WWE Monday Night Raw Review – 12.01.25

It’s the first of the month – go pay rent! Monday night has rolled around again, this time hot off the heels of a Survivor Series that some have called “not good” (Scott) and others have said “I’ve only watched half of it” (me). Triple H promises that tonight’s Raw will be “epic.” Has he ever lied to us before? (Yes.)

The last week in WWE: Raw / NXT Gold Rush / Impact / SmackDown / Survivor Series

Then, Now, Forever, TOGETHER.

Welcome to Monday Night Raw in Glendale, Arizona. Wade Barrett and Joe Tessitore are in the middle of the crowd surrounded by “yeet” shirts. Here’s a look back at Survivor Series: WarGames, complete with news headlines, Internet reactions, and of course Triple H.

Arrivals! Paul Heyman leads the Vision in. We’ll hear from them tonight. Solo Sikoa walks by a WWE production truck and sees his face. Dragon Lee and AJ Styles are here, ready to defend against New Day. Judgment Day is here and up rides Dirty Dominik Mysterio and Liv Morgan in the lowrider. We’re live on Netflix at the Desert Diamond Arena and brought to you by DoorDash. Hungry? Order some lukewarm food for $25!

Iyo Sky is first out tonight, showing some pain from WarGames. She’s immediately followed by Rhea Ripley, getting all the screams she always gets. Rhea welcomes us to Monday Night RhIyo. Her face is sore, their bodies are banged up but they won the war. The fight isn’t over though because the Kabuki Warriors hurt her best friend. Iyo notes that nobody is ready for RhIyo and Rhea calls for a tag title shot.

She does not get the Kabuki Warriors, instead getting Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss. Charlotte understands standing up for your best friend, but she and her best friend are former champions and never got their rematch. Rhea thinks they belong at the back of the line, Charlotte says she doesn’t step aside for anyone. Alexa calls for a match tonight and the fans give us a “yes” chant. Iyo accepts and points to her face.

Raw General Manager Adam Pearce is on the phone and clears the match for the main event tonight – it is official. Ivy Nile wants a shot at Maxxine. He promises the first match at Maxxine after she gets done training with Natalya. He turns and finds Paul Heyman and Bron Breakker. Paul has no idea who was under the mask and that Bron pinned CM Punk which means they have a lot to talk about.

The Last Time is Now Tournament Semifinals: Main Event Jey Uso vs L.A. Knight

Jey yeets through the crowd as one does while Knight comes out when we return from a break and a video package on John Cena’s rivalry with CM Punk. For the seventh time on Raw in 2025 these two share a ring, Jey 1-0 in their singles matches. They battle back and forth and Jey drops Knight with a suicide dive to the outside, giving WWE their favorite excuse to do a replay and go to commercials.

Knight and Uso are trading blows on the ropes when we return, both tumbling to the ringside area. They both beat the count and take each other down again. Uso goes up for the splash and Knight rolls, dodging a superkick and getting a two after a Burning Hammer on Jey. Jey tries for another splash, Knight meets him for a megaplex instead. Uso rolls through a stunner, spears and this time lands the Uso Splash for another two. Knight rolls him up and gets the three, advancing in the tournament. After Knight leaves, Jey gives us “dejected” in the ring and walks out to a “Uso” chant and cheers. Then the crash out happens – the Prime Hydration Station is overturned, the ring stairs take flight and he leaves.

L.A. Knight pins Jey Uso to advance to the finals of the Last Time is Now Tournament. I think this was a good one. These two work well together and they did it again tonight. I’m surprised at the result. Knight battles Gunther or Sikoa, depending on who wins later tonight.

Lyra Valkyria and Bayley want in the tag match. Lyra says they’re good right now and they’re both under consideration. WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Asuka and Kairi Sane walk up, Asuka calling Bayley an idiot and Bayley telling them they are bigger idiots. Asuka: “I’m a champion. What are you?” She laughs about Charlotte Flair being in the main event and not Bayley.

WWE Intercontinental Champion and AAA Mega Champion Dominik Mysterio leads out most of the Judgment Day (Raquel Rodriguez, Roxanne Perez, Finn Balor and JD McDonough). For those of you not in the social media world, Raquel posts some pretty interesting perspectives of the events from her Meta glasses. Dom says he beat the greatest of all time which makes him the greatest Intercontinental Champion of all-time. He couldn’t have done it alone and thanks the four with him but has one more person he wants to thank.

