WWE RAW 5/18/2026: 3 Things We Hated & 3 Things We Loved

Welcome to Wrestling Inc.'s weekly review of "WWE Raw," the show that added a match to Saturday Night's Main Event and added another match to Saturday Night's main event and added a match to Clash in Italy and teased possibly adding another match to Clash in Italy! It was some eventful programming, we can tell you that much, and the WINC staff has opinions on ... well, not all of it, but certainly most of it!

If you missed the show and need to catch up, be sure to check out the 5/18/26 "Raw" results page for all your objective, comprehensive wrestling coverage needs. If you want to know what the WINC crew thought about Brock Lesnar's return, the Bloodline beating down Jacob Fatu, or the street fight between Finn Balor and JD McDonagh (we strangely had a lot of opinions on that one) this is the place to be! Here are three things we hated and three things we loved about the 5/18/26 episode of "WWE Raw!"

Monday saw Judgment Groundhog Day tweaked just enough to still not cover for the fact that JD McDonagh and Finn Balor were wrestling one another in singles action again. They fought for the third time since Balor had beaten Dominik Mysterio in a Street Fight at WrestleMania, what had been hoped to be the conclusion of the whole Balor and Mysterio saga from this point of view.

Alas, this was a match necessitated by a rematch that saw yet more Judgment Day interference for McDonagh to get the win. The stipulation made such interference legal, so the real question coming out of this is: What did Finn Balor do to p*** off Adam Pearce? Why would that be a logical escalation from interference in a bog standard singles match? Why not a cage match? Or, and this is a much more to-the-point question: Why not do something, anything else? It has been mere weeks and the same match has happened three times and there is zero-to-no explanation as to why or where this is going.

When this was happening in the McMahon era, there were plenty of complaints, because the matches themselves are not that special, riddled with some of the most overused tropes in the industry, and possess such weak connective tissue. It's just stale, and will continue to grow more stale until it's chucked out and replaced with something else. If Balor has to work with Judgment Day until the end of time then please just try to make it interesting. Week after week of interference after interference and repetitive matchmaking just kills all interest in tuning in. There's no discernible progress in this storyline since WrestleMania, and arguably before it.

Mysterio doesn't seem particularly interested in avenging his defeat and Balor has all the reason in the world to be sick and tired of working opposite them. I know I'm certainly sick and tired of watching it. In Judgment Day there are four really good workers and they could be doing anything else. Mysterio has the ability to draw heat like silver and appears to have no direction befitting one of the company's top heels. It's just frustrating; things don't have to be like this. It's a waste of really good talent and opportunities.

Written by Max Everett

This may be wishful thinking, but after tonight's street fight against JD McDonagh, it seems as though Finn Balor may finally be done with Judgment Day. Tonight's match, which was announced pretty close to the show actually going on the air, which was kind of strange, was the rubber match between the former friends, and Balor emerged victorious, despite the best efforts of AAA Mega Champion Dominik Mysterio.

The match had to follow the super-hot opening segment where Jacob Fatu challenged World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns to a Tribal Combat match, but even then, these guys didn't do so badly. They obviously have great chemistry in the ring, which is what got them to this third match. Despite feeling a bit like an afterthought, it was a nice change of pace to have a street fight on the show so early, instead of in the main event spot.

The pair battled with a trash can, and it was McDonagh who got the upper hand and got Balor in place for Mysterio to hit the 619. Instead, Balor countered and got McDonagh in the way of the move, then hit Mysterio with the trash can. Balor got the victory with the Coup de Grace on McDonagh, who he had stuffed in the trash can, and hopefully with that, a period was put on the Balor vs. Judgment Day saga.

It's going to feel pretty redundant if it continues, with Balor having a street fight victory over both McDonagh and Mysterio, the latter coming on the "Grandest Stage of Them All." I don't know exactly where Balor, or the men in the Judgment Day, go from here, but getting Balor away from his former stable at this point just feels necessary. Sure, the street fight wasn't anything too memorable outside of a good, fun weapons bout, but hopefully it leads to different, and better, things for Balor.

Written by Daisy Ruth

I have already complained about how terribly set up a majority, if not all, of the recent women's matches for WWE's upcoming bigger shows (Saturday Night's Main Event and Clash in Italy) have been, and tonight, there was yet another match added to that list. I thought Sol Ruca was going to have a strong promo with Becky Lynch after Lynch confronted the former Women's North American Champion during a backstage segment, then Ruca stormed out to the ring to call out Lynch publicly, but I was sadly mistaken.

What we got was kind of a rambling promo from Lynch, though that might just partially be my opinion because I'm very much over this ranting, politician-like character Lynch has been portraying for months. But I'm not the only one who thought this was pretty confusing. While Lynch accepted Ruca's challenge for a match at Saturday Night's Main Event, it wasn't entirely clear if she was going to put the Women's IC title on the line. Maybe the fact that it's the third match, or at least challenge, to not be 100% clear over the last week that made it all the more confusing, and pretty annoying, tonight.

