[8.0] "I watched this months ago and am just now typing out my actual review, so that tells you how my watch-through starting in 2025 has gone. To be fair, I thought this was genuinely a great episode of Raw, and this episode was also better than the previous; which was the Netflix debut. I will say that I think the show peaked early. I really liked every match but Sami Zayn vs The Miz. My favourite segment of the show was the opener with Seth, Punk, and Drew all entering the Rumble."
[6.0] "A decent show with some good matches, but I think my two-week streak of watching RAW is over. It's not necessarily a bad show, but it's just way too long, and by the time the main event comes around--even if it's solid, like it was here--I barely have any energy left. Balor vs Priest was a good Street Fight, but it took so long to get there. The highlight of the show was definitely Penta's debut. Even though his basics were lacking in some areas, it was great to see him try to have a proper wrestling match, and he got himself over incredibly well. Also, Sheamus vs Kaiser wasn't bad, Lyra vs Dakota was a decent match, and Gunther's confrontation with Jey was well done."
[7.0] "He can't get rid of him. CM Punk defeated Rollins in a match last week, but the Architect is far from being shaken off. The confrontation is again entertaining, especially as McIntyre contributes well. Then Penta debuts and delivers a pretty useful match against the perennially underrated Chad Gable. Sheamus and Kaiser also put in decent performances, with the Irishman getting to Breakker again in the post-match szenario. Gunther brings a bit of real talk to the show, which is answered by Jey Uso. The result for Uso is a title match in San Antonio. It's a historic story for Valkyria, granted, but let's not forget that it's Dakota Kai who's been working her ass off in this division for years. Miz is a side note, Zayn certainly the correct winner. Then Ripley introduces herself to the city once again and backed by San Jose's own Bayley, she puts Nia Jax in her place. Has Jax always sounded like Kermit the Frog on the mic? Strange. The seventh match between Balor and Priest could be a rubber match, or at least it's violent enough. RAW is convincing for long stretches and once again brings a rock-solid match quality to Netflix. The whole thing may have a little less meaning than in the last episode, but I don't want to lower the overall rating just yet."
[8.0] "A very solid night that didn't really have lulls and the opener and main event were very good and entertaining. From Penta's debut to the title match to intense Street Fight finish, this show kept a solid pace throughout the card and kind of shows why 2 hour shows are usually always going to be better than 3 on a weekly basis. I also really liked the Gunter/Uso promo and the Sheamus/Breakker builds for the upcoming SNME. 4 star show."
[8.0] "An A grade show. All the matches delivered one way or another. Sheamus/Ludwig could have been better but it was still good enough. Penta's debut was executed in the most pompous fashion possible and deservedly so as well. I liked the segments too, the opening segment between Drew/Punk/Seth was fantastic, Gunther/Jey and Rhea/Nia/Bayley were very good ones indeed too. The main event was a banger, and we crowned a deserving inaugural US womans champion and Penta got fucking over. A massive win win for Raw this week."
[6.0] "Solide Ausgabe von Monday Night Raw. Für eine bessere Bewertung fehlt allerdings die Matchqualität. In jedem Match wird nur an der Oberfläche gekratzt und kein Match kann so richtig überzeugen. Kann die so hohe Bewertung nicht wirklich nachvollziehen."
"The opening promo alone was better than the whole RAW Netlfix debut the week prior to this. Penta's debut was solid, so was the Street Fight between Priest and Balor."
[8.0] "I would rate this WWE Raw episode (Netflix's second episode) as a 8/10, which is rated as "good", as I was thought this show was good. Penta made his debut and got a huge pop, his entrance and music were great. Penta vs Chad Gable was a fantastic match, you could see Penta was nervous and not as his best, but still performed very well, Gable was amazing in this match, selling (never seen someone take a Destroyer better than Gable did) so well for Penta and making Penta look like an absolute star! Penta went over and that was the right decision, great match. Sheamus and Kaiser put on a great show too, only complaint would be that it didn't last long enough, but a very good match regardless. Valkyria vs Kai was one of the best women's matches I have seen in ages, they made the Intercontinental title feel big. Then Priest and Balor put on a great match and ended the story (I think). I am kinda done with The Judgement Day now, hopefully they break up fully."
