WWE RAW 2/16/2026: 3 Things We Hated And 3 Things We Loved

Welcome to Wrestling Inc.'s weekly review of "WWE Raw," the show that gave us two new Elimination Chamber qualifiers, a Royal Rumble winner crying in a backstage interview, and a giant box that is already suspected to contain Chris Jericho! We're going to hit all those things and more here in the column this week, though we sadly will not be hitting several other things, like Dominik Mysterio getting a new IC title challenger.

That's because we're not here to cover absolutely everything that happened on "Raw" this week. You've got our "Raw" results page for that. This column is reserved exclusively for the matches and segments that moved the WINC staff enough to comment on them. From the six-man Vision opener to Je'Von's big win, here are three things we hated and three things we loved about the 2/16/26 episode of "WWE Raw!"

Every week now the Vision come out to make their grievances with the world everyone else's problem, and Monday provided no reprieve from that running theme as Paul Heyman bellowed over Jey Uso's entrance music at the beginning of the show.

He complained because once again a masked figure cost Austin Theory his Elimination Chamber qualifier last week, Theory complained, Logan Paul complained, Bronson Reed stood there deserving so much more. And then naturally that led to Adam Pearce coming out and continuing his semi-feud with the Vision, denying Heyman's adamant request to put Theory in the Chamber match and getting interrupted by LA Knight before making a trios match absolutely no one ever asked for.  That match was about as a fun as you might have expected it to be. Not much was really accomplished from it, but it wasn't exactly terrible. Just meaningless and held together with a thin narrative. And finished with the inevitable interference of the masked figure once again.

Everything that made the Vision feel special last year has been removed — Seth Rollins, the infallibility of Bronson Reed and Bron Breakker together. Paul and Theory are solid workers in the ring but they're both several levels beneath the likes of Reed and Breakker in terms of star power. Breakker was already suffering setback after setback at the detriment of his momentum prior to his injury. Rollins got legitimately injured and presumably derailed the original plan for the group. And when Breakker took the reins of the group by turning on Rollins it really should have marked the beginning of his own ascent. But he failed to beat CM Punk for the title and the group had been built so strongly that they needed a masked phantom to asterisk their defeats. So while Punk has moved on to Finn Balor and Roman Reigns at WrestleMania, the remaining three members of the group are stuck in conflict with both the General Manager of the show and a masked figure that shows no signs of being unmasked any time soon.

There doesn't appear to be much of a vision when it comes to the eponymous faction. They will feud with any of the babyfaces at the upper midcard while demanding they are due for better things. Maybe they're right. But it doesn't really make for good TV, in my opinion. Especially when the past year's TV has seen a faction built to become a joke week in and week out.

Written by Max Everett

In both Elimination Chamber qualifier matches tonight, I wasn't exactly 100 percent sure who was going to make it in to the match coming up in Chicago. With the women's bout, I was really not sure and after a pretty great, solid match, I'm happy that Asuka is going on to the premium live event.

I know I've been complaining about Nattie's new character falling flat, and while I do think she should have been in the Chamber, I didn't expect Asuka to get in, and I like that bit of unpredictability, at least. She had a clean win with Bayley tapping to the Asuka Lock, and I just don't feel like we see that too often anymore.

In a backstage segment, we saw Kairi Sane hyping up her Kabuki Warriors tag team partner to the WWE Women's Tag Team Champions, Rhea Ripley and IYO SKY. Sane didn't get involved during Asuka's triple threat match, so this was a nice reminder, for me, at least, that Sane cost Asuka her shot in the Royal Rumble after saying she would help make sure she won.

I haven't the slightest idea how Sane would be able to get involved in the Elimination Chamber, as I really don't think she's winning her qualifier match next week against SKY and Raquel Rodriguez, but this kind of had me hoping she does, to continue her story with Asuka. I'd like to see those two more than both Ripley and SKY competing against each other, though I don't love SKY being left out of the Chamber. It just feels like it's about time for some more story movement between the Kabuki Warriors, and we're getting there, even if it is at a snail's pace.

While I don't think Asuka has a real shot in the Chamber, I'm glad she won this match tonight. There wasn't a lot to love on "Raw" tonight, and nothing was exactly exciting, but Asuka's victory over Bayley and Nattie was solid, as it at least got me thinking about some stories possibilities with her and Sane.

Written by Daisy Ruth

Here's a list of things I hated about Liv Morgan's backstage interview with Michael Cole, from least mad to most mad:

1. Dominik Mysterio even being there. I know they're a double act, but it still rubs me the wrong way. Let your girlfriend do her own interview, you degenerate.

2. The fact that we're having to pretend Morgan vs. Stephanie Vaquer isn't already the direction. It just feels really obvious, and it's annoying having to listen to Morgan say she still hasn't actually made up her mind. Morgan is on "Raw." Vaquer has the "Raw" title. Vaquer has been feuding with The Judgment Day for actual months now. Vaquer and Morgan make way more sense as a pairing than Vaquer and Jade Cargill, and as it happens, there's already been reporting that Morgan vs. Vaquer is the match and that Cargill's opponent is TBD. It's just very clearly happening and that's fine, there's no need to draw it out like this.

