WWE RAW 10/5/2026: 3 Things We Hated & 3 Things We Loved

Welcome to Wrestling Inc.'s weekly review of "WWE Raw," the show that gave us the latest LA Knight vs. Roman Reigns confrontation, promised us the 946's in-ring debut, and made another match official for Money in the Bank this weekend! You'll hardly be surprised to learn that the WINC staff have thoughts about all of this, and much more!

As usual, if you missed the show, you can check out our "WWE Raw" 10/5/26 live blog, which contains all the objective information you could possibly want on everything that went down Monday night. That objectivity is important, because we like to save the WINC crew's subjective opinions for this column you're about to read. So if you want to know what we thought of Monday's programming, you're in the right place — here are three things we hated and three things we loved about the 10/5/26 episode of "WWE Raw!"

Roman Reigns will be defending his title against LA Knight at Money in the Bank and thus, one of his limited-use appearance tokens was cashed in for this particular Monday so they could talk things out. On the face of it, there shouldn't have been much to dislike.

Knight can talk. It might, arguably, be the only thing he can do superbly. While I find his character grating — it almost feels like a shadow of his initial feud with Reigns and the Bloodline — that is a personal thing and he is massively over with the crowd. And Reigns is Roman Reigns. He can fumble his lines on occasion but he has an aura to him where you kind of just let it slide, and fumbles aside he's a very solid talker.

But they haven't much to really talk about at this point. Reigns is rarely present; the last time he was he defeated Penta in a title defense in Mexico City, and Knight attacked him after that to kickstart this stretch of the feud. In the meantime, much of the story has been some variation of Knight saying he wants an opportunity at Reigns, the Bloodline telling him no and Reigns isn't here, them fighting to bide time, rinse and repeat.

Reigns was here at long last, but Knight had said all that had needed to be said before and it was really just for Reigns' benefit to hear it again. Reigns felt disconnected, which might be the idea but it doesn't really make for compelling TV. He is supposed to feel unreachable to an extent as champion — that had always been part of the charm — but not because he didn't care about the product or the challenger before him. Rather the opposite; he would dismiss his opponents to their face while putting in the steps to ensure he can beat his challenger, recognizing them for what they are.

Now, he just turns up and reminds everyone who he is, lambastes whomever is opposite him, calls for acknowledgment and leaves. It all felt a little shallow and one-dimensional. There isn't much material for them to work with and it really does feel like all of this is to fill the segments before the show and the match rolls around. That's just annoying when it's the top title program, and especially when it is, as said, one of the limited appearances Reigns will be making.

Written by Max Everett

The women's division on "WWE SmackDown" hasn't exactly been my favorite thing of late, so a fun women's tag team match that actually got some time tonight was one of my favorite things on "Raw." Sol Ruca and Lola Vice teamed up to take on Judgment Day's Raquel Rodriguez and Roxanne Perez, and with Liv Morgan tied up with her No. 1 contender's match in the main event of the show, she was thankfully absent from ringside.

It was Perez to score the victory for her team, something the star desperately needed going into the Money in the Bank ladder match this weekend. I thought Rodriguez was going to get the win over Ruca in the last portion of the match, until Ruca countered the Tejana Bomb. Perez got the victory, however, with a sneaky roll-up on Vice after she accidentally hit her Ruca with her spinning backfist.

Nothing fancy, but a win is a win. Perez hasn't exactly been on a win streak in 2026, with her only recent victories coming in her MITB qualifier and the AAA Reina de Reinas Championship No. 1 contender's match. While this certainly wasn't a major win by any means, Perez needed one in the "W" column and I'm glad she has some momentum behind her going into Saturday.

The match itself was good and fun on a pretty bland go-home edition of "Raw," outside of the ongoing 946 storyline and the No. 1 contender's match main event. I thought Ruca looked good tonight, and she and Vice worked really well together. Vice was obviously so ready for the main roster, it's clear in her matches, and I'm happy that WWE elevated her immediately to the MITB match.

This was a fun way to highlight three of the six women in the ladder match, and I never mind seeing the Women's Intercontinental Champion mixing it up on a Monday night, though I am curious as to who Rodriguez's next challenger will be. I really hope it's Perez to climb the ladder and capture the briefcase on Saturday, but truthfully, I'd be cool with any of these three "Raw" competitors winning the bout.

Written by Daisy Ruth

I do understand the idea behind having Solo Sikoa join forces with The Usos in an effort to take down The 946 next week in a six-man tag team match, but that doesn't necessarily mean I'm a big fan of the decision to have him align with his family once again.

