Good evening, wrestling fans 👊

Before you dive into Hawkins, here is your rapid-fire ride through a loaded week. Raw’s final stop before Survivor Series delivered a killer tournament showcase with Gunther battering Melo into a made-man moment, a women’s WarGames spark with Becky unhinged and AJ razor sharp, and a viral closer when the Brockmaster took an accidental stage bump and popped up like it never happened. We also cover the scary Penta injury, a heel squad with the WarGames advantage, and why the cage feels like a powder keg for both divisions.

Beyond Raw, Anime Empire charts Trick Williams’ next arc and why the main roster is the only map left, while Darrion’s Drop digs into real-world tremors with Becky’s blacklist bombshell and Seth’s on-air honesty about a show he cannot stand. If you are juggling Demogorgons and powerbombs, we have got the highlights, the receipts, and the read you can finish before the opening credits fade.

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Tone: WarGames orbit the whole show, one elite tournament match, one polarizing comedy bit, a scary injury, and Brock Lesnar accidentally becoming a meme on live Netflix.

💥 Opening Promo – Roman, Cody and Punk Test the Power Structure
Segment Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Roman opened soaking up a monster reaction before Cody cut him off in full company ace mode, asking the right question: what is Roman getting out of WarGames. Roman made it clear this is not Cody’s war, it is his war with Heyman and The Vision, and half the team is still his family and his investment.

CM Punk then crashed the party and reminded everyone this is World Heavyweight Champion territory and that he once saved Roman at WarGames. Roman fired back that Punk tried to ruin his life later and dropped the key line of the night: he hates Heyman and The Vision more than he hates Cody and Punk, and one of those world titles would look better on his shoulder.

He never says which one and walks. Seeds planted for Punk vs Roman and tension left simmering under Cody’s “leader” act.

🏆 Last Time Is Now Tournament – Gunther def Carmelo Hayes
Match Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Best match of the night and one of Melo’s best main roster showings so far.

Melo jumped Gunther early with a corner powerbomb and wild springboard DDT, forcing the Ring General to reset. From there it turned into big bully versus desperate technician. Melo kept going back to the sleeper and high risk dives. Gunther answered with nuclear chops, brutal boots, and ugly control.

The finish was vicious in all the right ways. Huge lariat, powerbomb near fall, mounted elbows, and a second powerbomb that folded Melo in half for the emphatic win. Gunther looked like the inevitable tournament favorite. Melo walked out looking like a made babyface who simply refused to die.

Textbook “elevate a guy in defeat” work.

🎭 Dominik And “Little Cena”
Segment Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

Dom cut a promo promising to end Cena’s farewell run and crown himself the greatest Mysterio ever. Cena’s music hit and out walked a little person in full Cena gear, complete with a mini cameraman.

“Little Cena” clowned Dom on the mic, called him the worst Mysterio, and Dom snapped. Big boot, mock Five Knuckle Shuffle, 619, Frog Splash. Rey finally ran down to chase Dom off.

Heat wise, it worked. The crowd rained boos on Dom and it made you want to see Cena crush him. Taste wise, it felt like a throwback to a style of comedy that does not really belong in 2025. Effective, lazy, and divisive all at once.

🎯 Rey Mysterio def JD McDonagh
Match Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

JD controlled most of the match, grinding Rey down and picking his shots. Rey hit the classics in bursts, timing the seated senton and springboard offense perfectly.

Balor tried to interfere late, Rey sent JD into him, hit the 619 and springboard splash for the win. Clean, tidy TV wrestling. Rey still moves at a level that should not be possible at his age and JD continues to look sharper even while taking losses.

🔥 Women’s WarGames Promo – Becky Melts Down, AJ Bites Back
Segment Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Becky Lynch came out flanked by Nia Jax, Lash Legend, Asuka and Kairi Sane and absolutely spiraled on the mic in the best possible way. She talked about lawyers, overturning decisions, buried Adam Pearce, Maxxine Dupri and AJ Lee in one breath, and “put over” her own team with back handed compliments that sounded more like threats.

AJ Lee, Rhea Ripley, Iyo Sky, Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss then stepped up. AJ calmly cut Becky to pieces, calling out her insecurity and saying she does not bark, she bites. Ripley did not bother talking, she just cracked Nia with the mic and triggered the ten woman brawl. Iyo’s moonsault to the floor closed the segment with the babyface side standing tall while Becky bailed, still ranting.

This finally gave the women’s WarGames match the emotional center it needed. AJ versus Becky feels like the real heartbeat of that cage.

⚠️ Last Time Is Now Tournament – Solo Sikoa def Penta (Doctor Stoppage)
Match Rating: N/A

Penta came in hot, hit his frantic strikes and a hurricanrana off the barricade, and landed badly on his arm shoulder on the floor. The energy changed instantly.

The ref and doctor stepped in, Solo got the win by stoppage, and WWE did the right thing by keeping cameras wide and commentary serious. No rating here. Just hope it is less serious than it looked. It derailed the flow of the show and leaves a hole in the bracket, but health comes first.

