The Raw Rewind: WWE Monday Night Raw – 10.26.26

With Crown Jewel 12 days away (probably) and Survivor Series 33 days away, we have a lot of building to do. Let’s build tonight on Netflix!

The last week in the WWE Expanded Universe: Raw / NXT / Evolve / Impact / SmackDown / AAA

Extra credit reading: NXT 2.0 Rewind / WWE Rewind: The Big Event

Then, Now, Forever, Together.

THIS is the Save Mart Center in Fresno, California. Opened in 2003, the Save Mart Arena has hosted a sea of episodes of Raw, SmackDown, and including the August 2012 Raw when Kaitlyn won a #1 contender’s battle royal. Tonight, we get Raw again. We’re live on Netflix and presented by Wendy’s.

Arrivals! Bayley, Lyra Valkyria, Ethan Page, Iyo Sky, and Becky Lynch have all arrived for work. We’ll see them all tonight.

We start with Raw General Manager Adam Pearce in the crowd to discuss some rumors. He lets us know that Stephanie Vaquer is not medically cleared to complete tonight. Her opponent, Becky Lynch, is still here and now Becky will go one-on-one with Liv Morgan for the Women’s World Championship. He’s interrupted by the appearance of Undisputed WWE Champion Sami Zayn, mad he has been flown to Fresno and he doesn’t see his name on the lineup. Sami, my friend, Pearce books this show as it happens on a napkin and hopes things happen to fill out the rest of the show. Sami says he isn’t here to complain about Roman Reigns not being here and the fans chant for the OTC. “Guess what, OTC looked at the list of dates on his calendar and skipped Fresno. I wish I was skipping Fresno too, but I’m not!” Sami says he is invoking his privilege as champion and taking his time now and asking Pearce to get out of the ring so he can let a few things off his chest. And Adam leaves.

Sami says he thought the fans could identify greatness in front of them but they can’t. He makes fun of the fans for being spoonfed Trick Williams, CM Punk and Roman Reigns. “Maybe I should take a page out of that book. I don’t like to brag, but maybe I should.” He could brag about doing more with less than anyone else in the history of the business. “Nobody has been buried so deep underneath the dirt and still managed to come out.” He says he took the Bloodline to new heights and takes responsibility for the show making it to Netflix, mocking the executives for thanking Roman when they should be thanking him. He says the only people belonging in the same conversation with him are named Shawn, Eddie and Kurt. He’s tired of the disrespect from a laundry list of names including Je’Von Evans. Not surprisingly, that brings out one Je’Von Evans who says a bunch of cool youth things and welcomes Sami to Raw before asking Sami to please shut up. Je’Von has his gear on and invites Sami to say what he needs to say to his face. Sami: “I don’t owe you any respect but I’m going to give it to you anyway because I am a good guy, the last real good guy around here. There is no world in which you should ever be interrupting me, not now, not ever.” Je’Von decides we’re talking disrespectfully instead and tells Sami to stop talking before he gives him something to talk about. Je’Von would love to go to Crown Jewel to face Roman Reigns instead. Sami says Je’Von reminds him a lot of himself but tells him to come back in 5-8 years. Sami goes to leave and this brings us Adam Pearce again and yes, he sets up the title match tonight and hey, it’s next.

Undisputed WWE Championship: Undisputed WWE Champion Sami Zayn vs Je’Von Evans

These two have shared the ring once before, on a September 2025 SmackDown where Zayn successfully defended his U.S. Title. This is Je’Von’s first shot at a main roster World Title. Sami works over Evans pretty easily at first as Wade Barrett calls Pearce corrupt. Evans is able to bounce off the ropes with a rana for a two and lays into Sami with a few chops. Yes, our tron graphics still mention Riyadh. Sami stomps Je’Von in the corner. Evans is able to shove Sami outside and flies “outside,” crashing into Sami as Joe Tess has his volume on max tonight. Je’Von tries to go up top, Sami tries to superplex him and Je’Von knocks him down. Je’Von tries again and Sami shoves him to the outside, Je’Von smacking head-first into the ring apron to send us to commercials for wonderful sponsors like Domino’s.

