WWE Raw live results: Punk, Reigns, Lesnar appear at Madison Square Garden
The build toward WWE WrestleMania 42 continues on tonight’s Raw from Madison Square Garden.
WWE World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk and Roman Reigns will once again be in the building together after their most recent interaction saw Reigns attack Punk, putting him through the announcers’ table at the behest of Jey Uso.
Speaking of, Jey and Jimmy Uso will defend their WWE World Tag Team Championships in a street fight against The Vision’s Austin Theory and Logan Paul.
Nia Jax and Lash Legend will defend their WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships against Bayley and Lyra Valkyria after they defeated Asuka and Kairi Sane last week.
Penta will defend the WWE Intercontinental title against Kofi Kingston who accepted Penta’s open challenge.
Brock Lesnar will appear once again after showing up last week in an effort to get the better of Oba Femi. However, Femi easily clotheslined him out of the ring, causing Lesnar to back off.
IYO SKY faces Raquel Rodriguez to round out the show.
Our live coverage begins at 8 p.m. Eastern time.
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Show Recap —
CM Punk, Oba Femi, Nia Jax and Lash Legend arrived at Madison Square Garden.
Cody Rhodes kicks off Monday Night Raw in MSG
Rhodes entered and was almost universally cheered. He said MSG was the home of the WWE Championship and the WWE Champion would always be present at the world’s most famous arena. He asked what they wanted to talk about.
Stephanie McMahon interrupted. Rhodes was surprised to see her. She wasn’t sure why, because her last name was “McMahon,” and this was the place her grandfather built. He asked her what she wanted to talk about.
Stephanie said she wanted to talk about him, Randy Orton and WrestleMania—but Rhodes wouldn’t like what she had to say. She said the three of them were multigenerational talents and knew what it was like to be at the top.
They all took different paths to get to where they were. Rhodes took the golden path, and that was wonderful. He was true to himself, and he believed he could bring out the best in his opponents. But he couldn’t do that this time against this version of Orton.
This Orton was diabolical. Rhodes didn’t have to be diabolical, but he had to be able to think like Orton. Dusty Rhodes knew that. Dusty could get down and dirty, but Cody was not his father. This Cody could not beat this Orton.
Rhodes said the last thing he wanted to do was be rude to Stephanie. He knew all about Orton. He knew Orton punted people’s heads off—his father included. Orton did stuff so vile they couldn’t show it today, including things he did to Stephanie.
Fans wanted the student-teacher dynamic from them, but he ceased to be the student a long time ago. He wasn’t the student when he was Orton’s babysitter, making sure Orton was still breathing in the car they rode together.
Rhodes was not the student, and he was not afraid. Cody said he was not his father and added, “You wanna bring up fathers? I’m not mine, you’re right. Stephanie McMahon, with all due respect, you’re not yours either.”
The crowd popped, and Stephanie smacked him in the face. Stephanie said she was out there because she cared about him. She was there because no one else was giving him guidance. Rhodes didn’t understand what Orton was capable of. Orton wasn’t just listening to the voices in his head—he beckoned them. And it appeared he was listening to someone else as well. Until Rhodes learned to think like Orton, he would lose the title.
Stephanie was about to leave, but Rhoeds grabbed her by the arm and turned her around. Rhodes said he had two words for her: “Thank you.” He left.
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IShowSpeed and Adam Pearce were interrupted by Danhausen. Speed told Danhausen he’s had a terrible week and wanted to be uncursed, but Danhausen had a list of crazy demands. Pearce tried to cheer up Speed by telling him he had front row seats for the men’s tag team title match. LA Knight, guest announcer for the match, appeared and left with Speed.
Street Fight for the World Tag Team Championships: Jimmy & Jey Uso (c) vs. Logan Paul & Austin Theory
WWE Raw and PLE recapper/reviewer. Contributed to WrestlingObserver.com as the SmackDown reviewer in the 2000s before turning to WONF4W in 2015.