WWE Now - Jacob Fatu challenges Roman Reigns for World Heavyweight Title | Raw Recap

Ready to launch your business? Get started with the commerce platform made for entrepreneurs. Shopify is specially designed to help you start, run and grow your business with easy customizable themes that let you build your brand, marketing tools that get your products out there, integrated shipping solutions that actually save you time, from startups to scale-ups, online, in-person and on-the-go. Shopify is made for entrepreneurs like you. Sign up for your $1 a month trial at Shopify.com. Rated T for Team. In this game, there is no luck. Luck is for losers. It's unlike any place in the world. It's not even a place. It's a destination. WrestleMania 42 years, over 400 matches. And now, history is what you make of it. WWE 2K26, the show never stops. A potential update on Barack Lesnar. Seth Rollins confronts the vision. Ethan Page on Raw. The Street Profits are back. A confrontation between CM Punk and Cody Rhodes. Oba Femi declares himself the ruler. And oh yeah, Jacob Fatou confronts the world heavyweight champion. Roman Reigns, it can only be the Raw after WrestleMania and this is the Raw recap on WWE now. A WWE and Fanatics original production. Welcome, Megan. We made it. We made it once again to the Raw after WrestleMania. So Ruka, by the way, is gonna be on this show. She made, forgive the pun, a big splash. She did. Monday Night Raw. We are at the T-Mobile Arena. We are in Las Vegas, Nevada. What an incredible weekend that it has been. So much fun covering it all, but we ain't finished. Not yet by a long shot. Because just a moment ago, a moment ago, on that arena floor that's right outside this door, Roman Reigns came to the ring with a simple intention. Old music? What, that's the OG music. It's back for WrestleMania. Because he's the champion again and champions have aura. That's the aura music. But he came to the ring with a simple intention, which was to talk about being the champion and to talk about business. But on the way there, he brought the Usos. He said maybe it's time to discuss some family business. And I got a little nervous. I was like, oh my gosh, is Crash out J gonna crash out on Roman Reigns? That was my first thought. Not with big ooze there. I thought, okay, I'm gonna go with the Roman Reigns. I was a little worried. No, no, no. So after WrestleMania, crazy things happen. But everybody in that ring won their WrestleMania match. That's what that dynasty does. They win when it counts. And Roman Reigns tells the Usos, his cousins, Jimmy and Jay, I miss you guys. I miss working with you. I miss knowing that I have your full respect, your full love. And Samson, the audience going, me too. Me too. I miss it so much every day I think about it. And Jimmy lets Roman know that he already knows what it is. First Roman saying it's crazy. He said separated we're weaker. Together is where we are stronger. We can't be like this. These weak fingers, no, we have to be strong together as a fist. He says, Jay, you're Mr. Yeet. And the whole crowd, everybody in the T-Mobile arena starts eating. Yeet. He says, but alone, not together, you have washed 90s rappers insulting you. He said, that's crazy to me. I was so glad he brought that up because that was a clip that everybody was talking about this past week. Cameron getting pulled over the table. Yes. Absolutely. But more of that should be happening when there's even an inch of disrespect thrown the way of the Samoan dynasty. And I think that was Roman's point. He said that should never have happened and it would never have happened if we were together. And Jimmy said to Roman, you already know what it is. We've got the ones up because we the ones. And to hear that again after all this time was music to my ears. And just as we're enjoying this moment, just as we're enjoying this time with the family back together, my favorite family, including the Roberts, just as we're enjoying this time with the family back together, what do we hear? Jacob Fattu's music. How does it go? What did you say in the beginning? Fattu! And I go at first, I thought this is great. I thought we were in family reunion mode because we've never seen Jacob Fattu as part of that togetherness. No, because Jacob Fattu, he couldn't. He's bloodline 2.0. Yeah, bloodline 2.0. He made his debut in WWE after the championship. He debuted with Solo Sakao and the Tongans. He was bloodline 2.0. He never had it was known. He's a cousin. He's on that family tree that the Rock showed off two years ago. And whenever they brought. By the way, that the Rock showed off two years ago in this building. Oh, that's right. Woo! And anytime they brought up Jacob Fattu, it was like, no, he's too dangerous. He's too dangerous. Heyman would say it all the time. The wise man. So Jacob comes out and I'm going, this is going to be incredible. And you could just tell by the look in his face. It didn't look like a family reunion at Jacob. But that's Jacob. He kind of always looks like that. You never quite know unless like high intensity. He's, that's it. That's, that's the, he's a high intensity person. Sometimes that face can be followed by a hug. You don't know. He emotes. Yes. And he emotes hard and he gets in there. And I truly thought until he started speaking that we were going to get to see what the bloodline looked like with everyone together as it should be. I want this family together. And Roman says, you know, he didn't know Jacob was coming out. So he says, well, you must be out here to acknowledge me. And Jacob said, it ain't that. I was like, oh, no, it ain't that. As soon as he said, it ain't that, I went, no, no, no, no. Conflict in your favorite family. I know with, I mean, honestly, I'll be saying about the Usos too, but these are every member of that family is my favorite member of that family. It's really difficult to sit there, especially two nights ago. Jacob and I were bonding. Yeah. And Jacob talked about the significance of family in his WrestleMania win and his WrestleMania moment. He talked about how before he went out there and had his match, the Usos were able to get the job done. He talked about, you know, being not being signed to WWE and watching his family and how much this all just means to him. And he got, he got a bit emotional. He did get emotional, but he was emotional tonight too. Unfortunately, it was a different emotion. That's exactly right. Yes. Because then Roman said, well, then you must be out here for this. And he pointed to his brand new World Heavyweight Championship. And, and, and Jacob said, I don't want that title. I need that title. And everybody went, Oh my God, it's on. Jacob Fatou versus Roman Reigns is a match that people have been talking about since, you know, he debuted a little while after WrestleMania 40. I think it's before that since the rumors were circulating around on the internet that Jacob Fatou maybe was coming to WWE. Everybody was saying, can you imagine Roman Reigns and Jacob Fatou? Have you ever listened to my podcast? I probably created the rumors. You started the rumors. Maybe I did start the rumors. It wouldn't be the first that I've started, but he says, I need that title. And he looks at Roman and you know, and, and to your, to