Tag: Raw

WWE Raw live results: Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar appear

Posted on by Steve Khan

Date: March 16, 2026
Location: Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, TX 

The Big Takeaway —

For the third straight week, Raw concluded with a talking segment to build the CM Punk vs. Roman Reigns match. Feuds are meant to build as they go, but this was the least interesting segment so far. 

On the positive side, Oba Femi laid out Brock Lesnar, and the two men will face off at WrestleMania. 

**********

Show Recap — 

CM Punk and AJ Lee, Maxxine Dupri (with Alpha Academy), Judgment Day, and Stephanie Vaquer were shown at the arena earlier today.

Lucky us, over a dozen masked men swarmed ringside, led by Seth Rollins, who entered the ring. (Even Michael Cole stated, “Not this again.”) Rollins initially wore a mask, but removed it once he entered. 

Rollins said he created the Vision, and he would be the one to kill it. He didn’t care if you were on the shelf like Bron Breakker, or a hanger-on like Austin Theory and Logan Paul—if you stood next to Paul Heyman, you should consider yourself marked for death. (That was a hint for what was coming.) 

Rollins mentioned that he had the satisfaction of wrapping a chair around Heyman and stomping his fat head on the mat. At that point, a very dishevelled Heyman walked on to the stage. 

The San Antonio crowd chanted, “F—k you, Heyman.” Rollins said he made a lot of mistakes in his life, but letting Heyman into his inner circle was the worst one. Rollins would make Heyman pay for his betrayal every day until he was gone from the business. Rollins would cut him out like the cancer he was. 

Heyman said Rollins F’d with him, so he would F with Rollins. He repeated, “F.A.F.O.” until he ended with “F5.” 

Brock Lesnar entered. Five masked men entered the ring to protect the babyface Rollins, while the others guarded ringside. Lesnar suplexed a bunch of them and shrieked at a handful of others who all ran to safety. Lesnar suplexed and F5’d the remaining masked men who greeted him in the ring. After Lesnar disposed of them, he faced off with Rollins. 

However, the lights went out, and Oba Femi entered. Lesnar backed into a corner with his guard up as Rollins gleefully watched on. After Femi entered the ring, Rollins slowly walked up beside Lesnar, but he bailed from the ring when Lesnar turned his attention to him. 

With Rollins out of the ring, Lesnar turned to Femi, but Femi hoisted him up and nailed him with a sit-out powerbomb. The crowd went nuts for this spot, and Cole yelled, “Holy sh-t!” (which was censored). Femi put his boot on Lesnar’s chest and pointed at the sign. 

(Femi came across great here. He was cheered in his entrance, when he laid out Lesnar, and when he pointed at the sign. Veteran viewers would know that Lesnar is more than happy to sell for people when necessary, and he sold big time here for Femi. 

However, everything else with Rollins was so stupid. I don’t know why he’s hiding in the shadows if he isn’t fired or suspended. He could just come out to his music like a normal person. He also hid behind all the masked men and bailed from the ring when confronted by Lesnar. Maybe we’ll find out Femi’s involvement here was all part of Rollins’ master plan, but he still comes across like a coward.) 

********

There was a replay of El Grande Americano (Ludwig Kaiser) winning the Rey del Reyes fatal four-way match, thanks in part to interference by Rayo and Bravo, who handcuffed Original Americano (Chad Gable) to a railing in the crowd. Kaiser was wildly cheered when he won. They would not get that kind of reaction tonight.

El Grande Americano (w/ Bravo & Rayo Americano) vs. Original El Grande Americano

Cole said this was their first singles match, which isn’t true when you consider their actual identities. 

This followed the usual pattern. After a break, Gable had the match won, but Bravo and Rayo distracted the referee. As Gable dealt with Rayo outside the ring, Bravo placed a metal plate in Kaiser’s mask while the ref was distracted. Gable hit a diving headbutt, but he hit Kaiser’s loaded mask and was knocked out, so Kaiser rolled into a cover for the win. 

They used a close-up angle when Gable executed the headbutt, and it showed that he completely missed, so the finish stunk. This whole thing stinks. 

Match result: El Grande Americano (Ludwig Kaiser) defeated Original El Grande Americano (Chad Gable) (9:55) 

********

Today is 3:16 Day, so Cole announced that WrestleMania tickets are 31.6% off today. 

Roman Reigns arrived, and he was approached by Jimmy and Jey Uso. Reigns was happy about how they handled Punk last week. Reigns looked into the camera and told his whole family that they all should be offended by what Punk said about his father. He invited the family and cousins to deal with Punk before and after Mania, but on that weekend, Punk belonged to him.

******** 

Danhausen handed out t-shirts during a break. Cole announced a sold-out crowd of 15,236. 

Liv Morgan promo 

There was a video package of Judgment Day turning on Finn Bálor. They censored the word “prick” again. 

Liv Morgan cut a pre-taped promo on Bálor. She said this was her plan since she joined Judgment Day. Bálor was never in charge. He was on borrowed time and just didn’t know it. Morgan knew when Bálor was lying and scheming, and it was a pleasure watching him fall from grace. 

Bálor couldn’t hang with them anymore because he got soft. He was a pathetic, washed-up loser. They took a page right out of his playbook when they laid him out. JD McDonagh was finally free from Bálor holding him back. Daddy Dom was still AAA Mega Champion and would regain his Intercontinental Championship. 

Raquel Rodriguez was a future champion, and at WrestleMania, Morgan would be the new Women’s World Champion. Morgan didn’t hide behind her family’s back like Vaquer claimed—they had her back. Without Finn, they were better than ever. 

******** 

The Usos were with Reigns in the locker room. Jey was surprised that Reigns didn’t drop Punk after he said what he said. Jimmy brought up Punk’s comment about Reigns being a part-timer. 

Reigns said that none of them saw their fathers much when they were kids. But with his kids, it would be different. The whole world could call him a part-timer if they wanted, he didn’t care. As long as his wife and kids knew he was a full-time father. That was his legacy. That was the biggest flex any superstar could ever say. 

Jimmy was happy to hear this, but Jey still wanted an apology from Punk. Reigns said he didn’t need an apology, but thought the Usos did, so he said he would go get them one. Reigns said, “I mean, what’s the worst that can happen, CM Punk beat me up?” They all laughed at this, and Reigns left. 

********

Women’s Intercontinental Championship: AJ Lee (c) vs. Bayley 

After a break, Lee hit a bulldog counter and a standing sliced bread, but Bayley responded with a single leg crab and knee strike. Bayley yanked Lee off the top rope and hit a Bayley-to-belly for a nearfall. They traded strikes until Lee hit a shining wizard. Bayley countered a Black Widow with a side slam and went for a flying elbow drop, but Lee moved out of the way. Lee applied the Black Widow, and Bayley tapped out. 

— Bayley hugged Lee during commercials. 

Match result: AJ Lee defeated Bayley to retain the Women’s Intercontinental Championship (10:40) 

This was ok. It was laid out well enough, and the crowd got into Lee prevailing in the end.

******* 

In the back, McDonagh yelled at Adam Pearce for giving away Dom’s IC title match. Pearce said he didn’t give it away—Dom wasn’t cleared. As they argued, Penta appeared, and the production team suddenly cut the background crowd noise. Penta did his pose in McDonagh’s face and thanked Pearce. Penta walked away, and they turned the crowd noise back on. That was weird. 

Becky Lynch attacks AJ Lee 

AJ Lee continued to celebrate during commercials. As they returned from break, Becky Lynch attacked her from behind. Lynch tossed her into the barricades and booted her repeatedly. The highlight of this was a young fan trying to reason with Lynch, and Lynch screaming at her in response. The little girl held her hand up as if to tell Lynch to calm down. As officials checked on Lee, Lynch decked her with the IC title belt. 

******** 

Penta entered to a good response. He wanted to be a fighting champion and told Pearce to pick anyone, because he would always be ready. Penta continued in Spanish, and fans chanted his name. He advised his opponent to be ready. 

Intercontinental Championship: Penta (c) vs. Dragon Lee

They started with a handshake. They went back-and-forth early on until Dragon Lee hit a flip dive, but Penta came right back with one of his own. After a break, they traded chops and strikes until Penta planted Dragon with a superkick. Dragon hit a superkick of his own and a Styles Clash for a two count. Penta followed with a Penta Driver for two. 

With Dragon on the apron, Penta tried a leaping spearingboard move, but Dragon caught him with a mid-air superkick. With Penta seated on the announce table, Dragon hit an awesome-looking suicide flip dive, knocking them both over the table. Dragon followed with Operation Dragon in the ring for a nearfall. 

Dragon went for a hidden blade, but Penta ducked and hit a crazy Canadian Destroyer for the pinfall win. (They went so fast on the Destroyer, Dragon popped to his feet, bounced off the ropes and collapsed.) 

Match result: Penta defeated Dragon Lee to retain the Intercontinental Championship (12:40) 

This was fun, and the last few minutes were particularly great. 

********

Theory and Paul approached Heyman backstage. Theory said Lesnar would take care of Femi, while they would take care of Rollins. Heyman said that was the worst thing they could do. Rollins’ game plan was divide and conquer. It was the art of distraction. 

Heyman said Rollins hit him with a chair and curb-stomped him, but Rollins received no punishment because the Vision had no more power. They needed titles (championships). He said they needed to win the tag titles from The Usos, and then he could position them to get singles titles. Their focus should be The Usos. 

Theory and Paul were on board with this. Paul also planned on getting LA Knight. 

******** 

Maxxine Dupri vs. Nattie

Dupri hit a fireman’s suplex and showed aggression by dropping her straps and hitting an elevated leg drop. Nattie kicked out, and Dupri acted shocked that a leg drop would only yield a two count. Nattie came back with a discus clothesline and a Sharpshooter for the submission win. 

Match result: Nattie defeated Maxxine Dupri (4:17) 

This was nothing, and the fans did not care. 

********

Randy Orton interview 

They advertised throughout the night that Cole would interview Randy Orton. They cut to the announcers, and Cole introduced Orton, who appeared on the screen via a very grainy, low-quality video. 

Orton was on the phone with someone, so Cole and the audience had to wait. Orton told this mystery person he was happy to see them a couple of weeks ago, and agreed with them that it was about time for him to do what he did (turn heel). He told the person he appreciated what they were doing, but told them he had to get to the interview. 

Orton told Cole that he had changed his mind. He wasn’t doing an interview tonight. Orton said he had a conversation with someone who had a brain. They said something profound to him. Something that made him think about his life. Something that made him think about who he was and what he was. They made him understand why he did what he did to Cody Rhodes. 

Orton told Cole, “I’m a killer,” and “wrestling has more than one royal family.” The feed cut. 

Orton will be on Friday’s SmackDown. 

******** 

Je’Von Evan approached Dragon Lee backstage. Evans was excited about Dragon’s performance earlier, but they were interrupted by Kofi Kingston. Kingston was less friendly than he was last week. He said there were people on this roster who could lift Evans up, while others were “Dragon” (dragging) him down. Evans gave Kingston an answer: “No.” Evans left. 

Grayson Waller told Kingston he didn’t know what he saw in Evans. Kingston heard people say that about Waller. 

Kingston and Waller were accosted by Danhausen, who proposed the idea of him replacing Xavier Woods. Danhausen mentioned Booty O’s, and they reminded him that Booty O’s were from ten years ago. They declined. 

Danhausen didn’t appreciate being turned down, so he put his curse. He was about to point at Kingston, but Kingston quickly dodged behind Waller, so Waller wound up cursed. Danhausen vanished. 

(Evans, by the way, has not wrestled since Elimination Chamber last month. That’s if you exclude one Main Event match against Dragon Lee. Incidentally, they hinted at Evans and Lee becoming a team.)

********

Non-title match: Women’s World Champion Stephanie Vaquer vs. Raquel Rodriguez (w/ Liv Morgan) 

Vaquer went on offence, but distracted herself by peering at Morgan, who was just standing there. That allowed Rodriguez to grab her and lawn-dart her into the ring post. Vaquer fought back after a break and hit Devil’s Kiss. 

Morgan leaped onto the apron, so Iyo Sky ran out to her music to chase away Morgan. Sky’s help went for naught as Rodriguez tackled her over the announce table. (That was all for Sky tonight.) Vaquer dove off the apron to wipe out Rodriguez before chucking Morgan into the timekeeper’s area. 

