SACRAMENTO — The lights were bright in the Golden 1 Center and the atmosphere crackled with anticipation as Monday Night Raw returned to North American soil, and by the time the show ended, the landscape of the brand felt irrevocably shifted.
The night opened not with a long wind-up but with a pointed address: Seth Rollins, still nursing the fallout of his recent ordeal, appeared alongside Bronson Reed, Bron Breakker and Paul Heyman. Rollins spoke confidently of resilience and reclaiming his throne — but the underlying tension was unmistakable.
Three championship matches formed the spine of the evening. In tag team action, AJ Styles & Dragon Lee defeated Finn Bálor & JD McDonagh of The Judgment Day to capture the World Tag Team Championship. The win was decisive and signalled a major shake-up in a division that has felt stagnant.
Meanwhile, the Intercontinental Title picture didn’t exactly receive a clean day in the ring: Dominik Mysterio retained his belt over Rusev via opportunistic tactics rather than dominance — a reminder that the gold isn’t safe, even if the champion is.
But the crescendo of the night became the main event-adjacent offering: a massive Battle Royal to determine the next challenger for the now-vacated World Heavyweight Championship. With Rollins sidelined, the title picture exploded open.
In the final moments of that chaotic match, Jey Uso eliminated his twin brother Jimmy — a dramatic moment that blurred familial loyalty and ambition — and claimed the coveted shot, setting up a future clash with CM Punk at the upcoming event. The moment carried weight not just because of the win, but because of the betrayal behind it.
And yet, for all the in-ring shifts, the real story happened after the final bell. Rollins was confronted again by Reed and Breakker, and the alliance he built crumbled in real time. What felt like a celebration became a spectacle of dismemberment — The Vision faltered, the title was vacated, and the future poured with uncertainty.
The crowd sensed it. The rhythm of the show was uneven in the first hour — some promos lingered a little too long — but once the momentum took hold, Raw delivered. The tag title change was clean and impactful, the Battle Royal had stakes, and the post-match fallout delivered narrative heat. The women’s division, meanwhile, continues its consistent simmering, though it didn’t steal the spotlight tonight.
Raw on October 20, 2025 will be remembered less for one dominant match and more for a systemic shift. The man at the top may still carry the belt, but the question now is: who truly leads the brand? With Jey Uso’s ascent, Punk’s looming shot, the tag titles changing hands and Rollins’ fate hanging, Raw isn’t back to “business as usual.” WWE handed the audience a new set of variables — now we wait to see who writes the proofs.