Liv Morgan joins us on Raw for the first time in months to a good reception. “I’m baaaaack,” she shouts to cheers. “Guess who else didn’t see me coming? John Cena.” She says she’s missed the JD crew so much, but since she’s been gone she’s been hearing some things about the group. She’s heard they are weak but now that she’s back, they’re coming for everything that is theirs. “The Judgment Day once again run Monday Night Raw. And Dominik, one more thing…” she slaps him and jumps into his arms, licking his face. That’s love.

We get some cinematic footage of Maxxine training with Natalya or more clearly the Nattie Neidhart variation. This made Maxxine look really good but also is a good (hopefully) reintroduction of Lowkey Legend Nattie.

Pearce is on his phone again, welcoming referee Eddie Orengo. Adam wants Eddie to snoop around and see if he can find out who the mystery attacker at the Survivor Series was. It’s a good thing he didn’t ask for this while being broadcast around the world on Netflix.

Celebrities love Raw! The Arizona Cardinals are here!

WWE World Tag Team Titles: WWE World Tag Team Champions AJ Styles and Dragon Lee vs The New Day (Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston with Grayson Waller)

This is the first televised defense in a month for the team of AJ Lee. The great Alicia Taylor gives the championship introductions. Kofi is wearing the most dramatic outfit ever and I love him. New Day charges and works over AJ to start the match. Lee offers up a running rana and takes Woods down to the ringside mat, giving the production crew our second “diving outside so let’s take a break” moment in as many matches.

We come back to Woods and Kofi dropping AJ with a leg drop for a two count. AJ counters a Boom Drop into a pin attempt and a Calf Crusher, broken up by Woods. Lee tags in and they offer up a double powerbomb for a two on Kofi. Lee runs into a kick and Woods tags in, kicking AJ off the apron. They tie Lee up in the ropes and Kofi gets a two on a corner stomp. Lee double stomps Kofi off the ropes, Kofi bounces right into a Styles Clash for a pin.

AJ Styles pins Kofi Kingston, Styles and Lee retain the WWE World Tag Team Titles. Hey, this was a hell of a match. New Day are solid as always and the fans were very into the match. Watch this one.

The Highlight of the Night, presented by Cricket: Stephanie Vaquer defeats Nikki Bella at Survivor Series.

Jackie Redmond is with WWE Women’s World Champion Stephanie Vaquer. Stephanie says that when you betray her, you get burned. Liv walks up and congratulates Vaquer.

The Vision (Big Bronson Reed, Bron Breakker, Logan Paul and WWE Hall of Famer Paul Heyman) are out for some words. They’re introducing Logan as part of the Vision so I’m rolling with it. Paul shouts out the cowboy man, Drew McIntyre, and the guys in the ring with him. He also tells us that on the January 5 Raw, CM Punk will defend the title against Bron. Bron channels his Uncle Scott and calls punk a bitch. He says Punk is no different than Rollins and he should be upset that his wife is a bigger star than he is. Punk tried to break his neck at Survivor Series so he’s going to ruin his life. “I’m coming for every good memory that these people remember you for.” Hell of a promo for Breakker here. Seek this one out.

Jey Uso is walking sadly and met by Jackie. He doesn’t want to talk about most of her questions. There are a lot of people in his head and they need to get out. “Roman said it best – those titles look best on his shoulders, not mine.”

WWE U.S. Champion Chelsea Green would like us to check the Cyber Monday deals at WWE Shop. I wish Chelsea was on this show more often.

Rhea and Iyo are stretching and hugging.

The Last Time is Now Tournament Semifinals: Gunther vs Solo Sikoa (with Tala Tonga)

Gunther defeated Je’Von Evans while Solo advanced due to injury. I’m curious to see how the crowd moves for this one. The winner battles L.A. Knight in the finals on SmackDown. These two have one singles match in their history, back in January 2022 with Gunther defeating Solo on NXT 2.0. Solo crashes to the outside after a big boot and the production team send us to five more commercials.