Back in the ring, Rodriguez went for a Tejana Bomb, but Vaquer countered into a cradle for the pinfall win. 

Match result: Stephanie Vaquer defeated Raquel Rodriguez (10:10)

I would have liked to see a more decisive win from Vaquer here. Rodriguez has improved a lot, and they clearly want to protect her, but that wasn’t necessary here against the world champion. 

********

Bayley loudly complained to Lyra Valkyria backstage, so Valkyria loudly told her to stop yelling at her. Valkyria said she wanted to see Bayley get to WrestleMania more than anything, and that they would do it together. They were approached by Asuka and Kairi Sane. Asuka blamed them for costing her a shot at the IC title, and she would never forget. She left. 

(Theory checked on Dupri in the background of this segment.) 

********

Official for WrestleMania: Oba Femi vs. Brock Lesnar. 

Next week on Raw in Boston: 

  • Brock Lesnar appears 
  • The Usos vs. Austin Theory & Logan Paul 

(I don’t think they said if next week’s match would be for the tag titles or not.) 

********

LA Knight approached Jimmy and Jey backstage. Knight asked about them getting cozy with Roman Reigns again. Jimmy said it was family business. Jey told him to mind his business. 

Knight said no. He could appreciate family business, but he could not appreciate the Bloodline coming back. The three of them were on the same page regarding the Vision, but he could not be on the same page if that meant the return of the Bloodline. Knight bumped fists with Jimmy, but Jey did not return the favour. 

******** 

Roman Reigns and CM Punk main event segment

Reigns told San Antonio to acknowledge him. They did. They chanted “OTC,” and Reigns said “they” could hear that backstage. They (Punk) knew whose show this was. Reigns was in the beginning, the middle, and the end. Reigns said the fans should forgive Phil for getting confused and thinking this was his show. 

Reigns invited Phil to the ring. Punk entered. Reigns greeted him by saying, “Welcome to my ring. Welcome to my main event.” 

Punk said Reigns kept using his government name like it was meant to be an insult. His friends and family were allowed to Phil. Maybe Punk would call Reigns ‘Titty Tiaki’ or whatever his real name was, but Punk didn’t obsess over him or read his Wikipedia page. Punk certainly wouldn’t call him “Joe” because that would be insulting to a real Samoan, whom he loved very much. Reigns suggested he call Joe, who would remind him who his Tribal Chief was. 

Punk heard Reigns earlier say he was sending all the Samoans after him. Reigns said he was only telling them to do what they gotta do. Punk said the only thing they would do is high-five him. Just like everyone in San Antonio was. Punk said it felt great to be alive on a Monday Night in San Antonio, and the fans chanted his name, but they followed soon after by signing Reigns’ name. 

Punk was surprised that Reigns hadn’t taken a swing at him yet. Reigns said he wasn’t surprised to hear that, because he was on everyone’s mind all the time. They were in the main event, but the truth was, Punk on his own hasn’t main evented anything all year, not even the European tour. 

Punk said he called for Reigns last week, but he was too chickenshit to show up, so he sent his cousins instead. Punk was a habitual line stepper, which is why the fans loved him, and Reigns didn’t. Jimmy and Jey handled their business last week. Punk admitted he deserved it. It was the right message, but the wrong messenger. Punk wondered who the real Tribal Chief was. 

Reigns wasn’t impressed and asked the fans if this (Punk’s promo) was really what they cheer for. Reigns has heard these Tribal Chief accusations for five years. Reigns called Punk trite and redundant. He mentioned Punk calling him a part-timer, but Reigns advised him to talk to the real top players about that, including his wife. Reigns told him to stop wasting his time until he came up with something that actually fazed him. 

Reigns went to leave the ring, but Punk blocked him. Reigns tried to go around him, so Punk left the ring to cut him off. Punk said it was his show, and it wasn’t time to go yet. Punk said WrestleMania would be Reigns’ last main event. Punk would hoist him up over his beautiful head of hair, bring him crashing back down to earth, drop him on his knee and split his ego in two on the grandest stage of them all. 

Reigns called him delusional. Punk was great on the mic and at the mental games, but he couldn’t faze him. Reigns was the most successful superstar Punk has ever faced. When the talking was done, Punk couldn’t do the walking. Punk wasn’t stronger than him or faster than him. The title around Punk’s waist was an embarrassment. Punk was a try-hard who made the rest of them look terrible, “because at the end of the day, you’re old.” 

That was enough to set off Punk, who dropped Reigns with a right hand. Officials ran down to settle down Punk, as Reigns looked up and laughed at him. They got Punk out of the ring as the show ended. 

(As mentioned above, this wasn’t terribly interesting. Not all of these segments need to be home runs, but they kind of do when they insist on main-eventing the show with it. Reigns went on about Punk being trite and redundant, but Reigns himself repeatedly said the same stuff about being the real reason they were in the main event, and used the trite “your wife” remark.) 

********** 

[The show was dedicated to the memory of Davey Coates.] 

Steve Austin gives update on his WWE Raw status for 3/16

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Fans tuning into WWE Raw tonight probably shouldn’t expect an appearance by “Stone Cold” Steve Austin.

With today being 3:16 Day (March 16) and Raw taking place from Austin’s original home state of Texas, there has been speculation about Austin potentially being on the show. WrestleVotes reported that WWE was hopeful Austin would appear, but it doesn’t sound like that will be the case. Austin told The Takedown on SI that he’ll be “hunkered down” preparing for an upcoming race.

“Man, they should tune in because they love WWE and Monday Night Raw,” Austin responded when asked if there’s a special reason people should tune in tonight. “I’ll be a few days out from that race, the race I’m talking about with my racing career, and we’re trying to get that car ready and we’re working our asses off. So, yeah, I’ll be hunkered down in a garage out here in BFE, Nevada trying to get this buggy ready — side-by-side utility vehicle — to race this grueling 250 mile race with everybody else that I race with. So I want to get out there and put my own show on in the desert.”

Off-road racing is one of Austin’s passions, and he’s started his own racing team based out of Nevada. He lives in the state and will be in Las Vegas for WrestleMania 42 weekend. It’s been confirmed that Austin will be signing autographs and meeting fans at the WWE World convention. Austin told The Takedown on SI that he always appreciates the people who come to see him at appearances like that.

Past the WWE World appearance, it’s not been confirmed if Austin will be playing a role at WrestleMania this year. He made a brief cameo at WrestleMania 41 in Vegas in 2025 and announced the night two attendance.

Frost Bank Center in San Antonio is hosting Raw tonight. The show will include appearances by Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar, a Women’s Intercontinental Championship match between AJ Lee and Bayley, and more.

Report: WWE’s reaction to Danhausen’s debut

Posted on by Vincent Verhei

Danhausen’s debut in WWE could not have gone much worse. But his success and attitude since then have reportedly impressed his new peers and colleagues. 

A report by Fightful Select says the reaction to Danhausen backstage has been positive. “Those who Fightful Select spoke to in WWE were happy with the quick turnaround of Danhausen,” the report reads. “Most in the company knew that the debut was a flop, but said that the situation didn’t rattle him, and he responded well.”

Danhausen made his first appearance for WWE at Elimination Chamber on February 28, popping out of a mystery crate that had been allegedly shipped back and forth between Raw and SmackDown for weeks. Accompanied by a squad of dancers wearing his facepaint, Danhausen paraded down to and into the ring, where the performance was capped with one small poof of pyro. 

It appeared few in the United Center crowd knew he was, and he was mostly met with confused boos. 

Danhausen later discussed his debut in an appearance on Raw Recap. 

“Oh, it was thunderous applause,” he said. “It was great. I came out and they yelled, ‘Yes! Finally, Danhausen has arrived,’ and I could hear each and every one of them hop off their seats and get up and applaud, and say, ‘Up yours, Dracula. Danhausen did it first,’ because Danhausen shipped himself in a crate across the seas first but it was to WWE. It was not the Last Voyage of the Demeter or whatever it’s called.”

Since then, Danhausen has appeared in backstage segments on both Raw and SmackDown. He put curses on both Dominick Mysterio (who went on to lose the Intercontinental Championship) and El Grande Americano (who was not able to compete in his scheduled match later that night). 

JD McDonagh explains WWE Raw betrayal of Finn Balor

Posted on by Joseph Currier

JD McDonagh has offered an explanation for why he betrayed Finn Balor on WWE Raw.

On the road to WrestleMania, a big angle played out on Monday night with Judgment Day attacking Balor and kicking him out of the group. It initially appeared like McDonagh was trying to cool the situation between Balor and Dominik Mysterio. But when Balor charged at Mysterio, McDonagh dropped him with a clotheline.

McDonagh sent out an in-character tweet last night blaming Balor’s ego for why tensions had been brewing within Judgment Day. He chose to side with his “family” in Judgment Day over his friend Balor.

“You lied to all of us for months. You got an ego. You wanted to be the leader. You played games,” McDonagh wrote. “That’s never been what the Judgment Day has been about. You used to know that.

“Judgment Day is my family and if anybody dares to try to step on any of them, you get stomped out.”

With both being from Ireland, Balor has legitimately been a long-time mentor to McDonagh. They worked together on-screen with two World Tag Team title reigns during their time in Judgment Day.

Last night’s angle ended with Mysterio, McDonagh, Liv Morgan, and Raquel Rodriguez standing tall after Balor was laid out with a steel chair. It would appear to be setting up Balor vs. Mysterio in some form at WrestleMania 42, though plans for the match have not been officially announced.

Women’s IC title match, Americano vs. Americano set for next WWE Raw

Posted on by Bryan Rose

The Women’s Intercontinental title will be on the line next week.

Bayley won the gauntlet match on Raw, earning the championship match against AJ Lee next week when Raw heads to San Antonio. The finish of the match saw Asuka trap Bayley with the Asuka lock, but Bayley managed to escape and countered with the rose plant. Other competitors in the match included Ivy Nile, Raquel Rodriguez, Lyra Valykria, and IYO SKY.

On last week’s Raw, Lee celebrated her title win that took place at Elimination Chamber but also took time to throw out the challenge for anyone in the locker room to face her, saying that the next time she steps in the ring it will be to defend the title. Multiple talent backstage expressed interest in challenging AJ, setting up the gauntlet match.

The two Americanos will meet next week when the Original El Grande Americano (Chad Gable) will meet the second El Grande Americano (Ludwig Kaiser). On this week’s show, the first Americano was set to challenge Penta for the IC title but ran into Danhausen. Much like his meeting with Dominik Mysterio, Danhausen didn’t take being rejected by Americano well and put a curse on him as the second Americano’s henchmen were nearby. When it came time for the title match, the second Americano emerged to take the original’s spot. Despite the ploy, it was all for nothing as Penta successfully defended the title.

Here is the updated lineup for next week’s Raw:

WWE Raw (March 16):

  • Roman Reigns will appear
  • Brock Lesnar will appear
  • Women’s Intercontinental title: AJ Lee defends against Bayley

WWE Raw live results: Intercontinental title defense, Oba Femi vs. Rusev

Posted on by Steve Khan

Date: March 9, 2026
Location: Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, WA 

The Big Takeaway —

Raw concluded with another heated exchange, this time between CM Punk and The Usos. 

Also, Judgment Day turned on Finn Bálor and laid him out. Notably, JD McDonagh aligned himself with Dom and the rest of Judgment Day.

**********

Show Recap — 

Penta (wearing no makeup under his mask), Asuka and Kairi Sane (with Iyo Sky looking on from the hallway), Oba Femi, Rusev, and CM Punk were shown arriving at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle.

There was a long recap video of Seth Rollins attacking Paul Heyman last week. 

Adam Pearce was in the ring to start the show. Pearce said he had some unfortunate business to attend to, and he called out Seth Rollins. He figured Rollins was in the building because he knew The Vision was. 

At least a dozen masked men appeared ringside (and the crowd chanted, “Holy shit” for some reason). They scampered around the ring to cause confusion and, as Michael Cole stated, played some sort of shell game. This was pointless. They all left the ring to leave one man standing—Seth Rollins, of course. Rollins works there, so I’m not sure why he went through all this trouble. Even Pearce questioned why he did this. 

Pearce also questioned Rollins’ recent attacks on the Vision, wondering what would happen once Rollins’ plan didn’t work. Pearce reiterated that Rollins was not cleared, and if the Vision got their hands on him, it would be the end of Seth Rollins. 

