Cook’s WWE Raw Review 3.9.26

Hey kids! Steve Cook here with you for the latest edition of WWE Raw on Netflix! We’ve got a big show tonight, with Penta defending the Intercontinental Championship, six women fighting over the right to face AJ Lee, and Oba Femi facing a guy almost as big as he is. Sounds like it could be a good time!

Don’t forget to subscribe to the 411Mania Wrestling Newsletter! Click here to do so, and then tomorrow (Tuesday) you’ll get some exclusive insight from your humble Chef on everything you need to know about the latest and greatest pro wrestling happenings! I guarantee it’ll be a good time, so make sure you check it out.

Cook’s WWE Raw Review 3.9.26

Then. Now. Forever. Together!

WrestleMania is 40 days away! We’re in Seattle! Penta is WALKING! Asuka & Kairi Sane are WALKING WHILE IYO SKY LOOKS ON! Oba Femi is WALKING! Rusev is WALKING! CM Punk is TALKING ON THE PHONE!

Last Monday, Seth Rollins took Paul Heyman out with a chair to the back & a Stomp.

We’re in Seattle! Michael Cole & Corey Graves are our hosts, Adam Pearce is in the ring. Pearce has some unfortunate business to attend to. It’s time to have a conversation with someone who’s in the building tonight, Seth Rollins! He’s in the building, the Vision is in the building, and he needs to have a talk with Rollins. A masked man stands on the announce table, then is joined by a flood of masked people. They surround the ring, then enter, then dance around before they all exit except for Seth Rollins. Pearce says that they see eye to eye, he does not like the Vision. The crowd sings Seth’s song. It’s his job to be the GM, and he has to tell Seth all the business with the masked men is unacceptable. Pearce thinks the Vision deserved it, but he knows Rollins has only been out five months. There will come a time when Rollins doesn’t get away, and he’s not medically cleared to compete. Pearce says the worst case scenario is when the Vision gets their hands on Seth, it’ll be the end of Seth Freakin’ Rollins.

Logan Paul & Austin Theory make their way to the ring. Logan says they will beat the bricks off of Seth and all the masked minions. Theory says there’s a bullet with Seth’s name on it, and it’s the worst case scenario. The Vision and the other masked men enter the ring, do their dance and run off in opposite directions. Paul & Theory yell at Pearce, then LA Knight’s music hits! Logan runs down and LA sends him into the barricade. Theory gets punched in the ring until Logan attacks from behind. The Uso music hits, and Jimmy & Jey make their way down the aisle! Logan gets double superkicked & clotheslined by the three men! The Usos go for 1D, but Theory drags Logan out of the ring & the Vision leave. Time to yeet! LA doesn’t really get down with it, but he & the Usos have at least achieved a mutual respect.

Jackie Redmond tracks down the Usos and Jey says that Logan & Austin need to get got. Jackie asks Jey about Punk’s comments on Roman Reigns last week. Jey says he’s got nothing to say about Punk. Jimmy suggests that maybe they do, and the Usos walk off.

Women’s Intercontinental Championship #1 Contender’s Gauntlet Match: Asuka, Bayley, Ivy Nile, IYO SKY, Lyra Valkyria, Raquel Rodriguez: Lyra Valkyria & IYO SKY are the first two competitors! WWE2626 has IYO at 93 & Lyra at 84. Some back & forth early, IYO works the arm, Lyra with a backdrop, IYO with a headscissors. Lyra off the ropes with a spinning heel kick for two. IYO with a handspring, a takedown & dropkick. IYO ends up outside but evades Lyra’s dive. Back in the ring, IYO with a tope suicida to the floor. Lyra’s down in the ring, then she joins IYO up top and knocks her to the floor. Lyra dropkicks IYO to the floor & we go to commercial!

They exchange strikes as we return. Lyra with some kicks, IYO drops her into a backbreaker. Bullet Train Attack in the corner! Lyra yanks IYO off the turnbuckle, whips her into the corner, IYO onto the apron, hits some kicks, goes up top, Lyra joins her. IYO goes for the sunset flip, Lyra flips out and kicks SKY. Tornado DDT & a fisherman buster by Lyra gets two. Lyra lifts IYO, IYO rolls through the Nightwing & stomps Lyra. Buzzsaw kick by IYO, then the Over the Moonsault! Lyra’s eliminated at the 6:15 mark.