[6.0] "This show was slightly better than last weeks one, if I could rate it I'd give it a 6. The matches all felt great, Starting out we had Punk, Rollins and Drew all confirming for the Rumble which is fine - felt like going backwards with Drew since he decided to interrupt these two for no real reason? Just to say he wanted Roman Reigns? Why are you telling these 2 instead of going after Jey Uso since he stole a win from you last week? Penta's debut was brilliant and despite a tad of ring rust he really showed up in his first match against the always underutilised Chad Gable, allegedly there was backstage heat on Penta for going over his time, but amazingly the show went half hour under the usual allotted time & Triple H also said timings on Netflix were now flexible so work that one out! Meaningless Judgement Day segment which hinted that Rhea VS Liv is somehow still not over. Kaiser VS Sheamus was a great match as expected, very hard hitting but weird to see Sheamus get a 1 VS 1 match for the IC Title at SNME instead of at WrestleMania, maybe they have different plans for Breakker or maybe they don't. Who knows? Good stuff from Seth and Sami, I could see them having a match at WM41 which hopefully is finally a big 1 VS 1 win against a main eventer for Sami. Sami then ran into Miz and Karrion Kross who reveal that the Wyatt Sicks have been transferred to Smackdown! 2 things - 1) Karrion Kross' hair looks really cool, I'd like to know what he puts in it. 2) What? The Wyatt Sicks have been transferred and instead of it being made a big deal between GM's OR not actually having them be assigned to a brand at all because the whole point of them is they are a supernatural type revenge group but instead revealed in a throwaway backstage segment. The feud with Miz & Karrion hadn't even ended! What a load of rubbish honestly, Triple H has failed booking this group since the end of their feud with American Made, the best bit about the group were the interviews, we got an insight into the storytelling and also why they were doing but in their 2nd feud it all went away and there was no point to any of it! Another baffling decision which leads to another point - what is the point of the brand split and why is it enforced in some cases but then completely ignored in others? What happened to the Superstar Transfer Window that has yielded 0 results so far? It's all so pointless and goes nowhere - what a waste of our time. Gunther had a promo, Triple H has genuinely failed Gunther as world champion, I still want him to face Cena for the title at WM41 but they're genuinely making me not care about my favourite wrestler - it's honestly impressive. One way to not make me care about Gunther's title reign is by having his next challenger be Jey Uso instead of CM Punk... Stupid in 2 ways, 1) They had the exact same promo exchange around this time last year for the IC Title... 2) Jey Uso declared for the Royal Rumble already, so it is essentially guaranteed that he won't win this. Stupid booking decisions surrounding this completely. Lyra VS Dakota was next in what was a really good match! Something I think WWE has done poorly since moving to Netflix is the amount of Title Changes, there have been 5 (technically 6 with the Ula Fala, technically 7 since Tiffany Stratton's cash in was free to watch.) For any new fans this is so misleading, as I cant remember a previous time where in 10 days of live TV this many titles changed hands. Congrats to the NEW Womens World Intercontinental Champion Lyra Valkyria, but unfortunately again, I think it's a wrong decision - Dakota is involved in a TV feud and the belt would slot right into that, building up 3 challengers in the PFC, Lyra barely gets featured on TV in recent months, has had very little chance to develop her character and while I'm sure she'll have a good reign, Dakota's crowning moment would have felt so good here. The New Day are doing great character work backstage but I think they should be given a match, which originally should have been on last week's awful show but they got cut. Sami Zayn then beat The Miz in a nothing match. Not sure what else you want me to say on that. Cool that he won with a Blue Thunderbomb. Rhea Ripley had a promo interrupted by Nia Jax? I'm really struggling here to make sense of this nonsense, Jax tells Rhea that when she wins the rumble she might take Ripley's title. Why? You've just been betrayed by Tiffany Stratton so why not go for her? Rhea Ripley beat you last year, why go for her? Anyways Bayley helps Rhea take out Jax in a nothing segment, literally just done to get Rhea on the show, why not just interview her backstage or something, or just not have anyone interrupt her, let her celebrate with her title idk it just seems so stupid to me. Finally in the main event, Damian Priest against Finn Balor in a Street Fight, you'd think that considering this would essentially be a 6 VS 1 if the Judgement Day were all there, Damian would have no chance right? well clearly you've never seen how Triple H treats his golden boy, the match was fine up until Balor hit his finisher on Priest through a table, and Priest immediately got back up and then hit 3 moves for the win. Making Finn Balor look like a loser & a fool again. Stupid decision. Terrible decision in fact, I just cannot make sense of why Triple H books Damian Priest this strong, the guy is nothing special but has looked like John Cena against Gunther and Balor in the past few months, it's incredulous to be frank and I'm not sure what else I can say on this, where does it leave these two going into WM41? Surely not another match? I have no idea and truth be told I do not care. Overall then, the wrestling on this show was a vast improvement, there was 2 memorable moments but unfortunately it was completely overshadowed by the awful booking and storylines set up and fleshed out on this show, also the fact the tag team division has been forgotten about doesn't bode we"
[8.0] "This was everything the Netflix debut SHOULD have been, as this was more about the actual product than celebrity pandering, even with Balor taking ANOTHER loss."
[9.0] "This was awsome. Every match was great. They definitely delievred here. Went from one the worst epsidoes of RAW(last weeks netflix debut) to easily the best show they've put out in a while."
[9.0] "(09/10) For the second week in a row, WWE knocks it out of the park with their second ever episode of RAW on NETFLIX. I thought that they were not gonna be able to duplicate the maximum success they achieved in the Golden year of Wrestling that 2024. But they're hot as ever going into their second episode since moving to NETFLIX. Cheers to the Paul Levesque era! Cheers to WWE and NETFLIX!"
[8.0] "Overall, this was definitely better than the netflix premiere. The opening segment was great, along with Penta's debut. Sheamus vs Kaiser was good. Jey getting the title shot at SNME hopefully will be a good one. Lyra vs Dakota was pretty fun to watch, along with Miz vs Sami, until it ultimately got cut short. The women's segment was alright I guess. The main event was good but I just expected better. Overall, much better episode this week with a really good pace."
[8.0] "There was lots to love on this show. The debut of Penta was good, and Chad Gable deserves all the credit in the world for making the match such a success. The opening promo highlighted the history between Punk, Seth and Drew, and sets up a number of moments int eh Rumble match. The main event was a fun plunder match, and hopefully marks the end of the feud so Priest can move on. The Women's IC tournament final was good, the crowd weren't too hot for it, but it was a nice match. Sheamus and Kaiser had exactly the banger you would expect. And while I like Jey getting the shot at Gunther, the set up here was a bit weak. A solid show, nothing bad, some good things set up for the future."
[10.0] "This episode was much better that the Netflix premiere episode. Once again, we got Seth VS Punk VS Promo which was amazing. Penta debut was great and hats off for Chad Gable. Lyra and Dakota put a great show to crown the inaugural Women's IC Champion. The main event was a very fun chaotic Street Fight match and it was a PLE level match."