Logan Paul and Austin Theory, the remaining members of the Vision, interrupted. They wanted to be the ones responsible for Rollins’ end. They hit the apron, but the many masked men entered the ring to guard Rollins. Rollins put his mask back on as the others played their distraction game again, allowing Rollins to escape. (This looked so silly.) 

With Rollins gone, LA Knight marched out to attack Theory and Paul. He was overwhelmed, so The Usos ran out to help him out and clear the ring. The three babyfaces posed together as the heels left.

(This was a nonsense segment. I understand Rollins being elusive to escape The Vision at full strength, but they’re down to their two least intimidating members.) 

Cole announced there was no timetable for Heyman’s return. 

Jackie Redmon caught up to the Usos, who seemed like they were about to leave the arena already. They said they had receipts for the Vision. Jey was red-hot, but Jimmy was more even-keeled. Redmond asked about CM Punk’s comments to Roman Reigns. Jey didn’t want to comment, and he was ready to go, but Jimmy did have something he wanted to say. They made their way back in the direction they came from. 

********

Women’s Intercontinental Championship #1 Contender’s Gauntlet Match 

– Lyra Valkyria vs. IYO SKY 

Valkyria dropped Sky off the top rope to take control ahead of a break. Sky hit a flapjack as they returned and continued with strikes, a butterfly backbreaker, and a corner meteora. Valkyria came back with an enziguri, a tornado DDT, and a high-angle fisherman’s suplex for two. Sky countered a Nightwing with a double foot stomp, buzzsaw kick to the head, and a moonsault for the pinfall win. 

Match result: IYO SKY eliminated Lyra Valkyria (9:21) 

– IYO SKY vs. Raquel Rodriguez

Rodriguez had control from the onset and hit a shoulder tackle, which saw Sky take a great-looking bump. As in the previous match, Sky was worked over throughout the entirety of a commercial break. When they returned, Sky hit a hurricanrana off the top and followed with a missile dropkick. 

Sky woke up the crowd by doing her pose. She hit the meteora and went for a moonsault, but Liv Morgan appeared at ringside to distract her, and Rodriguez knocked her off the top. 

Stephanie Vaquer ran out to attack Morgan all the way to the back. Sky flew off the top and captured Rodriguez in a small package for the pinfall win. 

— Rodriguez was pissed, so she booted Sky out of the ring, lawn-darted her into the ring post, and hit a Tejana Bomb onto the edge of the ring. 

Match result: IYO SKY eliminated Raquel Rodriguez (6:18) 

– Ivy Nile vs. IYO SKY

Ivy Nile sprinted out and immediately covered Sky for the surprise elimination. 

The crowd liked Sky, so the Rodriguez post-match beat-down and this elimination got a lot of heat. 

Match result: Ivy Nile eliminated IYO SKY (0:05)

– Ivy Nile vs. Bayley

Bayley made the mistake of checking on Sky as she entered, so Nile attacked her from behind and held control throughout an early commercial break. Bayley fought back when they returned with suplexes and a diving elbow drop for two. Nile responded with a German suplex for two. With Nile seated on the middle turnbuckle, Bayley ran up from behind and hit her own German suplex for two. 

Nile followed with an impressive delayed vertical suplex (which got a round of applause) for two. Nile then hit a superplex and a spinning Uranage, but Bayley fell out of the ring. Nile went after her, so Bayley drove her into the ring steps. 

Bayley hit an elbow drop on the apron and followed with Bayley-to-belly for the pinfall elimination. 

Match result: Bayley eliminated Ivy Nile (9:10) 

– Bayley vs. Asuka (w/ Kairi Sane)

This was the final match in the gauntlet. 

As Asuka entered with Sane, Bayley immediately nailed her with a suicide dive. (There was a great slow-motion replay of this. Sane was posing for the camera as her friend got wiped out behind her.) Despite the dive, they had to follow their usual pattern. Sane distracted Bayley, and Asuka kicked her in the head to take control ahead of an early break. 

Asuka had control through the break, but when they returned, Bayley hit a sunset flip powerbomb into the bottom turnbuckle for two. Asuka applied an ankle lock, but as Bayley got close to the rope, Asuka dropped into a cradle for two. Bayley applied an ankle lock/leg lock of her own, but Asuka got a rope break. Asuka hit an elevated knee, but Bayley fought back with a running knee strike for two. Asuka hit a series of strikes, which led to a two count. They traded counters until Bayley hit a Bayley-to-belly for a nearfall. 

Asuka distracted the referee so that Sane could attack Bayley outside the ring, but Valkyria flew in and dropkicked Sane into the side of the ring. Bayley tried a diving elbow, but Asuka countered into an Asuka Lock. Bayley countered into a cover, but Asuka’s shoulders were up, so Bayley picked her up and hit Rose Plant for the pinfall win. 

Bayley is now the number one contender for AJ Lee’s IC title. Bayley posed with Valkyria in the ring, while Asuka confronted Sane outside of it. 

Match result: Bayley eliminated Asuka to win the gauntlet match (8:48)

******** 

There was a video package of Punk’s encounter with Reigns last week. 

Nattie cut a promo on the stage on Maxxine Dupri during a break until she was attacked from behind by Dupri. Officials pulled Dupri away, so Nattie popped up and decked her. 

Danhausen approached Original Grande Americano (Chad Gable) backstage. Danhausen was cheered. He tried to take Americano’s mask to try it on, but Americano told him never to touch a luchador’s mask. Americano wanted him to leave so he could focus on his upcoming IC title match. Danhausen didn’t appreciate being shooed away, so he cursed Gable (and the crowd sang along). Gable was unconcerned with being cursed. 

******** 

Penta entered with his new IC title belt, and he cut a strong promo. He thanked his family, his friends, the company, and the fans. He thanked anyone who believed in him. He also thanked himself because he believed he could achieve the IC title. The title was not just for him; it was for everyone who did not give up. He represented all of them. He was their new IC champion, ready to make history. He fired up and cut the rest of his promo in Spanish, and the fans were into him. 

El Grande Americano (Ludwig Kaiser) entered, but of course, he is not Penta’s opponent. Penta was hot over this, but he invited El Grande into the ring anyway. 

Cole wasn’t sure what was going on because Penta was supposed to face Gable Americano, but Corey Graves said this could be because of Danhausen’s curse. 

Intercontinental Championship: Penta (c) vs. El Grande Americano (Ludwig Kaiser)

This started during a break, and they went to another break minutes later. So the first 9 minutes or so included about 5 minutes of commercials. 

I mentioned last week that Dominik Mysterio tied Penta’s mask to the bottom rope, a spot they always seem to do exclusively during commercial breaks. Well, sure enough, Americano did the spot during a break again. 

Penta fought back after the break, hitting a flip dive and flying crossbody for two. Americano responded with a spinebuster for two. Penta hit a superkick, but Americano countered a Destroyer attempt into a Finlay roll for two. 

Americano came off the middle rope, but Penta caught him with a Codebreaker and followed with a Canadian Destroyer for the decisive pinfall win. 

Match result: Penta defeated El Grande Americano to retain the Intercontinental Championship (12:10)

******** 

Stephanie Vaquer cut a pre-taped promo on Liv Morgan (which included subtitles, as she went back and forth between English and Spanish). Vaquer said she knew how good Morgan was and how hard she had trained since being signed at 20. But she hated Morgan’s stupid laugh and that she was too ignorant to use her skills. Morgan hid behind a trashy man and sent her friends to do her dirty work. Morgan claimed Vaquer came from “mud huts,” but she was proud of where she came from. 

Vaquer was forged from her experiences. They took different roads to get there, but both had the skill to be there. The difference was that Morgan became lazy. Morgan saw herself as a cheap blonde and always took the easy way to win championships. She would need to bring every trick to WrestleMania because Vaquer would bring blood, sweat, and her experience. Vaquer would continue to make history as world champion. 

They cut to Morgan backstage, pissed at Vaquer for saying she hid behind her friends. She was with JD McDonagh and Rodriguez, and she told Rodriguez she would help her get back in the title picture. Dom stormed in and asked if they’d seen Finn Bálor. They said no, but McDonagh went to look for him. 

******** 

Danhausen entered during a break. He was universally cheered. (Doing this during a break was likely a test to see how the fans  would react.) Danhausen handed out t-shirts and did his catchphrase. (The t-shirts were probably also a backup plan in case he got booed. I think they’re in the clear now.) 

******** 

José Valenzuela was in the front row, as were Mike Morris and Ernest Jones of the Super Bowl Champion Seattle Seahawks. 

Dominik Mysterio and Finn Bálor segment

Dom entered with Morgan and Rodriguez. He was upset about losing the IC title. He wanted a rematch and thought he should still be champion, but he wasn’t because of Finn Bálor. Dom didn’t want to do this in public, but Bálor was making him. 

Bálor entered with McDonagh. Dom asked where the hell he’s been. Dom hoped Bálor was there to tell him that he got him an IC title rematch. 

Bálor said Dom was right. If it weren’t for him, Dom would still be IC champion. For that, Bálor was sorry. Bálor was just trying to help and teach him a lesson. Judgment Day was a family, and they’d always have Dom’s back. 

Bálor knew Dom wanted to be the greatest Mysterio of all-time, but he had to learn to fight his own battles. Bálor has been trying to guide him for two years, but the more he did that, the more he realized Dom’s dad was right. “Maybe you are just a spoiled little prick.” (I think he said “prick” anyway. They censored it. Since when is “prick” a swear?)  

Dom shoved Bálor, so Bálor dropped him with a Pelé Kick. Bálor was about to pummel Dom, but McDonagh pulled him off to calm him down. Dom tried to sneak attack, so Bálor hit him with a slingblade. 

Bálor set up for a running dropkick, but McDonagh levelled him with a clothesline. (This was meant to be a shocking moment with JD turning on his long-time friend, and the crowd reacted as such, but Cole sure didn’t.) 

The entire Judgment Day (Dom, Morgan, Rodriguez and JD) put the boots to Bálor before Dom grabbed the bell hammer. Bálor tried to fight back, but Dom clocked him with the hammer. 

McDonagh held Bálor down against the rope allowing Dom to hit a 619, as the crowd told Dom that he sucked. Dom hit a frog splash. McDonagh placed a steel chair on Bálor, and Dom hit another frog splash.

(This was a good, simple angle. Bálor is finally a babyface and finally out of Judgment Day.) 

********

Backstage, Pearce put over Je’Von Evans’ performance in the Elimination Chamber and saw big things for him in 2026. Evans said he wouldn’t let him down. Pearce told him to enjoy the week, and Evans was pleasantly surprised to hear he had the whole week off. 

Evans was approached by Kofi Kingston and Grayson Waller. Waller tried confronting him, but Kingston told Waller to leave. 

Kingston told Evans that they got off on the wrong foot. Xavier Woods got injured, and Offset was out of line. Kinston got offended and took it out on Evans. But the truth was, Evans reminded him of himself. 

Kingston became WWE Champion and thought Evans could do the same. Evans just needed the right team behind him. Evans was about to turn him down, but Kingston told him to think about it. Kingston offered a handshake. Evans didn’t shake his hand, but did say he’d think about it. 

********

Redmond interviewed Bayley about her IC title match next week. Bayley thanked Valkyria for having her back earlier. She called AJ Lee a legend, and if it wasn’t for her, a lot of them wouldn’t be there now. The IC title was one she’s wanted to win since it was created. Bayley also offered Valkyria a shot if she won. 

Oba Femi vs. Rusev 

Femi was in control until Rusev kicked him off the apron, drove him into the ring post, and hit a spinning heel kick that sent Femi into the announce table. Rusev hit a Machka kick in the ring, but Femi exploded out of the corner with an uppercut. Femi followed with a biel and Fall from Grace for the pinfall win. 

This was all this needed to be. 

Match result: Oba Femi defeated Rusev (3:07) 

******** 

Next week on Raw in San Antonio: 

  • Brock Lesnar appears (presumably without Paul Heyman) 
  • AJ Lee (c) vs. Bayley for the Women’s Intercontinental Championship 
  • Original El Grande Americano vs. El Grande Americano 
  • Roman Reigns appears 

********

Main event segment with CM Punk and The Usos  

Punk entered to a big reaction. He signed autographs and shook hands with fans during a break. He gave a shout-out to the Seahawks. 

Punk admitted he wasn’t sure how the fans would react to him. He thought some of them would be mad at him. Some people were upset about things he said last week. One thing in particular was categorized as disrespectful. 

