WWE Monday Night Raw – 8.31.2026

Monday, Monday, Monday! We don’t get taped Raws very often, but we’re getting one tonight. This was taped back on Friday but it looks like they’ve thrown a pretty good show together. The OTC is even here! Let’s see what is happening. But first…

The last week: Raw / NXT / Evolve / Main Event / Impact / SmackDown / AAA Ola de Calor / NXT Heatwave

Then, Now, Forever, Together.

We start in the parking lot with The Usos pulling up, immediately followed by Royce Keys and OTM (Bronco Nima and Lucien Price). Keys and OTC attack them, Jey Uso getting busted open and hidden behind the Netflix Blur and Jimmy Uso being chokeslammed through the back window of a car. Jacob Fatu in his red-ass outfit runs up and chases but the opps get away.

Joe Tessitore and Wade Barrett greet us from ringside, telling us this is not how we planned to open the program. We cut back to Raw General Manager Adam Pearce and medical checking on the blurred Jey Uso, Wade staying that the attack was far beyond the line we hold here in WWE. Yes, this kind of thing never happens here and is certainly not a line an upstanding superstar like Wade would cross on this program.

WWE Women’s Intercontinental Championship: WWE Women’s Intercontinental Champion Raquel Rodriguez (with WWE Women’s World Champion Liv Morgan and Roxanne Perez) vs Sol Ruca

We continue split-screening during Sol’s entrance to blur not only Jey but also his blood splattered on the ground in a separate blur. The Netflix Blur is the true main character. Hey, we’re in Cleveland and at the Rocket Arena, not live on Netflix but still presented by DoorDash. Joe is giving us the most serious tone of commentary he can give us in this dire situation of wrestlers being attacked in the parking lot. We continue to visit with Jey and the Blur as Raquel enters. Jimmy also gets The Blur covering two different parts of his body.

After the championship introductions from Mark Nash, we’re interrupted by Jacob Fatu ripping the cover off the announce table with a mic. “I’m about to dog walk all three of you (bleeps)!” Pearce and the crew talk him down, cut his mic, and he disrespectfully shoves over the little table that holds the titles before throwing a fit back to the back. Okay, a match now! They battle to the outside and Sol leaps onto Raquel but runs into a pounce in the ring. Sol springboards with a crossbody for a two and dodges a running Raquel, locking her into a modified tarantula on the ropes. With Raquel outside, she leaps and misses and Raquel hits a crossbody to send us to a break but there are no commercials this week, so we’re just cutting out a chunk of the match.

We come back to the women slugging each other in the ring. Sol hits a beautiful missile dropkick from the second rope to finally wake up this already dead crowd that had to sit through two hours of SmackDown before this. Sol snaps Raquel to the outside and Rox and Liv reappear from the entrance, Sol smacking both of them and moonsaulting onto them. Why did they even leave? I don’t know. Sol goes for the Sol Snatcher and Lyra Valkyria appears, shoving Sol off the ropes and right into the Tejana Bomb. Lyra gives us the crazy laugh as the Judgment Day ladies celebrate in the ring.

Raquel Rodriguez pins Sol Ruca to retain the WWE Women’s Intercontinental Championship. This was pretty good. Raquel continues to be solid and Sol looked good here.

Joe and Wade send us to a package on the Fenix vs Penta match that we will see tonight.

Arrivals! Rey Fenix and Penta are both here. Well, that’s a relief.

Joe and Wade take us back to the opening segment and the various blurred blood splatters in the parking lot. Or ketchup. Could be anything back there. We’ll never know. Wade lets us know that medics have been called, so that’s good I guess. Timely.

Mr. T: I Pity the Fool debuts next Tuesday on Netflix. Here’s a sneak peak!

WWE Intercontinental Champion Chad Gable joins us in the arena. He tells the crowd he loves their energy which is nice of him because they have no energy. They had to watch SmackDown! After the weekend of wrestling we just had, none of us have energy. I didn’t even watch anything but the Willow-Mercedes match and I’m tired. Anyway, he knows that the real work start now. He is thankful for the fans in Mexico during his time in AAA and would not be here without them. He now has a way to repay those in Mexico by defending his championship.

He introduces Dragon Lee and they share some respectful thoughts. Gable tells us that Pearce has given him the chance to choose who he will wrestle in Mexico which sounds like some Pearce management. Ethan Page interrupts and wants a shot. Chad says he is on the list right under Honky Tonk Man and Ethan applauds the legacy of Honky Tonk and tells Chad to stop being a charity case before he turns into a paper champion. We eventually get to Dragon challenging Page to a match and Chad deciding it sounds like a number one contender’s match. This was mostly death.