[5.0] "1) The best part about the show was the opening segment - there were so many layers to it, so many storylines converging into a single point. 2) The best match of the show was the first match. I don't understand the hype around Penta, though. No one cared about him when he was in AEW, but now, all of a sudden, he's a big deal. I have to give WWE credit where credit is due - they know how to hype stuff up and make another mid-carder look like main-event material. For the most part, the commentators do the heavy lifting, and they did it again here - they really made the debut of just another luchador seem like some sort of the Second Coming of Christ. 3) Gunther gives me hope. He gives me hope, that even if you look like a frog with narrow skull, pointy nose, big ears, and the physique of a construction worker, while having a thick accent, you can still become a professional wrestler performing in front of thousands of people. 4) I couldn't watch the Women's Intercontinental match because I can't stand Dakota Kai's face. I've been unfortunate enough to know a woman who shared similar facial features, so now every time I see Dakota's face, it reminds of that woman, who was such a damned wrench, triggering pretty negative emotions inside me. I'm glad she didn't win the title. Honestly, I'm surprised how she has this job in the first place, considering her evil, bitchy, witch-like face. 5) During the main event between Balor and Priest, I came to the conclusion that WWE roster feels shallow. The reason we see Finn vs Damien for the 10th time is because they had no one else left beside these two who could main event the Monday Night Raw: CM Punk, Rollins and Drew (who we already saw at the beginning of the show); Miz, Sami Zayn, Chad Gable, and Sheamus (who we saw in the middle); Gunther and Jay Uso (who are currently busy in the world title picture). If you take the women's division it's the same faces over and over again. Tag Teams? Don't even let me start - they have only two or three teams there. Okay, let's get back to our main event. Can you, please, tell me, what's so special about Finn Balor or Damien Priest? Balor hasn't evolved since 2016, and Priest is just boring. Sometimes I wonder, how some people still manage to stay on top while not being relevant for years now. P.S. What the fuck your Intercontinental champion was doing in the front row, watching the show like a regular fan 0_o ?"
[8.0] "Match quality was absolutely outstanding, not a single bad match on the card in my opinion. Match quality on raw can usually vary so this was a nice change"
[9.0] "THE GOOD: 2.5 hours is a great compromise between having to stuff lots of stuff and commercials into 2 hours and spreading way too much filler over 3. Punk, Rollins, McIntyre & Gable are all fire on mic, & I'm especially stoked for this new Gable heel character; the heat he gets is just wild. Gable & Penta put on a barnburner that I'm not really bothered went overtime a bit. The crowd tonight was absolutely awesome! Gunther is incapable of cutting bad promos. The intercontinental women's title match was solid & both contestants worked very hard. Miz vs. Sami is a fun, concise affair that leaves both men looking better off for it. Balor & Priest is an utterly wild main event that I gave a 9 to as a 9/10-light user. THE BAD: Penta was really milking his time with the post-match promo. No matter, mistakes happen. The Shayna+Friends promo was kinda meh. I can't say that I care that much about WWE's Top 20 Instagram pix or Trips' opinions on the Philadelphia Eagles. Logan Paul's return will give me a match or 2 to skip per passing season. Nia's promos aren't very good, are they? Becoming a safer worker doesn't really excuse you from still holding largely blah matches & being fairly bad on mic. CONCLUSION: My first event 9 ever as a particularly 9/10-light user. It's really hard to fault an episode like this where every match gets is 6+ & half the card is 8+ to me. Strong in-ring work all around, very few low points that are all ultimately forgivable. 2.5 is a super strong run-time that I think WWE's format works best in. Unquestionably better than the fiasco that was 1650."
[7.0] "I am happy to eat my words and say that this week, WWE cared about all three letters in their name -- thank goodness for that! After last week and the debut "disasterclass", we got some good wrestling on this edition of RAW from the Bay Area. An exceptionally strong start featuring the WWE debut of Penta -- sans Fenix -- who really shone in his first match against Chad Gable. Both men were fantastic, some of the best wrestling I have seen on a Monday night in some time, and some real graps thrown in for good measure! The two matches that followed were both quite good as well, with Ludwig Kaiser and Sheamus putting on a great show (with a Bron Breakker tease at the end for good measure) and the Women's Intercontinental Championship title match between Lyra Valkyria and Dakota Kai was also executed well, if a bit briefly for the only women's match on the card. The main event between Damien Priest and Finn Balor was paced very oddly for me but gave us a blessed and satisfying end to this feud... unless they decide rehashing it again in a month or so is a good idea. A run time of just around two hours and thirty minutes, with a show that never overstayed its welcome, left me much more satisfied and hopeful for the so-called "Netflix Era"."
[8.0] "This was a really entertaining show from start to finish. Matches had good variety, promos were on-point, and storylines are progressing. It looks like Rhea is putting the Judgment Day behind her, hopefully Damian gets there soon because it's getting a little stale, but overall a very good Monday Night Raw."
[9.0] "A really good episode. Felt the episode flowed through really well with the great opening segment with Punk, Seth & Drew, giving me flashbacks to their fantastic segment from the Chicago RAW last year, going into Penta vs Gable, Sheamus vs Kaiser and the Women's IC Title Final BACK TO BACK TO BACK. The segment with Gunther and Jey served its purpose for the upcoming SNME. Sami vs Miz was fine for what it was, but seeing Sami win with the Blue Thunder Bomb was really great. The Rhea-Nia-Bayley segment was alright, and it seems like Nia Jax is once again on Raw. The main event street fight was also really good. Overall, a good show with really no bad matches, and good segments and story progression too. Overall, a fun show."
[10.0] "This show was truly admirable. All 5 matches were well-executed and well-paced. The promos were entertaining and story-driven. I give this show a 9 and I hope Raw continues to do so."
[6.0] "Solid show. Pentas Debut was fun, Sheamus v Kaiser was great, as was Lyra v Dakota. The Streetfight was a bit underwhelming. All it did was burry Finn even deeper and make JD look even weeker. I just hope HHH has a plan... Besides that it felt empty. Like of all People why have Chad be Pentas first opponent. Why is Sami getting involved with FT? Why could the womans US Title be on SNME, but the IC Title can't even main event a regular RAW?"