He knew Roman Reigns never respected him. But Punk would force him to respect the position he held. Championships were made to find out who the best were. The best go on to defend their championships. This title, in particular, was created because Reigns shunned his championship responsibilities and refused to defend his title. 

Punk defended his title because he was proud of it, and the fans deserved a fighting champion. When Punk defended the title, he levelled up the competition. If you faced him, you had to level up physically and verbally. Otherwise, he would leave you dumbfounded and slack-jawed like Reigns was last week. Unfortunately, Punk lowered himself to Reigns’ level, and it’s been on his mind all week. 

The Usos entered. Jey was red hot and told Punk to apologize right now. Punk asked why Reigns was still sending his cousins to do his heavy-lifting. Jey said they came out there on their own and told him again to apologize. 

Jimmy said this had nothing to do with Reigns and everything to do with respect. Jimmy told “Phil” that he respected him because he spoke from his mind and ran right through his obstacles. Jimmy said Punk called himself the voice of the voiceless, and he could talk trash about Reigns all he wanted, but he disrespected their late uncle, who had no voice. Jimmy told Punk to apologize. 

Punk said Jimmy was right. Sika didn’t have a voice. Punk wasn’t spiritual, but he knew the Usos were. He asked if they believed Sika could hear them now. Jimmy said yes. Punk hoped he could hear this. 

Punk said he was friends with the Usos, and he went back a long way with their family. He respected Sika, but didn’t know him as well as he knew Afa. When he lived in Philadelphia, he would drive to Allentown, Pennsylvania, to wrestle. He wouldn’t say he wrestled for free. Afa was generous enough to give him gas money, food or a roof over his head if needed. But Punk was really paid in knowledge, sitting under the Wild Samoan’s learning tree. It was a thrill to sit in the back of a pick-up truck with Samu and have him drop knowledge. 

Everyone in their family showed him respect—except for that one son of a bitch. If the Usos believed that Sika could hear and see this, then Sika could also see what a lying, conniving, backstabbing, manipulative, gaslighting, egotistical, narcissistic, plastic, politician his son Roman is. 

Jey got in Punk’s face and reminded him that this wasn’t about Reigns. He told Punk to apologize. (Some fans chanted, “Say ‘you’re sorry.’”)

Punk shook each of their hands and said, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry Roman Reigns treated the two of you and the rest of his family in the Bloodline like garbage for years and never once came out here publicly to apologize for the way he treated his ‘family’ that he loves.” 

Punk was sorry that Reigns disrespected one of his mentors, Dusty Rhodes, when he called him irrelevant and was somehow not on the hook for apologizing, but Punk somehow was. He was sorry that Reigns had tricked everyone into thinking that he gave a single damn about any of them or any of this. Because if Reigns did care about them or the people or him or the business, Punk would be talking to him right now instead of his young boys. 

Punk shoved the mic into Jey’s chest, so Jey shoved him back. Punk was about to return the favour, but Jimmy dropped him with a right hand. Punk sat up and watched as Jimmy and Jey left the ring.

WWE Raw live results: Elimination Chamber fallout

Posted on by Steve Khan

Date: March 2, 2026
Location: Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, IN

The Big Takeaway —

CM Punk and Roman Reigns had their latest war of words. Reigns got the last word in their first encounter, while Punk got it here. After Reigns threatened to retire Punk, Punk threatened to bury Reigns next to his father. 

Also, Penta won the Intercontinental Championship. 

**********

Show Recap — 

There was a full recap video of all four matches at Elimination Chamber, plus the debut of Danhausen (no crowd reaction included, of course).

CM Punk and AJ Lee, Judgment Day (minus Finn Bálor), and Gunther arrived at the arena. 

They abruptly cut to Paul Heyman as he led Logan Paul and Austin Theory to the ring. Heyman wasn’t interested in starting the show the same way as always. So he gave us a talking segment. Heyman said, “I hate to piss on everyone’s parade, but excuse me while I whip this out. We are here to talk about Seth freakin’ Rollins.” 

Heyman hated Rollins and his song. He said Rollins stole the credit for co-founding the Vision. He stole the credit for co-founding the Shield. He didn’t deserve credit for the Shield, but that wasn’t Heyman’s problem. Rollins stole the Elimination Chamber and the WrestleMania main event from Logan Paul. 

Heyman said Rollins thieved oxygen from every human being on the planet that was worthy of living, and Mr. Lynch (Rollins) was not one of them. They planned on stomping Rollins’ ass the next time he stepped into a ring. That wasn’t a spoiler—that was a personal guarantee from the Vision. 

Theory grabbed the mic to cut a useless promo. Fans drowned him out with “You suck” chants, and he responded, “Rollins ain’t in the ring right now, so you can’t chant that,” which is not a good comeback. Paul was pissed because he had eliminated three people in the Chamber, and the last person to do that was Brock Lesnar. 

Paul called out Rollins, but he got Adam Pearce, who was not interested in hearing them complain. Pearce also accused them of taking out Jey Uso last week. Heyman didn’t appreciate that. Heyman remarked about Rollins, but Pearce said he would deal with Rollins personally because he wasn’t cleared to compete. 

If you thought they were done with the masked men, you were wrong. Three different masked men appeared in the crowd, and they were chased away by the two idiots, Theory and Paul, as well as Pearce’s security. 

That left Heyman alone in the ring. A fourth masked man appeared in the aisle, now abandoned by Pearce, who also fell for Rollins’ trick. Heyman pleaded with him as a fifth masked man appeared behind Heyman. 

Rollins unmasked and hit Heyman in the back with a steel chair (like he did to Roman Reigns). Rollins curb stomped Heyman as the crowd went wild. Rollins left through the crowd as medical staff checked on Heyman. 

Heyman was dragged away during a break, and his face was covered in fake blood. After the break, Theory and Paul ran to check on Heyman as he was being loaded into an ambulance. Paul left to get their car while Theory remained. 

Theory wanted the ambulance to leave, but it didn’t. Theory checked on an SUV that pulled up, thinking it was Paul, but it was actually Jimmy Uso. Jimmy punched Theory and tossed him into some equipment boxes. Jimmy checked on the ambulance driver, who was LA Knight. Knight said he’d take great care of Heyman, and he drove off. 

********

Gunther vs. Dragon Lee

Dragon Lee attacked Gunther from behind during his entrance. He blindsided Gunther a few weeks ago, got beaten up, and it happened again here. Gunther fought him off and gave him a back body drop into the timekeeper’s area. 

The match started during a break, and Gunther dominated throughout the break, when they came back from break, and through a second break. (Dragon got a brief flash of offence, but Gunther blocked his dive attempt and cut him down with a chop.) 

Dragon fired back in time from them to return from break. He hit an enziguri and a low dropkick, but Gunther cut him off with a powerslam and hit two consecutive powerbombs. Gunther covered Lee and had it won, but lifted him up at the two count. 

Gunther rolled Lee outside the ring before powerbombing him into the edge of the ring and onto the announce table. Gunther could have taken a count-out win, but he left the ring to try another powerbomb, but Lee countered into a sunset flip. Lee followed with a suicide dive and Operation Dragon. 

Lee almost won by count-out, but Gunther slipped back in at nine. Lee managed to drop Gunther with a clothesline (after trying unsuccessfully a few times earlier). 

Lee fired up and went for Operation Dragon again, but Gunther caught him in a sleeper. As they started going down to the mat, Gunther ripped Lee’s mask off (and you could see his face for a split second). Lee immediately tapped out as a result. 

Match result: Gunther defeated Dragon Lee (14:19)

This was pretty fun by the end. Dragon Lee firing back after getting powerbombed on the apron and the table was a bit much, though. The crowd was into this, and it already seems like a much better crowd than they’ve had the past few weeks. 

********

Asuka admonished Kairi Sane backstage until Sane was stunned into silence. AJ Lee walked by and checked on Sane, who was frozen and staring out into space until Asuka called her away. AJ made her way to the ring. 

AJ Lee segment 

Lee said she wasn’t sure how they got here. She returned to snatch the pretty hair off Becky Lynch’s big-ass head, but she wound up snatching her title. There was a modest, “You deserve it” chant. 

She said the fans thought she could still go. They believed in her and had her back for a decade. They remembered her when some people wished that they would forget. They made her believe that she could still fight the very best. 

That’s exactly what Lynch was. She was the best of the best, but Lee beat her. Lynch gave her the fight of her life—and she had the scars to prove it—but she proved to herself she could still be championship material. She was still who she thought she was. But now that “Becky boo-boo” was behind her, WrestleMania was ahead of her. 

She wanted to be a fighting champion. It’s been 12 years since she won a title, and she wouldn’t waste any time. She called on anyone who wanted a shot because she planned on defending the Intercontinental Championship the next time she stepped into the ring. 

********

The Original El Grande Americano (Chad Gable) wished Penta luck on his IC title match, but said he’d be first in line for a title match if he won. Penta was cool with this. 

El Grande Americano (Ludwig Kaiser) and the other two confronted the Original after Penta left. Kaiser referenced their upcoming match on the next AAA show on March 14th. Gable wanted to fight tonight, but would gladly face Bravo or Rayo instead. 

Liv Morgan promo 

Liv Morgan cut a pre-taped promo on Stephanie Vaquer. She said Vaquer didn’t know anything about her or her struggles. But Vaquer was right about her being privileged. She got signed to WWE when she was 20 years old, while Vaquer was rejected in her first tryout. She had the best of the best, while Vaquer grew up with mud hut wrestling in flea-infested rings. That all happened because Morgan was a star. 

Morgan didn’t dwell on her past as Vaquer did. Despite everything that’s happened, she sees some of herself in Vaquer. She was hard-working, talented, and a great champion. So Morgan would give her something at WrestleMania—the privilege of facing the Liv Morgan. 

********

Original El Grande Americano vs. Rayo Americano (w/ El Grande Americano & Bravo Americano) 

Gable Americano had control until a Kaiser Americano distraction allowed Rayo to hit a dive and take control through a break. Gable fought back in time for them to return from break. Gable tried ripping off the masks of Bravo and Rayo, but the distractions allowed Kaiser to hit a headbutt. Rayo followed with a running headbutt and a diving headbutt for a nearfall. 

More distractions and more interference led to a schoolboy and nearfall for Bravo. Gable came back with a Chaos Theory suplex for the pinfall win. 

Match result: Original El Grande Americano defeated Rayo Americano (10:10) 

It’s about time they move on from this gimmick for Gable. I know Kaiser has a good thing going in AAA, but the American crowds aren’t into this anymore, and Gable in particular feels miscast. Not to mention the other two guys. 

********

Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez played darts backstage. Morgan suggested that Rodriguez challenge AJ Lee for the IC title, win the belt, and go into Mania as champion. Rodriguez liked that idea (and acted like she never thought of this). 

Dominik Mysterio was stressed out about his title defence. JD McDonagh said they had his back. Finn Bálor entered the room. He wasn’t happy about the result on Saturday, but he was at peace with it. 

Dom said they could now focus on his title match. Bálor said this was something he had to do on his own, like he said last week. Dom simply meant that he wanted to celebrate with them post-match. Bálor said they could count on him to celebrate together.

******* 

Rusev and Oba Femi segment 

After a clip of Oba Femi beating The Miz on SmackDown, Rusev marched out through the crowd and stood on the announce desk. Rusev was tired of hearing about Femi and called him out for a fight right now. 

Femi entered the ring and told Rusev to join him. They traded right hands, and Femi got the better of it, but Rusev avoided a chokeslam and hit consecutive kicks. Femi dropped him with a chokeslam anyway and clotheslined him out of the ring. 

********

Bayley and Lyra Valkyria spoke backstage. They had one of those conversations that makes you wonder if they ever talk outside of the show. Bayley was frustrated that they both missed out on the Chamber, and she felt stuck. 

Valkyria didn’t want to see Bayley miss Mania again. She suggested that Bayley go after AJ Lee and her title. Like Rodriguez earlier, Bayley somehow never thought of this idea. Valkyria told Bayley to go talk to Pearce and get a title match. Bayley was about to leave, but she recalled costing Valkyria her IC shot with Lynch, so she invited Valkyria to join her. 

Bayley and Valkyria walked to Pearce’s office, which happened to be around the corner. Iyo Sky left his office the moment they arrived, and she was not in a good mood. 

