WWE Raw live results: CM Punk, Paul Heyman, Seth Rollins appear

The second-to-last WWE Raw episode before WrestleMania 41 takes place tonight from the Target Center in Minneapolis.
CM Punk, Paul Heyman, and Seth Rollins are all scheduled for the show. On SmackDown last Friday, Punk revealed that he’s cashing in his favor to have Heyman in his corner at WrestleMania. Punk vs. Rollins vs. Roman Reigns is official for the show and will main event night one
Another triple threat could get announced for WrestleMania with Raw general manager Adam Pearce set to address the Women’s World Championship situation tonight. IYO SKY vs. Bianca Belair is the match that’s currently on the books for Mania, but Rhea Ripley is expected to be added. Last week’s SKY vs. Ripley title bout ended in a chaotic brawl after special guest referee Belair called for a double disqualification.
Lyra Valkyria vs. Bayley for the Women’s Intercontinental title and The War Raiders vs. New Day for the World Tag Team titles have both been announced for tonight. Penta will be in action against Dominik Mysterio. And “El Grande Americano” will compete in Chad Gable’s hometown.
Our live coverage begins at 8 p.m. Eastern time.
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– Michael Cole welcomed everyone into the show as shots of Allegiant Stadium aired. The scene then cut to Minneapolis, where Raw is being held tonight.
– Gunther, The New Day, War Raiders, Judgment Day, Penta and Paul Heyman were all shown walking backstage.
– A recap of last week’s IYO SKY/Bianca Belair/Rhea Ripley developments aired.
– RAW GM Adam Pearce was in the ring for the first segment. Pearce welcomed IYO SKY to the ring.
The IYO SKY/Rhea Ripley/Bianca Belair segment
There wasn’t too much to this and if anything it put an exclamation point on the fact that the build for this match has been lackluster and on top of that, there’s a growing number of people who subscribe to the notion that this shouldn’t even be a triple threat to begin with. Ripley vs. Belair would have been great. Ditto for SKY vs. Ripley. Ditto for all the other combinations. Instead, this feels like a triple threat for the sake of being a triple threat. The match will probably be pretty good, but what could have been would have been better. I hope Ripley is OK. That dropkick she took from SKY forced her to konk heads with Belair and Ripley appeared to take the worst of it.
Pearce began by taking responsibility for what happened last week. Pearce said he was wrong to think any of them could handle things like professionals. Pearce then announced to right the wrong, he’s going to make the WWE Women’s Championship match at WrestleMania a triple threat between Belair, SKY and Ripley. Pearce presented a contract for everyone to sign.
Belair hopped on a microphone and said she would normally be mad that Ripley just walked in, did whatever she wanted and is now added to the match. These days, Belair said, she’s not mad, though, because she’s not scared of Ripley. Belair said she will walk out of WrestleMania as the new WWE Women’s Champion and she wil go through Ripley to get it.
Ripley started talking and Belair told Ripley to shut up and pushed the contract into Ripley’s chest, telling her to sign the document. Ripley through the contract back at Belair. SKY intervened and the women pushed her away. SKY was annoyed, threw down her mic and walked out of the ring. Pearce stopped her and SKY dropkicked Ripley into Belair before signing the contract for WrestleMania. Ripley and Belair were left lying as SKY’s music hit and SKY left to end the segment.
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– Finn Balor vs. Penta vs. Dominik Mystero vs. Bron Breakker for the Intercontinental Championship was made official for WrestleMania.
– The Judgment Day were shown backstage and Live was attempting to convince Balor it’s best to have two members of their group in the Mania match. Balor noted how some think Dom doesn’t have a killer instinct and is a loser. Things got weird and Balor walked away. Carlito stepped in and said he has Dom’s back.
Lyra Valkyria defeated Bayley to retain the WWE Women’s Intercontinental Championship [13:24]
There were some clunky moments, but the crowd really came around by the end of it and the women worked really hard to get there. Plus … my God, those knees that Bayley laid in were something to behold. The first one, especially, felt a little personal, but thankfully, Valkyria seemed OK. The post-match stuff was odd in that Valkyria seemed surprised that Bayley first shrugged her off and then hugged her. If anything, Valkyria looked confused. Either way, this is one of the better women’s I.C. title matches to date. Not that there have been a lot, but this felt like these two had a point to prove. It wasn’t perfect, but it seemed like they got to where it needed to be by the time it was all said and done.