[3.0] "Better than last week but just a very empty show. The pacing just drags so it's hard to get excited about anything. Happy for Lyra, but apart from that (miz, Zayn, Finn Damian) feel like the kind of booking from three years ago"
[9.0] "This episode was so much better than the debut episode including the fantastic debut of Penta showing his skill against the best move-taker Chad Gable, a hard-hitting match between Kaiser and Sheamus, an incredible NXT Style match between Kai and Lyra for the new Women's IC Title, and a quite awesome Street Fight between Priest and Balor (hopefully) ending this feud. Sami match was ok, Opening Segment was cool with more entrants in the rumble, Wyatt Sicks to Smackdown killed Kross and his momentum, McAfee slightly annoying but highly entertaining and still bringing the best out of Cole. This is a very VERY good episode of Raw, near perfect really, but something about last weeks show made this seem like less big of a deal than it actually was, I hope Raw stays red hot in momentum after this, especially leading into the Royal Rumble and the 2nd SNME in a week and a half."
[8.0] "Much better show than the debut. Once all the corporate ass kissing got out of the way, we got a typically great RAW with wrestling and storytelling both on point."
[9.0] "Unlike a lot of people, I actually enjoyed the debut episode of RAW on Netflix, but I thought that this week was even better. Some really fun segments and every single match delivered."
[6.0] "A weaker episode this week. It started strong and stayed that way up and including the women's match between Lyra Valkyria and Dakota Kai, which I didn't even realise was for a title until I read it here. It goes down quickly after that with angles and promo's that make little sense and a badly highly overbooked main event match between Damian Priest and Finn Balor with the Judgement Day goons blatantly interfering the whole time in front of the referee... yes it's no dq and it's also very lazy booking."
[7.0] "This week's edition of Monday Night RAW really set the bar and feel for me on how Netflix on RAW was gonna be. Wrestling wise this was great across the board except for The Miz and Sami Zayn. We have key moments like the opening segment with Seth, Punk and Drew. PENTA's debut, Lyra capturing the Women's IC Title and Damian Priest ending his feud with a W. We also had some weak points segment wise...Their wasn't really anything outstanding story wise except for Rumble entries, Sheamus vs. Bron, Jey vs. GUNTHER but even then the segments they had for it were just fine but not that memorable. Overall, This was a good RAW with some nice booking and wrestling but nothing majorly outstanding about it. [***1/2]"
[9.0] "This was a very good episode of RAW and I really enjoyed most of the episode. The opening segment was really good and Penta Vs Gable was an amazing match and a good first match for Penta in WWE. Lyra Vs Dakota was also a good match and I'm glad Lyra won as I felt she deserved it more. The main event match was very fun as well however I did think Balor should have won but this seems to be a chapter closed for this story which is good. Overall this was a very good episode of RAW and much better than last week."
[10.0] "One of the better raws of recent memory. It started off strong with the Punk, Rollins, and Drew angle. Everyone is in the rumble as anyone would've guessed. Penta debut was fun, and I was happy to see the audience already rooting for him. Gable and Penta were the perfect combo out there to introduce Penta in a new promotion. I would have preferred Dakota being the inaugural champion, but I understand the decision to go with Lyra. There match was excellent as well. Damian and Finn had some excellent spots and I really enjoyed that match. Sami vs Miz was the only low point for me. Sheamus and Ludwig gave the exact match you would expect, and I loved it."
[10.0] "RAW macht mir momentan einfach nur Spaß! Ich hab mich auf das Netflix Debut gefreut, was mich richtig gut unterhalten konnte und auch auf diese Show hier in San Jose. Es wurden für diese Woche gute Matches sowie auch gute andere Sachen angekündigt. CM Punk startet die Show mit einer guten Promo bis Seth Rollins und ein wenig später Drew McIntyre dazu kommen. Eine wirklich gute Konstellation hier, die mich wirklich sehr unterhalten hat. Danach beginnt auch gleich das Match Of The Night: Chad Gable vs. PENTA! Penta bekommt eine wirklich sehr gute Vorstellung und es hat ihn einfach aussehen lassen wie der größte Star der Company. Gefällt mir gut! Sein Auftreten, die Chemie mit Gable. Ich bin gespannt was man von Penta bei der WWE noch erwarten kann. Ich hoffe großes und das auch Rey Fenix irgendwann den Weg zur WWE findet (****1/4). Generell waren alle Promos und Segmente hier wirklich gut. Und die Matches konnten auch vollkommen unterhalten. Sheamus vs. Ludwig Kaiser (***1/2). Das Hier Kaiser nicht gewinnt ist natürlich schade, aber war irgendwie zu erwarten. Lyra vs. Dakota Kai war dann ein gutes Final Match um den neuen WWE Women's Intercontinental Championship. Hier hatte Ich auch wirklich überhaupt keine Favoritin, weshalb das Match umso spannender gewesen ist. Das Lyra hier gewinnt finde Ich gut (***3/4). Zayn vs. Miz war dann kurz aber Gut. Und der Main Event ist dann natürlich auch ein sehr guter Abschluss für die Show. Ich weiß wirklich nicht was man mit Finn Balor vorhat, der hier schon wieder gegen Priest verliert (***3/4). Insgesamt gebe Ich dieser RAW Ausgabe hier die volle Punktzahl. Sie konnte mich einfach von vorne bis hinten, durchweg unterhalten. Die Show muss man gesehen haben meiner Meinung nach und jetzt schon eine der besten RAW Ausgaben die es dieses Jahr denke ich geben wird. Und das Jahr hat grade mal angefangen."
