WWE Monday Night RAW heads into tonight with one job: make the road to Clash In Italy feel urgent. Last week’s RAW was the first major red-brand reset after Backlash, and it ended with the kind of chaos WWE clearly wants carrying Roman Reigns and Jacob Fatu into the next chapter. Roman wanted acknowledgment. Jacob gave him violence. The Usos tried to manage family business. Fatu turned it into a crime scene. Now RAW comes to Greensboro with Reigns set to respond, the Women’s Tag Team Titles on the line, Oba Femi’s open challenge continuing, and the El Grande Americano mess somehow getting even more crowded.
Here is everything advertised for tonight’s show
- Roman Reigns responds to Jacob Fatu’s attack
- Paige & Brie Bella (c) vs. Roxanne Perez & Raquel Rodriguez (WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship)
- Oba Femi Open Challenge
- El Grande Americano & Los Americanos vs. “Original” El Grande Americano & Los Americanos Hermanos (Six-Man Tornado Tag Team Match)
Last week’s RAW from Knoxville opened with Roman Reigns already trying to force the issue. Adam Pearce told him Jacob Fatu did not deserve to be in the building after what happened at Backlash, but Roman made it clear he did not just want Jacob punished — he wanted Jacob to acknowledge him. Roman framed it as family order. Jacob framed it as disrespect. That difference is why this angle has juice. Roman can beat Jacob in a match and still not control him, and that is the entire story.
The opening segment with The Vision, The Street Profits and Joe Hendry set the tone for the night. Paul Heyman tried to erase Seth Rollins from The Vision’s history, Bron Breakker stood there as the group’s weapon, and Logan Paul and Austin Theory leaned into being arrogant tag champions. The Street Profits came out with a real direction again: they want the World Tag Team Titles. Joe Hendry then did what Joe Hendry does and turned the crowd against Logan Paul with the “Can We Fire Logan Paul?” bit. It was goofy, but it worked because the crowd bought into it and because Logan is at his best when fans want to see him get embarrassed.
The six-man tag gave RAW a strong in-ring start. Angelo Dawkins opened fast with a wrist lock, leapfrog, corkscrew elbow drop, Stinger Splash and enzuigiri. Logan Paul slowed him down with body shots and knee strikes, then Bron Breakker changed the pace with an inside-out lariat and snap suplex on Montez Ford. The Vision cut off the ring well, especially with Logan using the rear chin lock and cheap shots to keep Ford and Hendry isolated. Hendry’s hot tag gave the match some life with clotheslines, a fallaway slam and his signature pop-up energy, but the match really kicked into gear when Ford got loose, hit the flying crossbody, launched Breakker, nailed the somersault plancha and nearly stole the match with a powerslam counter. The finish protected everybody: Breakker went for the wraparound Spear, Seth Rollins appeared and wiped him out, and Dawkins rolled up Theory for the win. Afterward, Breakker still got his pound of flesh by Spearing Dawkins, while Rollins and Ford nearly came to blows. That was good television because it advanced three threads at once: Street Profits vs. The Vision, Rollins vs. Breakker, and the growing distrust around Rollins.
The Intercontinental Title picture also moved forward with Penta, Ethan Page, Rusev and Je’Von Evans. Page did the smarmy heel thing well, bragging about pinning Penta and wanting the spotlight of the Intercontinental Championship. Rusev interrupted because he felt like Page was skipping the line, then Page tried to manipulate him by blaming Je’Von. Evans came out, called out the lie, and the whole thing broke down with Penta and Evans clearing the ring. That led straight into Je’Von Evans vs. Rusev, which was one of those matches where the result mattered more than the length. Rusev worked like the bully: knees, choking on the ropes, suplexes, clubbing offense, the Fallaway Slam onto the announce table and a Machka Kick for a near fall. Evans bumped big, kept fighting from underneath, and hit the Whisper in the Wind, bouncy hurricanrana, springboard clothesline, Red Dot, We Outside and finally the OG Cutter to win. Beating Rusev is not small. WWE is clearly positioning Je’Von as more than just “the athletic young guy.” He is being tested against monsters, veterans and champions, and last week was a real credibility win.
The Asuka and IYO SKY moment was quietly one of the most important pieces of the night. After Backlash, Asuka hugged IYO backstage, told her she was proud of her and called her the person ready to take over her role as senpai. IYO called her family and said goodbye. WWE played it with enough emotion that fans were right to wonder whether this was a temporary exit, a long-term break or something bigger. The honest truth is WWE needs to be careful here. If this is Asuka’s goodbye, it deserves more than a quick backstage scene. But if this is the beginning of IYO fully stepping into that top Japanese women’s wrestling legacy role on WWE TV, then the symbolism worked.
IYO then backed it up in the ring against Sol Ruca. This was the kind of match Sol needed, even in defeat. They started with chain wrestling, standing switches, hammerlocks, wrist control and headscissors before escalating into the athletic exchanges. Sol hit the wraparound kick, springboard tornillo, Pop-Up Blue Thunder Bomb and Cartwheel DDT. IYO answered with the flying hurricanrana on the floor, avalanche Spanish Fly, shotei strikes, missile dropkick and Bullet Train attacks. The finish was smart: Sol went for the Sol Snatcher, IYO saw it coming and rolled through into a crucifix pin. Sol looked like the future without needing to beat IYO immediately. Fans online can be too quick to call every loss a burial, but this was not that. This was a showcase loss, and there is a big difference.