The two wrestled for control to start things out with Valkyria getting the best of it for a quick moment. Valkyria rolled up Bayley for a two-count and the match reset. Bayley rolled through to pin Valkyria, but Valkyria kicked out at two. Bayley knee’d the hell out of Valkyria’s head and things looked dicey for a couple seconds but Valkyria bounced back and went for a pair of pin attempts to no avail.
Valkyria worked what Pat McAfee called an Irish Swing, which stretched Bayley out. Valkyria eventually got a two-count because of it. Valkyria went to kick Bayley, but Bayley moved and went to the outside. Valkyria landed a dropkick through the ropes onto Bayley. Back inside the ring, Valkyria hit a cross-body from the top rope for a two-count. The show then went to a commercial break.
The show went to a commercial break and Bayley was working a half-crab. The two traded forearms after Valkyria worked her way out of the submission. Bayley hit a neck-breaker and Valkyria fell to the outside. Bayley followed up with a baseball slide, but Valkyria moved when Bayley went for a suicide dive. All of this ended up with Bayley giving Valkyria a Bayley-To-Belly on the outside of the ring. Both wrestlers barely beat the 10-count to get back inside the ring.
Bayley lfited Valkyria, but Valkyria countered with an arm-drag. Valkyria landed Night Wing, but Bayley kicked out at two. Cole sold the fact that Valkyria “didn’t get all of it.” Valkyria lifted Bayley again, but Bayley worked out and landed another stiff knee to Valkyria’s head. Bayley placed Valkyria on the top and went for a super-plex, but Valkyria fought out and lifted Bayley, but that amounted to nothing. As a result, Bayley came back with a Sunset Flip Bomb into a corner.
Bayley kicked Valkyria a few times and went to the arpon. Valkyria cut her off and dragged her back into the ring for a Tornado DDT-Fisherman’s Suplex combination and earned a good near fall because of it. Valkyria went to the top, but Bayley caught Valkyria and worked a Boston Crab. The crowd woke up at the thought of Bayley beating Valkyria. Bayley let go of the hold and set up for a Rose Plant, but Valkyria rolled Bayley up and escaped with the win.
After the match, Valkyria went for a handshake, but Bayley pushed her away. Bayley started to walk away, but turned around and hugged Valkyria.
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– Cathy Kelly interviewed comedian Burt Kreischer backstage, but Chad Gable interrupted him. Otis then walked in and ripped his own shirt off. Kreischer did the same to himself and Otis and Kreischer hugged.
– Jackie Redmond interviewed AJ Styles backstage and mentioned how Logan Paul “did a lot of things” last week. Redmond asked Styles where his head was at. Styles said it’s in a good place because he’ll get an opportunity to embarrass Logan Paul. Karrion Kross showed up and asked Styles to explain the situation to him. Kross said he can’t let Styles lose at Mania because if he loses, they all lose. Styles said he’ll give Kross a taste of the better AJ Styles next week on Raw.
American Made (El Grande Americano, Julius Creed & Brutus Creed) defeated the LWO (Dragon Lee, Cruz Del Toro & Joaquin Wilde) [10:28]
A fine TV match for what it was. I’m sort of agnostic on the Americano bit, and I’m not sure they got the most out of Gable being in his home state, but this was fun in its own silly way. Wilde and Del Toro deserve better. Shoot. Dragon Lee deserves better. Having covered the SmackDown beat for this site the last few years, I can attest to the fact that the LWO spun its wheels on Friday nights and, now taking this in, it appears the wheels seem to be spinning again on Monday nights for them. All three guys are talented and unless WWE decides to heat Mysterio up, which they haven’t in a while, the LWO feels like a non-starter. That in mind, this was a quality television six-man that had a few memorable spots. So it goes.
Brutus grounded Del Toro to start the match and followed it up with a strong shoulder block. Julius tagged in and Del Toro hit an arm-drag before tagging in Wilde. Wilde spun Julius around with his legs and went for an arm-bar, but that only led to things breaking down as all six men brawled inside the ring. The LWO team stood tall and hit a trio of dives onto their opponents on the outside of the ring. Back inside the ring, the LWO trio went to separate top ropes, but the heels cut them off and landed a series of super-plexes. The show then went to a commercial break.
