With WrestleMania 42 a month away, tonight’s stop in San Antonio, Texas, offers up a stacked WWE Monday Night RAW with the extra weight of both Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns scheduled to appear on the episode. After the top of the card shaped out following Elimination Chamber, it was up to both Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton to deliver on the same big match feels that Punk and Roman settled on out the gate.
The remaining four weeks will hopefully give life to the undercard, though the main story tonight will revolve around the passionate promo battle between CM Punk and The USOs—who have been subplots in the heavyweight title program, though they were booked to face Logan and Theory next Monday.
ROMAN REIGNS
Roman arrived in the back of a Beamer midway through the show, and he was greeted by his cousins, The USOs, patting their backs for ‘standing on business’ with Punk’s disrespectful words towards the ‘OTC’s late father. Then, in a powerful piece of promo, Roman grabbed the camera to smash the fourth wall, speaking directly to his family (cousins in WWE and out of it), claiming they should all feel disrespected for the words directed at his father.
Roman ended that segment by demanding that CM Punk be left alone until WM, that ‘until after Mania’ the HW champion belongs to him. The USOs told Roman they needed to speak, and the next time we saw them together was in the locker room later that evening.
Jey and Jimmy said they couldn’t believe Roman didn’t just stomp out Punk the moment Punk said what he did, and then Roman became somber and sentimental, reminiscing on his childhood as the ‘son of a wrestler.’ He spoke about his father not being around, telling Jey and Jimmy they could relate to their own wrestling dad.
The convo revolved around Punk’s accusations towards Roman, calling him a ‘part-timer.’ Roman responded that as long as his family knows him as a full-time father, he is okay, because his children will not know an absent wrestling parent.
PUNK CALLOUT
The ‘main event segment’ began with Roman, who called for Punk to come out almost immediately so they could begin their 3rd installment of their promo battle. Punk came out hot, bothered by weeks of Roman using his ‘government name’ (Phil) over the past few weeks. So, Punk decided to diss Roman with his non-kayfabe name—mocking the tribal version before claiming he ‘would not call him Joe.’
Punk said he would not call Roman ‘Joe’ because it would be disrespectful to a ‘real Samoan’—a nod to former WWE superstar and current AEW wrestler Samoa Joe. Roman responded by asking Punk to ‘call Joe’ to ask him who his ‘Tribal Chief’ was.
The narrative over the past couple of promo battles has been Roman getting the better, and, in fact, the ‘father comment from Punk was an act of desperation.
However, Punk had some extra sauce on his words tonight, and it would have hit harder if Roman did not have the perfect comeback—telling Punk that he is ‘trite’ with his redundant talking points. That is when Roman tried to leave the ring, and once again Punk got in his way, telling Roman he will not leave ‘Punk’s show’ until the champ is done.
It was a good promo battle, though it lost some of the original heat it had the first time. It ended oddly. After all the back-and-forth disrespect, it was Roman calling Punk ‘old’ that made the champ snap—firing off a right hand and dropping the 2026 Royal Rumble winner to the mat.
The show closed with GM Pearce and other WWE officials coming down to the ring to keep the peace, and Roman eventually got to his feet—not allowing RAW to close out with him on his back.
SETH SETS TARGETS… LESNAR GETS OBA FEMI
Seth Rollins kicked off the show without waiting in the shadows to interrupt someone else’s promo, and he did not even wait to unleash his band of masked men. One by one, they surrounded the ring as Rollins grabbed the mic to give a narrative to his return booking. He said that he started The Vision and that he will end the faction—what a missed opportunity to connect his recent use of the hooded attire to the idea that the group without him is ‘visionless.’
He warned that anyone aligned with Heyman now has a target on their back, calling out both Logan Paul and Austin Theory by name. It was necessary to address this because, after all, neither Paul nor Theory were even in the faction when Bron Breakker decided to turn on “The Architect.”