Raquel Rodriguez is the next competitor, she catches IYO on a dive and they fight outside. Raquel with a back elbow & clothesline on the floor. Raquel is rated 86 in the WWE2K26 game. Corkscrew Vader Bomb elbow gets two. IYO fights out of the Tejana Bomb and vaults up top. Raquel evades and shoulder tackles IYO into next week. We go to commercial!

Raquel dominated during the break, but IYO is now ranaing Raquel off the top rope. Missle dropkick knocks Raquel down. Bullet Train Attack in the corner, IYO goes up top, but here’s Liv Morgan with the distraction! The pyro goes off, and here’s Stephanie Vaquer! She & Liv brawl up the aisle. IYO gets Raquel in an inside cradle for three at approximately 9:43.

Raquel attacks after getting beat, bouncing IYO off the post before Tejana Bombing her on the apron. Ivy Nile is the next competitor and she covers IYO for three seconds. Bayley is next! Ivy attacks Bayley while she’s checking on IYO. We go to commercial!

Bayley fights back as we return, but Ivy hits a gutwrench suplex for two. Rear chinlock by Ivy. Bayley fights out, hits a neckbreaker. Clotheslines by Bayley. Bayley drops Ivy on the middle rope and knees her. Bayley hits a second rope elbow to Ivy’s back for two. Bayley to Belly is blocked, Bayley with a rollup for two. Ivy kicks Bayley and German suplexes Bayley for two. Ivy gets propped in the corner, Bayley sunset flips her out of the corner kinda for two. Roseplant is blocked. Ivy with a kick, a strike and a stalling vertical suplex. Very delayed, very nice, very evil. Cover gets two. Ivy with some forearms, then she runs into a boot. Bayley goes up, but Ivy dropkicks her & follows her up top. Superplex with a funky landing, then a swinging urinaki. Outside, Bayley sends Ivy into the steps. Ivy blocks the elbowdrop and kicks Bayley to the floor. Bayley elbowdrops Ivy on the apron. A Bayley to Belly gets the three count around 17 minutes in.

Asuka is next, and Kairi Sane has her back turned as Bayley dives onto her mentor! Kairi then causes the distraction that allows Asuka to attack as we go to commercial.

Bayley covers Asuka for two as we return. Asuka blocks a Roseplant into a Stretch Muffler and then an Ankle lock. She’s stealing Maxxine’s finish! Bayley rolls Asuka up for two, then gets kicked in the head. Bayley goes for a knee bar on Asuka. Asuka rolls to the ropes and goes outside. Bayley jumps up to under the bottom rope and dropkicks Asuka. Asuka with a knee, Bayley with a clothesline & running knee for two. Shots are exchanged, Asuka with some kicks to knock Bayley down for two. Another kick gets another two count. Bayley avoids the knee and rolls Asuka up for two. Bayley to Belly gets two! Bayley goes to the middle rope, Asuka knocks her to the floor. Kairi is about to hit Bayley when Lyra runs down and dropkicks her! Bayley back in the ring, jumps off the middle rope into an Asuka Lock! Bayley rolls out, hits a Roseplant for three! She’s the #1 contender!

Winner: Bayley (22:41 shown via pinfall)
Match Rating: ***1/2
I’m never sure whether to rate these things as a whole or try to separate the individual matches. If you know me you know that anything that involves less work is my bag. As a whole it was a pretty good piece of business. Nice for Ivy Nile to get some run, and AJ vs. Bayley should be a lot of fun.

Seems like it’s been awhile since that move won a match. Bayley & Lyra celebrate while Asuka berates Kairi.

We go back to last Monday when Roman Reigns was here to chat with CM Punk! Punk is here tonight and we’ll hear from him later.

Penta walks backstage! He’ll be defending his championship next!

Moments ago, Byon Saxton was interviewing Nattie when Maxxine Dupri attacked! She kicks Nattie down and pounds away before security get her away.

Danhausen wants to talk to Original El Grande Americano about very important & evil things, but Original has no time for it. Danhausen declares A CURSE on Original! Well, we know who’s not winning their next match. The Curse is undefeated, man. I don’t make the rules. Also, I wouldn’t mind if the idea here is to have Danhausen curse all of Penta’s opponents.
Before competing, Penta wants to thank everybody. Seriously, I think he covered everybody. The title is for all the people that never give up, he represents the dreamers & fighters of real life. The title is a result of hard work, sacrifice and believing in yourself every single day. Together, we make history! He’s here as the new Intercontinental Champion! Penta speaks some Spanish, then says Yo Soy Penta & Cero Miedo.