The show returned and Julius was working over Lee. The two fought on the second rope and Lee turned things around with a double-stomp. Del Toro received the hot tag as Brutus tagged in and Del Toro ran over American Made with a series of fired-up moves. Del Toro briefly stopped to throw his shirt into the crowd. Del Toro kept up the momentum until Americano got involved. Lee tagged in and lifted Americano. I’m not quite sure what happened, but Americano got up and went face-to-face with Lee, who powerbombed Americano. Julius appeared out of nowhere for a Shooting Star Press on Lee. “This is awesome!” chants began.
Wilde jumped 5,000 feet in the air onto American Made on the outside. Wilde followed that up with a Corkscrew. Ivy Nile gave Americano something to put into his mask and Americano headbutted Rey Mysterio, but Lee intervened. That led to Americano headbutting Lee and hitting a diving headbutt – complete with the steel plate in his mask – from the top rope on Lee for the win.
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– A recap of what happened between Gunther and the Usos last week aired.
The Gunther/Jey Uso segment
This was really good. Really, really good. The touch of Jey motioning for the crowd to not Yeet along with him because of how serious the moment was turned out to be quite effective, most so because the crowd actually kind of/sort of listened and settled down. I’m not sure I’ve seen more fire ever come from Jey Uso in a promo and Gunther played his part perfectly, grinning until he didn’t, feeling at ease until it was clear he was unsettled. I’ve been wondering all these weeks about how they’d keep heat on this program, considering how early in the season the match was announced, and while there was a lull, this was fantastic in terms of adding another layer to the match. Kudos to both guys. If nothing else, they made this viewer care.
Gunther walked out all smiles, laughing a bit, even. Gunther stood on the commentary table and held up his title as the crowd booed. Gunther was given a microphone on the outside of the ring and Gunther then entered the ring. “We want Jey!” chants broke out. Before Gunther could talk, Jey Uso’s music hit and the arena started to Yeet. Uso walked through the crowd not Yeeting and looking quite angry. Gunther smiled in the ring and took off his suit coat. Gunther rolled up his sleeves as Uso took his time going through the crowd.
Uso entered the ring. He was in all black and he continued to look angry. Gunther continued to giggle. Uso knocked the microphone out of Gunther’s hand with force. Uso took off his all-black sunglasses to show hurt. “Ohhh-Sooo!” chants broke out. Uso spoke in hushed tones and asked Gunther if he had a mom. Gunther looked confused. Uso asked Gunther if he talks to his mom and asked Gunther what they talk about – “Family stuff? How’s the wife? How’s the grandson?” Uso said he has a mother, too, and he had to tell his mom that her son is in a hospital bed.
Uso said Jimmy got 15 stitches in his head. Uso said his mom asked Jey, “Why didn’t you protect him, Joshua?” Jey said he wasn’t going to lie to his mom and he told her that it was because he was afraid of Gunther. Jey said Gunther was playing chess and he had Jey, but it wasn’t enough for Gunther. Gunther had to get Jey’s family involved, Jey said, and recalled how he watched Gunther wipe his brother’s blood all over his body. Jey said he never felt so hopeless, helpless, pissed off, etc. Jey yelled at Gunther and said he violated his twin in front of him and made his heart stop.
Jey said in his darkest moment, a lightbulb went off for him. Jey said he realized he’s not afraid of Gunther no more. “Yeet!” chants broke out. Jey said before WrestleMania, he’s going to lay his head down and say a prayer for Gunther and he’s going to ask the lord to forgive him for the man he’s about to become. Jey said at WrestleMania, he’s going to get Gunther for himself, for his Jimmy and his whole damn family. Jey said he’d take the World Heavyweight Championship and threw the microphone. Jey’s music hit and Jey slowly got himself out of the ring, no Yeeting involved.
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– A video recapping what happened between Roman Reigns, Paul Heyman, CM Punk and Seth Rollins on Friday aired.
