Laredo, Texas, played host to WWE Monday Night RAW just a week after WrestleMania 42, and even though the NFL draft wrapped up this past weekend, both RAW and SmackDown are continuing to see moves and call-ups in an effort to shake up the red and blue rosters, respectively. Last week ended with Jacob Fatu officially calling his shot for Roman Reign’s spot by challenging him to a match, only for Roman to insist that Fatu take a week to consider the consequences of his demand.
Fatu did an incredible job delivering passion in his promo, telling Roman he wants more than the title; he wants the planes, the houses, and the education afforded to America’s most affluent families. The champ considered everything Fatu had to say, but he was clear that he felt he was not ready—not ready for the match because he is not ready to ‘acknowledge’ Roman as the “Tribal Chief.”
ROMAN REIGNS FACES OFF W/ JACOB FATU
A video vignette was used to begin RAW, featuring the reunited Bloodline with Roman Reigns at the helm. Roman pondered why Fatu would make the challenge, considering everything he has been saying on mainstream airwaves regarding his family.
The USOS took their turns riling up Roman as they claimed that Fatu’s desire for a better life is not the problem, but that it’s Jimmy who insinuated that Roman has to pay the price for it. Meanwhile, Jey took the same tone as when he told Roman to ‘get Punk’ in the lead-up to WM42.
His segment took a different tone altogether as he touched on the debate currently transpiring on social media: Is the world HW title now the ‘main title’ considering Roman holds it? Roman brilliantly served up the truth in a way that only solidified his place centerstage on WWE TV.
“They made this title in spite of me; they made this title to take from my shine,” Roman said. “But it never worked.”
Roman said he put the title in the main event, specifically night 2, before claiming that only now, with him holding the strap, does it hold any clout whatsoever. The claims were as big as they were honest because, truthfully, the heavyweight title never added to Reigns-Punk. Instead, it was Roman and Punk who helped establish a richer lore for the title, relaunched only 3 years ago in 2023.
Fatu’s music hit following Roman’s hot take on the title, but the champ made it seem like he was working on his time. Fatu went in hard with the promo, dismissing the week-long ‘decision’ and its necessity.
“I didn’t need a week, I didn’t need a day, hell, I didn’t even need an hour,” Fatu said.
Roman’s desire to keep the family together would not be realized, and once he was aware of Jacob’s decision, he started to hammer home the reality of how the ‘Samoan Werewolf’ got his WWE start. This played into the narrative on last Friday’s SmackDown, where Solo tried to bring Jacob under his fold in an effort to help him secure the WWE World heavyweight title from Roman.
Jacob gave Solo credit for bringing him into WWE, claiming he picked up the phone when Solo called, even though nobody in The Bloodline had reached out before, and admitted he was struggling financially during their widely successful run.
Roman made it clear to Jacob that he was the one that they asked ‘permission’ from when deciding to bring him in, and then accused Fatu of nepotism (unironically) for even making these claims. That is when Jacob attacked Roman with a single-handed choke. Reigns struck Fatu with the mic, only for him to regain control of the hold.
The segment closed out with Roman, left gasping for air on the mat, picking up the microphone to announce his title defense against Fatu at “Backlash.”
ROLLINS-BREAKKER… CAN THEY KEEP THE HEAT, OR HAS IT BEEN BURNED OUT?
Rollins came out in an all-black suit, minus the mask, through the curtain as the crowd sang his entrance music while the former world HW champion sported a fresh black eye—the repercussions of last week’s scrimmage with Breakker.
Rollins did not waste time calling Breakker to the ring, but Breakker certainly took his time getting to it when you consider the visceral hatred they’ve displayed towards each other. The optics of these two guys simply standing face-to-face in the same ring contradicted the point of the program.
Instead of getting physical, Rollins gave us a recap of their feud as if Breakker was unaware of the sequence of events, before asking what was achieved from turning on the man who ‘gave him everything.’ Breakker claimed that it was he and Bronson Reed keeping Seth in the win column before doing a rather spot-on impression of “Monday Night Rollins.”
Breakker took shots at Rollins’s body and the consistent injuries he’s suffered in response to Seth telling him that he’s ‘not ready.’ Seth hit Breakker with the ‘you’re not even the best Stiener, comment to end the segment. It was not the segment we needed to hype an already fantastic story, but it is also unfair to a program that has to be booked backward based on untimely injuries—oddly enough, injuries are the reason Breakker got the bump in the first place.
NEW JUDGMENT… SAME DRAMA
The Judgment Day vs. Bayley & Lyra Valkyria helped to get over a reestablished version of the faction, and TJD’s Roxanne Perez did secure the victory in tag action tonight alongside Raquel.
However, the pre-match segment suggests some friction between Liv and Roxanne, with the group’s direction as the focal point. After Liv left the backstage area, Finn Balor snuck in to warn Perez not to trust anybody from TJD, especially Liv. Roxanne did not heed Fin’s warnings, but this could be a developing storyline.
OBA FEMI OPEN CHALLENGE
Oba Femi squashed Grayson Waller in singles action tonight. In the post-match promo, Oba announced a weekly ‘open challenge’ based on the lack of title opportunities at this current time. He spoke about the champions all being tied up while the U.S. champion is no longer accepting ‘open challenges,’ but this would be the answer in the wake.
The monster that retired Lesnar (for now) should be squashing guys every week on his way to a title run, but they should have a story arc to them. For example, beating Grayson should lead to Kofi Kingston, but an open challenge run might grow stale if the stakes aren’t rising week to week.
JOE HENDRY CONCERT
The Backstreet Boys and New Kids on the Block started playing reunion shows several years back, and those shows feel fresher than Joe Hendry’s debut segment on RAW. The super over TNA star that once held the non-WWE wrestling market in the palm of his hands has become a bit stale. The gimmick is old, and it has not freshened any aspects of the musical act down to the blue top and white pants.
He sang a song aimed at roasting Logan Paul for the cheap pops, and that prompted the worst part of The Vision to come down to the ring and stomp him out while managing not to destroy the guitar. The Street Profits came down to help make the save, and the whole thing felt directionless.
OTHER TIDBITS
– Penta defeated Rusev in singles action only to suffer a post-match beatdown with the help of Ethan Page. Je’Von Evans ran down to make the save on Penta, and while the crowd enjoyed the segment’s end, it seems like an odd direction to pair up Penta on an IC run while Evans star continues to rise.
– Becky Lynch defeated Iyo Sky in a successful defense of her IC title, but it was not without the help of Auska. WWE ignored the role Kairi Sane (part of last week’s cuts) played within this narrative, but that was to be expected.
– El Grande American vs. El Grande Americano (OG) will take place on May 30th on an AAA show, with the loser being forced to ditch the mask.
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