WWE’s October 5 episode of Raw from St. Louis set the stage for a stacked Money in the Bank card, delivering five matches and several major storyline developments. Here’s a closer look at what worked and what didn’t heading into the weekend.
Good: Stephanie Vaquer Took Control of Her Own Story
Having Vaquer physically interrupt the Lynch-Morgan contender’s match and demand a Triple Threat for her own title was a genuinely smart character beat. Rather than standing on the sidelines waiting to find out who her next challenger would be, Vaquer inserted herself directly into the situation, laying out both Lynch and Morgan with a flurry of meteoras before grabbing the microphone and making her demand to Adam Pearce in real time. This kind of proactive, take-charge booking positions her as a dominant, confident champion who dictates the terms of her own reign, rather than a passive titleholder reacting to decisions made above her. It also instantly elevated Money in the Bank’s women’s division match from a standard title defense into a three-way contest with genuine unpredictability, since either returning veteran Becky Lynch or longtime rival Liv Morgan could realistically walk away as the new champion.
Bad: Ending Another Match in a No-Contest/DQ
Between this angle and the earlier interference-heavy segments throughout the night, WWE is leaning increasingly hard on finishes that avoid a clean winner. While the DQ worked narratively here to set up the Triple Threat, this is becoming a pattern rather than an occasional storytelling tool — and when matches repeatedly fail to produce decisive outcomes, there’s a real risk of training the audience to care more about the angle that follows than the in-ring action itself. Wrestling fans generally want to see competition resolved, and a steady diet of interference finishes can leave even well-built matches feeling like mere vehicles for the next segment rather than meaningful contests in their own right.
Good: Roman Reigns’ Return Had Real Purpose
Rather than appearing simply to generate a crowd reaction and little else, Reigns’ return was tied directly and immediately to building his upcoming Money in the Bank match against LA Knight, holding the World Heavyweight Championship aloft as a visual reminder of what’s at stake this Saturday. Using a major returning star to directly advance a pay-per-view match, rather than treating the appearance as a standalone nostalgia moment, reflects efficient, focused storytelling — every minute of segment time on the go-home show should be pulling double duty, building hype while reinforcing exactly why the fans should care about the weekend’s biggest matches.
Bad: The Vision/Oba Femi/Bronson Reed Angle Is Starting to Feel Repetitive
Evans and Penta beating members of The Vision, only for Bronson Reed to run in and lay waste to the winners, only for Oba Femi to arrive and make the save — this exact beat-for-beat sequence has now played out in strikingly similar form across recent weeks. Without a clear escalation, stipulation match, or defined next chapter on the immediate horizon, there’s a genuine risk of this angle going stale through sheer repetition rather than building the kind of mounting tension that makes a payoff feel earned. Audiences tend to disengage from storylines that feel like they’re treading water, and right now this feud risks exactly that fate unless WWE provides a clearer sense of where it’s actually headed.
Good: Giving Rey Fenix a Clear, Meaningful Path Forward
Having Fenix earn an Intercontinental Championship opportunity against Chad Gable through a clean, decisive win over Ethan Page is a simple but genuinely satisfying piece of booking. It directly rewards strong in-ring performance with a tangible next step rather than leaving the outcome to vague implication, and it’s exactly the kind of storytelling that makes secondary and midcard titles feel like they still matter. In a show with several interference-heavy finishes elsewhere on the card, this clean result and clear forward momentum stood out as a refreshing reminder of how satisfying straightforward competitive wrestling can still be.
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