The State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia, played host to tonight’s go-home episode of WWE Monday Night RAW. With Elimination Chamber this Saturday, tonight’s edition of RAW will attempt to put a bow on the chamber by securing the final spots in the titular match.
Aside from the traditional expectations of a go-home show, tonight’s episode was also a dedication to AJ Styles, just 45 minutes from his hometown of Gainesville. After AJ was retired by Gunther, most assumed he was either done for good or onto other things/promotions. It took several weeks, but WWE finally paid tribute to the man who rocked the WWE when he debuted a decade ago as a surprise entrant into the Rumble.
Atlanta is typically a big show, and that is why CM Punk made his show arrival in a NASCAR race car with Tyler Redick while Grammy award-winning artist Jermanie Dupri (credited with ATL’s rise in Hip-Hop) was also in attendance. NBA’s 8x All-Star Dwight Howard and social media star ‘Funny Marco’ were also in attendance alongside Bow Wow of ‘Like Mike’ fame.
AJ STYLES SAYS GOODBYE WITH A SMILE; HALL OF FAME SAYS HELLO W/THE UNDERTAKER
The show kicked off with Michael Cole and Corey Graves in the middle of the ring in honor of tonight’s AJ Styles tribute show, a goodbye segment following his loss to Gunther at Royal Rumble several weeks ago that brought his career to an end (for now). Gunther came out quickly to call ‘BS’ on the entire night dedicated to Styles.
It painted a narrative that Styles and Gunther could possibly give it another go, though the entire narrative was abandoned by the time we got to AJ’s segment to close out RAW.
It was short and sweet as AJ thanked the crowd, and the RAW credits came on just as the ‘boys in the back’ made their way out to the entrance stage. We had seen TNA’s Frankie Kazarian and Abyss (Chris Parks) earlier in the program, as well as ‘The Good Brothers’ in Gallows and Anderson arrive backstage with no other narrative.
As the stage continued to fill with both the current roster as well as the veterans that shared the ring and road with AJ, the lights went out and Taker’s infamous ‘gong’ hit. The crowd went wild as we sat in the dark for much longer than was likely intended, only to hit the gimmick switch on his ‘Deadman’ persona like he dropped an ‘UNO’ reverse card.
Taker made his way down the aisle on a motorcycle and entered the ring after the credits had already come and gone, making this feel like ‘bonus footage.’ Taker struggled a little bit with his wording, though the overall point was made—he is the guy that delivers the ‘big news’ when you’re all but gone.
With his family watching on ringside, Taker announced AJ Styles’ entrance into the WWE Hall of Fame in the 2026 class that already includes Stephanie McMahon. Details on the HOF ceremony and the inductees have been absent so far on the road to WrestleMania, so it makes sense for them to hold back info to make AJ’s entrance so much bigger.
It was a great moment, but it does explain the clunkiness of AJ’s final few appearances as well as the confusion AJ caused when he did not leave his gloves in the ring following his loss to Gunther at the Rumble.
BROCK LESNAR STREAKING APPEARANCE TONIGHT
Paul Heyman took his place alongside Brock Lesnar as “The Beast” made his way to the ring for his scheduled performance. Many wondered what Lensar’s segment would bring by way of his WrestleMania booking. Instead, what we got was a commercial for WWE’s live events.
At first, Paul kept things interesting by reminding us of Lesnar’s infamous defeat of Undertaker at WrestleMania XXX back in April of 2014, where he broke “The Deadman’s” undefeated streak at the ‘show of shows.’ That is when Paul introduced the idea of a ‘Brock Lesnar: Open Challenge’ as the program that WWE will run with the man who returned at last year’s SummerSlam.
The idea was met with some cheers, but the entire segment fell flat as the audience continued looking towards ‘Gorilla’ for any hint of who on the roster would answer the call. Understandably, WWE wants Brock’s match at Mania to mean something; after all, why pay top dollar for a guy that you saddle on the sidelines?
However, the idea that Brock is ‘big enough’ to hold an open challenge makes it seem like Lesnar alone makes up the stakes for the match while undermining the very nature of Lesnar’s character—a guy you avoid until you have no choice.
The whole thing felt lazy, but the hope is that WWE can produce something meaningful from the EXACT same booking that WWE has run with the U.S. title since Sami Zayn won it last year and then asked John Cena for permission to restart the gimmick.
Paul announced Brock’s dates and gave the entire WWE Universe John Cena PTSD, but the open challenge is not the most inspiring creative.
ELIMINATION CHAMBER QUALIFIERS
Men’s: BRONSON REED VS JEY USO VS ORIGINAL EL GRANDE AMERICANO—Triple Threat
The final entrant into this Saturday’s Elimination Chamber match (stay tuned to FightsATW for coverage of the domed steel cage match this weekend) was decided in the opening of RAW. Last week, much was made of Reed’s place in the Chamber match following Bron Breakker’s inability to compete while on the injured list.
OG Grande was successful in his other qualifying match under the Triple A promotion, taking the place of Ludwig’s version of the El Grande Americano character to secure his place in the Rey de Reyes tourney.
In the end, Jey Uso was able to secure his place in the Chamber match after landing the ‘USO Splash’ on OG Americano to pick up the win.
Jey joins Cody Rhodes, Damian Priest, Je’Von Evans, Trick Williams, and Randy Orton.
Women’s
RAQUEL RODRIGUEZ VS IYO SKY VS KARI SANE
Raqule Rodgiruz secured the final spot in the women’s Elimination Chamber after surviving both Iyo Sky and Kari Sane. Rodriguez had been challenging for the title while in a feud with Vaquer, but things got interesting when it seemed like Liv was prioritizing her title shot over Raquel’s, something that Liv denied by gaslighting her ‘enforcer.’
The program seemed to be heading towards a Raquel-Liv split, but they have gotten away from that narrative in place of Mania promotion. Rodriguez pulled off the win and set the stage for a potential title match at Mania alongside Liv, or it could be the reason they break up.
LIV MAKES HER PICK
Liv Morgan cried last week, but she did not wait until she got to her car—instead, crying on national TV from a wrestling promo delivered in Spanish by the world champion. It was a weird segment that did not have the most obvious payoff.
Liv had been visiting SmackDown in hopes of deciding who to face at Mania following her win at the Royal Rumble. Stephanie made her way down, and so did Jade Cargill. Liv has had beef with both in recent weeks.
With both champions in the ring and Liv in the middle, she sucker punched Vaquer as Jade, who did not speak in the promo at all, simply left the ring. It was a little underwhelming, but it is also very confusing. Liv and Steph have plenty of time to build up the match and attempt to make everyone forget that she cried.
Other Tidbits
- Je’Von Evans picked up a win against Kofi Kingston with Migos’ star Offset in his corner. The rap star got physically involved in the match while watching from ringside, putting his hands on Woods.
- WWE announced Clash in Italy for May 31 in Turin.
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