📺 Backstage Threads

Cody, Punk, Roman and The Usos: More ego sniping until the Usos step in and volunteer for the WarGames advantage match. Roman telling Cody and Punk to “fix this” kept his boss energy intact without turning him full babyface.

Tag Division: New Day vs AJ Styles and Dragon Lee for the tag titles next week is simple, strong TV business.

Maxxine Dupri: Quick backstage beat established that every woman in the midcard is circling her new title. She is vulnerable and everyone knows it, which is exactly the right tone.

Stephanie Vaquer: Short, cold promo painting Nikki Bella as the traitor and herself as the assassin coming to collect. Exactly the tone that feud needs.

🚨 Main Event – WarGames Advantage Match
Drew McIntyre and Logan Paul def The Usos
Match Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Classic “advantage” tag with more focus on stakes and chaos than on trying to steal match of the night.

The Usos picked Logan apart early, reminding everyone they are still one of the best tag acts in the world. Drew’s hot tag felt dangerous rather than heroic, especially the leapfrog counter into a nasty mid air kick on Jey. Logan continues to be annoyingly good, landing the standing Frog Splash and Blockbuster with ease.

The closing stretch was pure go home energy. Breakker and Reed hit ringside. Cody and Punk sprint down. Jey dives on the pile. Jimmy gets distracted. Logan rolls him up and the heels take the advantage into WarGames where it belongs.

Nothing you need to rewatch, but it did its job.

🤣 The Brockmaster Slip – Viral Moment Of The Night
Segment Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Post match chaos, Roman hits the ring and Superman Punches everyone in sight. The babyface WarGames team regroups for the big closing stare down. Brock Lesnar’s music hits.

Brock walks out, goes for his trademark jump on the stage and his feet shoot out from under him. Full back bump on the stage. Pop back up. Try to look murderous while clearly trying not to laugh. Heyman’s horrified face said everything.

Brock then joins Heyman’s WarGames army as the final piece, and both teams charge in for one more pull apart brawl as the show goes off the air.

It cut a little fast, but the slip is already a meme. If WWE is smart they slap “Brockmaster” on a shirt and let him cash in on his own blooper.

📊 Straight Shoot Overall Verdict
Overall Show Rating: 7.5 out of 10

Not the insane, PLE level Raw from last week, but a strong, messy, very watchable go home show that did exactly what it needed to for WarGames.

Men’s WarGames now feels like an all star powder keg with Bloodline history, Punk pride, Cody leadership, Heyman scheming and Brock as the unhinged nuke. The women’s WarGames finally has its emotional spine thanks to Becky and AJ. Gunther versus Melo is the match you go back and rewatch.

Big misses: no women’s match bell to bell, a divisive Dom segment, and the Penta injury leaving the bracket in limbo.

⭐ Top 5 Most Impressive

🥇 Gunther
Final boss energy, incredible performance, and he made Melo look like a future main eventer.

🥈 Carmelo Hayes
Took a beating, kept coming, and finally feels like a true babyface on the main roster.

🥉 Becky Lynch
Completely off the rails on the mic in the best way. Petty, funny, dangerous.

🏅 AJ Lee
Calm, surgical promo that sliced straight through Becky’s bravado and grounded the women’s WarGames story.

🏅 Logan Paul
Continues to deliver in big matches and looked totally comfortable closing the go home Raw.

❌ The 3 Misses

No women’s match at all
Three hour go home Raw and the women only get promo and brawl time. Not good enough.

Dom and Little Cena tone
Huge heat, but the creative tone felt dated when there were smarter ways to heat Dom versus Cena.

Penta injury and tournament fallout
Nobody’s fault, but it deflated the middle of the show and leaves the tournament bracket feeling patched together.

🥇 Three Stars Of The Show

Gold: Gunther
Match of the night, still the tournament favorite, still terrifying.

Silver: Becky Lynch
Meltdown promo of the night and the true chaos engine of the women’s division.

Bronze: Brock Lesnar
For all the wrong and right reasons. The Brockmaster slip is going to live online forever and somehow adds even more flavor to WarGames season.

By Anime Empire - Straight Shoot Unfiltered

Every great story reaches the moment when the hero stops leveling up in their current world and must ascend to a new arena. For Trick Williams, that moment has finally arrived.

At 31 years old, Trick has done everything NXT can offer him. He has fought villains, carried the brand through its weakest eras, risen to the top as a two time NXT Champion, and even crossed into another universe through the TNA partnership. His 140 day TNA World Championship reign proved what many already believed. Trick Williams was not just an NXT standout. He was a global player.

But ever since he dropped the NXT Championship for the second time, the atmosphere around him has changed. The aura is still there, but the direction is not. His match against Ricky Saints at Halloween Havoc felt less like a continuation of his journey and more like a farewell chapter that Shawn Michaels quietly placed on the table.

And when Trick lost clean to Myles Borne in the Iron Survivor qualifier, that was the moment every anime fan recognizes. The final door closing on one arc so another can open.

Trick Williams has exhausted every quest and every route NXT can offer. It is time for the call up.