We return from break to Je’Von hitting a Red Dot for a two count. Sami pulls Je’Von into the Exploder and the fans boo loudly. Sami tries for the Helluva Kick, Je’Von nails a superkick of his own, heads up top and nails a frog splash for a 2.5 count. Zayn decides to book it down the ramp when the music of Senor Dinero en el Banco Penta interrupts. Penta heads out with his pyro briefcase and a ref follows, wondering if he is cashing in. Sami backs into the ring and Je’Von drops Sami for a two. WWE World Tag Team Champion Bron Breakker appears to smash Penta into the side of the ring and grabs the briefcase. Je’Von leaps onto Bron and heads back up to leap towards Sami who dodges and hits a second Exploder. This time Sami hits the Helluva Kick and retains the title.

Sami Zayn pins Je’Von Evans to retain the Undisputed WWE Championship. A good match here. Je’Von can always hold his own and Sami worked well as the smart vet here. The Penta tease worked well too even though we’re going to stretch that out for a while.

Bron comes in after and stares down Sami. Sami backs out and Bron goes to work on Je’Von. Penta pops back up with some kicks and Big Bronson Reed materializes to level Penta. Logan Paul appears too to cheer on Bron’s spear and Bronson’s Tsunami. It feels like we’re setting up a tag team match. If only Bron had a tag team partner that he held Tag Titles with to put some stakes on it. Nah, that’s crazy talk.

Joe Tessitore and Wade Barrett greet us from ringside, reminding us that we’re coming from Brooklyn next week at 6 p.m. ET. This leads us into the Wendy’s Made to Order Moment, a look at last week’s edition of the Bloodline drama. 946 will have some words later tonight. I imagine those words will include safety warnings for others.

Here’s a look back at SmackDown and the Chelsea Green vs Roxanne Perez match and post-match Liv Morgan and Tiffany Stratton appearances.

The Judgment Day Clubhouse is our next stop as WWE 2K26 plays by itself on the screen. Probably trying to wrap up the impossibly hard World Tour mode to get action figure Bloodline wrestlers. Liv Morgan is upset that she has to defend her championship and Raquel Rodriguez tells her that she’ll take care if Iyo Sky and everything will be okay. Liv is very paranoid.

Here’s a look at how we’ve gotten to tonight’s Lyra Valkyria vs Bayley match.

Trainers check on Penta and Je’Von and Pearce appears. Je’Von says they’re not finished and Penta wants Breakker and Theory. Hey, a tag title match? Crazy talk. Pearce makes it official for Crown Jewel.

No Disqualification Match: Bayley vs Lyra Valkyria

These two have six televised singles matches in their past, Lyra up 4-1-1 (the draw was a match with a double pin). NXT Women’s Champion Kelani Jordan is ringside as we advertise Halloween Havoc, Saturday on the CW and hosted by Danhausen. The women go right for the weapons, Bayley tossing chairs and kendo sticks in. Bayley tries to set up the Slim Jim Table, Lyra leaps over it and only Bayley. The fans chant for Bayley as Lyra pulls a strap off her jacket and whips Bayley with it. Bayley is whipped hard into the steel steps. Bayley snatches her up and drops her face-first into the steps, rolling in to set up a chair and place Lyra in it. Bayley runs up the steps and clotheslines Lyra, then sets up the chair again and puts Lyra in it. This time, Bayley runs the barricade and Lyra pops up to pull her down. Lyra pulls Bayley off the apron for a backbreaker and dropkicks her into the steel steps before tossing her in the ring for a two count.

Lyra heads out and sets up the Slim Jim Table, setting it up against the announce table. Bayley dives onto Lyra and through the table, but smashing against the announce table to send us to a Fortnite commercial. Fortnitemares really is the best time of the year to play the game. We take a break and return to Lyra choking Bayley in-ring with a kendo stick. They tug-of-war with a kendo stick and Bayley grabs ahold, slugging Lyra down and taking her belt off. Bayley does some whipping of her own and wedges a chair between the ropes in the corner. Lyra kicks her down and kicks at Bayley who catches her with a suplex and pulls her into the chair for a two count. The fans chant “use the broom,” Bayley runs into the ring to grab the broom and hit Lyra a few times before pulling out A Second Slim Jim Table. Bayley takes too long arguing with Wade Barrett and Lyra attacks, the fight returning to the ring. Bayley slams Lyra on the chair and leaps from the top for the elbow, crashing onto a chair Lyra is holding. Lyra sets two chairs up together and cays Bayley across them. Lyra tries for a moonsault and crashes into a chair, Bayley grabbing her for a crossface that Lyra fights out of. Bayley gets the Bayley-to-Belly for a two but it still isn’t enough to keep Lyra down.

