Welcome to Wrestling Inc.'s weekly review of "WWE Raw," the show that continues to build toward Survivor Series 2026 in just a few weeks! The WINC staff has plenty of thoughts on how that build progressed this week, from conflicting opinions on the traditional Survivor Series match that now involves Cody Rhodes and CM Punk, to thoughts on tag champs Penta and Je'Von Evans ending up on opposing sides, to Roman Reigns finally challenging 946 to WarGames.

As always, if you missed the show, you can catch up on the full dose of red brand programming via our "WWE Raw" 11/9/26 live blog — these days it's not as fully objective as it once was, but it is comprehensive, as opposed to this column. This column is strictly for the WINC crew's feelings about the matches and segments we found most interesting, for better or worse. Here are three things we hated and three things we loved about the 11/9/26 episode of "WWE Raw!"

Plain and simple, Oba Femi vs. Bron Breakker is a storyline that should've come to an end at WWE Sunday Night's Main Event on September 6. It's made even worse by the fact their last match ended in Femi scoring the win against Breakker via disqualification as well, but that's not even the worst part of WWE deciding to run yet another match between the pair to keep the storyline going.

The match between Femi and Breakker is what I would call a lose-lose-lose situation. Femi and Breakker have been positioned by WWE as two of their most dominant individual talents, so naturally they wouldn't want either man here to take a clean loss because it would be too damaging to them. While The Vision beating down Femi to award him the win in the match via disqualification solves that issue of not wanting either man to lose cleanly, it brings up another problem in that it basically renders everything WWE did to build up to the match with the tussle and match challenge by Femi to be entirely pointless. Considering they have a roster of talent at hand, there is no reason for WWE not to pivot Femi and Breakker into other storylines or give them other opponents they can more effectively beat to continue building them up as dominant talents.

Written by Olivia Quinlan

I love a good traditional Survivor Series match after so many years of WarGames, as the hardcore stipulation often gets old, especially if the build to the match isn't any good. While this traditional bout is getting put together rather quickly, I feel like the team captains picking good team members is really the build behind a traditional Survivor Series match, and so far, this is looking pretty dope. We're getting Team Mexico vs. Team USA at the premium live event, with WWE Hall of Famer Rey Mysterio and Cody Rhodes as team captains, and their teams are already shaping up to be awesome.

Tonight's main segment centered around Dominik Mysterio trying to get on either team, first telling his dad that he'd take over as captain of Team Mexico, so Rey could go back to AAA "where he belongs." When that didn't work, he told Rhodes he could use the "King of the Luchadors" against Team Mexico. Rhodes telling Dominik "on behalf of probably the entire United States" he'd pass was also pretty funny. "Dirty Dom" asking Rhodes who was better than him for the team brought out CM Punk, who is an excellent addition to Team USA if he's not going to be doing anything else at Survivor Series.

The same goes for Penta, who joined Mysterio's team in a backstage segment. We all know the World Tag Team Championships rarely get defended during premium live events, so might as well get Penta on Team Mexico. His tag partner won't be left out, either, as Rhodes asked Je'Von Evans to join his team. I always love to see the "Young OG" get big opportunities, and a chance to compete in a traditional Survivor Series match is pretty cool.

I also really love that this match will be contested at the actual Survivor Series event, and not the "WWE SmackDown" before the show, like I believe happened last year. The fact that this isn't a "brand warfare" "Raw" vs. "SmackDown" match is also really fun. I'm sure Mysterio is going to add a few deserving AAA talent to Team Mexico, in addition to Penta, which will be awesome to see, and I'm interested to see who Rhodes gets on his side. While this isn't exactly a new concept of a match, the USA vs. Mexico aspect is fun, and this is something to look forward to at Survivor Series.

Written by Daisy Ruth

Since WarGames wasn't enough of a gimmick for this year's Survivor Series and WWE owns AAA, AAA General Manager Rey Mysterio announced the return of the traditional five-on-five tag team elimination match. Naturally, it will be Team USA vs. Team Mexico, because Team WWE vs. AAA both makes too much sense and doesn't appeal those on the patriot-nationalist spectrum.

Mysterio will be leading Team Mexico and was in the ring during Monday's show to announce the captain of Team USA: Cody Rhodes. I mean, he would have made the most sense for the team in either name. But then came just an awkward segment that took away from any actual build to the match. JD McDonagh and Dominik Mysterio came down to the ring, Mysterio asking his father and then Rhodes if he can be on either team, and being spurned by both.

CM Punk then came down to the ring. It was obvious by this point that Punk would have been the second member of Team USA. But the segment drew on so that the three veterans could hit their finishers on the pair of Judgment Day jabronis. Je'Von Evans and Penta later joined opposing teams, putting their championship winning partnership to the side for now. The elements are working. But the execution has been so ham-fisted.

The glad-handing of Rhodes, Punk, Mysterio felt a little nauseating. Mysterio and McDonagh are obnoxious, that's their characters, but they did little to make one want to watch the segment. Their presence was ultimately unnecessary and was of little significance anyway. And there will be a wait to find out who the rest of the members are.

There could have been qualifiers, bringing AAA talent to truly give the brand a spotlight. There still might be. But this was the first segment to address the return of the traditional Survivor Series eliminator, it would have been nice for it to feel less of a throwaway.

