WWE Monday Night Raw 11/17/2025

WWE Monday Night Raw 11/17/2025

Last week's show is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2025/11/wwe-monday-night-raw-11102025.html

Next week's show is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2025/11/wwe-monday-night-raw-11242025.html 

We are in New York City in Madison Square Garden. Wade Barrett and Joe Tessitore are on commentary.

This is John Cena's last Monday Night Raw.

We see various wrestlers arrive. Drew McIntyre arrives with The Vision.

John Cena comes out. He gets a big intro from the announcer and takes a while. He thanks the crowd and says, "the champ is here". He says this is the last time we can talk tonight. Dominik Mysterio interrupts. Dom says nobody wants to hear what he as to say. He says Cena was handed a title shot last week like he was handed everything else. Dom says he fought for all he has. Dom says he wants a rematch. Cena says he came to the right building and says he won't back down on his last Raw. He asks the fans how they feel about doing it now. 

Dom says, "no". He said we did it his way. Dom says he wants to fight at Survivor Series in San Diego on his home turf. Cena agrees. He said he told the world he would have a match on his last Raw and said he sees an opponent in the middle of the ring. Cena says he will face him 1v1 if he has the guts. He asks if Dom feels lucky. 

Finn Balor and JD McDonaugh come out. Cena wants to fight now. Dom says he won't get his final match on Raw but will get his @ss beat. Cena is jumped 3v1. Sheamus comes out to help. Sheamus is triple teamed. Rey Mysterio then comes out to help and the heels are cleared off. Cena then says they should a 6-man tag right now.

John Cena, Sheamus and Rey Mysterio vs Judgment Day (Finn Balor, Dominik Mysterio and JD McDonaugh)

We go to break right after the bell rings. Finn hits corner spears on Sheamus and boots him in the corner. Sheamus is gillotine legdropped over the bottom rope. JD hits corner spears on Sheamus. Dom slingshot swantons Sheamus. JD seated moonsaults onto Sheamus for 2. 

Sheamus hits a double lariat on JD and Finn. Rey is popped up into a la silla on JD. Rey spinning headscissors Finn. Rey springboard headscissors JD out. Rey is tripped by Dom outside. Rey dropkicks Dom through the ropes. Rey is then thrown out. We go to break and return. 

Finn elbow slices Rey for 2. Rey hits the heels in the corner. Rey boots Finn hard in the jaw. Rey rolls Finn into JD and crotches him. Cena is tagged in. He flying shoulders JD then blue thunders him. Cena hits a five knuckle shuffle. JD headbutts him. 

Everyone starts hitting moves. JD top rope moonsaults Cena. Finn top rope double stomps Cena and Dom top rope splashes Cena for 2. Cena's team all hits stereo chest clubs on the heels. The faces hit moves on the heels then do triple five knuckle shuffles. The faces hit their finishers and Cena pins JD with an AA to win.

Thoughts: It was a fun match with the faces doing each other's moves and winning as expected. It got cut up a bit by breaks though and I felt like we missed a good chunk of this. It was nice to see the triple five knuckle shuffle. 

Adam Pearce and Nick Aldis talk in the back about Paul Heyman. Paul comes in. He says he apologizes and knows they are mad at him. Paul says what he did was in the rules and regulations. He says if they think his pick of Drew McIntyre p!ssed him off, wait until they see what he has in store for them tonight. He then gives Adam a contract. Nick and Adam then see the name and say, "this is gonna be fun".

Dominik Mysterio got into a scuffle with Andrew Schulz, a comedian during the break. JD got pushed down by a football player during and the New York Giants fought with Judgment Day.

Jackie Redmond is in the ring to interview Stephanie Vaquer. Nikki Bella attacks Steph in the entrance area and bangs her head off the tron. She tells her she didn't come back to cheer on the sidelines or be her sidekick. She said she came back to take back what's hers - this division. She thanks her for reminding her who she is. Bella says she will be giving her a title match and will bow down to the woman who changed this entire industry - Nikki Bella. 

Bayley and Lyra Valkyria talk in the back. They run into The Kabuki Warriors. Asuka says they need 5 people for Wargames. She says they can forget the past with Bayley if she joins their team. Bayley laughs at them and says no. Sane then does Cena's "you can't see me" taunt to her. Lyra says she's proud of Bayley and wants a high five. Bayley asks if she's 5 and says let's go you idiot.

The Last Time is Now Tournament 1st Round - Solo Sikoa vs Dolph Ziggler

Dolph Ziggler/Nic Nemeth makes his return to the main roster here in a nice surprise. He gets a big pop.

Solo misses a lariat and is hit many times. Solo shoulders him over. DZ hits a big dropkick, a corner splash and a neckbreaker. Dolph elbow drops him. dolph trips him itno an STFU and Solo rope breaks. Dolph flying lariats him off the apron and bangs Solo's head off the commentary table. Dolph hits a top rope elbow drop. We go to break and return.

Dolph jumps at him and is caught with a samoan drop. Dolph facekicks him and jumping ddt's him. Dolph hits a fameasser for 2. Solo rock bottom's him for 2. Solo misses a corner splash, hits the post and is hit with a zig zag for 2. 

Dolph superkicks him and misses a move on the ropes. Solo samoan spikes him and wins.

Thoughts: It's a shame Dolph wasn't given the win here but it's WWE and they aren't that nice. It was fun and it was nice to see Dolph back. Dolph took some nice bumps for Solo. There's really no reason for Dolph not to be here full time though.

We get a video on Je'Von Evans. He says to sit back, enjoy the ride and come along with him.

Alexa Bliss comes out and talks. She says Charlotte Flair ignored her all weekend. She complains into the camera. She says they lost the tag titles but they can get them back. She says it's hard to get trust back though. She says she knows Flair and says she may be the one to prove her wrong. She says she has been there for since Day 1.

