always, Liv Morgan and Roxanne Perez would press the interference button, but it was Lyra Valkyria in particular who made the biggest difference, pushing Ruca perfectly into a Tejada Bomb for Rodriguez to score her first successful Title defence!

Grade: C+

Intercontinental Championship Number 1 Contender’s Match: Dragon Lee VS Ethan Page, Roman Reigns Promo, Dominik Mysterio VS Je’Von Evans

After a video package hyping up the history of The Lucha Bros, Chad Gable came down to the ring to announce that he will be defending his Intercontinental Championship when he returns to Mexico City in 2 weeks! Chad wants this match to be against Dragon Lee, but one man who doesn’t agree with this sentiment is Ethan Page, with All Ego calling Gable a “Paper Champion”! Given that Lee wanted to fight Page, Gable was happy to raise the stakes by making this a Number 1 Contender’s Match for his Intercontinental Championship! Since when did a Midcard Champion have this much power?! Anyway, the match itself was pretty decent; their styles gelled well together, but I do have to say that this is the type of match that would’ve ruled in NXT! What I will say, however, is that the ending was very interesting! See, the referee would find himself distracted by Chad Gable, with Dragon Lee then going face-first into the exposed turnbuckle! However, when Gable pointed this out to the referee, the ref stopped the count, costing Page the win as Lee delivered Operation Dragon to book his ticket to Mexico City! What a screw job!

Grade: B-

After Roman Reigns told Jacob Fatu that Royce Keys is “your problem”, Roman headed down to the ring to cut a scathing promo on Solo Sikoa! Whilst Reigns wants to highlight Penta and Rey Fenix, his hand is being forced by Solo, with Sikoa forgetting who his family actually is! The Tribal Chief then wanted to turn his attention to LA Knight, which quickly brought out The Megastar to call Reigns a coward! Knight then got in the ring with the World Heavyweight Champion, only to rush to the back after the titantron showed that Jacob Fatu had attacked Solo Sikoa! Knight would then try to get in the face of Fatu, only to get dropped by a Superman Punch from Roman! What I want to know is who was the other guy laid out on the floor by Fatu?!

Grade: C+

After another hype package for the impending debut of Lola Vice, Je’Von Evans headed down to the ring to go one-on-one with Dominik Mysterio! Before the match even began, Dom attacked Je’Von before the bell, giving himself an advantage that he should’ve been able to carry throughout the rest of the match! However, despite being the AAA Mega Campeon, Mysterio hasn’t exactly been made to look that strong, whilst this match was more just to build to another one! See, after JD McDonagh caused the DQ, Joe Hendry would make his return to even the odds, with Adam Pearce quickly booking a Tag Team match between the 4 men! This match was solid; it was good to see Joe Hendry back on TV, but the irony of all of this is that all four guys’ win-loss record is pretty bleak! So, to my surprise, Dominik Mysterio actually got the win with a Frog Splash, which was nice!

Grade: C+

World Heavyweight Championship Number 1 Contender’s Tournament Final: Rey Fenix VS Penta

Credit: WWE

After Stephanie Vaquer told Becky Lynch to stay out of her way, Paul Heyman hyped up the upcoming Bron Breakker-Oba Femi clash, and The Judgment Day celebrated in the Clubhouse, the Main Event of this week’s edition of Monday Night Raw saw brothers collide as Rey Fenix faced Penta for the right to earn a shot at Roman Reigns’ World Heavyweight Championship! This was one of those matches that got better as it went along, with the crowd also getting more and more into it as it went along! For me, the last few minutes were excellent, with Fenix landing on his feet after an attempted Mexican Destroyer from the top rope, whilst the Penta Driver through the announce table was excellent! The ending was also great, with Penta hitting a wonderful Mexican Destroyer to get the win, with Roman Reigns coming down to the ring to come face-to-face with his future challenger! Once again, Fenix rules!

Credit: WWE

Grade: B+