Written by Max Everett

Penta and Je'Von Evans were thrown together as a tag team when they got jumped a couple weeks ago and asked Adam Pearce to approve a tag match at Crown Jewel against The Vision. Evans and Penta went on to win the tag titles on Saturday. They kicked off "Raw" with a jubilant celebration. It was extra special because they were in Greenville, SC, not far from Evans home state of North Carolina and celebrating "The Young OG's" first title win in WWE after many failed attempts between "NXT" and the main roster. 

Then Bron Breakker had to ruin it all when he speared Penta and delivered a Gorilla Press to Evans. Breaker then called out Oba Femi. After their match, Evans and Penta came back to even the odds against The Vision.

Later the champs would convene backstage in a fun segment. Evans informed Penta that Cody Rhodes invited him to be on Team USA at Survivor Series and asked his partner minded if he joined. Penta revealed that Rey Mysterio invited him to be on Team Mexico and that he accepted. Evans seemed a little surprised, but then they were both excited to be part of Survivor Series. Evans let Penta know he wouldn't be going easy on him and Penta teased him in Spanish. He asked what that meant and Penta advised him to relax.

The segments with Penta and Evans were easily the highlight of the show. I'm already a fan of them both, so I'm enjoying them as a team. They're very likable, charismatic people and of course are great in the ring. They're the full package and considering the tag division on "Raw" is practically non-existent, WWE often throws teams together. This is one of the times that it works. Penta is the veteran while Evans is the youthful up-and-comer. Their personalities and styles mesh well. It'll be fun while it lasts.

Written by Samantha Schipman

Roman Reigns was on TV this week for some really enthralling work with 946 in the main event segment of the show. But it did leave one wondering why no one else seems to have their eyes on the World Heavyweight Champion. 

Penta has a built-in story as Mr. Money in the Bank and the former challenger in Mexico City, but he is now the World Tag Team Champion alongside Je'Von Evans while he bides his time. Royce Keys, Cruz Montana, Carmelo Hayes, Lucien Price, and Bronco Nima are all involved with Reigns and the Bloodline, will be facing them inside WarGames, but none of them have even once mentioned wanting the title. That, for the time-being, is just a faction war. 

The thing is that this is all scripted and thus, the talent are just doing what they have booked to be to. Reigns is locked into a WarGames feud and will likely not be defending the title until after that. The issue is that in that time there has yet to have been a set of challengers built with that in mind. No one seems to want the supposed most prestigious title on the brand, or if one is to believe Reigns, the entire company. 

Adam Pearce appears to have no interest in having his World Heavyweight Champion defend the title. He doesn't appear to care about building challengers or establishing a No. 1 contender. It's because, behind the scenes, Reigns is not defending the title in some time. But the problem with that is, from a storyline perspective, no one is even trying to get on Reigns' level. It's a shiny prop to embellish Reigns' character at the moment, rather than being the ultimate goal for anyone on the roster. 

What makes that even more annoying is the quality of TV that could be produced from a set of hungry challengers each vying for the eventual opportunity. Reigns is preoccupied but that doesn't mean the entire division should be. That could also build new stars that fans want to face Reigns, ones that maybe wouldn't have felt credible or have even amassed that support otherwise. It would create different avenues to pivot in case of injuries and other unforeseen circumstances. Of course it would take a little more effort than compartmentalizing and sticking to the formula. But it would be interesting.

Written by Max Everett

Now that World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns' Crown Jewel match is out of the way, the Bloodline vs. 946 in WarGames is official, or at least as close to it as we've been so far, with Reigns throwing out the challenge to Royce Keys after yet another brawl between the factions on "WWE Raw." These brawls and confrontations have yet to get old to me, WWE changed things up ever-so-slightly with 946's tactics tonight, and I absolutely loved the return of Jacob Fatu.

Earlier in the night, 946 came out to attack the competitors in the triple threat No. 1 contender's match for Ethan Page's Intercontinental Championship. Thankfully, they didn't get involved in the match itself, and while it was initially a little confusing, things made more sense after Keys pulled up a chair. He addressed "the Tribal Chief" directly and said that those laid out in front of him could very well have been his family, and he wanted Reigns to acknowledge him. The stable attacking others not involved in their WarGames match was new, and I thought it was a nice touch of something different, and its shows that really "ain't nobody safe" on the "Raw" roster. I hope that continues, even with the WarGames match seemingly set. Keys and the faction should always take some random talent out when they want to get Reigns' attention, and this probably should have started weeks ago.

Fatu has been off TV for around six weeks, after Jaida Parker was revealed to be part of 946 when she took him out with a car backstage. I liked that we didn't hear from the "Samoan Werewolf" tonight, but he appeared in the back of a pretty cool, fiery shot alongside the Usos and Solo Sikoa that popped up on the tron when Reigns revealed he hadn't come to face Keys alone. While I didn't need Wade Barrett yapping that it was 946's box truck on fire, the shot looked bada**, and I was happy to see Fatu.

The star also came out of the brawl looking the best, locking in the Tongan Death Grip for a moment on Keys, then hitting a nasty pop-up Samoan Drop on Carmelo Hayes. He and Sikoa then cleared the commentary desk, and Fatu sent Hayes through it with a big splash. While everyone in the WarGames match was involved in the fight, giving Fatu the big spots was a great call upon his return. With just two more episodes of the red brand to go until WarGames, I think there's just enough time for this to continue to be interesting without getting stale.

Written by Daisy Ruth