[8.0] "This felt like a counter to the criticisms of last week that it did not have enough wrestling. This one had much more focus on the in-ring action and every match was good. Penta's debut was the Match of the Night for me with that being very well done."
[8.0] "This was an incredible episode of Raw, coming back to form after the historic debut. From the fiery promo to opening the show to the crazy main event, everything was done right. Penta is another megastar in the making with a captivating debut, while Jey has stepped up to the mountaintop once again. Add in a well-deserved finale for the women's IC gold; Raw has begun to shape up very well for SNME and the Rumble."
[8.0] "A great weekly episode of RAW, I really enjoyed it. Seems like an episode made for those of us who like wrestling, really. Penta debuts, Lyra Valkyria wins the Intercontinental Women's Championship and Damian Priest seems to end his story with Finn Bálor in an interesting feud. The storylines continue heading into the Royal Rumble and it was entertaining to watch all the way to the end."
[7.0] "I liked the opening segment, Gunther's promo, Nia Jax's appearance, and all the matches tonight but nothing I'm expecting to come back to other than Penta's debut."
[7.0] "Ich hatte nicht viele Erwartungen an RAW und wurde positiv überrascht! Ich bin kein Stammzuschauer und konnte doch zwei gute Matches und ganz coole Zusammenhänge in der Show entdecken. Noch höher in der Bewertung wäre ich, wenn der Main Event nicht so verkorkst gewesen wäre, wie ich finde. Logiklücken und ein komisch dargestellter Face..."
[9.0] "Shows like this is what I was really hoping and expecting for with the Netflix move. A 13 minute opening match+ a post match promo with no commercial in sight (even for US viewers)? More of this please. The 2 and a half hour runtime with a 5 match card is also a welcome change and will hopefully be the norm for RAW moving forward as that's a great middle ground between 3 hours(too long) and 2 hours(too short). Reserve 3 hour RAWs for SPECIAL episodes when the likes of Punk and Roman are wrestling. The first hour and 45 mins was pretty much perfect but the show kinda slowed down a bit with that frankly useless Rhea segment and the Sami vs Miz match but the main event after delivered wonders"
[7.0] "Logical, nicely paced, and overall enjoyable for the first two hours. Opening promo was good and set up Drew's motivations nicely. Penta's debut was solid. I think Gable out shined him, but this was certainly a different in ring performance than what I'm used to seeing from Penta, and that wasn't a bad thing, just different. My favorite part was Gunther's promo. Jey sounded like an over dramatic teenager who didn't wanna hear some hard truths, but the criticism of being an over rated entrance merchant is entirely on point."
"This was a fantastic episode. It kicked off with an excellent promo segment featuring Seth Rollins, CM Punk, and Drew McIntyre, setting up a big match for next week. I'm still anticipating a potential Drew, Seth, and Kevin Owens faction, so we'll see where that goes. Penta's debut was a pleasant surprise--what could've been a squash turned into a great match where he got to showcase his moves and sell Chad Gable's offense brilliantly. Sheamus defeating Ludwig Kaiser to earn an Intercontinental Title shot added to the ongoing tease of Imperium's potential breakup. Lyra Valkyria became the inaugural Women's IC Champion after defeating Dakota Kai in a short but impactful match with some big moments. Sami Zayn's win over The Miz was decent but unremarkable. The angle with Rhea Ripley, Nia Jax, and Bayley didn't add much, as it felt like nothing was really built up there. Gunther's promo was spot-on, and he set up a title defense against Jey Uso for Saturday's main event. I'm still holding out hope for better booking for Gunther and his championship reign. The main event between Damian Priest and Finn Balor was incredible. It had drama, big moves, and intensity, delivering a satisfying close to a great show."
[9.0] "Another pretty fun episode of RAW. Sure gotta admit that there was some weird pacing things that did ruin the episode a bit, but still not that much. And finally we got some Saturday Main Event builed, altough did feel a bit rushed, especially Gunter vs Jey Uso, felt really rushed. Sure the promo was good, especially Jey'being fired up, but still, was more just like the creative went "Okay we don't know what to do with Gunther so lets just book him against Jey since Jey is done with Bloodline at least for a week.""