WWE spent a number of weeks establishing a babyface partnership between LA Knight and Sikoa as Sikoa looked to forge his own path not in the image of his family. Having Sikoa join forces with The Usos once again feels like a step backwards in the storyline that WWE was initially trying to tell here, and it makes everything feel a little more convoluted than it needs to be. I can understand Sikoa wanting revenge against the 946, but if that's the case, then there's no reason for WWE not to wait until after Money In The Bank for Knight to be able to back up Sikoa before Sikoa considers any more back up from inside of The Bloodline. I know there will be those out there who will enjoy this, but it's not for me personally and not something that I was really excited to see (especially as a fan of babyface Sikoa).

Written by Olivia Quinlan

Lyra Valkyria has been doing really good character work as of late, and she showcased it tonight in a backstage segment with Byron Saxton. Saxton asked her about losing to IYO SKY and Valkyria asked why she isn't at the top of the women's division. "I do whatever it takes all the time. What more do I have to do? I'm the full package, everyone knows I have what it takes and it's all down to her." She said she broke up the tag team with Bayley and has beaten her twice, yet Bayley cost her a shot in the MITB ladder match and is why she didn't beat SKY.

As she was asking how to make it end, Bayley walked up and thought it was funny that Valkyria has any control over the situation. She said that it'll end when she says it ends. Bayley and Valkyria have not only been one of the few bright spots in the women's division, but in WWE in general. Bayley is one of the best in the business and Valkyria is someone WWE should go all in on. She has the in-ring talent, mic skills, and character work. If WWE really wanted to create new stars, Valkyria should be near the top of the list.

Bayley and Valkyria have been a lot of fun, but also given the storyline substance without leaning into tropes reserved for women in WWE (like being catty or fighting over a man). They're always intriguing and capture my attention. Whenever they step into the ring, they have great matches. In a time where matches happen again repeatedly, they also keep things fresh and interesting. I'm really interested in where this story goes. Even if Bayley is just riding out her contract, they have enough of a story to tell in the time that's left.

Written by Samantha Schipman

We got the most obvious result possible in the main event of tonight's "Raw," and while I don't hate the fact the match for the Women's World Championship at Money in the Bank is going to be a triple threat, I feel like that should have just been determined from the start. I love a good women's main event on the red brand, as that truly rarely happens anymore, but this was an overbooked mess of interference.

With Morgan complaining about the "Santiago Screwjob" where Lynch, the special guest referee of the match, made the count for Vaquer to win back the title in her native Chile, and with Lynch telling Vaquer she earned a match for the gold by helping her, I feel like Vaquer would have just immediately called for the triple threat. I guess that would have put too many weeks between that house show and Money in the Bank for WWE to book any kind of interesting feud between these three women, so they went the route of the No. 1 contender's match that turned messy.

I didn't think the Morgan vs. Lynch match was bad by any stretch, and it was actually really entertaining until we got the obvious interference by Judgment Day's Roxanne Perez and Raquel Rodriguez. The women were pretty relentless in their distracting of the referee and beating down of Lynch, and it finally brought Vaquer down. Instead of taking them out, however, she got up on the apron, in the face of Jessika Carr, who eventually turned around and saw Rodriguez passing the title to Morgan. She ejected the Judgment Day and a furious Morgan argued with Vaquer, still on the apron, and both potential challengers accidentally took her out.

Vaquer is usually booked smarter than this, so this was a bit strange to me, but she let her temper get the best of her and caused the DQ in an already too-chaotic bout. She called for the triple threat, which Adam Pearce made official. This could have been official and advertised weeks ago, with WWE having already set up a perfect storyline with the "Santiago Screwjob" with Lynch helping Vaquer, but they didn't follow through.

This match will no doubt be a good one on Saturday, and we got to the triple threat eventually. I just didn't need to see yet another overbooked, disqualification finish tonight, even if it was the women in the main event spot.

Written by Daisy Ruth

I'm not the biggest fan of Oba Femi's program with The Vision, mostly because it feels like we're just killing time until WWE finally crowns the man at WrestleMania. That said, you can't argue with a fired-up Femi with a microphone in his hand, and that's what we got on "Raw."

It helps that the promo segment came on the heels of Femi clearing The Vision from the ring all by himself, which is much more entertaining than "The Ruler" falling to the numbers game. I also continue to enjoy Femi coming to the aid of Je'Von Evans, a longtime rival of his in "NXT." But mostly, this segment worked because Femi is just so damn good on the mic. Nothing he says feels forced or stale, it just naturally flows, even when the material could come off as cliched. Not everyone can pull off the time-honored "your a** belongs to me" line without it feeling overly scripted or corny, but Femi breezed through it like he was the first person to ever say the words. Overall, it was a great way to sell the match, because as much as we all love Bronson Reed and are excited that he's back, Bronson Reed does indeed have a mountain to climb on Saturday. The draw of this match at Money in the Bank is the draw of any Oba Femi match, which is that Oba Femi is a bada**. He felt like one tonight thanks to both his physical work and his mic work, and suddenly I'm much more excited to see Femi vs. Reed this weekend.

Written by Miles Schneiderman