******** 

Jimmy Uso vs. Austin Theory

This ended quickly by DQ. Jimmy set up Theory for a splash through the table, but turned his attention to Paul, who slipped into the ring. Jimmy attacked Paul as the referee watched. Theory tried to save Paul but was tackled by Jimmy, and the referee finally called for a DQ when Paul attacked Jimmy from behind. 

— The Vision hammered away on Jimmy until Jey Uso’s music hit. Jey appeared from behind (like Rollins earlier) and slid a crutch to Jimmy. They attacked Paul and Theory with crutches and laid out Theory with a 1D. 

Match result: Jimmy Uso defeated Austin Theory via disqualification (2:41)

They don’t want Theory to lose, but they’re afraid to have him beat anybody. 

********

Danhausen approached Pearce backstage. (He only received a modest pop, but at least he wasn’t booed.) Danhausen said he debuted to thunderous applause, so he had a list of demands written on a napkin. He wanted a blimp, his face on all the trucks, a Hall of Fame induction this year, a personal assistant, and a Triple H pointing photo. Pearce asked why the napkin was soggy. Danhausen said it fell in the toilet. 

Judgment Day walked by, and Pearce took the opportunity to bail so they could deal with Danhausen instead. Danhausan was happy to see them, but didn’t know McDonagh’s name. Danhausen also liked the look of Dom’s IC title belt. 

Danhausen cursed Dom, and they laughed him off. But when they turned their attention back to Danhausen, he was gone. 

********

Rhea Ripley interview 

Jackie Redmond interviewed Rhea Ripley, accompanied by Iyo Sky, on the stage. Ripley said it’s been a whirlwind couple of days. Losing the tag titles on SmackDown sucked. It especially sucked because Sky meant a lot to her, including being her best friend. Ripley thanked her for always being there for her and pulling her out of a dark situation. 

Sky said Ripley did the same for her. Sky said Ripley won the Chamber and showed everyone why Mami was always on top. Sky told Ripley she would be fine on Raw and told Ripley to go handle her business and win the title at WrestleMania. They hugged. (In fact, they held each other the entire segment until the end.) Ripley said she would win the title for Sky. 

Ripley told Sky to hold down Raw because she was headed to SmackDown on Friday to see Jade Cargill face-to-face, and at WrestleMania, she would leave as champion. Sky leaped into Ripley’s arms. 

********

Next week on Raw in Seattle: 

  • Women’s Intercontinental Championship #1 Contender’s Gauntlet Match: IYO SKY, Lyra Valkyria, Bayley, Raquel Rodriguez, Asuka and Ivy Nile 
  • Oba Femi vs. Rusev 

******** 

Intercontinental Championship: Dominik Mysterio (c) (w/ Finn Bálor & JD McDonagh) vs. Penta

Penta hit a flip dive, and they went to break one minute into the match. (I wish I kept track of how many times that’s happened in a Penta match.) Bálor and McDonagh watched peacefully while seated at ringside. Penta took too much time staring them down, which allowed Dom to take over. Even Michael Cole noted this was Penta’s own fault. 

Dom cut off Penta’s comeback attempt after a break and hit an Edge-o-matic. (Cole had a new name for it, but I’m not sure what he said.) Dom went for three amigos, but Penta countered the last suplex into one of his own. Dom cut him off again, this time with a DDT onto the apron. After Dom used a dive to take out Penta outside the ring, Dom also hit a running crossbody, sending them both over the barricade and into the timekeeper’s area. (Cole said Penta was once again staring over at Bálor and JD as this happened.) 

During a break, Dom tied Penta’s mask to the bottom rope and stomped away at him. (For whatever reason, they always seem to do this spot to Penta, and sometimes Dargon Lee, only during commercial breaks. It’s happened multiple times.) 

Penta fought back in time for them to return from break (again). Penta hit a superkick with Dom trapped upside down in the corner, followed by a backstabber for two. Penta went for a Destroyer, but Dom countered into a Michinoku Driver for two. 

Dom went for a frog splash, but Penta blocked it and snapped his arm, followed by a Penta Driver for a close nearfall. A frustrated Penta repeatedly booted Dom in the corner until the referee made him stop. Penta tried driving Dom into the corner, but Dom ducked, and Penta went shoulder-first into the post. 

Penta sold like he was hurt, so the ref checked on him as Dom told McDonagh to grab the ring bell hammer. McDonagh grabbed it, but Bálor stopped him, and the fans cheered. As McDonagh and Bálor argued, Penta wiped them out with a dive. 

Back in the ring, Penta set up a Destroyer, but Dom tripped him onto the middle rope. However, Penta ducked a 619 and hit a Canadian Destroyer for the pinfall win. Penta is the new champion. The crowd was happy. 

— Penta posed with his new belt as fireworks went off. 

Match result: Penta defeated Dominik Mysterio (16:24)

This was the right call here. Penta was long overdue for a win like this, and frankly, Dom isn’t much of a champion. 

******** 

Roman Reigns and CM Punk main event segment 

Roman Reigns entered. He told Indianapolis to acknowledge him. They did. Before he could say anything else, CM Punk entered. They both got big reactions. 

Punk asked why Reigns why he was mean-mugging him. Punk was just feeding his ego and acknowledging him. Punk hoped Reigns would say more than “acknowledge me” because they pay a lot of money for one of Reigns’ dates, and that could’ve been a tweet. 

Reigns asked “Phil” if his tweet (following Elimination Chamber) hurt his feelings because, for a champion, Punk had thin skin. 

Punk said the tweet didn’t hurt his feelings. He didn’t care what people tweeted. He didn’t hold grudges about what people said about him on podcasts (like Reigns did). Reigns’ tweet was accurate, though, because Punk was tired. It was a good thing Punk had bags under his eyes because he had to carry Reigns’ bullshit all the way to WrestleMania. 

Punk said they had history here in Indianapolis. This was where the Shield debuted and where Punk brought him to the dance. Reigns corrected him because Punk only brought in the other two, not him. 

Punk said they remembered things differently. But if Punk didn’t pick him, Reigns certainly picked Punk for the main event of WrestleMania. If you ask the fans, they’d tell you he (Punk) already won. The last time they were face-to-face, Reigns told him that he hated him. Now, Punk said, “I got you right where I want you. I made you this emotional lady.” (An odd thing to say, but not the first time Punk’s had a line like that.) Punk said he was in Reigns’ head—as empty as it was. 

Reigns reiterated that he hated Phil. But if he didn’t have the title, Phil wouldn’t even be on his radar. Reigns said we brought Phil back to entertain the 30- to 40-year-old virgins who lived with their parents. To sell a few t-shirts and maybe draw a house in Chicago. But not to be the champion. That was too much responsibility and power for Punk. It was above his paygrade. 

Reigns said we can’t trust Phil because he is a liar. He lied to the people. He has them thinking that he was having a good time, that he was a leader, that he was smiling as he made every town, hanging out with his cousins (the Usos). But we knew the truth. His cousins told him all about Phil’s bitching and moaning. He wasn’t CM Punk—he was just a punk-ass bitch. 

Reigns would end Punk’s backup plan (his WWE return) at WrestleMania. After taking his title, Reigns would put him on a John Cena retirement tour. They would make as much money off Punk as they could until they sent him to NXT, where Punk would teach the next generation until they sent them to the main roster so the Tribal Chief could snatch everyone of them. 

Reigns was about to leave, but Punk pulled him back. Punk said they weren’t done. Punk wondered who Reigns meant when he kept saying “we” because he was all alone. Alone on his bus, alone in his room. His cousins weren’t with him. The Shield couldn’t help him. The wiseman was gone because Punk took him away. This all illustrated Reigns’ entire career: “You chasing me.” 

Punk was the champion, and Reigns was in the main event because Punk was in the main event. This was Punk’s show. He was in the locker room and hanging out with the Usos while Reigns was alone. Reigns could hate him all he wanted, but Reigns would not disrespect him. 

Punk took particular offence to Reigns saying he would retire him. Because now, Punk said, he wouldn’t just beat Reigns at Mania, he’d bury him. “And then you won’t be all alone anymore because I’m going to bury you next to your father.” 

Punk slammed the mic down and left as Reigns was left speechless.

Liv Morgan segment added to WWE Raw

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Liv Morgan is set to appear on WWE Raw tonight as the build to WrestleMania 42 picks up.

The Elimination Chamber fallout edition of Raw is being held at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis tonight. WWE has announced that Morgan will appear on the show for a promo segment. She’ll address Stephanie Vaquer after it was confirmed last week that Morgan is challenging Vaquer for the Women’s World Championship at WrestleMania.

“Women’s Royal Rumble Winner Liv Morgan will take the mic after making the decision to challenge Women’s World Champion Stephanie Vaquer at WrestleMania,” WWE.com wrote. “Don’t miss all the action of Raw, tonight at 8 ET/5 PT on Netflix.”

Last week’s Raw saw Morgan meet with Vaquer and WWE Women’s Champion Jade Cargill as she revealed her WrestleMania decision. The segment ended with Morgan beating Vaquer down and laying her out with Oblivion.

Here is the updated lineup for tonight:

WWE Raw (Monday, March 2) —

  • Roman Reigns returns
  • World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk appears
  • New Women’s Intercontinental Champion AJ Lee appears
  • Intercontinental Champion Dominik Mysterio defends against Penta
  • Gunther vs. Dragon Lee
  • We’ll hear from Liv Morgan
  • Raw General Manager Adam Pearce will address Seth Rollins’ return

WWE announces 11 new Raw and SmackDown dates

Posted on by Joseph Currier

WWE has added a slate of new show dates to the company’s 2026 calendar.

Eleven new dates were announced in total, ranging from April-June of this year. Six of the shows are SmackDown episodes while five are Raws. Here are the full details:

  • Friday, April 24: SmackDown at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas
  • Monday, April 27: Raw at Sames Auto Arena in Laredo, Texas
  • Friday, May 1: SmackDown at BOK Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma
  • Monday, May 4: Raw at CHI Health Center in Omaha, Nebraska
  • Friday, May 8: SmackDown at Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida
  • Monday: May 11: Raw at Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville, Tennessee
  • Friday, May 15: SmackDown at Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, South Carolina
  • Monday, May 18: Raw at First Horizon Coliseum in Greensboro, North Carolina
  • Friday, May 22: SmackDown at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky
  • Monday, June 15: Raw at CFG Bank Arena in Baltimore, Maryland
  • Friday, June 19: SmackDown at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri

The ticket on-sale date for each event is Friday, May 6 at 10 a.m. local time.

SmackDown’s fallout from WrestleMania 42 will take place on the April 24 episode of the show in Fort Worth. The Raw after WrestleMania is being held in Las Vegas earlier that week.

WOL: AJ Styles, Bronson Reed, plus Rocky Romero joins us!

Posted on by Bryan Alvarez

Wrestling Observer Live with Bryan Alvarez and Lance Storm is back with tons to talk about including the amount of commercials on the “ad-free” Netflix, the RAW report, updates on Bronson Reed and AJ Styles, then Rocky Romero joins us to talk New Japan, AEW and ROH! A fun show as always so check it out~!

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WWE Raw live results: AJ Styles tribute, Elimination Chamber go-home show

Posted on by Steve Khan

Date: February 23, 2026
Location: State Farm Arena in Atlanta, GA 

The Big Takeaway —

The highlight of Raw, by far, was the tribute to AJ Styles. He will be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2026. 

See more below. 

**********

Show Recap — 

Instead of the usual start to Raw with everyone arriving at the arena, Michael Cole and Corey Graves stood in the ring to welcome us to the show in Atlanta (as everyone sat calmly in their seats). 

They were about to speak about AJ Styles, but they were interrupted by Gunther, who entered through the crowd. He sent Cole and Graves back to the announce desk as he entered the ring. 

Gunther called it disgraceful that they were honouring a loser. The fans liked the losers. Losers like Bill Goldberg, John Cena, and AJ Styles. Gunther ended their careers, so tonight should be a celebration of him. (It really sounded like they were piping in fake booing.) 

Adam Pearce interrupted. Pearce claimed he knew Gunther would pull this, so he brought out security to escort him out of the building. (If he knew this would happen, perhaps he should have addressed it earlier.) 

Gunther said he would leave under his own accord because what was happening tonight was disgraceful. As Gunther was escorted up the ramp by security, he turned around to boast to the crowd when he was suddenly attacked from behind by Dragon Lee. They were quickly separated, but Dragon attacked him again backstage. 