As we return, Gunther offers up a few chops to Solo. Solo tries for a slam, Gunther picks him up but falls under Solo for a two count. Solo slowly heads up top and Gunther chases, being headbutted down. Gunther springs up for a chop and superplexes Solo, the ring rattling as they hit the Slim Jim logo. “Let’s go Gunther” chants are sparse but heard. The men trade chops, Solo hitting a slam to give us another ad break.

Back at it, Solo nails the running hip attack in the corner. He calls for the hip attack and runs right into a clothesline. Solo powers out of a power bomb and tries for a Samoan Drop, spinning into it for a two count. Solo signals for the spike, Gunther chops during his taunt. After a string of chops, Gunther runs into a slam by Solo. Solo hits the splash and Gunther kicks out at two. We get our first “this is awesome” chant of the night as Gunther ducks another spike, hooking the sleeper. Solo rips off the turnbuckle as Gunther suplexes him. As the referee goes for the fix, Tala tries to interfere and boots big Gunther down. The referee catches as Gunther mule kicks out, slamming the thumb onto the apron and rolling Solo in again, low blowing Solo and power bombing him. One, two, three.

Gunther pins Solo Sikoa to advance to the finals of the Last Time is Now Tournament. As the kids say, this was a banger. These two worked very well together, held the crowd’s attention and both came out of it looking good. Gunther vs Knight is our final match on SmackDown, the winner being John Cena’s final opponent at Saturday Night’s Main Event. Knight comes out after the match for the staredown.

Pearce is back with Eddie who has no answers to the mystery man. Styles and Lee walk up and want to defend against next week. Lee wants the War Raiders and Adam makes it official.

Charlotte and Alexa are walking. Next, the tag team main event.

Next week, the winner of the Last Time is Now Tournament will join us. AJ Styles and Dragon Lee defend their World Tag Team Titles against the War Raiders and Rey Mysterio faces Finn Balor.

Jackie has caught up with WWE Hall of Famer Rey Mysterio. Rey calls Dominik a bastard because he’s a bad father and says he’s happy to go through Judgment Day one at a time. She wonders if he’ll take a run at the Intercontinental Title. Logan Paul interrupts and thinks the I-C Title should belong to the Vision. He tells Rey to step down, or he will retire him. Rey slaps Logan and the squad in suits appear to break them up.

Charlotte Flair & Alexa Bliss vs Rhea Ripley & Iyo Sky

We take a commercial after the intros and come back to Rhea accidentally bumping into Charlotte to escape the Prizm Trap. Alexa ducks the Meteora attempt but can’t make the tag, Iyo staying on the attack. Rhea and Charlotte both tag in and the crowd cheers for the big showdown, though the chants are loud and clear for Rhea. After some equal battling, Charlotte lays in the chops before taking a headbutt. Here’s a commercial!

Rhea lands the Razor’s Edge on Charlotte, Iyo follows with a missile dropkick for a two. Rhea sets up Riptide, Charlotte DDTs out of it and tags Bliss. Bliss DDTs Rhea who does her great DDT sell as always for a two. Bliss goes up and hits Rhea’s knees with Twisted Bliss. Charlotte and Iyo tag in, Charlotte boots Iyo and Alexa lands Sister Abigail. Rhea breaks the pin and things are going very well here. Charlotte misses a boot and is clotheslined out. Rhea tags in and trades blows with Bliss, Bliss slipping out of another Razor’s Edge and then Rhea slipping out of Abigail. Alexa falls to the Riptide and Iyo tags in for the moonsault, Charlotte charging Rhea into the others to break the pin.

“This is awesome” chant. The Kabuki Warriors run out and attack, giving us the no contest we all expected.

Rhea Ripley & Iyo Sky and Charlotte Flair & Alexa Bliss fight to a no-contest. Really good match because of course it was. Watch it.

As the Warriors work over Iyo, Bayley’s music hits and she and Lyra go for the save. Liv Morgan attacks and is followed by Raquel and Roxanne as we have chaos. Raquel hits the bomb on Asuka, Perez the Pop Rox on Bayley. Raquel and Rox hold the titles high, Rox handing one to Liv who hands it back to Rox and raises their hands. All is right with the Judgment Day.

A very hot ending to a show that, more often than not, was hot. Gunther-Sikoa and the tag title match are both matches I highly recommend, but I also recommend going back for Bron’s promo. While I wouldn’t describe things as “epic,” it was a very solid and entertaining episode of Raw.