– Natalya and Maxxine Dupri were shown talking to Adam Pearce backstage and Rey Mysterio walked in. Mysterio was angry and said Americano is making a mockery of everything he’s ever loved. Mysterio said he wanted to face Americano at WrestleMania. Pearce and Mysterio shook hands.
– Comedian Tony Hinchcliffe joined the commentary team at the desk. He’s hosting the Roast Of WrestleMania, remember?! Yeah. All right.
The New Day (Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods) defeated The War Raiders (Erik & Ivar) via DQ [9:27]
This was flat. Admittedly, I lost a minute or two due to a bad Netflix stream issue, but the finish was nonsense and it appears we’re on our way to the War Raiders vs. New Day at Mania for the tag titles. That’s fine. Trying to heat it up with less than two weeks to go by having the New Day attempt to kill Erik feels a bit rushed, but we are where we are. I like the New Day as heels and I root for the War Raiders to work, considering how they were once on the short end of the booking stick when it comes to the company’s former booker. But does this have any juice behind it? No. It does not.
Ivar and Kingston began the match. Kingston quickly rolled to the outside after Ivar got the upper hand. Woods tagged in and teased getting in the ring until Kingston distracted Erik and from there, Woods and Kingston beat Erik down. Eventually, Erik regained control and slammed both Kingston and Woods. Erik bodyslammed Ivar onto Kingston. Wood was thrown outside and Woods grabbed a chair, but Erik cut him off with a punch. Ivar worked over Kingston on the other side of the outside of the ring and Ivar then hit a splash on Woods on the outside. The War Raiders posed for the camera and the show went to a commercial break.
After returning to action, chairs got involved and the War Raiders were DQ’d because of the chairs. After the match, The New Day set up Erik and ran him into a chair perched in the corner. The heels then sent Ivar into the timekeeper’s area. Woods grabbed another chair and New Day went to work on Erik’s surgically repaired neck. Officials ran out to stop Kingston from coming off the top onto Erik’s neck, which was draped on a chair.
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– A video recapping the John Cena/Cody Rhodes program aired.
Penta defeated Dominik Mysterio [8:17]
The winner felt like it was never in doubt. The post-match angle felt like it was never in doubt. Meh. Much like the women’s title match that I whined about earlier, I don’t know why we can’t have a simple one-on-one bout for some of these titles, but Mania is about getting everybody on the card, right? Maybe? How else do you explain those battle royals? Anyway, my preference would have been Penta vs. Bron, but we probably all agree that this is set up for the single reason to give the kill shot to the Judgment Day for good in Vegas. Finally. Mercifully. Hopefully? Whatever it ends up being, this match tonight was predictable and bland.
Dominik had control early, at one point posing on the second rope. Penta ultimately came back with a backbreaker and a kind of/sort of Slingblade. Penta went to the top and landed a cross-body on Dominik and Carlito, who were on the outside. The show went to a commercial break after that. The show returned and Penta jumped into a kick from Dom, who then landed the Three Amigos for a two-count. Dom dropkicked Penta and set up for a 619, but instead ran into a super-kick from Penta .
Penta landed the double-stomp onto Dom in a corner, but Dom got the shoulder up at two. Penta went for his finisher, but Dom countered and hit a Destroyer of his own. Dom then hit the 619 and went for a Frog Splash, but Penta got his knees up to stop Dom’s momentum. Penta tried for a pin, but Dom got out of it and went for a clothesline, but Penta took Dom down and hit the Sacrifice into the Penta Driver for the win.
After the match, Carlito attacked Penta, complete with a Backstabber. Bron Breakker’s music hit and Breakker slowly walked out and speared the hell out of Carlito. Bron did the same to Dirty Dom inside the ring. Finally, the completed the trifecta by spearing Penta. Finn Balor appeared out of nowhere and took out Bron. Balor then picked up the I.C. title and held it high. Bron tried to spear Balor, but Balor rolled out of the ring. Bron’s music hit to end the segment.
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– Next week, AJ Styles will take on Karrion Kross. Also next week, Roman Reigns is set to appear.