The Women’s Tag Team Title scene got physical when Liv Morgan, Roxanne Perez and Raquel Rodriguez laid out champions Paige and Brie Bella. That attack set up tonight’s title defense, and it is one of the more interesting matches on the show because Paige and Brie still feel like a nostalgia act trying to prove they are more than a WrestleMania moment. Roxanne and Raquel feel like the stronger week-to-week team, but Liv’s involvement gives the challengers an extra layer of danger. If WWE wants the champions to feel legitimate, tonight can’t just be smoke and mirrors. Paige and Brie need to show they can still carry a title match, not just carry a reaction.
Oba Femi’s open challenge was more angle than match last week, but it told you everything about him. Nobody answered, Adam Pearce tried to cancel it, and Oba basically created his own match by dragging Los Garza into the ring. He smashed them in under a minute with running uppercuts, toss slams and Fall From Grace. It was simple, violent and effective. The criticism is also fair: open challenges can get repetitive fast if there is no meaningful opponent. Oba looks like a monster, but monsters need victims who matter. Tonight, WWE needs somebody with credibility to answer the challenge, because another squash will get the pop but not move him forward.
Dominik Mysterio defending the AAA Mega Championship against “Original” El Grande Americano was ridiculous in the way only wrestling can be ridiculous. The match had actual work underneath the comedy: arm drags, ankle lock attempts, a Fujiwara armbar, a Northern Lights suplex, Michinoku Driver, Dragon Suplex and Tornado DDT. But the finish leaned fully into the chaos with Los Americanos, Los Americanos Hermanos and masked interference everywhere before Dominik hit the 619 and Frog Splash to retain. Tonight’s six-man tornado tag should be messy by design. The problem is WWE has to make sure the joke does not swallow the match. A little absurdity is fine. Too much, and the audience stops caring who is who.
The closing angle was the real headline. Roman came out for the Acknowledgment Ceremony, but Jacob Fatu never played along. He attacked Jey Uso backstage with headbutts, destroyed Jimmy near ringside, then went straight at Roman. Roman used Superman Punches and chair shots and kept demanding acknowledgment. Jacob answered with a Superkick, Tongan Death Grip, suicide dive, ring-post shot, Running Boot, table-clearing violence, repeated headbutts and a powerbomb through the announce table. Then he put Roman and The Usos through the timekeeper’s barricade with a massive running hip attack and posed with the World Heavyweight Championship. That visual mattered. Roman won at Backlash, but Jacob left RAW looking like the man Roman cannot control.
That is why tonight’s Roman response matters. If Roman comes out and just cuts the usual “acknowledge me” promo, WWE will have wasted the best part of the story. The interesting part is not Roman being dominant. The interesting part is Roman realizing Jacob Fatu is not Jey, not Jimmy, not Solo and not someone who can be guilted into falling in line. Jacob’s whole argument is that Roman and The Usos left his family behind, and whether fans agree with him or not, it gives him a reason beyond “crazy Bloodline monster.” That is the difference between a hot angle and another lazy trip back to the Bloodline well.
The genuine honesty: last week’s RAW was not perfect, but it had direction. The opening six-man was strong, IYO vs. Sol overdelivered, Je’Von got a meaningful win, Oba Femi looked like a killer, and the final angle felt big. The weaker pieces are the ones WWE always has to watch — too many backstage reset segments, comedy that can become too cute, and the danger of dragging Roman/Fatu into the same Bloodline pattern that WWE has leaned on for years. But Jacob Fatu is making this feel different because he is not playing scared, conflicted or manipulated. He is playing angry, violent and justified in his own mind. That is why fans and wrestling media came out of last week talking about him standing tall more than Roman simply “winning” the feud.
Current WWE Clash In Italy match card
- Cody Rhodes (c) vs. Gunther — Undisputed WWE Championship
As of now, Cody Rhodes vs. Gunther is the only match officially set for Clash In Italy. The card still needs major RAW representation, and tonight should start filling in those blanks. Roman Reigns vs. Jacob Fatu feels like the obvious direction, but WWE has not officially added it yet.
Final thoughts
Tonight’s RAW needs to be more than a follow-up. It needs to be a course-setter. Roman Reigns responding to Jacob Fatu should feel like a major World Heavyweight Championship angle, not just another family argument. Paige and Brie Bella need to prove the Women’s Tag Team Titles are not being carried by nostalgia. Oba Femi needs an open challenge opponent who actually matters. And the El Grande Americano story needs to stay fun without becoming nonsense.
Last week gave RAW momentum because the show ended with violence, consequence and a visual that stuck. Jacob Fatu standing over Roman Reigns and The Usos felt like a warning shot. Tonight has to answer the obvious question: does Roman still control his own island, or did Jacob Fatu just burn the whole thing down on the road to Clash In Italy?
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I’m the quiet one until the bell rings then I’ve got takes. I live for WWE NXT and TNA, I want every promotion to succeed, and I will absolutely roast the bad decisions on sight (because someone has to). Anime taught me to respect long-term storytelling; wrestling taught me that sometimes the plan is “we panicked” and called it “unpredictable.” The Miz got me into all of this, so yeah I appreciate confidence, commitment, and the art of talking like you’re already the main event. Now I bring that same energy to the page as the main writer for Late Night Crew Wrestling because if you’re not here to be must-see and tell the truth, why are you here?!