[6.0] "This show, along with the main event and the IC Title match are terribly overrated. I haven't seen anything truly great to justify giving an 8/10 to this show at all. Penta's debut, most of the opening segment and Gunther telling nothing but pure based AF truths in the face of Jey Uso are the only things that it would make me give the show that rating, but everything else was either terribly limited like the IC Title and Sheamus vs Kaiser matches or a bunch of nonsensical and overbooked generic piece of crap like the main event. Both matches were really well worked by the wrestlers, but the booking plain sucked. Rhea Ripley's segment was terribly forced just to have her and Bayley in her hometown on camera, because it really didn't start nothing new for Rhea and we just had two SmackDown girls in a RAW show just because. The Wyatt Sicks being sent to SmackDown is another fat piece of BS. How does that make sense? Does the Sicks really look like they're the kind of guys that negotiate a contract with a GM? Only thing that would made sense is that it was some sort of trade between Pearce and Aldis and RAW will recieve someone in return. Also, it abruptly ended the feud with the Final Testament after weeks of Karrion Kross wanting to finish them off for good, and after this move he just looked like a complete idiot. I liked the little interaction he had with Sami Zayn and it got me thinking a feud between those two could really be interesting. Karrion trying to corrupt Sami but Sami's integrity being stronger than his dark side and be able to not succumb to his own decay like Drew, Shinsuke or the New Day did. It would elevate Karrion to an upper-carder status and if done right, would be a good story to make Sami gain even more sympathy and credibility as a future World Champion. It was funny WWE botched and spoiled his match with The Miz even before the segment that provokes that match happened, even funnier than Sami actually won with the Blue Thunder Bomb and Michael Cole acknowdledged that feat (of course, after Sami hit the Helluva Kick, but it's a logical sequence and a cool finish if done like that). Ludwig Kaiser losing the way he lost in his match looks like another piece of the puzzle being put on for the eventual Imperium break-up. We might have another Gunther/Kaiser pep talk very soon. Speaking of Gunther, tremendous promo full of truth about how RAW sucked last week and how much of an overrated act Jey Uso is, also being right when he told Jey he is a better Tag Team wrestler, which he and his brother really are. The cliché motivational "I wasn't supposed to be here and now I am because I work hard" stuff from Jey was too weak and generic, even worse when he has to stop every word he says to let the people chant Yeet. Sadly, we're going to have a mediocre boring match for the Title next week and I have to keep reading that Gunther's reign sucks and he's a bad champion when he hasn't had a real good feud for the title yet. The women's IC Title match needed more time and being even more competitive. It looked incomplete and anything but a big deal, still both girls put on a solid performance. I'll have to get used to Dakota's new song, which I may be trippin' but kinda sounded like Oli Sykes singing. Didn't really like the song and Kombat was one of Def Rebel's few actual good themes and I don't really feel there was a need to change her theme. It sounded more heelish, yeah, but also though and a wrestler having a menacing theme that makes her look dangerous is good. I don't really like that thing of keep changing themes when a wrestler does a turn, you can see plenty of wrestlers that didn't have to do it and it works perfectly whether they're face of heels. Liv Morgan just got like a minute on camera after losing the title just to shit on Dom for trying to go back with Mami. Kinda felt like straight falling into irrelevancy for Liv after losing the title, and it's all because of how lame the Judgment Day has been booked since the betrayals to the Terror Twins. Now they'll keep going with the internal struggle between Liv and Finn after they both failed, which I'm curious about how the outcome of that will be, but I don't feel like it will be a good story at all. The opening segment started really well with Seth Rollins being truth to himself and showing how miserable he feels after losing to the guy he despises the most along with Roman Reigns, the Drew McIntyre interruption was great at first, but the random centering on Rollins and critizicing him for not being more focused on finishing Roman was too forced and it kinda just felt like a way to have Drew be in the same segment as both guys to also declare for the Royal Rumble. I hope WWE is really considering putting Seth, KO and Drew in an anti Bloodline-Punk-Cody faction. A bumpy road of a show, most issues I have with this is basically all matches not being allowed to push forward and try to do something more suitable to the real level of the wrestlers."
[6.0] "Lacklustre episode where the in ring was notably weak in my opinion and the promo segments just didn't seem to gel. It was cool seeing Penta in a WWE ring but I was far from impressed with his match against Gable. Watching on Netflix outside of the USA is weird, when the show goes to adds in the States we get random drone footage, half baked promos and the occasional random clipped comment from Cole. Looks very unprofessional in my opinion."
[6.0] "Dakota Kai vs Lyra Valkyria was the best match of the night, shame it was just 8 minutes, but really good match. Penta's debut was good with a very good promo afterwards. All other matches were decent but nothing great. The promo work is where Raw was a bit weak this week."
[9.0] "Raw redeemed itself from it's Netflix debut last week! No pomp and circ, just angles and matches! Penta's debut was MOTN with both him and Gable showing class. Lyra getting the win over Dakota wasn't my first choice but both women put in a show. The main event with the streetfight is good, classic fun. This flowed really well! New Day segments continue to entertain me! Opening segment with Punk, Seth and Drew was entertaining. Only slow part was Jey/Gunther which feels transitional."
"Bist deppat! Was für ne Show. Nach den letzten beiden Shows dachte ich mir schon , , warum schau ich das noch" und dann knallen die sowas raus! Hammer Der Move von bei den Damen war das beste was ich im Frauen-Wrestling je gesehen habe (bin aber noch nicht so lang dabei WM38). Und ich dachte immer das sieht bei den Damen nicht so gut aus weil die so leicht sind. Aber bei den beiden heute war das alles sehr wuchtig und hat mir super gefallen!"
[5.0] "The opening segment was very good. Punk, Rollins and Drew are "the pillars" of Raw, and it's very smart to use them together. Penta vs. Gable was good to introduce Penta to the WWE audience."
[6.0] "All the matches were at rhe very least decent. Nothing was bad in ring. Uso challenging Gunther is a joke. Lyra over Dakota is a bit of a joke too. Some questionable decisions but good wrestling"
[8.0] "Almost seems like an apology for last week's mess, and it's a shame that there is going to be a drop-off in viewership because the novelty is now gone, in the same way that people start to come back for the Mania build but don't stick around much past April. Because you can't subsist on legend pops for nearly-retired wrestlers every week, you have to let the people propping up your product every week provide easy entertainment. That said, the top of the women's division on the main roster is still in dire need of repair but instead, it looks like they might just be spinning wheels until Mania once again, at least when it comes to Raw. But, all in all, one of the better Raws in a long time."