The Paul Heyman/Seth Rollins segment
This was really kind of good, but my biggest quabble comes in the form of this: Why the hell did it take CM Punk so long to rush out to the ring? Rollins said more than enough and left more than enough space to allow for Punk to stop everything Rollins was doing. The final straw was Heyman snapping at Rollins? I’m not so sure about any of that. The entire build to this match has felt absentminded and when you combine that with the fact that nobody really wants to see it and it’s going to headline a night at WrestleMania … the world is against Punk, Reigns, Rollins and Heyman, but maybe they can pull a rabbit out of a hat. Time will tell. As for this, it was a solid talking segment that put everything about Heyman into question, which is a good thing. Rollins did a nice job antagonizing not just the Wise Man, but the situation, writ large. With one Monday left, I’m interested to see how they tie a bow on this heading into the Big Show.
Paul Heyman was in the ring back from commercial and Heyman did his regular introduction. Heyman launched right into it and said he will always be loyal to his Tribal Chief, Roman Reigns. Heyman said he will always be loyal to his best friend in the world, CM Punk. Heyman said just because he is loyal to both of them, it doesn’t mean he will ever be disloyal to either of them. Heyman said when it comes to WrestleMania, he wanted to get one thing perfectly clear … until Seth Rollins’s music hit and cut Heyman off.
Rollins grabbed a microphone and went right up to Heyman before screaming, “Minneapolis!” Rollins welcomed everyone to Monday Night Rollins. “Tonight, it’s not about me,” Rollins said, because tonight “is about Paul Heyman.” Rollins called Heyman out for talking about loyalty and asked Heyman whose side Heyman is on. Rollins asked Heyman if he will be the very best friend to CM Punk or if he will be the wise man to Roman Reigns. Rollins said Heyman is trying to convince everyone he can do both at the same time, but it occurred to Rollins that Heyman is neither thing.
Rollins took off his glasses and told Heyman that Roman Reigns doesn’t give a damn about Heyman. Rollins said Reigns uses Heyman and he said Reigns doesn’t respect Heyman. Rollins brought up WrestleMania last year and said Reigns lost his title thanks to Rollins. Rollins noted how Reigns left Heyman after Mania last year and left Heyman in the hands of Solo Sikoa, who did not treat Heyman well. Rollins said everyone wondered when someone would come save Heyman and brought up how Reigns did not come to save Heyman. Instead, Reigns left Heyman to get massacred in his hometown, in front of his children.
Rollins said CM Punk, his best friend in the world, was also not there to save Heyman. Rollins recalled how Punk walked out on everybody in WWE, Heyman included. Rollins said Punk tried to tear down everything Heyman created while he was in WWE. Rollins talked about how Punk and Heyman love to reminisce about War Games. Rollins brought up the fact that Punk was not the first choice to join Heyman’s team at War Games; instead, it was Rollins and Rollins declined the invitation. Rollins said Punk was the last choice and he said Punk only did because he knew he could get a favor out of Heyman. Rollins said Punk loves nobody but himself and he is not Heyman’s best friend.
Rollins said he feels bad for Heyman because he is between a rock and a hard place. Rollins said it would easier if Heyman just removed himself from the equation and let Punk, Rollins and Reigns battle it out “for the soul of this industry.” Rollins wondered aloud about a way to remove Heyman from the situation. Rollins told Heyman it would be for his own good. Rollins said he would take it as a privilege to remove Heyman from the situation “right here, right now.” Rollins said it’d be quick and easy – one quick stomp and it’s all over. Rollins said nobody was there to save Heyman.
Rollins asked Heyman how much he was worth and slightly pushed Heyman. Rollins asked Heyman how much he was worth and slightly slapped Heyman. Rollins pushed Heyman repeatedly. Heyman broke and yelled, “Don’t put your damn hands on me again.” Heyman threw his microphone and Rollins pie-faced Heyman. CM Punk’s music hit and Punk ran out to brawl with Rollins. Punk threw Rollins into the ring stairs. Punk put Rollins’s head on the ring steps, but Rollins moved and Punk rolled into the ring, where Rollins gave Punk the stomp. Heyman tended to Punk and Rollins tried to Stomp Heyman, but Heyman moved slightly. Rollins pulled back anyway and grabbed the microphone to say that Heyman now owes Rollins a favor. The show ended with Rollins standing tall and Heyman looking confused at Rollins.