what you just brought up about family and Jacob always being kind of outwardly, family has always been outwardly important to Jacob. It's his whole motivation. Right. So you go, why? The reason he does everything that he does for his family. Right. And so you go. So why is he going after his family? Because he doesn't need just that title. He needs the shoe deal with Nike that Roman Reigns has. He needs the car. He needs the private jets. He needs a bigger house and all of these things he needs for his family. He needs his kids to be in better schools. Yeah. So like sometimes, and you know, I was talking about this on, on the radio this morning, like, like talking about sometimes those stories, those simple, coherent stories that you can just relate to are all it takes to get everybody's eyebrow up. And that's not a reference to the rock. Speaking about the Simone Dynasty. I don't understand. But to get everybody's attention, I should say. I mean, like the idea that Jacob Fatou coming from where to, where to, where to, where to, coming from where Jacob comes from. Hell, he went from EBT to WWE. The idea that he would turn around and go, yeah, why am I going after Roman? Because I want what he's got. I don't want the leftovers. I don't want this sort of, you know, family all gets together and we get more and we share it all. No. I want my own. I want it all. I want it all. Because make no mistake about it. The bloodline is living well, but there's one member of the bloodline that lives better than anybody else. And by God, he should live better than anybody else. That's Roman Reigns. Of course. For Jacob to come in and go, no, I want to be that guy. And you, and Jacob's the type of guy that you look at. And whether it's, you know, because you see him outside or you see him in a WWE ring, you go, yeah, he's, he's entitled to it. Yeah. He can have it. Of course, from the moment Jacob Fattu debuted in WWE, it was different. Yes. Completely different and completely everything feels authentic. Everything feels real. And then, and then you see what this guy is capable of. It is, it is absolutely amazing. And, you know, after he beat Drew McIntyre at WrestleMania, we kind of talked about it. The idea that Jacob could be in the conversation for the world title. Don't forget Jacob was in that conversation. Jacob getting involved in that cage match where Cody Rhodes lost the WWE championship to Drew McIntyre. When we were all kind of crafting what our dream WrestleMania cards would look like. A lot of people had Jacob Fattu involved in the WWE Championship match this year. Yeah. A lot of people were thinking maybe a triple threat match. The idea of him being a WWE World Championship contender is something that people, it's not a foreign concept. No. Some people have been waiting for. I just don't think that Roman Reigns' world heavyweight title was the title that people were considering because I, I, I, the way Monday Night Raw ended tonight was not something that I expected and certainly not something that I had seen any of the O'Piners come up with when they discussed what was next after the match. I was seeing a lot of maybe Oba, maybe some Goonter, Jacob Fattu. And Goonter brought it up and it was weird to me. Goonter brought up, I want to be the world heavyweight champion. LA Night brought up, I want to be the world heavyweight champion. And I'm sitting there going guys, nothing but love and respect to all of you. If CM Punk had retained the title, then yeah, everybody start lining up. But if Roman Reigns wins the title, good luck to all of you. Good luck. You can line up all you want. Did you not see what happened the last time Roman was champion? So when Jacob Fattu's the one that steps up and then starts bringing up backlash immediately. Yes, right away. Backlash is soon. He's just a challenge right away. 48 hours removed from his victory at WrestleMania, Jacob Fattu's already thinking about backlash. And 24 from Roman winning the title. Yes. And you wonder is it, was this a plan that Jacob had watching the main event of WrestleMania going whoever wins this, I'm going after him and I don't care if it's Big Oos. Possibly. Or was it once Roman won the title that he starts seething? Because he said he didn't just want the title. He's not looking for what CM Punk has. He's not looking for what Gunther has. He's not looking for what any other previous champion had been. He's looking for what Roman has. He wants to be the one that pulls up in the arena in an SUV right before his segment. He wants the one who's flying out of PJ. That's right. He wants the Jets. He wants to be in a big house. And it's the most relatable story that you could think of. But I'm sitting there and I'm listening to this audience who we were a part of. And like the thing about Jacob is right now nobody's going to boo him. The thing about Roman is right now nobody's going to boo him. You're sitting there looking at these two people who have totally different life philosophies, who have totally different reasons for wanting the things that they want and totally different ways of achieving them. You know, Roman has talked about that. He's talked about it in interviews. I remember before Royal Rumble of 25, I want to say. I interviewed Roman Reigns about this and he started talking about how he's got systems. He said it's all easy now. He said he operates in professional wrestling like a CEO. He's got systems in place and he knows exactly when and where and what to execute upon to get the best result. And if you don't believe that that's true, then explain why everybody was leaving two nights of WrestleMania talking about Roman Reigns versus CM Punk. Jacob Fatou on the other hand, he trusts what's in here. He goes on pure and utter emotion and physicality and brute raw strength. Jacob Fatou comes from a world where whoever wins the fight is the one who gets the most. And we've seen a lot at times people acting on emotion and it hasn't ended so well for them. No, but we haven't seen somebody like Jacob Fatou. No. Operating on emotion because let me tell you something. When Jacob Fatou is operating on emotion, it goes very well for him. This is true, but I think Roman also recognizes the emotion in his cousin, Jacob Fatou, family member, extended cousin. He's a cousin. He's a cousin. He's a Fatou. He's a Fatou. He's right there on the family tree. He's Roman's cousin. And he says to him, why don't you think about this? Think about, I'm not saying yes. I'm not saying no. Think about this. How'd you take it? And I'll be back next week, which also was very exciting to hear that Roman's coming back next week. I said on the podcast, I said I was very concerned, as excited as I was to be back. I said, let's see how this all plays out. You didn't bring that up because you were working on your hater of the year award. I was not being, I was just being realistic. I was being realistic. Pessimistic. I didn't want him to win the championship and then we don't see him till summer. Why are you going to bring it up? Why are you going to talk about it? Well, he's coming back next week, so we don't have to worry about it. Yeah, in this week, in next week, and he'll be here all summer. He told him on the post show we covered it on WWE Now This