3. Vaquer making Morgan cry. I just ... what? Why? Why is Liv Morgan crying in a backstage interview because Vaquer (a babyface) said some stuff to her? Since when is this part of Morgan's character? Did I miss something? Morgan has been in plenty of shouting matches at this point and dealt with her fair share of backstage drama, and I don't recall her ever breaking down and crying before. And for what reason? Is this supposed to sell me on the Morgan/Vaquer match, the fact that the babyface made the heel cry? Is this how we're building up fights in the women's division now?

0/10, did not care for it. Hopefully next week Morgan finally picks Vaquer, we forget the crying thing ever happened, and WWE puts in something resembling actual work to sell this match, instead of whatever they decided to try this week. I guess Dom can be there.

Written by Miles Schneiderman

AJ Lee hasn't had a promo where she's gotten to fully brag about what she did for the women's division, or Divas division, back then, when she was first active a decade or so ago, and tonight, she was able to do just that. She was able to brag, but did so in a very eloquent way where it wasn't too much, and I was a big fan of it to the point it was probably my favorite thing on the show tonight.

It also made a lot of sense here. I don't think it would have been very becoming of her to do right after she got back with the company last year, though she did have an excellent return promo where she talked about the benefits of therapy, which I also loved. It made sense here, maybe not tonight, specifically, but during this singles feud with Becky Lynch, to get further under the Women's Intercontinental Champion's skin ahead of their match at Elimination Chamber next weekend.

Lee explained that the last time she was champion, the division looked a lot different, and all the women were fighting over just one sparkly, pink butterfly-shaped title. She said, however, she loved that championship and she wore it with pride. That's where she got very serious, at just the right moment, when she said with her whole chest she "MADE" that title, and she knows just who the hell she is.

She said there was a women's (Divas') division before her, and then one after her, and to all of the women in the locker room now, "you're welcome," which was one heck of a line. She spoke nothing but the truth, and the braggy nature of the promo lasted maybe about a minute, so it wasn't too much to even begin to toe the line as heelish. I wasn't a major fan of the segment after Lee called out Lynch and attempted to goad her into hitting her, but Lee's portion of the night was pretty epic.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I cannot stand this iteration of Lynch's character when she's on the microphone and I am not looking forward to her further crash out after losing the Women's Intercontinental Championship to Lee, whenever that may be, but at least we're getting some really good stuff out of Lee with this feud. These two are going to have one heck of a WrestleMania match, no matter who is champion at the time, and I'm interested to see what will happen at Elimination Chamber to help set that up.

Written by Daisy Ruth

Ah, mystery angles and WWE. It's a tale as old as time, and something that's been done by the company for decades at this point. At best, they can be really intriguing to watch play out from week to week as a means of bringing back viewers to the show such as "Stone Cold" Steve Austin's parking lot attacker in the late 1990s (well at least before the reveal) or Naomi being Jade Cargill's mystery attacker in more recent time. At worst, they end in a lot of disappointment and are nothing more than a ploy meant to bring in viewers such as The Gobbledy Gooker reveal at WWE Survivor Series 1990.

Time will only tell where WWE's latest mystery angle that they introduced on this edition of "Raw" with what's inside the crate will lead, but I personally feel that it's going to lead somewhere incredibly underwhelming and disappointing. For one, it felt so incredibly random to just have Adam Pearce stumble upon a crate backstage and try to get more information from a very clueless crew member. It popped up totally out of nowhere, and felt like it was a little bit out of place in comparison to everything else on this show.

For another thing, I can't help but personally feel this is nothing more than a ploy to try to grab the attention of more viewers heading into WrestleMania 41. If you ask me, I don't think it's a coincidence that Pearce directed the crew member to ship the crate over to Nick Aldis on "SmackDown" where viewers will have to tune in for more information nor do I think it's a coincidence that the crate has instructions not to open it until February 28 when WWE Elimination Chamber is set to take place. It's always completely possible that the timing of the angle could be completely unrelated to either of those things, but I just personally can't help but think it all lines up a little too perfectly.

Written by Olivia Quinlan

We are just 12 days away from the Elimination Chamber PLE and superstars are still qualifying to be in the Chamber matchse. Although the match between GUNTHER, Dominik Mysterio, and JeVon Evans was weird at times, it still had some good stuff, especially between Evans and Mysterio. Evans took a 619, but still prevailed with an OG Cutter on Mysterio.

Evans is very good and got to showcase that here. There was an incredible spot where Evans jumped off the top rope to deliver a splash to GUNTHER that sent the big man crashing over the barricade. GUNTHER kept Evans from advancing in the Last Time Is Now tournament, so it's cool to see Evans get his win back (even with some unintentional help because Dragon Lee got revenge on GUNTHER by hitting him with the ring bell).

Being in the Chamber match is a big deal for someone like Evans and even more so when it's alongside Randy Orton, Cody Rhodes, and LA Knight. Some bitter old timers with grifting podcasts might have some nonsense to say about "The Young OG" qualifying for this match, especially over GUNTHER, but he earned his spot. He adds something fresh and exciting to a match that has been around longer than Evans has been alive. Evans is the present and should be in big matches like this, especially on "The Road to WrestleMania."

Written by Samantha Schipman