[8.0] "One of my favourite episodes of raw in a long time - and much much better than last weeks raw - Penta debuting was great -sheamus and ludwig had a banger - lyra and dakota was great and the bálor priest match was great despite the wrong result"
[7.0] "Immerhin wieder eine Show mit einem großen Anteil an gelungenen Aspekten, wenn auch die Laufzeit - speziell die Zeit, mit der die internationalen Werbepausen gefüllt werden - die Show zäh wirken lässt. Bei einem Debüt wie dem von Penta ist natürlich nicht von Vorteil, wenn ihn ein Großteil der Zuschauer nicht kennt, er einige seiner Moves direkt verhaut und er dann weite Teile des Matches gegen Gable sellen muss. Immerhin gelingt dann das Ende des Matches und er kriegt eine gute Abschlussreaktion bei seiner Promo. Kaiser gegen Sheamus war ein solides Aufbaumatch für Sheamus, bevor er wohl erneut versucht, den IC Titel zu erringen. Die Promos während der internationalen Werbepausen kann man vielleicht gar nicht so richtig als Teil der Show mitbewerten, aber zumindest die von Carlito und JD McDonagh war absolut furchtbar. Man hätte stattdessen auch den Geräuschen einer Baustelle zuhören können und hätte dabei mehr erfahren. Jey Uso als Herausforderer für Gunther bei SNME ist ganz cool, auch wenn es ein bisschen brauchen wird, um ihn glaubhaft darzustellen. Lyra gegen Dakota hat mir tatächlich dann uneingeschränkt am besten gefallen. Speziell der Fisherman Suplex nach Außerhalb direkt zu Beginn weckt die Zuschauer direkt auf und zeigt die Wichtigkeit des Matches für die beiden. Miz gegen Zayn war nur Sättigungsbeilage und gesättigt ist man nach dieser zu langen Ausgabe von Raw auf jeden Fall wieder. Der Street Fight im Main Event war sehr unterhaltsam, selbst wenn die Paarung von Priest und Balor schon sehr kalt war. Mit einigen verrückten Stunts gelingt es ihnen hier dennoch, das Publikum auf ihre Seite zu ziehen."
[8.0] "Really good show. I'm very happy that they are pushing Penta. I kept waiting for a boring match but they were all great. The time just zipped along. Very reassuring after the Netflix debut was very bogged down with garbage."
[8.0] "Tonight, Triple H finally decided to book a wrestling show. Netflix premiere was a new-fan friendly show, but tonight was the real first Raw on Netflix. Surprisingly many good matches on the card. They let Penta and Gable go in a cool technical style of match. At the end of the show, they also let Finn and Priest go insane and messy violence (as much as they could). Adding to that the nice 3 way promo of Punk/Rollins/McIntyre (once again but it was still nice) and the good IC women title match. Yeah this was a good night for wrestling !"
[7.0] "Decent episode of Raw. Nice opening with Punk/Steh/Drew all announcing they are winning the Royal Rumble, followed by the debut of the great Pentagon, Jr. The first women's inter-continental champion is crowned before Sami Zayn squashed The Miz and Damian Priest beats up Finn Balor."
[9.0] "This was a insanely good episode of Raw this week that had a few downsides but the possitives outweigh the negitives by a long mile. Show starts off with a promo between Punk/Seth/Drew all anounce their entering themselfs into the Royal Rumble match. Then we start off hot with Pentas debut. Few botches but I thought the match was great. You could see the excitement in Penta when he cut his promo after the match plus to have a moment like that in front of his family must of been huge. Next up was Ludwig/Sheamus and I thought this was a great aggressive and hard hitting match as it shoulda been. The Gunther/Jey promo that happened next was pretty solid, I enjoyed that emotion Jey showed near the end of it. After that Kai/Lyra was next and somehow this is the best match of the night. These two went out, gave it their all and killed eachother just for the love of the game. That suplex off the apron to the floor aswell as the finish looked insane. Phenomenal match. After that was probably the worst match of the night. That match being Miz/Sami but even then I wouldn't say it's bad, just simply very inconsequential. Next theirs a promo that I thought was really bad between Reha, Bailey and Jax. I genuinely walked away and made food so idk what happened but what I do know is Bailey cut a really terrible promo with Jax. Some of the shit I did hear them say was things like "Ooooo bbl Bailey's coming for me guys" and "if you have somthing to say then say it to my face you big ole dumb idiot". Genuinely one of the worst promos I've seen in awhile. Thankfully the main event was up next and it delivered. Insane brawl throughout the entire arena. The most notable thing coming from this match was probably was when Balor/Preist went into the stands and fell off of them into the tables. Really fun match. Anyways I had a blast with this show, tons of great stuff and storyline advancements. Other then the unnecessary Miz/Sami match and the Jax/Reha/Bailey promo this show was bassicly perfect. I strongly recommend this episode of Raw to any wrestling fan. In my opinion one of the better Raws I've seen in a long time"
[7.0] "RAW was really good with some excellent matches. Unfortunately, we only got 5 matches in 3 hours once again. The angles were solid, but the in-ring promos failed to surprise or add anything significant. If wrestlers from SmackDown are going to keep appearing, just tell us outright--it's inconsistent otherwise."
"Better than last week, but still pretty mid. 6 for me, 7 if your pushing it. They have made Penta look like a star, but the botches took me out of it. Hopefully better next week when hes used to the ropes (its always the ropes)."
[10.0] "Excellent episode of RAW.. Good opening promo adding stakes to the Rumble and the Gunther-Jey segment was well-done, too. The main event was an over-delivery and a solid showing for Priest and Balor's best performance in some time. The IC title match was a fun sprint and Gunther put on his signature solid TV match. The Penta debut was very successful. He had great presentation, a fun match and a very nice promo at the end. However, Gable's one of the best wrestlers in the world and replicating this with anyone else might not be easy."
[9.0] "Very decent show with no ad breaks during matches, got to see a lot of quality wrestling. Nearly everything on the show had a purpose, the show flew by, really happy and a bit less concerned, this is the weekly wrestling show I want to see on Monday."
[10.0] "Though there was less emphasis on the story continuation, this was more or less the compensation show for the lack of in-ring action last week while leaving room for growth for Royal Rumble that is getting more star-studded by the day. Great matches and some good mic work from Punk as usual and a great exchange between Uso and Gunther makes this an easy A+/"
[7.0] "A great episode of RAW, much more dynamic and complex than what happened last week. The opening segment was quite interesting with several members announcing their participations in the Royal Rumble. A correct debut from Penta (with some mistakes, but it must be nerves). A regular Sheamus vs Kaiser that for me passed without pain or glory on the program. A good women's fight with a winner who was not to my taste (but still deserved the title). A Sami vs Miz that could have been an e-mail, quite unnecessary, but in the long run it was effective. I didn't like the main event for the simple fact of the inconsistencies that occurred during the match. A pretty good program, but with things that caught my attention. 7/10."