Morning. Well, he's going to be here next week, and I'm looking forward to that. But why do you, you brought it up. I'm very interested in hearing your perspective. Yes. When, because you were getting, you were getting there, and I liked it when Roman said, you know, I'm going to let you think about this. Do you think it was Roman recognizing you're making an emotional decision? What do you think that was? I think that's exactly what it was. Right. Roman recognizing, because also you have to remember this is not just, Roman obviously wants to retain the championship, but he's a family member of Jacob Fattu. He has a deeper love for Jacob Fattu that blood runs is thicker than water. How come everything- And I don't know if he can, he even said it when he was talking to Jacob, he was like, can you handle everything that comes with this championship? That's great. No, that is right. It's great. Like when he talked about the weight that comes with being the title holder, and that's something that Roman Reigns has pushed. You can't just be a guy who wins the title. You have to be a guy who holds that title, who represents the company, who uplifts the entire brand, not just your family. The entire industry is on your shoulders. Can you handle that is what he was asking. It's not just you win the title and all of a sudden you're flying on a PJ. That's not how it works. You see bringing up that PJ, you want one for yourself. Of course I do. Come on. Come on. Fine commercial. You've done a lot of time on Instagram. It ain't fun. Yeah, I know, I know, you're right. You're right, Weyton. You want to go from group seven to a PJ though. I don't know who you think you are. Listen, I was on a flight recently. People were eating tuna. Stop that. Not good. That's bad manners. Yeah. Listen, listen, I want to say this and then we'll move on. But I want to say this. Every time Roman Reigns has been disrespected, family member or not, he's gone into action every time that that's happened. This was Roman Reigns address to the WWE universe and let's be honest to the WWE Raw locker room after winning the championship. And he was interrupted and he was interrupted and he was disrespected by somebody who said I am coming to take your title. And Roman said, I'm going to let you think about it for a week and then we'll discuss. That's not a Roman Reigns move. That's not something Roman Reigns has done in the past. And I like, I think it's very nice that you think that it's because he wants to preserve the sanctity of his family, that he cares about Jacob, that he knows Jacob is just being emotional. I think Roman Reigns doesn't want to fight Jacob Fettio and I don't think it has anything to do with keeping the family together. That's bold. That's what I think. I think, I think. With all of the confidence in the world that Roman Reigns has after his victory over CM Punk at WrestleMania. You can have all the confidence in the world, but when you're looking down that barrel and on the other end of it is Jacob Fettio. There's no amount of confidence that can fix that. And for me, when I heard Roman Reigns saying we'll take care of this next week, Roman Reigns is not a next week type of guy. He's usually not here next week. You know, he's not, he's the guy who's going, all right, you want to do it, we'll do it. Okay, fine then. You think you can do that? What's the difference between Roman Reigns saying, look, there's a difference obviously, but Roman Reigns saying we're stronger together. You shouldn't be out there being disrespected by Cameron or whoever it is. You as a member of this family, it's crazy that you'd be disrespected. So it's sort of hypocritical, right? If Roman is good, now going, now he's getting disrespected by a member of the family or not, is it possible that maybe Roman doesn't want it with the Samoan werewolf? Of course it's possible. And it's not because he wants to make sure the family reunions don't have any stress. Of course it's possible, but I also like how Roman throws in there. I'm not saying yes, I'm not saying no. Once again, tell Jacob he has the power. Yeah, I mean, it could be a mind game, it could be a manipulative. It could be a lot of things. I mean, that's what we're here to do, right? Wildly speculate, but Roman Reigns not putting Jacob Fatou down on the ground. That's not the same Roman Reigns that I know. And I don't think that Roman Reigns behavior has changed. He come out to his new music or his old music. He came out to his old music. It's champion Roman Reigns. It's greatness on a different level, God level mode, Roman Reigns. So you're telling me Roman is intimidated by Jacob Fatou? I'm telling you, Roman didn't expect to get challenged by Jacob Fatou tonight. Okay, that's what I'm telling you. Now look, before we get back to talking about all this, because it's getting very, very tense in here. We got to talk about the main event. We're talking about the main event that could be happening at Backlash maybe. If there's a yes or a no. What about the main event that's happening in your house? Huh? Look, life is basically WrestleMania every single day. Especially in my house. A high stakes gauntlet where responsibilities just keep coming. It feels like you're constantly making trade-offs between the things you have to do and the things that you actually love. That's why we're celebrating those moments where you refuse to tap out. It's time for the minute-made juice break where we highlight those everyday wins that deserve a massive pop. For example, this weekend, I was last weekend. This weekend I was here in Vegas, but last weekend I was at home. And I looked at where my shoes were. I saw my wife, I looked in the ring cam, and my wife was coming home with the kids. And I had left my shoes right in front of the door. And she says, don't leave your shoes right in front of the door. I'm already on the couch. I'm watching wrestling, I'm watching stuff. All the time. And I'm going, ugh. She's going to be so mad when she walks in the door and sees my shoes in front of the door. But this couch, this couch, and I went, no. I'm not going to tap out to this couch. This couch isn't going to beat me. No. And what I do, I got off that couch in my socks, which had a hole in it so my feet did get cold. And I moved those shoes from the front of the door to the basket. And when my wife walked in, no problems at all. She didn't get yelled at? And after that, she had the greatest day of her life. I'm so happy for you. Thanks to me. Well, I feel that. You know, in a similar way, I was flying commercial. She's really unfortunate. It's tough. But I noticed on the app, window seat available in bulkhead. Okay. Extra leg room. I was able to snag that. Yeah, I do need it. I was able to snag that, that open seat there. So inconvenience flying commercial, not the tribal chief, but I got that window seat with bulkhead. So you're saying your little win in life was choosing your seat on an airplane app? Well, I was initially, that's worse than the shoes. I was initially slated for a middle seat. Slated? You booked for a middle seat? Yeah. Listen, been a maiden WWE tag team. Bro, that app wasn't beating you. It's tough. No. I was refreshing that app. No tapping out. That's just like minute maid. They're