After Dragon Lee was taken away by security, Cody Rhodes appeared and gave Gunther a look before making his way to the ring. 

Rhodes entered to a big reaction and his hometown fans sang his name. He was about to talk about Styles, but like the announcers earlier, was interrupted, this time by The Vision. 

Austin Theory said he was ashamed to be from Atlanta. Logan Paul knew Rhodes wasn’t ashamed to be from Atlanta because he lacked common sense, and he was insane for showing up to Raw. Paul said Bronson Reed would win the Elimination Chamber and win the title at WrestleMania, meaning The Vision would take over SmackDown, too, and Rhodes would be the first one out the door. 

Rhodes wasn’t sure about that and knew someone here who would disagree with them. That brought out Jey Uso (and Jimmy Uso) for their Chamber qualifying match. 

They went to break after The Usos entered, and the entire break was Jey doing his entrance and Yeeting with the crowd. 

(This was a typical opening segment. Except it was actually two opening segments in one. They cleared the ring after the first one and did another.) 

********

Cole called tonight a sell-out with over 12,000 fans. 

Triple threat Elimination Chamber qualifying match: Bronson Reed vs. Jey Uso vs. The Original El Grande Americano 

The opening match began at 8:20 pm, and they went to commercial two minutes later.

Gable (El Grande) wiped out both guys with an Orihara moonsault ahead of the break. Jey and Gable did their best to keep Reed out of the ring through the break, but Reed re-entered, stacked up both guys on his shoulders and hit an impressive double Samoan drop. 

After Reed gave Jey a World’s Strongest slam, he tried dumping Gable onto Jey, but Gable countered by giving Reed a bulldog while simultaneously leg-dropping Jey. Gable gave Jey a Chaos Theory and went to the top. 

Gable went for a flying headbutt, but Jey was all the way on the other side of the ring, so he missed and landed face-first on the mat. Gable sold it like he hit the move because he made a cover, but Reed broke it up. (I’m guessing this will end up on Jey’s lowlight reel for being out of position. But he was lying stationary when Gable took off, so I don’t know how this got messed up. Graves tried to cover for it on commentary.) 

Gable gave Reed a great-looking German suplex ahead of another break. After a break, Jey and Gable continued wrestling while medical staff checked on Reed outside the ring. (Reed never got back in, so he may have been hurt.) 

During the break, Graves acknowledged that Original El Grande was detested in AAA, while El Grande Americano (Ludwig Kaiser) was a hero.

Jey went for an Uso splash, but Gable got his knees up and applied an ankle lock. Jey fought out of it, and they traded kicks until Jey hit a spear and an Uso splash for the pinfall win. 

(They likely had to adjust the finishing sequence with Reed injured. During the next break, Cole said he hoped to get an update on Reed.) 

Match result: Jey Uso defeated The Original El Grande Americano and Bronson Reed to qualify for the Men’s Elimination Chamber (15:32)

******** 

They showed AJ Styles’ debut at Royal Rumble 2016. Bobby Roode and Shinsuke Nakamura were shown talking backstage. 

CM Punk entered the arena in the passenger seat of a Toyota Camry NASCAR driven by Tyler Reddick (owned by Michael Jordan’s team). Reddick sped in and did donuts around the lot. When Punk exited the car, he looked like he just got off a roller coaster. 

******** 

Liv Morgan’s WrestleMania decision 

Liv Morgan and Dominik Mysterio entered. There was a replay of Stephanie Vaquer accosting Morgan during her interview last week. Morgan looked distressed in the ring upon seeing the replay, but she cheered up when Dominik Mysterio introduced her as the greatest Rumble winner ever. 

Dom said Morgan was ready to make her decision, so he called out Vaquer and Jade Cargill (whose name he mispronounced), and they each entered. 

Morgan wanted to get something off her chest before announcing her decision. She told Vaquer that her words caught her by surprise last week. She wasn’t used to being so vulnerable, and she thought about what Vaquer said all week.

Morgan said Vaquer was right. She didn’t realize how selfish she’d been or how privileged she really was. She had ten years of the best coaches and facilities, and still thought that she was struggling. She didn’t know much about Vaquer’s story, that she had to scratch and claw for ten years just to get to WWE. 

Morgan apologized for judging her and knew Vaquer was the champion that she was because of what she had to go through. But now it was time to focus on her own story. 

Morgan turned her attention to Cargill, but it was a swerve. She turned around and smoked Vaquer on the head with the microphone. Cargill smiled and left the ring. Morgan hammered away at Vaquer, hit a Codebreaker, and an Oblivion. Morgan dumped the world title belt onto Vaquer before leaving with Dom. 

********

Byron Saxton was about to interview Je’Von Evans backstage, but he was quickly greeted by rapper Offset. New Day and Grayson Waller interrupted. Xavier Woods was offended that they weren’t honouring him tonight in his town. New Day also wondered why Offset showed up tonight, given that they had repeatedly invited him in the past. Offset said because New Day sucks. Evans challenged them to a fight. Woods (arm in a sling) reminded him that he was injured, and Kofi Kingston accepted the match instead. 

During a break, they showed quick clips of wrestlers talking about how much Styles meant to them (Rhodes, Charlotte Flair, Sami Zayn, Kurt Angle, Finn Bálor, R-Truth, Tyson Kidd, Xavier Woods, and Roman Reigns). 

Michin, Tama Tonga, and Tonga Loa greeted Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows backstage. 

********

Nattie vs. Maxxine Dupri 

They fought outside the ring until Nattie booted Dupri into the post. It was the same post spot you see in every match, but Dupri sold it like she was dead. Nattie attacked her wildly as the ref tried checking on her. The ref eventually got Nattie to stop and called off the match. Nattie was announced the winner. 

Match result: Nattie defeated Maxxine Dupri via referee stoppage (1:38)

I guess this was meant to show how dangerous Nattie is, but the damage was done by a simple post spot, not because of anything she did in the ring. 

********

Backstage, JD McDonagh apologized to Finn Bálor (wearing a suit) for being a hot head last week. All he wanted was to see Bálor become champion. Bálor accepted his apology. He said brothers fought, but they always made up. He planned on becoming champion, but he had to do it alone. 

Dom was upset that they left him on his own last week. He knew Bálor wanted to do things on his own, but he didn’t. He wanted their help when he defended the IC title against Penta next week. 

McDonagh had his back, but Bálor quickly cut in. He said nobody had his back when they (Dom and JD) were hurt. He didn’t blame them, and he held his own while they were gone. It was time for Dom to do the same. Take some responsibility and grow up. 

********

Cathy Kelley interviewed Trick Williams on the stage during a break. He planned on winning the Chamber on Saturday. (The crowd seemed into him, but this crowd isn’t that hot for anything so far tonight except for Rhodes’ entrance.) 

Tyler Reddick, 2 Chainz, and Lil Yachty were in the crowd. 

******** 

Adam Pearce told an unfortunate delivery person to load up the wooden crate and ship it to Chicago so he and Nick Aldis could open it together on Saturday. 

Rusev approached Pearce before Rusev was confronted by Oba Femi. Pearce told them to save it for another day because tonight was about Styles. 

******** 

Brock Lesnar segment 

Brock Lesnar entered with Paul Heyman. Heyman said, traditionally, there were always two main events at WrestleMania. The world title match and the Undertaker’s streak. That was until Lesnar ended his streak. Now, the only dead man walking in WWE was the one who would walk down the aisle to face Lesnar. 

Heyman rambled on and on, but long story short, the question was now who would face Lesnar at WrestleMania. Heyman pointed at the screen and showed a list of dates (five dates after tonight) of Lesnar’s upcoming appearances “on the road to WrestleMania” and invited somebody to make the challenge so they could get their ass kicked. 

This felt like a pretty lazy setup for a Lesnar Mania match. But they got the dates out there so people could buy tickets. 

******** 

There was a pre-taped Becky Lynch promo. She reminded AJ Lee how much she’s accomplished and wondered what Lee ever did besides hold a butterfly belt. 

There was a clip of Royce Keys (Powerhouse Hobbs) on Stephanie McMahon’s podcast. He spoke about his brother, who sacrificed his life for him. 

******** 

Je’Von Evans (w/ Offset) vs. Kofi Kinston (w/ Xavier Woods & Grayson Waller)

Kingston tried using a distraction to catch Evans off guard, but Evans didn’t fall for it and clocked him with a running knee strike for a nearfall early in the match. Kingston used a separate distraction moments later to hit a PK and take control. Offset checked on Evans as they went to break. 

Kingston held control through a break until Evans made a comeback and attempted a moonsault. Kingston dodged the moonsault, and Evans landed on his feet, but sold it like he hurt his leg on the landing. Kingston followed with an SOS for two. 

Evans sent Kingston out of the ring and hit a leaping dive while selling the leg. Waller punched Evans with the ref distracted, and Kingston hit a Fameasser for two. Offset chucked Waller over the announce table and backed off Woods. 

Kingston yelled at Offset for getting involved, so Evans flew in with an OG Cutter for the pinfall win. 

Match result: Je’Von Evans defeated Kofi Kingston (10:14) 

This match was ok. They played it up as a big win coming against an all-time great, and a big win headed into the Chamber. 

*******

They aired more messages for AJ Styles from different wrestlers, this time from Bayley, Rey Mysterio, Nattie, The Miz, Robert Roode, Abyss, Booker T, Randy Orton, CM Punk, and Shinsuke Nakamura (who said, “I miss him already.”) 

Frankie Kazarian walked backstage and stopped upon seeing the boiler room. He opened the door to find Abyss (who doesn’t look quite so imposing anymore). They walked off together. 

There was a highlight video of AJ Styles beating John Cena at SummerSlam 2016. Earlier, they showed Styles beating Jinder Mahal for the WWE title on SmackDown. 

******* 

Finn Bálor pre-taped promo 

Bálor said CM Punk wasn’t the only one with people mad at him. He had people mad at him, too. But they needed to understand why he needed to do this. He needed to prove to the doubters, the critics, and Judgment Day that he can be the champion. It’s been ten years of “What ifs.” 

You can learn a lot from a win, but you can learn a lot more from a defeat. When he lost to Punk, he learned to stop asking “What if?” He learned to tell himself “When.” When you beat Punk, when you become World Champion, and when you go on to main event WrestleMania, there would be no more “What ifs,” because everyone would know there was a new best in the world.  

******** 

Dwight Howard, Jermaine Dupri, Funny Marco, and Bow Wow were in the crowd. 

CM Punk promo

Punk entered to a big reaction. The fans chanted his name, but he wanted the fans to chant for Styles instead. 

There were a few things he wanted to address before they head to Chicago. Punk had his own “What ifs” for Bálor. What if Bálor didn’t jump him in Toronto? What if Bálor didn’t interrupt his last match against Styles? Well, Bálor wouldn’t be getting a title match. 

People wondered what Punk was doing, but he was doing the best he could. He was giving the fans the fighting champion they deserved, following in the footsteps of Terry Funk, Harley Race, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, The Undertaker, Triple H, and the list went on. Punk didn’t like dealing in What ifs. 

Punk asked, “What if Roman Reigns was here tonight?” The fans chanted for Reigns, but Punk said this was why he didn’t like dealing in What ifs because they weren’t rooted in reality, and Reigns wasn’t there. The fans booed, but Punk said they couldn’t be booing him because he was there. Boots on the ground every Monday night, making every town on every tour. 

Punk asked, What if Bálor beat him? Well, no risk and no reward. Reigns would be on Raw next week. What if Punk didn’t wait until Mania and punched Reigns in the face next Monday? 

He didn’t deal in What ifs—he dealt in facts. He didn’t have to ask “What if he was the champion” like Bálor did, because he was the champion. He was the best in the world. He was the main event of WrestleMania. He was CM Punk. 

*******

Omos greeted Petey Williams and Jeremy Borash backstage. 

Triple threat Elimination Chamber qualifying match: Tag Team Champion IYO SKY vs. Kairi Sane vs. Raquel Rodriguez

As in the earlier triple threat match, the two smaller wrestlers tried working together against the bigger wrestler, but that only lasted so long. Rodriguez caught both women and nailed a double fallaway slam. Also, like in the earlier match, one wrestler wiped out the others with a moonsault ahead of a break (this time an Asai moonsault by Sky). 

