Following a star-studded episode of WWE Raw at Madison Square Garden, there was a lot to live up to, especially with this being the last live show before Survivor Series (SmackDown was taped last week, and spoilers are already out there).
From the final build for both WarGames matches to the continuation of the Last Time Is Now Tournament, it was another busy night for WWE’s flagship show.
So what went down from the Paycom Center in Oklahoma City? Let’s take a look:
Roman Reigns Wants Someone’s World Title
WarGames has had a rough build. Both matches have lacked real stories and have mostly been presented as all-star showcases. That’s fine on its own, but it makes the matches hard to justify beyond “the show is called WarGames, so we need WarGames matches,” similar to the old Hell in a Cell pay-per-view format.
Cody Rhodes’ quick one-minute promo on SmackDown last week actually did a lot of heavy lifting. It injected some passion into the feud and made people care by highlighting his issues with the heel team. It worked.
Then on Raw, WWE added another layer: the chase for a world title. The catch is we don’t know which title. When Roman Reigns stared down Rhodes and CM Punk in the opening segment and said he wanted a belt, Rhodes and Punk asked which one. Reigns’ answer? “That’s for you to figure out.”
If WWE is setting up Reigns for a title match, this feels like an early tease, something that could pay off at the Royal Rumble or even WrestleMania 42. It might just be the first seed being planted.
The fresher matchup right now is Reigns vs. Punk. Rhodes has already faced Reigns twice in WrestleMania main events, and running that back so soon feels premature, especially with the emotional weight behind both matches—plus how strong they were, including the Endgame-style storytelling of WrestleMania 40’s finish.
Punk and Reigns have been teasing tension for over a year, dating back to last year’s WarGames. And while they shared the ring in a triple threat at WrestleMania earlier this year, they haven’t had a true one-on-one since Punk returned. So maybe we’re inching closer to that showdown finally happening in Las Vegas next April.
Carmelo Hayes Is Ready to Level Up
Carmelo Hayes’ usage has been one of WWE’s most confusing decisions since his call-up in the 2024 Draft nearly two years ago. He barely appeared on TV, got thrown into a stop-and-start tag team with The Miz that didn’t help either guy, and generally floundered, a sharp contrast to how heavily featured he was in NXT, especially during his emotional feud with Trick Williams that carried the brand for a stretch.
But lately, Hayes has been building momentum. His surprise count-out win over Bronson Reed in the Last Time Is Now Tournament on SmackDown, while not clean, still raised his stock. And for anyone who has watched him for years, his in-ring ability has never been in question.
That win set up a match with Gunther in the next round, and it’s almost impossible to have a bad match with the Ring General. Anyone who steps into the ring with him ends up shining, and for Hayes, it only highlighted how good he really is.
He did lose, but it took two powerbombs and a sleeper choke to finish him off. WWE made sure he went out looking like a million bucks.
December is usually a wide-open month for WWE creatively since there are no PLEs to build toward, and Saturday Night’s Main Event on the 13th is all John Cena. That gives Hayes room to keep gaining momentum heading into the Royal Rumble, an event where he could thrive as the breakout performer who lasts longer than anyone else. That would likely mean entering at No. 1 or No. 2.
That’s looking pretty far ahead, but Hayes finally has some steam behind him. WWE needs to capitalize on it, something they’ve been frustratingly inconsistent with up to this point.
Go-Home Show Lacks Urgency To Sell Survivor Series
Aside from WWE calling back to a 2003 segment by sending a person of short stature to the ring with Dominik Mysterio, which felt out of place more than anything, this was a pretty quiet and safe show overall.
Gunther vs. Hayes was absolutely worth seeking out, but the episode did not have a real sense of urgency. It lacked that final push you expect before Survivor Series, especially with the company now aiming to convince fans to watch through the ESPN streaming service. If this show needed to give you one more reason to tune in on Saturday, it did not quite do that.
Last week’s Nov. 17 Raw would have been a perfect lead-in to Survivor Series. If you swapped the two episodes, with last week’s show airing here and this week’s show airing there, the narrative would feel completely different. WWE put everything into that episode, helped by John Cena being in the building and the energy inside Madison Square Garden, and the show felt important.
This one did not. And unless Survivor Series delivers something truly standout, this go-home effort may end with a whimper instead of a bang.