A Division Built on Trick’s Back

NXT’s men’s division has not been deep in years, but Trick has been the anchor holding everything together. The charisma. The spark. The energy. The presence that kept every episode feeling alive.

Ricky Saints now holds victories over both Oba Femi and Trick Williams, but the truth is simple. Trick helped build the environment that Saints is thriving in. He was the face of NXT during its major rebuild. He stepped into a spotlight once held by Carmelo Hayes and expanded it into something bigger.

When Mike Santana ended Trick’s TNA reign at Bound For Glory, that felt like the natural endpoint for Trick’s NXT arc. The emotional finale. The graduation moment.

Instead, for reasons only WWE knows, Trick was left in an NXT holding pattern.

There is nothing left for him to do there.

The Main Roster Is Calling, and There Is a Perfect First Opponent

If WWE wants Trick to feel important from the moment he arrives, his debut story is already written.

Trick Williams vs Ilja Dragunov for the United States Championship.

This is not fantasy booking. This is unfinished history.

Dragunov pushed Trick to his limit at Vengeance Day.
Trick beat him at Spring Breakin 2024.
Their chemistry was instant, violent, emotional, and cinematic in the way only wrestling can be.

Dragunov brings something out of Trick that few others can. If WWE wants Trick to resonate with main roster audiences immediately, this is the program that does it.

Will WWE actually go in that direction?
Maybe. Maybe not.
This company has a habit of giving people open challenge debuts followed by a month of fog.

Even that would be better than leaving Trick in NXT to run loops he has already completed.

Trick Has Outgrown NXT

He has been in NXT since 2021.
He has appeared on every developmental show.
He has beaten the top names, carried major titles, headlined takeovers, and became a legitimate star without ever needing the main roster machine behind him.

There are no new bosses left to defeat. No side quests worth pursuing.
The only way forward is upward.

WWE has a decision to make, and the clock has run out.

Call up Trick Williams.
Let him evolve.
Let him stand on the stage he has earned a hundred times over.

This chapter is done.
The next one should already be starting.

By Darrion Axel - Straight Shoot Unfiltered

Every now and then, the curtain at WWE slips just enough for fans to glimpse what is happening behind the scenes. This week, two major stories dropped that point to something deeper than simple frustration. The energy inside the company feels tense, divided, and more revealing than ever.

And the people talking are not mid-carders or anonymous sources.
They are Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch, two of the most respected voices in the entire business.

In a recent interview, Becky Lynch spoke openly about a disturbing experience early in her WWE run. She revealed that a male wrestler, whose name she refused to disclose, actively tried to sabotage her and several women behind the scenes. According to Becky, this wrestler told management that the women’s division should not be trusted, should not get opportunities, and should not be featured in top positions.

Not only that, Becky claims he went out of his way to influence who management pushed, who got TV time, and who was kept off shows entirely. In her words, he wanted the women “blacklisted.”

Fans were quick to speculate, but Becky stayed silent on the name. What she did not stay silent about was the mindset that allowed this kind of behavior to thrive. She said the women’s division had to fight through a culture that did not want them elevated, a culture where one powerful voice could stall careers with a single conversation.

For a locker room that has spent years presenting itself as progressive and united, this revelation hit like a punch to the ribs.

While Becky’s story exposed a toxic figure in the locker room, Seth Rollins exposed something else entirely. He admitted publicly that he hates watching one of WWE’s most popular shows, even when he is featured on it.

Seth said the show feels chaotic, messy, and exhausting. The format does not fit his style, the pacing is off, and he thinks the entire presentation misrepresents the product he believes WWE should be creating. He did not bury anyone directly, but the message was loud. A top star openly saying he cannot stand a WWE program is not normal. It signals frustration with direction, structure, and possibly with the people running it.

When a top performer gets to the point where he cannot sit through the product he is part of, that is not small. That is tectonic.

The timing of both stories has people talking. WWE is entering a new era, but not everyone seems to love what is happening behind the scenes. Reddit threads, Twitter spaces, and fan forums are buzzing with the same questions:

If Becky Lynch felt targeted and sabotaged, what does that say about the culture that shaped the last decade?

If Seth Rollins cannot watch one of WWE’s top programs, how many others feel the same but stay quiet?

If two of the company’s most respected leaders are openly pulling the curtain back, is this the beginning of a bigger shift?

Fans are connecting the dots, and the picture forming is not entirely flattering.

Something feels fractured. Something feels unsettled. And these two stories landing in the same week makes it impossible to ignore.

WWE is at a crossroads. The booking is shifting. The roster is evolving. New leadership is making bold changes. But when the top stars start breaking the silence about what is happening backstage, you either fix the cracks or eventually watch the structure collapse.

Becky Lynch called out a culture that let women be sidelined.
Seth Rollins called out a show that he believes has lost its way.

Both of them are saying the same thing without saying it directly.
Something inside WWE needs to change.

The fans see it.
The wrestlers feel it.
Now the question is simple.

Does WWE listen?

Be Good People🤘
mr.teshk

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