WWE Intercontinental Championship #1 Contender’s Match: Dragon Lee vs Ethan Page

We come back to the bell ringing. The winner gets the title shot in Mexico City. We last saw this as a singles match on the June 22nd episode of this fine program. The fans chant “Ethan sucks” as Gable watches Page pound away on Lee. Lee gets some precious momentum and lands a tope on Ethan before we go to commercials that don’t exist and return to Lee tossing Evans out to the other side of the ring. Ethan yanks the apron out from under Lee who tumbles to the ringside area. Evans hits Page with a backbreaker and rolls him in, only able to get a two count. Page peppers Page with some shots and springs DDT off the turnbuckles, Joe Tess briefly turning into Michael Cole and declaring it as “vintage Dragon Lee.”

Lee tries to rana Page but Page catches him. Lee is still able to knee the hell out of Page and then leaps over the top onto him, rana-ing him right onto the announce table. Lee takes his time for his cannonball but Page smacks him, taunting Gable before tossing Lee right into him. Gable backs Ethan into the ring and Page takes the time to remove the turnbuckle cover. Lee runs into that exposed turnbuckle and the referee sees Gable pointing at it so doesn’t count the pinfall. As Page argues, Lee, spins him down with Operation Dragon and gets the pin. Dragon Lee is headed to an Intercontinental Championship match.

Dragon Lee pins Ethan Page to become #1 contender. These two have good chemistry and work well together. It’s nice to see Dragon actually win something, though I don’t have high hopes for him winning the big one.

Australia! We have SmackDown, WrestlePalooza Perth, and Raw coming in December with the Perth WWE weekend takeover. I still have trauma from reviewing the last WrestlePalooza.

Joe and Wade take us back to two weeks ago and L.A. Knight saving Solo and Solo turning on the Bloodline.

A Jeep pulls up and WWE World Champion Roman Reigns emerges, walking up on Fatu. Fatu tells him that things aren’t looking good for the twins. Jacob tells us that Royce is a problem and Roman corrects him, telling him that Royce is Jacob’s problem.

WWE World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns is joining us in the arena. OTC, you don’t make entrances at 8:43 p.m. Good news, I can fast-forward his entrance this week and save myself five minutes of life! Of course, this is the week that WWE ALSO decides to do that by putting most of his intro behind a commercial break. However, there is time to tell us that Crown Jewel will be in Riyadh on November 7th. Roman asks for and receives acknowledgement from the Cleveland crowd OTC tells us that being Tribal Chief is a burden because everybody wants what he has. He says he should be out here talking about Rey Fenix and Penta and showing them respect because they’re earning it unlike everybody else who disrespects him.

This brings him to Solo Sikoa. He questions Solo blowing his opportunity in the family “… for L.A. Knight? I get it, he reminds you of The Rock but HE’S NOT OUR FAMILY.” This brings out one L.A. Knight. Knight says he thought Roman was the champion that matters yet he is doing things the wrong way because Roman keeps putting his family and tournaments between him. “I didn’t understand that OTC stands for One Tremendous Coward.” Oof. He dropped Roman on his head two weeks ago and Roman skipped out on last week, Knight tells him, and says that “once you whip the horse, you’ve gotta take the ride.” Knight steps up to the OTC in the ring and video pops up on screen of Solo Sikoa and the Netflix Blur, Solo’s head and arm now covered in a mysterious blurred red substance. Jacob is there too as Knight goes to check on his buddy. In all the distraction, Roman pops up backstage and Superman Punches Knight.

A beautiful woman with pink and blue nails splashes on the beach and does some MMA. 9.14.

AAA Mega Champion Dominik Mysterio (with JD McDonagh) vs Je’Von Evans

Non-title of course. This is the first time we’ve had these two in a regular singles match though they did have a match of sorts together in the gauntlet match weeks ago. We don’t get much before we go to a break but come back to JD knocking Je’Von as Dom distracts the ref. Evans stomps Dom into the corner and spin kicks him before springing into him with a beautiful crossbody. JD pulls Dom to the outside and Je’Von follows, smacking the large headed man and clotheslining Dom into the timekeeper’s area. You know what that means. Je’Von starts to run around the ring and runs right into a JD clothesline, getting the disqualification.

Je’Von Evans defeats Dominik Mysterio by disqualification.

The men double team Evans before Joe Hendry returns to singing fans and the save. That woke the crowd up. Adam Pearce storms out saying he is tired of tonight and declares it a tag match before heading to the back for a drink. “I’ve never seen Pearce like that,” says Joe Tess who has never watched Raw before.

The Judgment Day (AAA Mega Champion Dominik Mysterio and JD McDonagh) vs Je’Von Evans and Joe Hendry

Both Judgment Day men are thrown into the timekeeper’s area and Je’Von runs again, this time completing the leap onto both men. After a break, we return to Hendry and McDonagh battling in the ring. Dom and JD work the heel advantage over Je’Von in the corner for a bit before Evans is finally able to leap onto JD for a moonsault. He gets the hot tag to Hendry and Dom tags in as well. Joe scoops both men up at the same time and slams them before leaping right over the top rope onto them. Okay, Joe is impressive. Dom tries for a 619, Hendry levels him with a clothesline instead. As Dom distracts the ref, JD knocks Joe with his big head and Dom lands the frog splash.

