On a night that saw a fifth match added to the Crown Jewel PLE, here are three things we hated and three things we loved about the 10/6/25 episode of "WWE Raw!"
Welcome to Wrestling Inc.'s weekly review of "WWE Raw," the show that finally gave us a fifth Crown Jewel 2025 match, five days before the event in question! And yeah, here at WINC, we have some stuff to say about Roman Reigns' next PLE match, and we have considerably more to say about Reigns' cousin, Jey Uso, and his interactions with LA Knight, CM Punk, and his own twin brother Jimmy. And of course, there's the women's wrestling, which quality-wise dominated the episode from an in-ring standpoint — as it has on Monday nights for most of the year.
As usual, you'll have to visit our "Raw" results page for complete coverage, since we're not quite hitting everything here — nothing involving the Judgment Day made the cut (despite an excellent match between Roxanne Perez and Lyra Valkyria) and we simply cannot be bothered to care about AJ Styles right now in the absence of John Cena. But that's what this column is for; just the things that made our staff feel the strongest. Here are three things we hated and three things we loved about the 10/6/25 episode of "WWE Raw!"
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Hated: Did we have to run this back?
We're back in the building again!
Roman Reigns made yet another high-profile return to "WWE Raw" last week, when he gave The Vision's Bronson Reed and Bron Breakker their Clash in Paris receipt through a post-match attack. In incredibly predictable fashion, Reigns took to "Raw's" opening segment to address The Vision, only to find himself once again engaged in a war of words between Reed and former-Wise Man, current-Oracle Paul Heyman. When it was all said and done, Reed and Reigns found themselves with a rematch at Crown Jewel, which will see the two Samoans battle for supremacy in an Australian Street Fight.
That's all fine and good, but did we really need two Reigns and Reeds matches?
Listen, if you really liked Reigns and Reeds I at Clash in Paris, congratulations on your sequel. For the rest of us, though, I think we could have lived without seeing these two clash again for a little while. For a star as big as Reigns, it's weird to pigeonhole him as The Vision and Seth Rollins' Number One Hater, to this extent. I know that Reigns and Rollins have history. I know that this is a battle, to some extent, of heritage — at least, it was made that way when Reed began to invoke the legacy of Samoan-Australians and the Anoa'i family in their build-up to Clash in Paris. I guess if I got stretchered out by two guys, I'd want payback as well. Still, I can't find myself too excited for Crown Jewel when Reigns has been stuck in Vision Purgatory for months. There's long-term storytelling, sure, but this isn't long-term storytelling. This is continuing to put two wrestlers together with no end in sight. Whether it's done out of a profit incentive (Reigns and Reed would be a draw to casual viewers who don't know any better), laziness, or sheer creative burnout, it's not the most inspired move to run Reigns and Reed again. You want the Australian on your Australian show? You should have saved their Clash in Paris build for now. I don't think anyone was chomping at the bit for Reigns and Reed back then. You could've had him go against Breakker. I think WWE should stop focusing on long-term storytelling and start focusing on long-term planning, because Reigns and Reed II reeks of lack of foresight.
While I primarily hate this decision on principle, Monday's promo exchange was neither man's best work. Sure, Reeds invoked and tried to bury Reigns' late dad and uncle, which is questionable, but other than that, nothing much was said. The brilliant writers who came up with the shoe-la fala and the invocation of Reed's Samoan-Australian heritage as one of dominance over Reigns' polished Samoan-American upbringing have left the chat. It was sort of decent stuff, but nothing that hasn't been said before.
All of this to say: this feud is trite. What is there to gain from Reigns and Reed II? We'll just have to wait until Crown Jewel.
Written by Angeline Phu
Loved: Alpha babes on top!
Look, I can't lie: going into the match between Becky Lynch and Maxxine Dupri, I was not excited about watching it at all just because I'm not personally the biggest fan of Dupri and their previous match was underwhelming to me. My suspicions appeared to be confirmed during the first half of this match and I wasn't super engaged, but out of nowhere during the second half, it got really good and I was actually waiting to see what sequence these two would end up doing next.