Paul Heyman entered the segment from a distance, cutting his thinly veiled threat from the safety of the stage with an entire aisle between them. Heyman looked rough, wearing the black and blue battle wounds from the attack he suffered at the hands of Seth and a steel chair last Monday.
With his eye black, he said he would not have ‘missed this’ for the world, alluding to some form of retribution. Then, Brock Lesnar’s music hit just after Heyman dropped a hint at the disaster heading towards Seth.
Brock made it all the way to the ring, and Seth did not move as Lesnar battered his way through the many masked men like they were the “Puddy Patrol” being torn apart by a rogue Power Ranger. Lesnar made it to the ring with only Seth left to deal with, and that is when the lights went black.
Oba Femi’s music hit as the monster of a man strutted his way down to the ring with his ‘battle walk’ striking concern in the face of Lesnar in a manner we have never really seen from ‘The Beast.’ It took Oba a minute to get to the ring, and with every step he gained another fan on his side—the crowd was hyped.
Rollins stared from the corner, appreciating the fact that he did not even have to cook up a plan to deal with this, as it seemed like ‘karma’ was all over this one. Oba put Lesnar down in their first physical meeting ever, and it was absolutely shocking to see.
When Lesnar returned to RAW ahead of WM, Paul Heyman fell right back into the role of his advocate—calling for a ‘Brock Lesnar Open Challenge.’ Now, it seems like we have an answer to ‘who will face Brock at Mania,’ and the beefy battle will be a major attraction.
EL GRANDE AMERICANO VS EL GRANDE AMERICANO
The journey for the El Grande Americano character has been a wild one, as it took off in a way few expected, only for the creative team to have no plans for a storyline arc beyond the background of the repackaged Chad Gable. Fast forward through an injured Gable and an arguably even more successful version of the character played by the Spanish-speaking Ludwig Kaiser, and now we finally have a real program just as the two are healthy enough to share screen time.
There has been a slow build towards this showdown, and it started in Triple A when Chad Gable (as OG Americano) handcuffed the Ludwig version of the character to qualify for the Rey de Reyes finale. Ludwig managed to qualify for the fatal four-way this Saturday to decide who will hold the ‘sword’ designated to the tourney winner, and that is where he returned the favor on Gable by handcuffing him in the stands amongst the fans.
WWE saw this program as a big money-maker, so it was surprising to see the promotion put the match on a random episode of RAW (though it plays better in front of a mostly Hispanic crowd in South Texas). While we got a sneak peek this weekend at the AAA show, it doesn’t really count, considering Ludwig is the face in Mexico, while the “OG” has been booked as a face on the main roster.
Tonight, El Grande Americano (Ludwig) defeated ‘OG Americano’ due to the interference of the rest of the Americano faction, namely Rayo Americano.
INTERCONTINENTAL TITLE MATCH: AJ LEE(c) VS BAYLEY
AJ Lee did not waste time putting out an open challenge following her IC title win over former champ Becky Lynch. It was expected that their feud would continue through to Mania, but she dropped an ‘open challenge’ of sorts, and the women’s roster responded in droves.
After winning a number one contender’s gauntlet match, Bayley earned the right to face off against the champ in a match we never got in AJ’s previous run in the company. The match was solid as AJ continues to work her way back from her long layoff.
Bayley took a gamble with the elbow drop, but she missed the mark, and the champ managed to retain via submission. Becky Lynch attacked AJ Lee in the post-match.
PENTA(c) VS DRAGON LEE
Penta cut a fiery promo in a similar fashion to his pre-match/post-match mic time in the past, but it hit different in San Antonio. Penta announced that he would be defending the IC title in AAA’s promotion on this Saturday’s Rey de Reyes finale show, and that is exciting news considering he is still going to fulfill his title obligation on the red brand—double duty champion.
Dragon Lee was an unknown challenger, but it was always a guaranteed banger from the moment he made his way to the ring. The match was fiery, with the fans breaking into a ‘this is awesome’ chant. Penta managed to defend successfully, nailing a ‘Mexican Destroyer’ for the win.
Discover more from Fights Around The World
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