The Kabuki Warriors, Lash Legend and Nia Jax come out. Nia says this is embarrassing. She says no one is coming to save her and this will be fun. Bliss is surrounded. Rhea Ripley and Iyo Sky then come down. They all fight. The heels get the edge. Bliss takes a big shot from Lash and Nia bangs her head off the mat. Charlotte Flair comes out with a kendo stick and hits Lash and Nia. The heels then leave. Flair hugs Bliss and Iyo hugs Rhea. The announcers wonder if Flair is now in Survivor Series.

WWE Women's Intercontinental Title - Becky Lynch (c) vs Maxxine Dupri

Max pump kicks her to start. Max lariats her. BL throws her off the top then boots her in the corner. BL reverse ddt's her on the knee. Max slides out. We go to break and return.

Max hits flying lariats and spinning roundhouse kicks her for 2. Max hits a corner splash then perfectplexes her. Max then kips up off of it. Max does a step up legdrop on BL's neck, barely hitting it, if it at all. BL stomps the arm and slices her for 2.

Max hits forearms then mounted corner shots. BL powerbombs her then armbars her. Max sunset flips her and ankle locks her. BL kicks her in the arm and uranage's her for 2. BL threatens the ref. BL pounds on Max and throws her out. BL takes a turnbuckle pad off.

AJ Lee then comes out and skips to the ring. BL is distracted and Max top rope crossbodies BL to win.

Thoughts: Oh boy. WWE's been trying to force the crowd to care about Max for a while. The crowd finally bought into it and now she has a title. She does the right stuff just her execution will always be limited and you aren't going to see her differentiate much from what she usually does. AJ Lee distracted Becky so this will lead to an AJ vs Becky match. Becky had her ankle worked a bit here and she worked on Max's arm/shoulder some in this. What we got here was acceptable.

The Last Time is Now Tournament 1st Round - Gunther vs Je'Von Evans 

Gun didn't get much of a pop for his entrance and came out to a different theme than usual. Gun armlocks and wristlocks him. Evans headflips out and dropkicks him. Gun puts him on the apron and pats his head. Evans hits a bunch of shots. Evans chops him. Gun facekicks him. We go to break and return. 

Evans hits chops and dropkicks him. Gun catches him with a crab. Gun backbreakers him. Evans hits chops and forearms. Evans superkicks him. Evans hurricanrana's gun for 2.

Evans escapes a sleeper. Evans corkscrew kicks him off the ropes. Evan is caught on a tope and thrown into the apron LED boards. We go to break and return.

Evans hits punches and Gun drops him with a chop. Evans high kicks him. Gun facekicks him as he goes for a corkscrew kick off the ropes. Evans stunners him out of the suplex attempt. Evans punches him off the apron then suicide dives him. Evans hits a top rope crossbody. Evans hits a top rope frogsplash for 2.

Evan is hit on a blind springboard. Gun sleeper suplexes him then hits a big powerbomb for 2. Gun then grounded sleepers him. Evans then taps out.

Thoughts: This had 2 breaks during it so we missed a fair bit. They had the right idea but it wasn't quite as stiff or as spectacular as I had hoped.

Maxxine Dupri and AJ Lee are interviewed. She says this moment means her hard work has paid off. She says she beat one of the best and finally belongs her. She thanks AJ and AJ says it's all her. Alpha Academy then come in and celebrate with Max. Max leaves with them. AJ is asked if she will stick around. She says Becky lights a fire in her and makes her feel things. She says, "who knows?". Rhea Ripley then comes up to AJ and asks if she has a second to chat.

Paul Heyman, Bron Breakker, Bronson Reed, Drew McIntyre and Logan Paul come out. Paul says he has walked The Samoan Swat Team, The Freebirds, The Dangerous Alliance and The Bloodline to the ring for Wargames. He says this is the greatest assembly ever put together for Wargames. 

CM Punk comes out. The Uso's come out through the stands. Cody Rhodes then comes out. The faces get on the apron and surround the heels. They all then fight. 

Reed's head is banged off the commentary table. Drew and Cody send each other into the rails. Logan punches Punk in the ring. Punk step up knees him in the corner and bulldogs him. Brock Lesnar then comes out. Punk goes after Brock and is suplexed hard. Brock overhead suplexes him.

Cody goes up to Brock and hits punches. Brock release germans him twice and pushes him out of the ring. They roll the credits then Roman Reigns comes out. Brock and Roman stare down in the ring. Brock misses a lariat and is hit with a superman punch. Brock is then sent out. Security then comes down. Reed hits Roman from behind and elbow drops him. Reed is up top and Roman superman punches him. Police then come down and Roman spears Reed and a cop through the barrier.

Thoughts: Brock and Roman coming back made sense here. The storyline for the Men's Wargames match isn't the best, but at least everyone in it mostly has a history with the other and they've done a good enough job to build this up. LA Knight not being part of the festivities or even the show period highlights how little he is valued at the moment. Paul Heyman also had a good line talking about all the teams he lead into Wargames in the past. It's such a shame WWE doesn't have more managers like him because they could do some great things if they had other longterm managers around to battle him.

Overall thoughts: It was a great Raw. They really pulled out all the stops here. They brought AJ, Brock, Roman and Dolph back. Cena had his final Raw match. Maxxine Dupri won the Women's IC Title and Je'Von Evans made his Raw debut. We also had NFL players fighting with The Judgment Day, which I'm really surprised happened since NFL players aren't allowed to do much outside of football. We then had a nice brawl to close the show. I can't give this anything less than an 8 out of 10 and had commercials not cut up some of the matches, it may be even higher. This Raw is worth checking out and I recommend it.