Judgment Day defeats Je’Von Evans and Joe Hendry when Mysterio pins Hendry. This was fine and you can imagine the weeks of singles matches ahead for these four gentlemen because this show is predictable.

My favorite unbiased journalist Cathy Kelley is here with The Man Becky Lynch. Tonight isn’t so bad! Stephanie Vaquer interrupts and asks why Becky helped her. Becky says it was more that she wanted to attack Judgment Day, but she might rather take the title off Stephanie than Liv. Becky says Stephanie owes her and she gets first crack if Stephanie wins. Stephanie tells her to stay way.

AAA General Manager and WWE Hall of Famer Rey Mysterio embraces Rey Fenix in the locker room.

We hype up the Sunday Night’s Main Event Oba Femi vs Bron Breakker match with a video package.

Cathy has found WWE Hall of Famer Paul Heyman backstage, asking him for a prediction or spoiler for Sunday’s match. He offers neither, hyping the match as a must-win for both men. He says many, many more words as well.

The women of the Judgment Day celebrate in the Judgment Day Clubhouse. The men join them and Liv laughs at the idea of Stephanie beating her next week. Rox promises to be right there for Liv next week if Becky appears and Liv tells Rox not to worry and sends them off to celebrate.

Joe gives us “serious journalist” again as he takes his glasses off to show us the opening segment again as well as the attack later in the show. Joe promises an update on all three men who are currently at a local medical facility.

Next week, we’re in Birmingham, Alabama. We have Vaquer vs Morgan and Money in the Bank qualifying matches will begin.

WWE World Heavyweight Championship #1 Contender’s Tournament Finals: Penta vs Rey Fenix

These two last had a singles match on the November 11, 2020 episode of AEW Dynamite, a match Penta won in twelve minutes. According to Cagematch, they’ve shared the ring in some way 433 times prior to this match dating back to AAA in 2013. The winner of this battles Roman Reigns in two weeks for the World Heavyweight Title.

After a show of respect, the Lucha Bros trade chops and quick rollups. It doesn’t take long for Penta to dive outside on Fenix and WWE to send us to an imaginary commercial break. When we come back from that, Joe Tess is telling us the backstory of their brotherhood as Fenix kicks Penta’s head and corkscrews onto him from the second rope. They battle back in and trade superkicks, Fenix bouncing in with one that takes Penta to the mat and the fans chant about the match being awesome. Penta kicks Fenix to the floor and rolls out to follow and return him to the ring. They trade kicks and chops again, Fenix this time running into a big superkick that gets Penta a two count.

They battle to the apron before Fenix dodges a Destroyer, instead dropping a crazy moonsault onto Penta’s head for a two count. Fenix charges at Penta and Penta pops him into the air, flipping him into a powerbomb for a two. Beautiful. You’d expect nothing less from these two together, really. Penta tries to leap onto Fenix, Fenix rolls into an uppercut. They battle to the second rope and Penta climbs up for a top rope Driver with Fenix landing on his feet, shocking Penta. Fenix tries for the Mexican Muscle Buster, Penta turns it into a Penta Driver for a two count. They battle to the announce table and Penta crashes Fenix through the table with a Penta Driver and the fans again take the opportunity to tell us that this is awesome. The fans are right.

Penta scoops his brother up and back into the ring, covering for a two again. Frustrated, Penta sets up and snatches Fenix’s arm with the Sacrifice. Rey yells for for Penta to come at him and Penta tries, Fenix surprising him with a rana and a 2.9 count. Penta pops up with a huge Mexican Destroyer and gets the pin.

Penta pins Rey Fenix to become #1 contender. This was, of course, great and you should seek it out. An incredible match and one of the best we’ve had on Raw this year.

Penta embraces his brother after the match and raises his arm. As Penta celebrates and is shocked by his pyro, OTC Roman steps out and climbs in the ring, our final image of the night Roman and Penta face to face and trading hand gestures.

Raw is often a mixed bag, especially on taped episodes. This episode did zip right by, partially because there were not fifteen three-minute ad breaks and it wrapped up in around 1:45. Penta vs Fenix was the highlight which is something you knew before even starting the episode. The Netflix Blur may or may not bother you (it didn’t bother me but it is a lot of fun to make jokes about), but it gave them a good reason to write off a few guys at least until Roman wraps up with Fenix in a few weeks and it did make Royce and OTM look like beasts. Catch the main event and FF or YouTube your way through the rest.