This was easily the best match that Dupri has had by miles and miles, and it's not even close. While she may be a heel on screen, Lynch got a great match out of Dupri that helped her get incredibly over with the crowd and spotlighted the training that Dupri has done at The Dungeon with Natalya. The action throughout the second half may have been solid, but the ending of the match is what made it for me. Normally, I like a straightforward pinfall or submission match ending, but in this particular context, I actually think that the countout worked perfectly on two levels: giving Dupri a win to help her get over and not weakening Lynch with a loss whilst still doing something like getting distracted gloating that's super in line with her character. Overall, it was fun to watch, engaging, and the perfect example of just how effective a countout can be when used correctly.
Written by Olivia Quinlan
Hated: The men are a buzzkill
Once again, the men opened "Raw" and once again, it included a member of The Vision as Bronson Reed interrupted Roman Reigns because WWE is once again re-running their match, this time in Australia. After a long opening segment, we got two women's matches. One end up being surprisingly fun and the other was a great rematch.
To follow the aforementioned great match between Lyra Valkyria and Roxanne Perez, we got a long, boring, obnoxious segment between CM Punk and LA Knight. To make things even more convoluted, Jey Uso got involved. Knight insulted Jey, so Jimmy superkicked Knight. That led to a main event match, over Kairi vs. IYO SKY (that is a more compelling story and match). There was also a six-man match that was fine and had some cool spots.
The men's segments dragged along and were boring. The matches weren't much better. They were fine, just routine matches we've seen. At least with the women, we got to see Maxxine Dupri go from struggling to having a fun, solid showing against Becky Lynch. We saw more progression in the SKY/Sane/Asuka saga. We even got a backstage segment between Bayley, Valkyria, Perez, and Raquel Rodriguez. But hey, at least the main event didn't end in the predictable DQ or non-finish.
Written by Samantha Schipman
Loved: IYO SKY and Kairi Sane should have been the main event
The girls have done it again.
When you thought this feud could not get any better, IYO SKY and Kairi Sane took to Monday's episode of "WWE Raw" to lock up in the show's definitive match of the night. While SKY ended up taking another loss following a dirty pin, courtesy of a ringside Asuka, both women tore the house down to give the Texas audience just a taste of their upcoming tag team match at Crown Jewel.
There was no doubt that this match was going to be amazing, but this match was in a league of its own: both within Monday's card, and within each competitor's recent in-ring resumes. Sane and SKY were incredibly engaging from the opening bell, with flips and back-and-forth wars for dominance bringing the crowd to the edge of their seats early. I know "all gas, no brakes" is a certain "Samoan Werewolf's" shtick, but there was no warm-up when it came to Sane and SKY's bout. They immediately started pulling out all the stops, with no time for introductions or preamble. It was straight to the point wrestling.
I mentioned this match being a stand-out contest within both women's recent careers. I'd venture as far to say that this is Sane's best work in a while, and while that sounds like a diss, it's not a low standard by any means, given her current work. Sane's most recent match against Stephanie Vaquer on the September 15 episode of "Raw" was good, but even then, her match with SKY Monday outshone that, and everything in her recent repertoire. This might even be some of SKY's best work in a while — if not her best match in recent months, definitely top five. Again, that's not to downplay her skillset or to demean the quality of some of her latest contests — Evolution, SummerSlam, Wrestlepalooza were all incredible — but this match was really just that good. SKY and Sane are just so comfortable, so familiar around each other. With every fluid counter, you can tell how much experience they have together. With every inventive counter, you can tell how much they trust each other. That immediate offense I was talking about earlier? It's only made possible because they trust each other so much, because they have that in-ring chemistry that you can't teach. That trust worked with their pre-existing skill to create a truly magnificent wrestling match. From gnarly bumps (I'm looking at you, Alabama Slam onto the apron and Insane Elbow counter) to aesthetically beautiful arcs and flips, this match, on a purely visual level, commands your attention. This is wrestling as an artform.
I didn't love the interference finish, but it all makes sense ahead of Crown Jewel. Asuka and Sane aren't winning in Perth, so might as well make them look dominant here. Tonight was wrestling in its most artisanal form, and if it's a preview of what we're in store for at Crown Jewel, it'll be a guaranteed Match of the Night contender.
Written by Angeline Phu
Hated: CM Punk returns but AJ Lee remains absent
I thought that tonight I'd be mostly upset about the lack of AJ Lee on television after it was revealed she signed a new deal when she returned. CM Punk was advertised for the show tonight, with no indication that his wife would be there. She didn't have to show up and do a promo or a segment with her husband, I'm more than fine with WWE separating them when it comes to storylines after their win at Wrestlepalooza. But, she wasn't at the show tonight to challenge Women's Intercontinental Champion Becky Lynch (who was too busy with Maxxine Dupri), or do anything else. However, that actually wasn't my biggest issue with tonight's episode that I thought it would be. My biggest gripes about this episode were Punk's promo and the main event.