tag teaming with WWE and your, on your daily grind, they're bringing main event energy to life's everyday matches. They're giving you the energy you need to foresee selection on the airplane app. Together, we're turning the toughest rounds into moments worth cheering for. Yeah, from the ring to real life, minute main and WWE are here to help you bring the juice when the day tries to tap you out. Never tap out on taste. Bring the juice. And I'll tell you what, obfusc, you talk about somebody that won a battle, even more impressive than moving your shoes, six feet, even more impressive than turning on your app and going seat selection is available. I could sit in the front row. It's tough to get those seats. I know, but you know what's even more difficult? Beating Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania so much so that he retires. And that's what Oba Femi did at WrestleMania. And he shows up on Monday Night Raw and you know, that opening segment on the Raw after WrestleMania has given us some classics. I don't think anybody will ever forget Roman Reigns standing in the ring and getting booze rained down upon him after beating the Undertaker at WrestleMania 32. I don't think anyone will ever forget the Monday after WrestleMania 40 when the Rock and Cody Rhodes had that face off. But the Monday Night Raw after WrestleMania 42 begins with Oba Femi. Yeah, and he comes down all of the T-Mobile arena is doing the arms. Even you? Everybody, me, you, everyone. You look around, Danielle was doing it. I think people were doing it backstage. Everybody was doing it backstage. People were doing it at home. I got a text from my husband. He said our daughter's doing it at home. She's 13 months. 13 months. She's doing the oba strut. Doing the arms, yep. I gotta tell you something. The baby's got rhythm. Advanced. Yeah, that's right. There's a lot of rhythm on that baby. That's right, but Oba comes down. On the up beats or the down beats. I gotta check. Okay. I'll check on that. You know, work in progress. But Oba Femi, see, I'm looked like a million bucks. I mean, Oba Femi comes out. I didn't know they're doing the strut. They're doing the strut back there. And it looks good, man. Everybody's doing it. It looks really good because it makes you feel confident. It makes you feel good. Yeah. But I've never been able to do it in a suit. That's what you need to do. Do it in a suit. I also didn't know they made suits big enough to fit Oba Femi. It's a lot of fabric, but he looked like a million bucks. How about the shoes? What kind of shoes were they? It looked velvet to me. Red velvet. Oh, and he can. I mean, I don't think there's anything Oba couldn't pull off, but you're right. I think Oba wanted to make a statement as soon as you saw him, that he's a different Oba Femi, that this is the guy, right? You talk about in the, when we were just talking about Roman Reigns, talking about the weight of the championship and being that guy. Oba is showing up in a suit on Monday Night Raw and owning the room, owning the moment, still strutting to the ring, still being the same Oba Femi. I think showed the world that he just continues to level up and level up and the whole crowd was chanting his name and the whole crowd was cheering for him. And he simply looked at the audience and said, the ruler has arrived. And that's all he said, but that's all he needed to say because it's true. In beating Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania, that build, the build to that match that we talked about every week here on the Raw Re-Cat, but that build proved to everybody what a star Oba Femi was. I don't think people realized that he was ready to be at the top level right now. Yeah, I don't think people realized that level. I mean, what he did Saturday Night's main event, being in the ring with Cody Rhodes, Drew McIntyre gets involved as well. But remember, that was an exhibition match to be in the ring at WrestleMania with Brock Lesnar. It was a match that was being described as a main event match. Of course it was, but I mean, the lead up to that, that was the conversation that I was hearing about over and over again when we find out he can exchange physicality. He can cut a promo with Paul Heyman. He can do it all and command the aura, right? Yeah. That's so important. He beats Brock Lesnar and then he says the ruler has arrived. And I think it means two things. Number one, Oba's arrived. He's on right? This is it. This is it. I more mean that he's been realized. Does that make sense? Yeah. I think you might be right too. We were talking about it, I think on one of the WrestleMania recaps, I would imagine night two, that he hadn't even drafted to a brand. So when he said that he arrived, you took that to mean? No, I took it the way that you did, that Oba has arrived and the ruler has arrived in multiple senses of the word that maybe it also means he arrived on Raw and he's here, but also this is what I'm capable of. Right. Yes. And now there's no more questions about it. Yeah, it's not potential. It's not hypothetical. It's not this guy is the future. No, it's this guy's the now. It's happening immediately. You saw what he did to Brock Lesnar. And you saw Brock Lesnar, what he left in the ring. His boots and his gloves. That's right. That can only mean one thing as far as I'm concerned. But yeah, no, I think that you're right. But then also in a literal sense, perhaps it means that he's on Raw. On a Raw superstar. Perhaps. I mean, I would imagine. I think Oba would would fit in very well as a Monday Night Raw superstar. But I mean, I look around and just I wonder where he heads to next. I mean, realistically, where do you go after you beat Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania? You know, I mean, like, like, like that's usually something that you spend a career building up to. Yeah, but that was how his career begins. Begins is beating Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania. His first WrestleMania. Yeah, his first main roster PLE singles match. He wrestled on the Royal Rumble. That's it as far as main roster PLEs. That's it. And within four months of his debut, he's beating Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania and he's showing up and I think, I think he staked a claim on Raw. The whole build up to the Brock Lesnar Open match was on Raw. I think Oba has staked a claim on Monday Night Raw. And that's, you know, going back to what I said about Gunther and L.A. Knight wanting the World Heavyweight Championship. Well, I don't know if that's a good idea. Roman Reigns is the one with that title. You know, Paul Heyman set up this Brock Lesnar match as it's the biggest match on WrestleMania. It's a main event. However, it's very clear that whoever accepts it is rolling the dice because it could go very, very wrong. I think now you look at Oba Femi. And whenever it's next for Oba Femi is going to command a lot of attention. Of course you want to be the guy that beats Oba Femi, but what are the odds? What you don't want to do is be the guy that Oba Femi beat after he beat Brock Lesnar. I think there are probably a lot of people who want to share that spotlight with Oba Femi, but at the same time don't want to share that spotlight with Oba Femi. Yeah, who