With WrestleMania 42 now less than a month away, this episode of WWE Monday Night RAW should have felt focused, urgent, and loaded with purpose. Instead, RAW felt like a show with a lot happening but not enough truly connecting the way it should. There were bright spots. Oba Femi continued to look like a future main-event star opposite Brock Lesnar. Penta retained the Intercontinental Championship in the most story-heavy part of the night. Bayley and Lyra Valkyria had the best match on the show. Becky Lynch kept doing the heavy lifting in her feud with AJ Lee. But the bigger story coming out of Boston is that RAW still feels cluttered, overbooked, and far too comfortable sacrificing clarity for chaos. This close to WrestleMania, that is a problem.
Here are the full results
- The Vision def. The Usos by disqualification
- AJ Lee gave Becky Lynch a rematch for the Women’s Intercontinental Championship at WrestleMania 42
- Je’Von Evans def. Grayson Waller
- Seth Rollins attacked Paul Heyman before being taken away by police and security
- Bayley & Lyra Valkyria def. The Kabuki Warriors
- Penta (c) def. Dominik Mysterio (Intercontinental Championship)
- Roman Reigns and The Usos stood tall over CM Punk to close the show
Breakdown & Reactions
The clearest success on this show remains Oba Femi vs. Brock Lesnar. WWE continues to make this feel like a true super fight, and Oba does not look one bit out of place in Lesnar’s world. Brock needed to reestablish dominance after last week, but instead Oba slipped out of the F-5 and sent him over the top rope again. That was the story. That was all this feud needed. Paul Heyman’s promo before it felt repetitive and unnecessary. Brock and Oba do not need Heyman to sell this match. The physicality and the crowd reaction are doing that on their own, and at this point Oba feels like the man who has to go over at WrestleMania.
Heyman being stretched across too many stories continues to hurt the overall shape of RAW. He is attached to Brock, still floating around The Vision, and then later dropped into the Seth Rollins segment. Instead of making things feel connected, it makes the show feel crowded. If The Vision is supposed to be important, there should be tension about Heyman dividing his attention. There is none. That is part of why so much of RAW feels muddled right now.
The tag title picture is another example. The Usos are the WWE World Tag Team Champions, but they still feel more wrapped up in Roman Reigns’ feud with CM Punk than in their own WrestleMania direction. Their match with The Vision ended in disqualification, set up a Street Fight for next week, and still left the bigger questions unanswered. What exactly does Seth Rollins have to do with this title program? Why are the champions this deep in Bloodline business when WrestleMania is this close? The booking feels like it is moving pieces around without fully explaining why.
That same issue carried into the closing segment. CM Punk mocking Roman for always needing his family was a strong enough setup on its own, but once Jey Uso got involved and Jimmy had to calm him down, the focus shifted right back into familiar Bloodline dysfunction. Roman is supposed to be The OTC, yet Jey was the one pushing the violence and Roman followed it. Roman standing tall over Punk with the table spot was a strong closing image, but it did not make the feud feel any clearer. Punk laughing through the wreckage was the best part of the segment because it gave him the final psychological edge. Even so, this feud still feels shakier than it should this close to WrestleMania.
The pacing also hurt the show. The first half hour moved well, but once RAW hit the second hour, it started to drag. The commercials felt constant, the show lost rhythm, and too many segments felt like setups for other segments instead of meaningful destinations themselves.
Becky Lynch and AJ Lee had a notable segment, but Becky continues to be the one carrying the feud. Her heel work is sharp, bitter, and convincing. AJ still sounds like she is cutting promos from a different era, and that makes the dynamic feel uneven. There is still value in the match, but Becky is doing most of the work to make it feel important.
Je’Von Evans vs. Grayson Waller was a good match that went a little too long and did not need the commercial break structure around it. Evans looked strong, but Waller’s decline continues to stand out. He feels less important by the week, and commentary trying to frame him otherwise is not matching what is actually happening on screen.
The Seth Rollins and Paul Heyman segment was just pure chaos. It was loud, bizarre, and memorable in a messy way, but it did not add much real substance. It felt more like WWE chasing a wild moment than telling a strong WrestleMania story.
Bayley and Lyra Valkyria vs. The Kabuki Warriors was the best match of the night. It had the cleanest structure, the strongest in-ring work, and the best pace on the show. The only issue was how quickly the win turned into a title match for next week. That has become a pattern on RAW lately. WWE is rushing from result to reward without letting anything breathe.
That brings everything back to the Intercontinental Championship match, which should have been treated like one of the biggest parts of the night. Instead, WWE packed too much into too little time. Stephanie Vaquer attacking Liv Morgan advanced one story. Dominik getting his rematch against Penta advanced another. Finn Bálor hovering over Dominik and Judgment Day added a third layer. There was real substance here, and this was easily the most story-dense part of the show. That is exactly why it felt so frustratingly rushed. Penta retaining was the right call, but this entire scene deserved far more time and focus than it got. In a lot of ways, this felt more important than the actual closing segment.
That is the larger issue with RAW right now. There are good stories here, but WWE is cramming too much into too little space. With WrestleMania getting closer, the road should feel sharper than this. Instead, it still feels like a whirlwind in the worst way.
Announced for next week’s WWE Monday Night RAW
- The Usos (c) vs. Austin Theory & Logan Paul (WWE World Tag Team Championship Street Fight)
- Bayley & Lyra Valkyria vs. Nia Jax & Lash Legend (WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship)
- Iyo Sky vs. Raquel Rodriguez
- Brock Lesnar returns
Current and updated WrestleMania 42 card
- CM Punk (c) vs. Roman Reigns (World Heavyweight Championship)
- Cody Rhodes (c) vs. Randy Orton (Undisputed WWE Championship)
- Stephanie Vaquer (c) vs. Liv Morgan (Women’s World Championship)
- Jade Cargill (c) vs. Rhea Ripley (WWE Women’s Championship)
- Oba Femi vs. Brock Lesnar
- AJ Lee (c) vs. Becky Lynch (Women’s Intercontinental Championship)
Final Thoughts
This was not a bad RAW, but it was a frustrating one. Oba Femi vs. Brock Lesnar continues to deliver. The women’s tag match was strong. The Intercontinental title scene had real depth. Becky Lynch keeps shining in her heel role. But too much of the show still feels overcrowded, overly chaotic, and lacking the kind of clean direction WrestleMania season demands. RAW advanced stories tonight, but it still did not feel as focused, satisfying, or meaningful as it should with WrestleMania 42 this close.
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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?!