Bayley slides two more chairs in, setting them up together and climbing them. Lyra scoops her on her shoulders and tosses Bayley with a modified Nightwing. They tumble outside and Bayley slams Lyra into the ring post and hits a second Bayley-to-Belly, this time on the floor. Bayley finds a trash can and Lyra begs for mercy, kissing the boots of Bayley. Bayley swings anyway but Lyra tosses her jacket in her face before laying Bayley across the can. She leaps from the apron into Bayley who power bombs her through the trash can. Bayley sets Lyra up across the Slim Jim Table and climbs to the second rope, leaping off with an elbow drop through the table. She rolls Lyra in and hooks a crossface with a kendo, Lyra tapping.

Bayley defeats Lyra Valkyria by submission. This was much better in my book than their previous few TV matches that didn’t quite hit for me. Sometimes you just need a bunch of weapons to raise the stakes and this did it well. Check this one out.

Joe Tess advertises Danhausen’s Halloween tee and special Halloween Human Monies in advance of Danhausen’s Very Nice, Very Evil SmackDown this Friday night. Niz will have wall-to-wall Danhausen coverage this weekend with his SmackDown and NXT reviews.

Iyo Sky has some words for Raquel. She says it is only her and Raquel tonight and I appreciate her optimism for no others appearing in a Judgment Day match.

946 give us a promo, Royce Keys telling us he’ll see Solo Sikoa in Brooklyn.

Iyo Sky vs WWE Women’s Intercontinental Champion Raquel Rodriguez

This is non-title, though I wouldn’t be shocked to see Iyo win to set up a title match which would be nice since they aren’t doing anything with the title.  Raquel last defended the title on television on August 28th. Iyo kicks Raquel to the outside and flies onto her on the outside. A small fan helps Iyo up on the barricade and Iyo crossbodies onto Raquel, running back to celebrate with the kid. Wade calls for a disqualification. Joe: “It’s a five year old.” Raquel boots Iyo back to the outside and we go to our 94838th commercial break of the night to learn about Wendy’s fresh beef, the WWE Slambulance and and the shared love of Slim Jims that Bianca Belair, L.A. Knight and Big E have.

We return to Iyo on Raquel’s back with a rear naked choke, Raquel tossing her to the mat. Iyo knocks Raquel to her knees with uppercuts and counters a chokeslam into a DDT for a two count. Iyo tries for a Bullet Train but runs into a big boot instead. Raquel scoops Iyo up for a power slam, Iyo counters and then hits her missile dropkick and Points to Head. This time Iyo gets the Bullet Train and heads up for the moonsault but Raquel gets the knees up. Raquel tries to scoop Iyo into a power bomb, Iyo rolls her up for the pin.

Iyo Sky pins Raquel Rodriguez. This was good and I’m sure we’ll see it again soon.

Roxanne Perez runs down the ramp and attacks Iyo. Raquel and Rox double team Iyo as the fans look towards the entrance, waiting for someone to come help Iyo. Nobody comes to help Iyo. Sol Ruca, where are you? Lola?

Solo Sikoa, The Usos and Roman Reigns cut a promo from backstage. Solo says the Bloodline runs this place, says he’ll see Royce next week and ain’t nobody safe. It is very weird to see Roman just standing in the background for someone else’s promo, but they should do more of this.

Shiloh Hill is in the crowd. He’ll be facing Naraku at Halloween Havoc. He creeps out Wade.

Dragon Lee and WWE Intercontinental Champion Chad Gable vs Ethan Page and Big Cass

Wade correctly calls out that Chad keeps giving out title shots to his friends and ignoring others. Wade’s getting a lot right tonight. This starts out slowly before Gable tags in and clotheslines Cass. Gable dodges Cass, Cass crashing to the floor. Gable moonsaults on Page and Cass and Dragon Lee topes into their general area, neither one doing much to catch him. Poor Dragon.

We come back from a break and Lee is flying all over the place, including onto Page. Lee connects with the elbow and heads for a pin, but Page pulls Gable off the apron to stop the tag attempt. I feel like we do the “pull someone off to prevent a tag” move too regularly now. Page suplexes Gable on the outside, Gable being down and out. Cass pulls Lee to the apron by his mask, Lee kicks him and leaps into a Cass chokeslam attempt. Cass flatters Lee and Page tags in. Lee fights off both men until he runs into the big Cass boot. Ethan hits an Ego-Plex for the easy three at that point.