would have the guts to step up to Oba Femi right now? Who? I'm interested to see. I have no idea, but I'm interested to see. I will tell you this. We can find out by playing 2K in this episode of WWE Now Raw Recap is brought to you by WWE 2K26. We talk every week about the drama, the spectacle and the rivalries, but in WWE 2K26 the show never stops because you, you become the ultimate decision maker, a true superstar showman. You can run the world's greatest show with the largest roster in franchise history, featuring over 400 playable WWE superstars and legends from the rebellious attitude era to today's undeniable champions. Plus, you can bring the chaos to the squared circle with new match types like I quit, Inferno and three stages of hell. The WWE draft finally arrives in universe mode. It puts you in control of every destiny and outcome. And speaking of control and new superstars, ringside pass premium season two has just dropped. You can unleash the chaos charisma and championship pedigree instantly unlock axe smash and crush from demolition alongside former divas and 24 seven champion Kelly Kelly plus unlock the ability to earn 60 additional rewards through gameplay, including Kaz parts, move sets, my faction content, world taunts and more. Don't miss out in celebration of WrestleMania 42. WWE 2K26 is now on sale until April 22nd on PS5, Xbox Series X and S, stream, steam and Nintendo switch to digital only. Get your copy today. We're talking about oba femi and Brock Lesnar. What it all meant the idea that you know, you didn't want to say concretely that Brock Lesnar retired. I would imagine because you didn't hear those words come out of the beast's mouth. No, I didn't hear that yet. I mean, I assume that there's a possibility, high likelihood that he retired. You got to be careful around Brock, don't you? You do. You don't want to say the wrong thing. I'm just saying people who retire, what do they typically do when they retire? They take the gloves off. Oh, they take the boots off. They leave them in the ring. And that's what Brock Lesnar did, but he never made an announcement. Discount train fare. That too. That's senior. I don't think I don't think Brock Lesnar needs. I don't think he's taking a train anywhere. He's probably not. He's probably not leaving his house if he is indeed. And Paul Heyman said he was the first thing that Paul Heyman does when he comes out to the ring with Logan Paul and Austin Theory is he tells the people in the truck after they've been complimented by CM Punk. He tells them that they need to get something through their head, that Brock Lesnar is not in the WWE anymore. He says when when when raw started and that cold open came on that it still had the beast in the now section and Paul Heyman told them to move Brock Lesnar to the forever section because he will forever be. I'm going to paraphrase one of the great or forever be the greatest ass kicker that ever was bestowed upon WWE. But the point is Paul Heyman doesn't want Brock Lesnar referred to as a current WWE superstar anymore because of what he left in the ring at WrestleMania. I guess that means that means that's it, right? Paul Heyman says it. I believe Paul Heyman. I don't want to question Paul Heyman. No, no, no. I don't think anybody does. You know, Paul Heyman gave the floor to Logan Paul. Logan gets booed throughout his entire promo, but he tries to make it clear that the loss or no loss, they still have the tag team championship. So they're all good. And the only reason they did loss is because of I show speed, not being up to par and that Logan Paul is tired of all these outsiders way tired of streamers and YouTubers specifically said he doesn't like outsiders. It's interesting walking in on his business. It's hard to call Logan Paul a part timer now, right? Or but he at one point was a part time outsider. He's still an outsider. He likes to think he's an insider. Well, yeah, I guess so. I guess so. I do give him credit though, right? There was a time when Logan Paul was just this part timer who showed up. We'd all boo. Now we're still all booing, but at least he's showing up. So you're giving him credit for getting booed more often? Well, credit where credit is due. He's showing up. He's showing up. Right? He's not a part timer anymore. He's still an outsider. Okay. All right. That's that's fair. Right? Yeah. No, no, no. You know what I mean? You're being the big fair. You're doing the right thing. You're being fair. Paul Heyman says to Gunther that he appreciates his help and he says straight up. I owe you one. This is this is bringing back so many memories because the last time Paul Heyman owed somebody a favor. What happened? The entire WWE got turned upside down. The industry still has a recovered. No, it hasn't. So why would Paul Heyman ever offer anyone, especially someone as powerful as Gunther, a favor? Maybe because Paul Heyman doesn't have a choice because that somebody is as powerful as Gunther. Maybe because Paul Heyman knows you better repay that favor. Otherwise it's going to be you and he don't want it to be him. Right? I can deal with that. No. Don't have a FA with Gunther. No, that's a hundred percent right. Braun Breaker returns to Monday Night Raw and talks about, you know, being back the night after WrestleMania after WrestleMania 42 and how ironic it is. The night after WrestleMania 41 in the same building. We were sitting right here talking about it. That's when the vision was really formed for the first time. It ends up in a brawl. Here comes Seth Rollins. The vision tries to take him out. But the street profits. The street profits are back on the Monday Night Raw after WrestleMania. We've been waiting for the street profits. They haven't been around for a while. That's right. We've wanted the smoke for quite some time. So I'm glad that we finally have it back. There's blood. There's everything. But ultimately, even though the street profits took care of Austin Theory and Logan Paul, Braun Breaker stood tall over Seth Rollins. Braun Breaker who made that appearance at WrestleMania. Isn't it crazy to think about the last year, right? Last year, Braun Breaker's joining Seth Rollins in this building, the Raw after WrestleMania. Yeah. 365 days later, so much has happened. Braun Breaker took Seth Rollins out, cost him six months of his career. Six months. Yeah. But you know what? You need to be careful who you surround yourself with. Braun Breaker joined a guy who had just turned on his people. And then you're surprised that the guy that decides to join that guy turns on you. We reap what we sow in life. Okay? We may be done with the past, but the past ain't done with us. These are just the facts. You know, it's hard for me to have a ton of sympathy. I don't love sympathy and empathy. I do love revenge. You know, I do. That I do love. I don't sit there and go, oh, poor this or poor that. But if somebody goes, I'm out for revenge and vengeance, I go, I'd love to see that. Well, Seth is out for revenge. That's why I support it. I support Seth in that. But I wonder if maybe Seth was putting the car before the horse because he got laid out by Braun Breaker on Monday Night Raw. That's twice now. Layed out by Braun Breaker at WrestleMania, laid out by Braun