Powell’s WWE Raw Hit List: Roman Reigns found the word that triggers CM Punk, Oba Femi steps up as Brock Lesnar’s WrestleMania challenger, a wrestler who is too good for his reduced role

By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)

WWE Raw Hits

Roman Reigns and CM Punk: Another excellent show-closing angle. It was Roman’s night to shine. Punk has claimed multiple times that he’s already won the WrestleMania main event because he’s in Roman’s head. Reigns turned the tables by shrugging off Punk’s insults and then made him snap by calling him old. I love the way that Reigns barely got the word “old” out of his mouth before Punk punched him, which was a great way to show just how much it triggered Punk. I’m very curious to see how Punk will address this next week. Reigns also boasted that he’s stronger and faster than Punk. Will Punk’s character prove Reigns wrong by hanging with him at WrestleMania? Or might this be setting up Punk turning heel because he knows he’s overmatched and living on borrowed time, and will do anything to extend his reign?

Oba Femi and Brock Lesnar: An excellent angle to set up their showdown WrestleMania showdown. It was simple in that Oba quickly dominated Lesnar and put him down with his Fall From Grace finisher. Lesnar is doing his part to elevate Oba, even going so far as to direct Oba to put his foot on him while Oba was standing over him. Michael Cole and Corey Graves get assists for doing a great job of selling this as a major moment. The Seth Rollins and Paul Heyman portion of the segment was decent. I don’t even want to know what Heyman did to make his eye so red and irritated, but I love the way he goes all out to change his appearance to fit whatever the situation calls for. Rollins and the masked men bit was cute for a week. I wonder if creative is keeping it going for a reason. Perhaps it’s just wishful thinking, but I hope to see a jacked masked mystery man show tremendous speed before he spears Rollins and barks afterward.

Penta vs. Dragon Lee for the Intercontinental Title: The San Antonio live crowd was as hot for Penta as anyone on the show. Penta and Lee produced the best match of the night by far, and the live crowd’s investment made it feel important. If Penta is going to hold more open challenges, will his brother Rey Fenix eventually emerge as a challenger? They’ve had sensational matches in the past. I hope to see them face off in WWE, but it will mean more if the creative team takes the time to spotlight their relationship beyond just having the announcers tell us they are brothers.

AJ Lee vs. Bayley for the Women’s Intercontinental Title: A soft Hit for a decent match that had some clunkiness, which is understandable given that this was Lee’s fourth overall match and second singles match in over a decade. Becky Lynch’s attack on Lee afterward likely means their feud is going to WrestleMania for what should be the blowoff to their feud. Meanwhile, Lyra Valkyria saying she would help Bayley get to WrestleMania and that they’d do it together likely means a spot in a multi-team match for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles. I’m hoping for an Asuka vs. Iyo Sky match. Hopefully, the Kabuki Warriors confronting Bayley and Valkyria was meant to set up something for television rather than a sign that Asuka and Kairi Sane will be in the potential multi-team match at WrestleMania.

Women’s World Champion Stephanie Vaquer vs. Raquel Rodriguez in a non-title match: A good television win for Vaquer, who seems to have cooled off a bit after not being featured in enough meaningful segments on television. Cole asking why bad things always seem to happen to Rodriguez whenever Morgan is around seemed to be a hint that creative hasn’t moved on from the friction between the characters that started when Morgan eliminating Rodriguez from the Royal Rumble match.

El Grande Americano vs. Original El Grande Americano: A soft Hit. This was fine for what it was. The Ludwig Kaiser version of Americano stealing the win means there’s more to come. I’ve been over the gag for a some time now, so I vote for a mask vs. mask match with a double pin that forces both men to unmask.

WWE Raw Misses

Nattie vs. Maxxine Dupri: The live crowd sat on their hands. Some of that can be attributed to the fans taking a breather after the hot Penta vs. Dragon Lee match, but there doesn’t seem to be much interest in this feud in general. Nattie’s new gimmick has potential, and the company should do more with it. Dupri has taken the inexperienced underdog act about as far as it can go. It was interesting that she lost decisively and was later shown backstage being comforted by Austin Theory. This combined with the decisive loss gives me hope that she will be moving in a new direction.

Logan Paul: It seemed like Paul was destined to move into a high-profile position once Bron Breakker and Bronson Reed suffered injuries. Rather, Paul has been thrown into a tag team with Austin Theory for a feud with the Usos over the World Tag Team Titles. It’s not that working with the Usos at WrestleMania is bad. What concerns me is that Paul’s television time has been reduced, and his mic time has been scaled back to the extent that even Theory gets more dialogue. Paul gets heat the moment he opens his mouth in front of a live crowd. He’s too good for the limited role he’s playing. Hopefully, things will start to improve when he and Theory face the Usos in a non-title match next week.

(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.)