Sky hit Sane with a missile dropkick, and the crowd got behind her until she was levelled by Rodriguez. Sky saved Sane from a Tejana Bomb moments later, and they drove her into the ring post. Sky hit Rodriguez with a suicide dive, and Sane followed with an Insane elbow on Rodriguez to the outside. Sky dropkicked Rodriguez into the timekeeper’s area before Sane hit Sky with a spinning backfist. 

Sky avoided an Insane elbow in the ring and hit a moonsault. She had it won, but Rodriguez broke up the cover by yanking Sane out of the ring. Sky hit Rodriguez with a missile dropkick and meteora. Rodriguez tried fighting her off, but Sky nailed a tornado DDT. She set up for a moonsault, but Sane shoved her out of the ring. 

Sane went for an Insane elbow, but she missed. Cole said Rodriguez got her knees up, but that’s not what happened. Rodriguez was already rolling out of the way as Sane was coming down. Anyway, Rodriguez followed with a Tejana Bomb for the pinfall win. 

Match result: Raquel Rodriguez defeated Kairi Sane and IYO SKY to qualify for the Women’s Elimination Chamber (10:53)

********

Next week on Raw in Indianapolis: 

  • Dominik Mysterio (c) vs. Penta for the Intercontinental Championship 
  • Gunther vs. Dragon Lee 
  • Roman Reigns “returns” 

Kelley interviewed Jade Cargill during a break, but she was cut off mid-sentence as they returned from break. 

********

AJ Styles tribute 

They started with a terrific AJ Styles video package set to “Higher” by Creed (quite the throwback). Steve Austin called him the best wrestler on two feet, Kurt Angle called him the most talented wrestler been in the ring with, and Undertaker said he couldn’t think of a better person to have his last match with. There were also kind words from Bayley, Miz, Orton, and his wife, Wendy. This was all set to footage of Styles wrestling in TNA and WWE. 

AJ Styles entered. (I guess he’s a little rusty, because he actually bumped into some staging equipment on the way out.) Styles took a deep breath in the ring as the fans and announcers gave him a standing ovation. Fans chanted, “Thank you, AJ.” 

Styles joked that he thought about wearing a suit tonight, but the last time he did, he beat the piss out of Cody Rhodes, so he thought the better of it. Styles thought this would be easier, but if he got choked up, he wanted the fans to know it wasn’t because he was sad. 

Styles was so grateful to be in Atlanta, Georgia. He grew up 45 minutes down the road in Gainesville. People usually didn’t get to have a moment like this when they retired, so he was grateful. But at his core, he was still that kid from Gainesville who fell in love with professional wrestling. 

He wrestled in Gainesville, in the TNA Asylum in Nashville, in the Tokyo Dome in Japan, and under the bright lights at WrestleMania. He wrestled some OGs in TNA — (Christopher) Daniel, (Samoa) Joe, and Frankie Kazarian. They made a mark on pro wrestling. 

He went to Japan and met some good brothers. Gallows and Anderson showed him how to have fun in pro wrestling. It didn’t have to be serious all the time. If he was having fun, so were the fans. 

He’s done almost everything. Almost. The one thing he hadn’t done was be a full-time father. (He pointed at his family in the front row.) He missed birthdays, anniversaries, and games. He missed it all, and that was tough. 

His flex should be that he won all those world championships. But his biggest flex was having the best wife in the world. She never slowed him down or told him to stop. She kept pushing him forward. She held the family together even though he had to watch them grow on FaceTime. She was the one. He told her, “I love you,” and he thanked his kids for being there tonight. 

He said things didn’t go the way the fans wanted to against Gunther at Royal Rumble. It wasn’t the way he thought it should go either. But it was poetic. Not many people got to go out where they started. He debuted in WWE at the Rumble in 2016, and his last match was the Rumble in 2026. 

He didn’t leave his gloves in the ring that night, but he was a man of his word. He removed his leather vest and placed it on the ring. He said he didn’t remove his gloves because he wanted to take them with him, bring them to Atlanta, and leave them here at home. 

He removed his gloves and placed them down on his vest in the ring. 

He told the fans, “From the bottom of my heart, I would have been nothing without you. Thank you for your love, and I love you right back. Thank you.” 

(The closing trademark graphic aired at this point, but the segment continued.) 

Wrestlers and personnel filled the stage, and they all gave Styles a standing ovation as the fans chanted, “Thank you, AJ.” 

The lights went out, and Undertaker’s music hit. Taker entered on his motorcycle (and to his Kid Rock theme song). Taker entered the ring with a microphone and looked down at Styles’ gloves. Taker remarked, “You’re just gonna leave your stuff here and leave?” 

Taker said they had unfinished business. Styles looked surprised. Taker told him there was a saying, “If you see me coming, you’re already gone.” Well, Taker wanted to change it. Taker stated,  “If you see me coming, that means you’re going.” The fans figured out what was coming, and so did Styles. 

Taker announced that AJ Styles was the newest inductee into the WWE Hall of Fame. (This actually got the biggest pop of the night.) 

Styles had a huge smile on his face as he appeared to be learning this for the first time. Styles’ family, now at ringside, all hugged as the fans chanted, “You deserve it.” Styles hugged Taker. 

Styles’ family entered the ring, and they all embraced. Styles was pumped up as his music played and the show ended.

[The show was dedicated to the memory of Kerwin Silfies.] 

**********

(As mentioned above, the Styles tribute was the highlight of the show. This was another dull show outside of that, but that won’t matter much this week. It is notable that this was another big city crowd that was quiet all night, as Toronto and Philadelphia were too.)

WWE Raw live results: Elimination Chamber qualifiers continue

Posted on by Steve Khan

Date: February 16, 2026
Location: FedExForum in Memphis, TN 

The Big Takeaway —

A dull Raw show saw Asuka and Je’Von Evans win qualifying matches as they tread water towards Elimination Chamber. 

Next week’s show in Atlanta will feature a tribute to AJ Styles. 

**********

Show Recap — 

An establishing shot of Beale Street in Memphis was followed by shots of Gunther, Bayley and Lyra Valkyria, Liv Morgan (greeting Michael Cole for a scheduled interview), CM Punk (wearing a Cubs hat) and AJ Lee hanging around the arena in Memphis earlier today. 

Jey and Jimmy Uso entered the crowd, but their energetic entrance was cut off by the voice of Paul Heyman, who entered with The Vision. (The Usos remained in the crowd.) Logan Paul wanted the fans to listen to Heyman, because his words of wisdom were as valuable as the most valuable trading card in the world—which Logan just sold for $16-million. 

They showed a replay of a masked man costing Austin Theory his qualifying match last week. Theory complained about it until Adam Pearce interrupted. Pearce wanted them to go to his office to talk like adults. Theory wanted justice right now. 

Pearce said Theory screwed himself. If it weren’t for Theory’s stablemates tying up his security, they would have handled the masked man before he could get involved. 

Heyman wanted Pearce to put Bronson Reed in the Elimination Chamber match. Pearce said he knew about the phone calls Heyman was making to go over his head. Pearce had no problem with Reed in the Chamber—so long as he wins his qualifier next week. 

Pearce urged them to leave the ring so they could continue with the show, but LA Knight interrupted next. Knight said the Vision screwed themselves. Theory wasn’t going to WrestleMania, and Reed was next on his list. Knight wanted Reed to qualify for the Chamber so Knight could kick his ass. 

Logan mocked Knight for getting put through a car by Reed, so Knight mocked Logan’s voice and called him a broccoli-haired bitch. Knight suggested to Pearce that he make a six-man match right now, and he would gladly team with The Usos, even though he doesn’t particularly like them either. Pearce made it official. 

The Usos (who waited patiently in the crowd this entire time) had their music played again, and they entered. A brawl broke out during a break, and the match commenced once things settled down. (I’m curious why the Usos were coming out to begin with.) 

It appears Logan Paul is the de facto leader of The Vision with Bron Breakker out. 

Six-man tag team match: LA Knight, Jey Uso & Jimmy Uso vs. Logan Paul, Bronson Reed & Austin Theory (w/ Paul Heyman) 

Reed and Theory used a double-team to take control over Knight, and they had the heat on him for a good 6-7 minutes, including the full duration of a commercial break. Knight fought to make a tag, but Reed cut him off and hit a senton for two after Jimmy broke up the cover. 

Knight dodged another senton and made the hot tag to Jey Uso. Jey hit Paul with clotheslines, right hands and a running hip attack for two as the fans Yeeted along. Jey speared Paul, but Theory broke up the cover. Knight posted Theory and gave him a BFT outside the ring before Reed tackled Knight through the timekeeper’s barricade. 

Paul blocked a Jey superkick and hit a Zig Zag for two. Jey superkicked Paul as Jimmy tagged himself in. They hit superkicks and a 1D, but Reed broke up the cover. Reed headbutted Jey out of the ring and wiped out both Usos with a great-looking suicide dive. 

Paul punched Jimmy with his loaded right hand, and Reed followed with a Tsunami for the pinfall win. 

(So Knight challenged them to a fight, got beaten up for most of it, and his team lost.) 

— Paul grabbed Cole’s headset to brag about the win when the masked man suddenly appeared and gave him a curb stomp onto the announce table. Reed and Theory chased the masked man away through the crowd. 

Match result: Bronson Reed, Logan Paul & Austin Theory defeated Jimmy Uso, Jey Uso & LA Knight (12:53)

********

Next week, there will be two more Chamber triple threat qualifying matches. Iyo Sky, Raquel Rodriguez, and Kairi Sane on the women’s side. Reed, Jey Uso, and The Original El Grande Americano (Chad Gable) on the men’s side. 

A delivery guy named Eli alerted Pearce to a large wooden crate with “Deliver to WWE” and “Do not open until 02/28/26” (the date of the Chamber) written on it. Pearce was annoyed that Eli seemed to know nothing about its contents and told him to send it to SmackDown so Nick Aldis could deal with it. (Eli had a clipboard with nothing but a blank piece of paper on it.) 

El Grande Americano (Ludwig Kaiser) and his buddies confronted Pearce about giving the other Americano a Chamber qualifier. El Grande wanted something else if he couldn’t be in the Chamber and suggested an IC title shot. Pearce offered him a chance to earn a shot tonight. (So, a second impromptu match tonight.) 

******** 

Triple threat Elimination Chamber qualifying match: Asuka vs. Nattie vs. Bayley 

Nattie was introduced as being from “Calgary… Alberta, Canada” and representing the Hart Family dungeon. To show off her aggressive side, she got right in Asuka’s face upon entering, but they were separated by referee Jessika Carr. The announcers talked about Nattie’s lineage and called her the only woman to survive the dungeon. 

Nattie was allowed to shine early, and she had control going into a break. Bayley fought back after the break and hit a diving elbow drop to Nattie’s back for two. Nattie was trapped in the tree of woe, but instead of a convoluted three-way spot, Bayley elbow-dropped Nattie and gave Asuka a superplex. Nattie broke up the cover. 

Nattie gave Asuka a discus clothesline before Bayley gave Nattie a back suplex. Bayley gave Asuka a diving elbow drop, but Nattie broke up the cover again. Nattie gave Bayley a German suplex on the apron but spent too much time admiring her work, so Asuka caught her in the Asuka Lock. Nattie broke free and hit a sit-out powerbomb. (An announcer said Nattie was adding moves to her arsenal, but she’s done that many times before.) 

Nattie applied a Sharpshooter but Bayley broke it up with a running knee. Asuka knocked Nattie out of the ring with a running hip attack before Bayley hit Asuka with Bayley-to-belly for a close nearfall. Bayley and Asuka traded counters until Asuka shoved Bayley into the ropes, and she knocked Nattie off the apron in the process. 

Asuka caught Bayley in the Asuka Lock, and Bayley quickly tapped out. Asuka advances to Elimination Chamber. 

— Maxxine Dupri attacked Nattie from behind on the stage as the fans began chanting “Whoop that Trick.” They were pulled apart by officials. 

Match result: Asuka defeated Bayley and Nattie to qualify for the Women’s Elimination Chamber (10:28) 

A pretty good match that the fans did not care about at all. They got into the Bayley-to-belly nearfall, but that was about it. Nattie’s character obviously hasn’t connected on any level yet and probably won’t. She’s winless since introducing this side of her. 

********

Backstage, Pearce handed Oba Femi a contract and told him that SmackDown won’t be able to beat it. Femi said he’d need time to decide. Femi was confronted by Rusev (who barely got a reaction). Rusev wore his old “Happy Rusev Day” shirt under his jacket. They stared at each other for a while until Femi left.