Breaker, the Raw after WrestleMania. I mean, this Raw after WrestleMania has been so loaded. Not only did we get the street profits returning, Braun Breaker returned it. We got Ethan Page coming up from NXT to Monday Night Raw, having his match with Javan Evans. Fantastic match. Listen, I'm just going to say it wasn't necessarily spelled out, but Javan Evans told Penta that he wanted the Intercontinental Championship. And Rusev took out Javan Evans, took out Penta. All of this had to do with the Intercontinental Championship. And Ethan Page is right there. I think Ethan Page on his first night on Raw has pretty firmly inserted himself into that Intercontinental Title scene. Yeah. Well, we saw him backstage with Adam Pearce and he said that he wants the Intercontinental Title. He said that Javan, I know that size that you want it, but I get what I want. I know, but showing up on day one. Got to make demands. Can you imagine that? That's what All-Ego does. When we go to WWE World and we have Penta on the show. And this is what's so crazy about wrestling, what's so crazy about WWE is like this morning, what was it? Okay, less than 12 hours ago, less than 12 hours ago, 11 hours ago, we're on stage with Penta. And we go, man, it's amazing that you're, you know, so like in such a good mood after that ladder match, just completely in the afterglow of the ladder match. His whole conversation is just about like, man, right? What a night that you had in this and that moment for you being in it with Rey Mysterio. Same day, same day. That conversation is over. And now Penta is looking at an even more crowded field of Intercontinental Championship title contenders. That's how quickly this thing moves. You have the morning. You have the morning with Sam and Meg to celebrate the match on the now. Okay. So they're calling this by, by the way, the now. You have the morning on the now to celebrate your WrestleMania match. After that, it's time to get back to work and look at, at, at Javan Evans and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and all of these people arguing about who's going to be the one to take you out. What a wild thing. But it wasn't just Ethan Page showing up on Monday night raw. It was also the one and only soul Ruka who confronted Liv Morgan. Liv Morgan shows up with as the women's world champion and, and, and, and, and proclaims that she's the most talented woman in the division, proclaims that this. A bold statement. A hugely bold statement. She proclaims that this is all hers and it's soul Ruka that answers that statement on Monday night raw. Saul Ruka came out looking like a million bucks. And if you're wondering how you can look like a million bucks, very simple. You look at the collections going on right now with the WWE. So I saw it all over WWE world this weekend. The WWE and XO collection has arrived where championship energy meets iconic style. You can get all the pieces from XO and WWE coming together for this amazing collaborate, collaboration. Check it out at WWE shop and fanatics. But that's not all. And I mean this for real. I have been waiting for this collaboration for a long time. WWE and roots of fight. I was walking around in my, in my people's champ Rock hoodie all weekend. I saw it. I can confirm. I have loved roots of fight for a very long time. The fact that this collaboration is now live is so exciting to me. It's where legacy meets grit. The WWE roots of fight collection is here celebrating icons attitude in the fight that built them. You can shop this collection now at WWE shop and fanatics. And I am being sincere. You go back years and look at me on podcasts. I'm wearing roots of fight half the time. So to see WWE and roots of fight come together is an amazing thing. Almost as amazing as seeing Saul Ruka show up on Monday night raw. And she knew after this amazing thing happened, there was only one place for her to stop. That was the now WWE now. And this is how it went down. So close you can almost taste it. What? You're just gonna walk away? Time to bring the juice. Never leave a fit behind. Rip it, rip it and bring the juice. That flavor is just out of reach. Drop the legals and bring the juice. Gee. On the Monday night raw after WrestleMania, who makes an impact? But Saul Ruka, Saul, for you to be here on this night, which historically is the night where moments get made. How does it feel? It feels absolutely incredible. I mean, this is not what I was expecting at all. You know, I came here to do some world matches, some media stuff. And then a few days in, they were like, actually, you're gonna be on raw. And I was like, oh, okay, cool. Good thing I brought extra clothes and gear and stuff. And honestly, I thought it was gonna be like a crowd shot or a backstage or what have you. And getting here, they're like promo match interviews, all that. And I'm like, all right, this is it. This is my time to make my moment and prove myself. And especially being in the ring with Liv Morgan, who just came off of a huge win at WrestleMania and her mic work, her ring work is incredible. And to be able to be put in that position, it honestly gave me a confidence boost. Like, yeah, clearly they know that I can do this and that I'm here for a reason. I mean, I don't know if it's to find out today that this is all happening. It really doesn't give you enough time to be nervous. This is immediately time to go to work, right? Yeah, honestly, I prefer that. I like to not know because I don't get as nervous. Yeah, that's amazing. How did it feel? Well, you tell me, what is the part that circles in the head? Whether or not you can pull it off in terms of the match and the promo or what the reaction is gonna be? Because when you're gonna get the music and you're gonna get your name on the screen, you want the reaction that you got tonight, which is this. Yeah, yeah. But who knows, right? Yeah, I think, yeah, exactly who knows, especially coming in from NXT. A lot of the time people at Raw, people who watch at home don't watch NXT as well. So coming out there, coming from NXT is a big gamble on like, I don't know if these people are gonna know who I am. I don't know if they're gonna care for what I have to say. Again, going against Liv Morgan, yes, she is a heel, but people do love her as well. So I'm like, I could be booed, I don't know. So yeah, going out there, you just kind of have to be confident and go for it. And it definitely threw me off a little bit. As soon as I said my first line, they popped and I was like, okay, I feel like they know who I am, but it's a learning curve going from NXT to here to listen to the crowd and be able to have a little bit slower of a pace and feed off the crowd and just have your moments. And not only that, but during your match, they started chanting your name too. Yeah. What was that like? It's incredible, it's so freaking cool. And I feel like I still haven't digested it yet. I've been out of the match for like five minutes, but I'm sure I'm gonna watch it back and get chills just like hearing the crowd go crazy. Yeah, it's been a really cool experience for sure. All right, well, we have to talk about what's been when going on in your life. I mean, I know you're on the high of highs, coming out on the raw after WrestleMania. But