Lynch certainly made it seem like she wasn't putting the belt up for grabs, because she believes Ruca needs to prove herself, but it makes her seem like a scaredy cat champion. In the backstage segment moments before the in-ring promo, Lynch was just making fun of Ruca for her recent losses on the main roster. Ruca has yet to score a win after taking "Ls" to Women's World Champion Liv Morgan and most recently, IYO SKY. If she's mocking Ruca for how she's been losing, why wouldn't she put the gold on the line — wouldn't she'd be cocky enough to think she'd win? Later in the night, it was confirmed via SNME graphic that it won't be a title bout, and while I like that there are three women's matches on that show, I still think this should be a title match.

This chickens*** heel Lynch is getting old fast, and I was hoping Ruca would take the title off of her sooner rather than later, hopefully to give her the character refresh she desperately needs. I guess all that can be done now is hope that Ruca beats Lynch at Saturday Night's Main Event, then for the title probably on an episode of "Raw" from Italy, as I don't foresee that match making the Clash in Italy card.

Written by Daisy Ruth

Last month, Ethan Page was officially called up to the "Raw" roster. Fans who know and love (or hate) him from "NXT" know that he is brash, loud, and cocky. He's also a former champion. For fans that are new to Page, they've only seen glimpses of why they call him "ALL EGO".

In his sitdown interview with Michael Cole, he quickly lived up to his moniker. He started by providing Cole with a card of notes to use for his interview. Page said Cole should have some humility and want to learn new things. He forced Cole to read off all of the qualities he has, including a jawline. The notes also highlight that Page was recognized by the Canadian government, followed by the fact that Page wants the Intercontinental Championship to be renamed the Ethan Page Championship. Page wants everyone to know that it is a burden for him to be so handsome, charismatic, and a talented wrestler. I laughed out loud when Cole asked Page why he acts like this.

In under three minutes, they gave fans an understanding of who Page is as a character. Cole also put him over when he stopped reading from the card and told Page that he has everything; the look, charisma, and athletic ability and "could be one of the all time greats in the WWE." Cole said his ego would cost him the title on Saturday, but Page said it wasn't ego, it was confidence and he'd prove Cole and everyone wrong. He gave fans a reason to believe that he could dethrone Penta. This was a really effective video that was clear in its intention on establishing a new talent on the main roster.

Written by Samantha Schipman

Now honestly I never thought Brock Lesnar was truly retiring after losing to Oba Femi at WrestleMania, considering SummerSlam is in Minneapolis and that always felt like the true endgame for him. But it made for a classic combat sports story of prematurely calling it quits only to come back and give it one last test to see whether the game really has left you. 

That would have called for Lesnar to return ahead of SummerSlam to establish his comeback, his final push – mayhaps against Femi or even someone like, say, GUNTHER. But instead, as Monday cemented, Lesnar's almighty return came via a quick run-in, four F5s, sit about for a bit, and leave segment. I'm acutely aware that a fair few look past Lesnar's out-of-the-ring stuff for a litany of reasons, and whether I disagree with them or not, the company clearly sees money in bringing Lesnar back. 

Even putting everything else aside it felt really hasty for him to be brought back so soon. Almost like there was absolutely no reason for him to leave his boots in the ring at 'Mania. There was just less impact to his return. It was a surprise, sure. But does this mean Lesnar is beating Femi in their presumed rematch at Clash in Italy? It just feels a little like Femi has been treading water in the past few weeks just for whenever Lesnar could return, now that he has done so with such little time in between.

Not only does such an unceremonious return and beatdown undermine the impact of Femi's win and the momentum he had garnered, it sets the stage for the kind of rematch that will only do so further. Either Femi wins again and everything feels watered down, or Lesnar wins and takes the wind out of Femi's sails. There doesn't really have to be a rematch. It just feels like a premature waste of a retirement-comeback angle.

Written by Max Everett

I'd be lying if I were to say that up until this edition of "Raw," I hadn't gotten a little bit tired of the segments between Roman Reigns and Jacob Fatu that have mostly been brawls. It made the storyline between the two men feel a little bit stale for me, especially because I didn't really expect it to extend beyond WWE Backlash, but my interest was certainly renewed after their opening segment.

To start with, I actually really liked that this was the first thing that happened on this show. Reigns and Fatu's segments have been pushed towards the end of the last couple editions of "Raw," so right off the bat, this already did something a little different with its placement on the card.

Fatu may not have ultimately been the man to come out on top during this brawl, but that doesn't mean he came off looking weak by any means at all. WWE actually played things really smart here by having Reigns and The Usos need to tangle up Fatu in the ropes and land two Superman Punches and two double superkicks just to subdue him. It kept Fatu strong while still allowing Reigns and The Usos to come out on top, which they desperately needed considering that Fatu has gotten the better of Reigns on three occasions as of writing.

With all being said and done, this was the refresh and renewed interest that this storyline needed in my eyes, and was a nice way to set the tone for the rest of the show.

Written by Olivia Quinlan