He went out there and thanked the crowd for welcoming Lee back to WWE, then acknowledged a fan's sign in the crown about him deserving the World Heavyweight Championship. That brought out LA Knight for an extremely awkward, clunky exchange between them (at least on Knight's end of things), because Knight also thinks he's deserving of that title shot. And, a few months ago, I probably would have agreed with him, but ever since Knight's move to "Raw," for some reason, I've liked him less. When it was just Knight feuding with Rollins, things weren't too bad, but it's something about him going up against Punk, especially on the microphone, that isn't working for me. Knight thinking he was so deserving then brought out Jey Uso, who's working to impress Roman Reigns and also never got his rematch, so he thinks he's the most deserving of all of them. Jimmy Uso came out as backup to his twin, and then thankfully there was a bit of a brawl that ended the seemingly never-ending parade of promos in this segment.
This led to a pretty confusing tag team main event where, despite them being the initial two stars to get into an argument, Punk and Knight tagged together to take on The Usos. The match itself was really nothing to write home about until the end when Punk hit the BFT on Jey, and Knight tagged himself in to steal the win. I guess that furthers their feud in a more interesting way than just another pull-apart brawl to end the night, but just nothing about this is exciting to me.
WWE is of course spinning its wheels on this while World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins is involved with Cody Rhodes at Crown Jewel, but I'm also not too excited about the prospects when it comes to stories on the other side of the premium live event. It really should be Punk getting a rematch, at much as it pains me to say that as someone who isn't the biggest Punk fan (an understatement), but it makes the most sense in story, though at this point, it feels like that match won't even be happening until WrestleMania 42.
Written by Daisy Ruth
Loved: Lil' Roman rears his head
This week's installment of "WWE Raw" saw Roman Reigns making his return and, yawn incoming, resuming his never-ending feud with Bronson Reed while there isn't a WrestleMania-level event for him to face Seth Rollins. But as a by-product of that return, he was also available for some development on the family front, specifically as it pertains to his recent interest in molding Jey Uso into the main eventer he wants him to be - basically, more like him and the way they operated in their Bloodline day - while Jimmy Uso is clearly hesitant to go down this road again; after all, he was the one to call quits on the Bloodline originally. Only, Reigns made note of the fact that he has been watching everything, and he knows that Jimmy feels this way.
It made for a tense moment that once again, and you may get bored of this statement, hearkened back to their days in the Bloodline where big brother Jimmy would insert himself between Reigns and Jey, it being clear that he was never fully on board with the way the Bloodline made his brother. And that was the time where the storytelling was peak with the Bloodline group, this boiling tension between family, this dynamic between the current generation of Anoa'i looking to make their stamp on history. Naturally, they collide when it comes to their preferred way of doing things, but Reigns now has an important ace over Jimmy when it comes to getting through to Jey, as opposed to before.
Jimmy is the only one not to have held a World title, and that was hammered home by Reigns as one might expect during "Raw," with him openly saying that they have an understanding he just lacks, and at this juncture, Jey is more like the "OTC" than he is his twin. That idea has been fed with Jey's very clear descent into the darker plays, taking out would-be babyface allies and behaving more like the heel he was as the "Right Hand Man." And after making that point against LA Knight, after a bit of instigating from Reigns, he turned his attention to CM Punk and staked his claim to a World Heavyweight Championship rematch. When Jimmy came out to help Jey, he was clearly trying to stop his brother from burning more bridges, literally dragging him out of a superkick attempt towards Punk, and getting between them to prevent his brother from fighting.
Naturally, Punk needed no excuse to get a sucker punch in at Jey, prompting Jimmy to superkick him for the violation and argue with Jey all the way to the back. The Usos reunion has hardly been one of nostalgia and winning for the sake of winning, they are two singles competitors that have come together once more at different stages of their careers and that has been reflected in the way things have played out. With Reigns stirring the pot, there is a sense of the old Bloodline dynamic returning with a different skin, one that sees Reigns guiding his cousin back into the World title picture in the short term before he eventually makes his play for the crown. Jimmy is the odd one out, once more, and this is the role he shines in.
Written by Max Everett
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Category: General Sports