your former friend, Zarya. Your ex. Yeah. She did get involved tonight. And Sam and I, we've been following this for a long time. Yeah, it's been like a year. Your relationship with Zarya on NXT, is this beneath Zarya? I guess to yet again come out and spoil another moment? I don't know. I've been trying to wrap my brain around this whole situation. I obviously was upset when it first happened. I've said multiple times, I believed that our friendship was stronger than petty work drama, petty championship matches. When I have a best friend, I want them to ride that wave as long as they can. Like when it's my time, it's my time. But for her, it was like, okay, you've had this, now it's my time. And I don't necessarily believe in that in friendships. And we had our match at SandLiver and I beat her and I proved my point and I thought we could move on from that. But then again, she went out and cost me another championship opportunity and then she comes out today. And at this point, it's not just jealousy and resentment. She's obsessed and it's a little scary. Cuz her coming all the way out here just for this, I'm like, bro, can we have a match on Tuesday, see me there and we'll see who's the last woman standing cuz I'm over it. I mean as a fan, I love the rivalry and I love the obsession. I went to the NXT live event a week or two ago in White Plains. And it's like you have a match with Izzy Dame and it's a live event. You know what I mean? It's like just cool, let's see. Zarya is there to do a run in at the live event. She's not even on the live event. I know, it's like bro, get over it. Like, whatever. When you think about your relationship with Zarya though, do you think she helped you get to the point where you're able to go out there on the raw after WrestleMania and get the reaction that you got? Yeah, of course. I think that us as a team, us like being Zeruka, we had such a cool fan base, especially on X. We would post videos on TikTok and on social media, different platforms of us just trying different foods out in different cities every time we travel. And she was my best friend. And yeah, it's hard and I definitely think she did help me. And I also think I helped her too. So that's why I'm a little bit confused as to why it had to turn to this, had to turn to jealousy when I did help her. But every time that I did help her get these opportunities, she couldn't pull through and that's not on me. When you have a match like you had tonight with Liv Morgan in a moment like you have in this crowd and you can feel that they're responding to you and it's like all those things that you're hoping happen are happening. Is there this little part of you that knows? I got the soul snatcher. Like that's one of those moves. That is only yours and you're like, man, if they're hot now, when that move lands, I've got them. Yeah, honestly, yes. That's like one of my favorite parts of the match, obviously. You know, it's my finish. It's how I win. But yeah, anytime I see an opening, I'm like, this is it. Like just wait. Like it's such a cool feeling hearing the crowd every time. I mean, like for you, it looks effortless. I think for everybody else, like I'm still like I use action figures to try to understand the physics of what's going on and I haven't quite figured it out. But is there any like when you go for a soul snatcher, is there any part of you that goes, I don't know if I'm going to land this, this isn't how people move or are you just so tuned in to what that motion is with your body? I think in some situations, yes. Like when I do it in the ring, off the ropes or off the corner, it's pretty much like muscle memory. But there have been matches where I'm like, I might try it off the steps right now or I might try it off the top. And it's kind of like, well, I hope, I hope I get it, you know. But you know, it's worked so far, so I'm not complaining. That's an interesting thing. And that's probably, that's probably very you in the sense that like once it becomes muscle memory on the ropes. I'm like, what's next? Right, I gotta try something else now. I gotta get that rush to come. Yeah, and speaking of Hybrids, Hybrids coming right off the soul snatcher that I wouldn't even know what to call it. That sort of, that, you know, a somersault flip poncho over the top. I mean, it was unbelievable. And another thing that landed and that, I mean, you got the first Holy, you know what chant of the night on the row after WrestleMania. Yeah, it's a crazy feeling. I mean, honestly, the Sasuke special is a bit more nerve wracking than my finish at this point. It's a little scary. I'm not gonna lie, but it's one of those ones where when I see it, an opportunity to hit it, I'm like, well, I'm just gonna give it a go and see what happens. There's a reason why Sasuke was called great. Yeah, exactly. I mean, because he could pull off stuff like that. Speaking of the great Sasuke, I guess, and legends and things like that, we have a segment brought to you by 2K. Would you like to be a part of it? Yeah, absolutely. Well, listen, WWE fans, they always love to imagine who their favorite superstar would choose to take on in the ring. If given the chance, you, Saul Ruka, who would your dream opponent or dream match be if you could turn any WWE 2K matchup into reality? With myself? Or just like me and someone else? Okay, okay. Honestly, so my dream match is EOSky, but I think for this scenario, if I could be anyone, it'd probably be Randy Orton. I mean, the RKO, the Soul Snatcher, we're gonna see who's is better. Can you imagine like a Soul Snatcher, but Randy catches you and do an RKO? That would be crazy. Maybe throw Javan in there too. We could all just go. We could go crazy. And then just as Randy's celebrating the RKO, here comes the OG cut. I want to see all of this. Right? It'd be really, really fun. Amazing. You just mentioned EOSky. And coming here to Monday Night Raw, there's a lot of new faces, different people in the locker room. And one of the big things that we saw this weekend at WrestleMania was Paige return. The Bella Twins also in that massive tag team match. Sam and I talk a lot about the depth in the women's division. For you to come up here as a relatively newer face, what was just the energy like? It was great. I mean, the locker room here is absolutely incredible. I mean, having Paige back, everyone was so excited when she walked in the locker room. Like congratulating people, everyone congratulating me and coming off of WrestleMania. Everyone's just in such high spirits and everyone's very proud of each other for going out there and putting on a great show. Are there any nerves of like, my gosh, these are legends. I'm not sharing a locker room. Yeah, definitely. But I try and just pretend that I'm okay. It's gotta pretend to be cool. Yeah. So we know NXT Revenge on the C-Deb. We know you've got unfinished business with Zarya. But I think there's gonna be questions looming tonight. Is this an appearance and then we're back to NXT. Is this a, Sol Rooka is here on Raw? I mean, what, did this mean anything more than tonight? Honestly, I'm not 100% sure as of right now. I think I'm just gonna take it one thing at a time. You know, I have to deal with Zarya first. But after that, I think I proved