Liv Morgan sit-down interview 

Morgan sat down with Cole for a sit-down interview earlier today, but they were immediately joined by Dominik Mysterio, who pulled up a chair next to Morgan. 

She said she would not rush her WrestleMania decision. She did not grind for ten years to let this moment pass her by. Stephanie Vaquer joined next and pulled up a chair next to Cole. Vaquer cut a very long promo in Spanish, and Dom was aghast at what she was saying. He quietly translated into Morgan’s ear, and she broke out into tears after Vaquer left. Cole was perplexed. This was… something. 

******** 

CM Punk and Finn Bálor segment 

Punk entered to a big reaction. He said the fans seemed happy to see him, but the office wasn’t. Pearce claimed he was jeopardizing the WrestleMania main event. (Fans booed, so Punk responded, “Yeah! Boo Adam Pearce!”) Punk said he was doing what he always did, and that was make everything better. Sports teams qualify for the playoffs, but they still show up to play their regular season games. 

The fans deserved a fighting champion, just like Finn Bálor deserved a title shot in Belfast for everything he’s done in his career. Now, Bálor was getting a title shot because he earned it—earned to get an ass-beating. Bálor jumped him in Toronto a few weeks ago and ruined the last time he’d get to share the ring with AJ Styles. 

Punk often said things that pissed people off. He wouldn’t be who he was if he didn’t often say things that pissed people off. The fans wouldn’t love him, either. Punk was a fighting champion and the best in the world. That wasn’t Roman Reigns or Finn Bálor. 

Bálor interrupted, flanked by Dominik and the returning JD McDonagh. They surrounded the ring like The Shield, but Bálor said they weren’t out there to fight. Bálor wanted to make something clear. To be the best in the world, you had to train with the best catch wrestlers in Europe, learn with the best luchadors in Mexico, survive the toughest dojos in Japan, and show up to Raw and beat Roman Reigns on your first night. So as far as Bálor was concerned, he was the best in the world. Bálor wouldn’t be jeopardizing the WrestleMania main event. He would beat Punk and make it better. 

Punk asked him what the two idiots were doing with him. Punk said, “I know who you are. I’m sorry, I misspoke. I know who you were.” All those great things that Bálor did, he did it by himself. He didn’t see Judgment Day by his side when he had all his past success. Bálor used to mean something. Judgment Day has been an anchor around his neck. Normally, someone like Bálor could elevate guys like them, but they were just dragging him down. Dom had two belts and never defended them. McDonagh’s head was so big that it made it hard for him to get into the ring. (Fans chanted, “Bobblehead.”) 

Punk called himself a smart guy who sometimes did dumb things. He turned his back and gave them a free shot. Punk knew he was the best in the world, but didn’t need help to prove it. But maybe Bálor did. (There were more random chants of “Whoop that Trick” in here.) 

Punk’s words got to Bálor. McDonagh was about to jump Punk, but Bálor stopped him. Punk tossed the mic at them and left the ring. 

********

Byron Saxton interviewed Rhea Ripley and Iyo Sky. He asked how they were holding things together after everything they’ve had to go through (tag title defences and Chamber qualifiers). Ripley admitted that SmackDown was a battle. Nia Jax and Lash Legend thought they could take the tag titles, but they failed. They turned up the heat, so it was time for Rhiyo to put them out. 

Sky was about to talk about her qualifier, but they were interrupted by Kairi Sane and Asuka. Sane said Asuka was in the Chamber and they would make sure that Ripley and Sky would never win it. Asuka wanted Sane to make it clear that their goal was to make her (Asuka) the champion. Asuka told Rhiyo they were not ready for the Chamber. 

******** 

El Grande Americano (w/ Bravo & Rayo Americano) vs. Penta

They went to break one minute into the match. El Grande tried going for Penta’s mask, so Penta tried the same. El Grande used a distraction to take control, but Penta yanked him off the top rope and hit a Penta Driver for a nearfall. Penta knocked Rayo off the apron before El Grande hit a running headbutt for two. 

Rayo distracted the referee while Bravo attempted to give El Grande the metal plate. However, the Original El Grande Americano yanked him under the ring. 

The Original El Grande gave Bravo a Chaos Theory and dumped Rayo over the announce table. Penta flew in and gave El Grande (Kaiser) a Canadian Destroyer for the pinfall win. 

— After the match, Gable gave Kaiser a Chaos Theory. Gable tried taking off Kaiser’s mask, but he was pulled to safety by the other two. 

Match result: Penta defeated El Grande Americano (Ludwig Kaiser) (7:56) 

You don’t need to watch this. 

********

Backstage, McDonagh tried to talk sense into Bálor. He was embarrassed watching what happened to Bálor in Belfast, and thought they should injure Punk ahead of their match. Bálor wanted to do this on his own. Bálor stormed off, and McDonagh was not happy. Dom was concerned that they left because he still had his own match tonight. 

Kofi Kingston and Grayson Waller cut a promo during a break. Kingston announced that Xavier Woods injured his shoulder, and has been wrestling injured for months, but was no longer cleared by medical. (The way he announced this was meant to get a pop from the crowd, but they didn’t care.) Waller read a prepared statement from Woods where he buried Memphis. 

********

AJ Lee and Becky Lynch segment 

Lee entered. She said she had fun getting under Becky Lynch’s skin, and it was so easy. But Lynch reminded her that this was serious business after ramming her into the ring post. Lee hasn’t had a singles match in over a decade, let alone a title shot. 

The last time she had a title around her waist, the division looked a little different. All they had to fight for was a sparkly, pink butterfly, but she loved that title. She wore that title proudly because she made that title. She wasn’t modest—she knew exactly who the hell she was. There was a Women’s division before her, and a Women’s division after. That was her gift to all of them. (Meaning, there was no longer a Diva’s division.) 

Lee still wanted to get her hands on everyone back there. She wanted to fight Bayley, Valkyria, Ripley, Sky, Asuka, Sane, Judgment Day, Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss, but for now, all roads led back to Lynch. Lee wasn’t sure why Lynch was so bad. Maybe because she came back, or that her merch does better, or that the fans like her more. But she gave Lynch a ten year headstart, and she still hasn’t caught up. (It’s good to show confidence, but that’s a lie.)

Lynch gave Lee a gift. Without her, maybe Lee would not have come back. But she had a chance to show she can still be a champion. If she walked out of Chicago victorious, she’d get to walk into Mania as IC champion. Lee called out Lynch. 

Lynch entered. She was amused that Lee thought this was her chance to get a title run. This was an opportunity to gather all of her friends and family and give her a send-off. The retirement match she never got or even deserved. They could all cry while Lynch shoves away Lee’s hearse. Lee’s gift to them was when she left. Lynch has been making history for ten years, while Lee made comic books. 

Lee invited her into the ring to fight right now. Lynch wasn’t biting, so Lee took a page from Punk’s book and offered her the first shot. Lee put her hands behind her back, but Lynch still wouldn’t hit her. Lynch acted frustrated (another less-than-stellar acting performance) and said she knew Lee was just trying to have an excuse ready for when she lost. Lynch declined and left the ring.

(There was another “Whoop that Trick” chant when Lee challenged Lynch for a fight, so the crowd was chanting anytime there was a chance at a brawl.)

******** 

The Vision confronted Pearce backstage. Theory was pissed that Pearce let his brother Logan be attacked by the masked man. Theory was getting in Pearce’s face, so Heyman urged Theory and Paul to head to the jet. Pearce said the masked man was a problem for him, too. Reed said he would solve the masked man problem when he got his hands on him. Pearce thanked him for this. 

******** 

Cole said the segment with Morgan and Vaquer would be uploaded online with English translations. 

They announced a tribute to AJ Styles next week on Raw in Atlanta. 

Raw next week: 

  • AJ Styles tribute 
  • Elimination Chamber triple threat qualifier: Iyo Sky vs. Raquel Rodriguez vs. Kairi Sane 
  • Elimination Chamber triple threat qualifier: Bronson Reed vs. Jey Uso vs. The Original El Grande Americano (Chad Gable) 

******** 

Triple threat Elimination Chamber qualifying match: Gunther vs. Je’Von Evans vs. Intercontinental Champion Dominik Mysterio 

Dom repeatedly bailed to avoid Gunther as the match got started. Evans went right after Gunther and was taken down a few times until he managed to come back with a dropkick. Gunther dropped him moments later before chopping down Dom. Gunther chopped Evans out of mid-air and drove Dom repeatedly into the barricade. 

Gunther was about to powerbomb Dom outside the ring, but Evans ran across the ring and flew right over the top rope with an impressive dive to wipe out Gunther. (Dom grabbed the ring bell hammer and left it on the steel steps.) 

Evans shined over Dom as they returned from break, but Gunther powerbombed him on top of Dom. Evans caught Gunther in a cover after a hurricanrana, but Gunther kicked out and hit a powerbomb for two. Gunther chopped Evans in the back, but Evans avoided a powerbomb and hit a running knee strike, and Dom broke up the cover. 

Gunther got his knees up on a Dom frog splash before Evans hit Gunther with a springboard clothesline. Gunther caught Evans in a sleeper, but Evans quickly used a jawbreaker to break out of it. Evans went for an OG Cutter, but Gunther caught him in a sleeper. Dom broke that up with a frog splash on Gunther’s back. Dom went for a 619, but Gunther planted him with a clothesline. 

Dom grabbed the ring bell hammer as Evans put Gunther in a sleeper. Gunther hit a back suplex and booted Dom out of the ring. Gunther grabbed the hammer away from Dom, but Dragon Lee suddenly appeared and hit Gunther with the ring bell (as revenge for getting beaten up two weeks ago). 

With Gunther out, Dom hit Evans with a 619, but Evans avoided a frog splash and hit an OG Cutter for the pinfall win. 

Match result: Je’Von Evans defeated Dominik Mysterio and Gunther to qualify for the Men’s Elimination Chamber (14:40)  

This match was ok. The crowd was quiet for most of it, but they really got into the OG Cutter (and his earlier attempts at it) and popped huge for Evans’ win. It ultimately came across like a big win for Evans in the end.

Two segments added to WWE Raw lineup

Posted on by Joseph Currier

The lineup for WWE Raw in Memphis, Tennessee tonight has a couple of new additions.

WWE has announced that promo segments with CM Punk and Liv Morgan addressing their respective directions will take place on Raw tonight. Punk will look ahead to his Elimination Chamber clash against Finn Balor and WrestleMania 42 matchup against Roman Reigns, while Morgan will address the fans as she contemplates which championship to challenge for at WrestleMania.

Punk vs. Balor for the World Heavyweight Championship is now official for Elimination Chamber in Punk’s hometown of Chicago on February 28. If Punk retains there, he will head to WrestleMania to defend against Reigns.

WWE.com wrote about tonight’s segment:

  • World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk takes to the mic tonight as he prepares for two huge title defenses: Finn Bálor at WWE Elimination Chamber and, if he can overcome The Prince of The Judgment Day, Roman Reigns at WrestleMania.
  • Don’t miss The Second City Saint tonight at 8 ET/5 PT on Raw on Netflix.

As the winner of the 2026 women’s Royal Rumble match, Morgan will challenge either Women’s World Champion Stephanie Vaquer or WWE Women’s Champion Jade Cargill at Mania. WWE.com wrote about her appearance tonight:

  • 2026 Women’s Royal Rumble winner Liv Morgan has had volatile confrontations with Women’s World Champion Stephanie Vaquer on Raw and with WWE Women’s Champion Jade Cargill on SmackDown. 
  • Tonight, Morgan returns to Monday Night Raw and, as always, both Intercontinental Champion Dominik Mysterio and all-out chaos promise to come with her. 
  • Don’t miss all the action on Raw at 8 ET/5 PT on Netflix. 

FedExForum in Memphis is the location for tonight’s show. Here is the updated lineup:

WWE Raw (Monday, February 16) —

  • Elimination Chamber qualifying match: Gunther vs. Je’Von Evans vs. Dominik Mysterio
  • Elimination Chamber qualifying match: Bayley vs. Asuka vs. Nattie
  • CM Punk addresses his upcoming matches against Finn Balor and Roman Reigns
  • Women’s Royal Rumble winner Liv Morgan addresses the WWE Universe
  • AJ Lee appears ahead of challenging Women’s Intercontinental Champion Becky Lynch at Elimination Chamber