[8.0] "This show should have been the Netflix premiere show; it had great matches and good storylines during it all, but I suppose it just didn't have the star power to make the premiere. Regardless, the opening segment between Punk, Rollins, and McIntyre got the crowd pumped up for the rest of the show and announced all their entrances for the Royal Rumble match. The debut of Penta was the opening match of the night and got an outstanding reception from the crowd, and he was given an awesome presentation, and I think he will feel very welcome to WWE after that show. A little segment with Judgement Day just showing that Dom is just going to be Morgan's little personal butler. A great showing between Sheamus and Kaiser to get that train going for Sheamus to win that intercontinental title. Gunther shitting on the bad standard of matches on the Netflix premiere was absolutely hilarious because he understands the pain the audience had to watch. A rather short but solid inaugural women's intercontinental title match. A very irrelevant match between Miz and Zayn, an easy tea break match, could have used that time to increase the time limits of more important matches. A rather random segment between Nia Jax, Bayley, and Rhea Ripley, considering two of them aren't even on the Raw brand. Wrong winner in a very decent main event, but nevertheless this was a very high-standard show and deserved to be the first episode of the Netflix era."
[8.0] "A much better show compared to the Netflix debut. Penta is beloved by the crowd already and it was great to see how excited the guy was. His match with Gable was good aside from a couple messy spots. Sheamus and Kaiser have great chemistry together and I'm glad they're continuing the story of Sheamus going for the IC title to complete his Grand Slam. Really thought Dakota was going become the inaugural IC champ--especially with Bayley there--but Lyra makes total sense. The crowd seemed behind Dakota Kai near the end but I'm sure she'll eventually get her moment while Lyra is someone they can build the division around. Plus, she's come close various times since debuting on RAW and needed this win far more. Zayn vs Miz was fine for what it was. The main event was good but it's weird watching the babyface, who has already beaten his opponent clean, attack him while the guy is being stretchered out. Being a Finn fan is hard and in the six televised singles matches (including a triple threat) in 2024, he won once (in June against Dragon Lee). I feel like the ending to this match was never in doubt. Priest rarely loses even when it's No DQ, 3-on-1, and no-selling table spots is the norm. I think Priest is great but some more nuance in his booking would be nice instead of making him and Rhea essentially the exact same. I know they're dubbed the Terror Twins but their booking patterns don't need to be identical. Either way, the match and show were enjoyable. The Rumble is shaping up to be the most star studded one in a long time."
"8/10 That was a damn solid episode of Raw. Only 2.5 hours, which I think is a perfect sweet spot. They gave Penta and Gable no commercials and the rest of the pacing was really really good. If today was any indication of what is to come then im going to love it. I accept last week was what it was but tonight was perfect."
[8.0] "Thank fuck this show was good. After the really bad debut show last week where it felt like it was more of a promo/ cooperate asskiss to Netflix this show was much more entertaining and more of the normal show that most come to expect from wwe now. A solid promo segment between your 3 biggest stars on the brand to kick off the show. An electric debut for penta against a very on point Chad gable. A fun sheamus vs Kaiser match which isn't a surpise. A Surprisedly good womens ic title final between Lyra and Dakota props to both women on that. After that the show did take a good amount of drop off but the main event was solid and overall capped off a very strong episode of raw"
"A much better RAW this week and was glad to see Penta make his WWE debut. Congratulations to to Lyra for winning the women's IC Title. I love the street fight between Balor and Priest it was a great match."
[8.0] "Opening segment was interesting with CM Punk opening the show, Seth Rollins coming out interrupting Punk and then Drew McIntyre coming out and especially with their history is intriguing heading into Royal Rumble. PENTA vs Chad Gable: An interesting choice for opponent for the debut of PENTA in WWE, their styles clashed quite well, the reception from the crowd was there, some cool moves from PENTA, Gable gave a good fight but PENTA got the win which was the right decision [****]. Sheamus vs Ludwig Kaiser: These two have good matches opposite one another and this one did not disappoint, they had a physical match that was intense and Sheamus getting the win was the right decision and confronting Bron Breakker after the match was good to see [***1/2]. Lyra Valkyria vs Dakota Kai: A close to call tournament final match, Valkyria hitting the suplex on Kai from the apron to the ringside floor sounded brutal, solid showing from both that was close to call at times, Valkyria winning and becoming the first champion was cool to see [***3/4]. Sami Zayn vs The Miz: Zayn getting the win was a surprise, the action was fine to be honest, nothing too much to remember [**3/4]. Damian Priest vs Finn Balor: Their best match in their rivalry, at one point nearly sent Balor out of the arena on a stretcher, they nearly tore each other apart and Priest getting the win was good to see, the highlight was Priest hitting Balor with the broken arrow off the stand through the tables [****]."
[9.0] "This was 100x better than last week episode of Monday Night RAW. It had four very good matches with Penta Debut Match, Sheamus vs. Ludwig Kaiser, Lyra Valkyria vs. Dakota Kai for the WWE Women's Intercontinental Championship, and the Main Event Street Fight with Finn Balor and Damian Priest. Also to note had two very good segments from CM Punk, Seth Rollins, and Drew McIntyre when the show began. Gunther and Jey Uso had a great segment where Jey Uso dropped the act and really went in deep told how he felt. I thought this show was great this is the formula for the weekly show it had everything good matches, good segments, and storytelling. Next week RAW has Seth Rollins vs. Drew McIntyre which I expect to be very good. This is was refreshing to watch after last week abysmal episode of Monday Night RAW on Netflix."