myself tonight and I think that hopefully I will be up here full time. But you know, we'll see. Yeah. I mean, if the powers that be are deciding on fan reaction, you got it. If they're deciding on match quality, you got it. It was promo, you got it. It was an amazing segment. Thank you. And regardless, it was an amazing moment. Yeah. To not be a part of, to make, you made the moment. So congratulations, Sol. And I do absolutely love the idea that when you woke up this morning, it was just another Monday. And when you go to bed tonight, this is what's happened. Yeah. Insane. It's an amazing, amazing thing. Thank you for being here with us. Thank you guys. Thanks so much. Thank you. Sol Ruka had a massive moment. And that was so interesting to me. Like how quickly these things happen. But a massive moment for Sol Ruka tonight was full of massive moments as was WrestleMania 42. And you know, if you wanna follow everything that went on at WrestleMania, you look at what happens after WrestleMania 42. And that's when Tops releases a brand new slate of WWE Tops Now cards that commemorate the biggest moments of WrestleMania 42 from Friday and Saturday night. Liv Morgan's Women's World Championship win. Paige's epic WWE return. And even the newest members of the WWE Hall of Fame are all live now at Tops.com. You know, Dan Housen said that he is a member of the WWE Hall of Fame because he walked away carpet. So that's very exciting. Look, I mean, I want both those cards so much. From Sunday's night to action, fine cards of Roman Reigns, World Heavyweight Title Victory, Oba Femi's dominant Mania debut, and so much more collectors who purchased the base versions of any card have a chance to receive serial numbered parallels or even bigger chases like short prints and autographs. You see there's even event used Matt Relic cards. I love that. That's our autographed. Yes. For not only Liv Morgan's Women's World Championship win, but Roman Reigns World Heavyweight Title win. I wanna go back to talk about that Jacob Fatou stuff again, but we can't, there's too much stuff that happened. For instance, one thing that we haven't talked about at all. I can't believe. With CM Punk showing up, no title, no strap, but getting in the ring and speaking from the heart. Yeah, and when CM Punk appears, he stood in the entranceway without any music. Similarly to last night. Yes. And then the entire arena, when CM Punk pointed at his wrist, the entire arena screamed, it's clover in time. And off we went, cult of personality place. Yeah. And CM Punk makes his way to the ring. CM Punk poured his heart out talking about loss, talking about everything that he went through, talking about how much wrestling and the fans and doing these matches have helped him get through what he's going through, which is kind of great to hear. Yes, CM Punk wearing his heart on his sleeve. As always. And I just felt like that was really illustrated in his entrance at WrestleMania. It was illustrated tonight once again. And it was the whole reason why during the build to WrestleMania, I felt so torn about CM Punk and Roman Reigns. And I get it. And I don't blame you. I think having a guy come out there and talking about these losses, and it's losses, a lot of them that affected many people here at WWE that were incredibly important and talented people behind the scenes at WWE. And he's talking about how WWE is a family. And he's talking about how his job is easy compared to all of the other people, all of the unsung heroes in WWE who leave their families, they're on the road. And I mean, I think it hit a lot of people in WWE pretty hard. I think it did. I think it did. And CM Punk saying he's not going on vacation. Love that. He's not going anywhere. And he's gonna stay ready because you never know when a championship match might fall out of the sky. And that's exactly how he won the World Heavyweight Championship to begin with. That's right. But then you hear this, boom, boom. And you find out wrestling has more than one. Royal Family. And Cody Rhodes, for the first time since Saturday night, appears, I mean, having gone through a war. We found out on the WrestleMania countdown show, I think on Sunday, that Cody was not, he's not medically cleared. At least at that point, he was not medically cleared. But he came out holding the WWE Championship. Suits still looked great, but Cody looked probably the worst I've ever seen him look. Yeah. Yeah, it was like that damage that was done to his pectora in that Hell in a Cell match in his face. It was tough. It was tough. But Cody talking to CM Punk about looking like a loser and which one of the two of them was a loser and CM Punk taking ownership of the fact that he lost. And Cody just had this tone in his voice that was atypical of Cody Rhodes. Well, I think we saw very aggressive Cody Rhodes at WrestleMania and that might not fully be out of his system. Of course. That he expected CM Punk to be acting differently on Monday Night Raw. And I don't think that that was necessarily taken as a compliment. And I really enjoyed when CM Punk pointed out, well, Cody, you feel this way because you beat your friend. You beat somebody that was a mentor to you. I beat someone that I hated. It felt great. Right. To kick him in the face. It felt great. It was a lot more difficult. Yes. For Cody to do what he had to do. CM Punk reiterated about a championship match falling out of the sky. And Cody Rhodes looking at CM Punk and saying, Punk, just say when was like, oh my God. It made me want it so bad. I mean, Cody and Punk is one that I've been thinking about for a very long time. And I don't know. Punk returned. Absolutely since Punk returned. Since Punk returned. I mean, but this is, I mean, listen, this was one of those conversations that it could mean, you know, we're going right to it or it could mean a year from now. We'll go right to it. You never know. Because that's what the Raw after WrestleMania does. Yes. It sets the stage. It plants the seeds. But you don't know when those seeds are gonna bloom. No. You don't know how much water those seeds are getting. No, but it was amazing to watch it go down. I loved it. Absolutely incredible. It was a night full of moments. It was a weekend full of moments. If you haven't, if you didn't check out anything that we did, if you missed any of it, definitely go back and watch all the recap podcasts that we did over the last few days. We had Jacob Fatou on WrestleMania Night One on Saturday. We had Trick Williams on WrestleMania Night Two recap on Sunday this morning on a special WWE Now from WWE World. We had Penta on tonight, of course, Soul Ruka and all of the great conversations, Megan, that I got to have with you. With the two of us unpacking. Everything that has gone down this weekend, it has been an absolute thrill. I can't believe that I'm gonna say this, but Megan, after what we saw between Roman Reigns and Jacob Fatou, we're on the road to backlash, baby. We're on the road. So here we go. Next we got Raw. We've got Becky Lynch. That's right. We've got Joe Hendry. We've got Roman Reigns. And after it, we'll have WWE Now, Raw Recap. Subscribe across all audio platforms. Make sure that you're liking and commenting on YouTube. And we will see you very, very soon.