By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
WWE Raw Hits
Brock Lesnar and Oba Femi: The simple build to this match has been perfect. Oba got the better of Lesnar the two previous weeks, and Paul Heyman came armed with excuses. There was no need to triple down on Oba dominating Lesnar. Rather, the third meeting consisted of both wrestlers roughing up security guards and being held back by others. And just when it looked like they were going to throw down, Paul Levesque entered the ring and stood between them. So much of this rivalry is about anticipation. It’s builds while Lesnar waits in the ring during Oba’s slow entrance march, and it increases with each meeting as they build to their WrestleMania showdown match. Lesnar vs. Oba may not close either show, but it strikes me as the WrestleMania match that the masses are most excited by.
Cody Rhodes and Stephanie McMahon: It was a nice touch to open the Madison Square Garden show with a couple of unadvertised appearances. It was an interesting choice to have Stephanie deliver the message that Cody needs to change his approach if he hopes to survive his battle with this “diabolical” version of Orton. The segment featured some good back-and-forth jabs along with the obligatory big slap from Steph. There has been speculation that she could be Randy’s mystery advisor. Nothing occurred during this segment to support or eliminate that theory. It doesn’t do much for me, but I like it more than the idea of Randy’s father, Bob Orton Jr., being revealed as the person in Randy’s ear on Friday’s Smackdown in their home state of Missouri. I’m still holding out hope that The Rock has been in Randy’s ear while seeking revenge on Cody for not agreeing to sell him his soul, but seeing is believing.
CM Punk and Roman Reigns: They took a needed break from tearing each other down and placed the focus on Punk getting a measure of revenge after Reigns got the better of him last week. Barring an unadvertised appearance by Reigns next week, the go-home show will be the last time they appear on Raw together before WrestleMania. I’m curious to see what they will do next week if Reigns isn’t there, and obviously what they have in mind for the final segment. Here’s hoping that they find time to make the World Heavyweight Championship feel important in between the personal attacks.
Jimmy Uso and Jey Uso vs. Logan Paul and Austin Theory in a Street Fight for the World Tag Team Titles: I wish the focus had been the teams more than what IShowSpeed did at ringside. That said, the way he inadvertently helped Paul and Theory win the tag team titles was clever. I just hope that the rematch that seems likely for WrestleMania isn’t all about the YouTube star, even though he played his part well.
Penta vs. Kofi Kingston for the Intercontinental Title: A soft Hit for a well-worked match that had zero mystery regarding the outcome. The bickering between Kingston and Grayson Waller helped keet things interesting. The announcement that Penta wanted to defend his title in a ladder match at WrestleMania was nothing special, but the match looks great on paper. I’d really like to see the creative team come up with a way to add Penta’s brother, Rey Fenix, to the ladder match.
Raquel Rodriguez vs. Iyo Sky: A soft Hit for a decent match with the mildly surprising win for Rodriguez thanks to a distraction caused by Asuka and Kairi Sane. It was encouraging to see Sky pop right up after she appeared to take a header while performing a suicide dive. Here’s hoping she was still okay once the adrenaline wore off. Assuming she’s okay, it will be interesting to see if Sky faces Asuka at WrestleMania or if they turn this into a Triple Threat with Sane.
WWE Raw Misses
Nia Jax and Lash Legend vs. Lyra Valkyria and Bayley for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles: There were some rough moments. It’s bad enough when there’s no mystery regarding the outcome of some matches, but it’s even worse when the only mystery is whether a match will end by disqualification or count-out. I’m still surprised by the factoid Michael Cole shared that this was the first women’s tag team title match at MSG since the Jumping Bomb Angels faced The Glamour Girls back in 1987.
Seth Rollins and Gunther: It feels like poor Paul Heyman has taken more physical abuse during the first three months of 2026 than he did during the three previous years combined. In this case, Rollins hit him from behind with a chair. And just when it looked like Rollins was going to follow that up with a Stomp on a chair, he was suddenly pulled from the ring. Oh, good, Bron Breakker is… Er, Gunther is back. This was the first time I’ve ever been even slightly disappointed to see Gunther. Don’t get me wrong, Rollins and Gunther should have a very good match, it just feels cold at the moment because they don’t have a storyline. I wonder if there’s still a chance that Breakker could be medically cleared in time to turn the match into a Triple Threat. Either way, the creative team will need to come up with something clever to explain Gunther’s involvement and to get fans invested in the match over the next two weeks. No, yet another pull-apart brawl during the WrestleMania build is not the answer.
(Jason Powell, founder and editor of ProWrestling.net, has covered pro wrestling full-time dating back to 1997. He hosts a weekly podcast, Pro Wrestling Boom, and also appears regularly on the Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Podcast. Reach him via email at dotnetjason@gmail.com and on social media via @prowrestlingnet.bsky.social or x.com/prowrestlingnet. For his full bio and information on this website, click here.)
Breakker will probably cost Seth the match at Mania.
Well the woman’s tag titles haven’t been around too long so of course that factors into them not being defended there all these years.
And they weren’t around that long back then either.
A hit should go to the Uso’s finally getting new music instead of just using Jey’s when they’re teaming and they actually entered from the stage.
A miss should go to no appearance from AJ or Becky in MSG.There wasn’t even a mention of their match!