Ethan Page & Big Cass defeat Dragon Lee & Chad Gable when Ethan Page pins Dragon Lee. It looks like Gable went down to injury on the outside, which might’ve changed things up a bit. I didn’t really get into this one.

“Agent of Shadows” is available now on ReelShort. Here’s a clip of Michael P.S. Hayes as the series villain.  I checked out the first twenty parts or so and then ran out of virtual coins, something you need apparently. It was goofy fun. At a rate of ten free coins a day when I actually open the app, I’ll finish it in 2032.

Becky Lynch has a pre-recorded promo package about taking back Liv’s title, which is a pretty key indicator that this wasn’t a last-minute decision. Very weird to do the whole Stephanie promo online over the weekend tossing the crutches and saying she is cleared.

My favorite unbiased journalist Cathy Kelley catches up with Vision members Bron Breakker, Logan Paul and Bronson Reed. Bron accepts the tag title match. Theory is at home just yelling at his TV, wondering why he suddenly has a flight to Saudi.

Next week, we’re in Brooklyn. Sikoa vs Keys will be there, plus…John Cena returns to Raw for the first time since retirement, not quite a year since we were told it might be his last appearance on Raw. Don’t forget, it’ll start at 6 p.m. ET. I’m very excited to be in bed at a normal time doomscrolling on TikTok while I wait for the Ambien to kick in next Monday.

WWE Women’s World Championship: WWE Women’s World Champion Liv Morgan vs Becky Lynch

The great Alicia Taylor gives us the championship introductions. After we take a break, we come back to Liv with a half-crab while on the top rope. She slams Becky’s head to the mat for a two. Liv hits two of the Three Amigos and then emotes, giving Becky a chance to suplex her instead. The fans offer up “let’s go Becky / let’s go Liv” chants as Becky forearms Liv in the corner and tosses her with a Bexploder. Becky dops a leg drop from the second rope for a two. Becky gets an avalanche Russian leg sweep and it isn’t enough to put Liv away either as we go to picture-in-picture ads for Cyberpunk: Edgerunners II, the Navy, and Applebee’s Sizzlin’ Skillets.

We return to full-screen to Liv scaling the robes, Becky following and superplexing Liv for a near fall. They tussle to the outside and Becky clears the KFC table lid off the announce table. Liv slams Becky’s head into the table and rolls her onto it, climbing up to follow. Liv scoops her into a Manhandle Slam onto the table and rolls her into the ring, Liv rolling out the other side to avoid her. Liv leaps off the steel steps with a sunset flip, the ref working the count. They both beat the count and trade blows. Liv catches a quick Oblivion and Becky barely beats the count, Liv serving us with shocked face. Liv hysterically lays in some slaps and Becky scoops her into a Manhandle again, Liv barely surviving this time and Becky giving us the shocked face. Becky charges into the corner, Liv avoids and rolls her up for two. Becky grabs the arm for Disarmher and Liv scrambles to the ropes, Becky pulling her back. Raquel and Rox run out, as we all eventually expected, and Liv tosses Becky right out to them and distracts the ref. Raquel goes for a boot and Becky ducks, Rox taking it instead. Becky cannonballs onto both and scoots back in, Liv trying for Oblivion again and Becky catching her for a Manhandle slam and a near pin, the Judgment Day ladies breaking it at the last second for the disqualification.

Becky Lynch defeats Liv Morgan by disqualification, Morgan retains the WWE Women’s World Championship. They had a very good match going on here and for a minute, you felt like maybe they were swapping out Becky for Liv at Crown Jewel. I liked this a lot.

Raquel hits Becky with a Tejana Bomb and here’s WWE Women’s Champion Chelsea Green for the save. She can’t overcome the numbers but Iyo Sky runs out to even the odds. Iyo springboards onto Raquel and Liv rolls in to Chelsea’s Unprettier. Rox kicks Chelsea to the outside and here’s Miss Money in the Bank Tiffany Stratton and a referee.

Tiffany lands the Prettiest Moonsault Ever on Liv and tries to hand over the briefcase, but Dominik Mysterio scoops Liv out of the ring and the Judgment Day head down the ramp. We end our show with Joe Tess ready to cuss and Tiffy looking disappointed.

A good one tonight. All three women’s matches delivered as did the surprise Sami/Je’Von opener. The tag match was the only low point tonight and it looks like injury slowed that one day.

Recommendations to watch: Zayn vs Evans, Bayley vs Valkyria, Morgan vs Lynch