El Grande Americano 2 makes his way to the ring! Penta is quite confused, as am I. We’ll find out what’s going on during the commercial, probably.

WWE Intercontinental Championship Match: Penta (c) vs. El Grande Americano 2: EGA 2 has taken the Original’s place in this match, and he gets kicked down by Penta. 2 with a couple of ranas, Penta with a superkick. Chop by Penta, EGA 2 catches a kick and smacks Penta down. 2 punches Penta in the corner, then kicks him in the head for two. 2 wrenches at Penta’s face. 2 with some punches before Penta grabs his mask and starts punching. Grande goes to the eyes, then slaps Penta in the corner. Penta follows him into the corner and kicks him, then hits a Backstabber. Penta knocks Grande to the floor, goes for a dive but Grande slaps him out of it. Grande poses with the Intercontinental Championship while the referee checks on Penta. We go to commercial.

We return to Penta sweeping EGA 2’s leg. Sling blade by Penta, who is 84 to 2’s 85 in WWE2K26 rankings, seems pretty crazy to me. Crossbody on Grande gets a two count.2 avoids the Sacrifice. Rollup gets two on Penta, EGA with a spinebuster for two. Penta blocks the ropewalk, Penta Driver gets blocked by 2. Penta goes for the Mexican Destroyer and gets DVDed instead for two. Penta with a slap, EGA gets his code broken and then Mexican Destroyed for the three count!

Winner: Penta (7:35 shown via pinfall)
Match Rating: ***
Whichever Americano wrestles Penta will make for a good match, no surprise there. Kinda surprised not to see any other Americanos out there, not even Rayo or Bravo. I don’t think the Curse would involve them, but it’s tough to say.

Stephanie Vaquer heard what Liv Morgan said last week. She can see everything Liv worked for and the skill she gained. What bother Stepanie isn’t Liv’s stupid laugh. She has all the tools but is too stupid to use them. The mud huts made Stephanie who she is. She was forged in hell & fire. They took different roads, but both have the skills to be here. Liv has become lazy. She can see more in Liv than Liv can see in herself. Liv just sees herself as a cheap blonde and always takes the easy way. Stephanie will being the blood, sweat & all her experience, and will use it to keep making history as champion.

Liv says that at least she has friends, and talks to Raquel & JD McDonagh about it. Dominik Mysterio asks if they’ve seen Finn, JD runs off, and Liv & Raquel will go to the ring with Dom.

We got boxers & football players in the house.

The Judgment Day theme hits, and Dominik, Liv & Raquel make their way to the ring. Dom demands a rematch against Penta, who is walking around with him title. We all know it’s Finn Balor’s fault. Dom wanted to talk about this in private, but Finn made him air their dirty laundry in front of everybody. Finn & JD come out to Finn’s music. Dom asks Finn where the hell he’s been, and hopes that Finn got him a rematch by talking to Adam Pearce. Finn asks if Dom is finished. Finn apologizes to Dom for costing him the championship, and says he was trying to teach him a lesson. Judgment Day is a family and they’ll always have his back Dom said he wanted to be the greatest Mysterio of all time. Dom can be, but he needs to learn that sometimes he needs to fight his own battles. Finn’s tried to guide Dom for 2 years, but the more he helps, the more he realizes that maybe Rey was right. Maybe he is just a spoiled little bad word!

Dom shoves Finn, then Finn Pele kicks Dom! JD pulls Finn off of Dom, then Finn hits a Sling Blade! JD clotheslines Finn down! Liv & Raquel smack away on Finn! All four stomp Finn down. Dom gets the hammer and a chair…Finn manages to fight JD off, but Dom smacks him in the face with the hammer! Dom shoves the hammer in his sneaker, and JD sets Finn up…619! Dom hits the frog splash on Balor, then JD hits Finn in the chest repeatedly with the chair. JD holds the chair on Finn’s body & Dom hits a frog splash on it while Liv & Raquel hold the officials off. Judgment Day pose, then leave Finn laying in the ring.

Moments Ago, Finn Balor got beat down by the rest of the Judgment Day.

Adam Pearce says Je’Von Evans has the week off and congratulates him on his recent endeavors. Kofi Kingston & Grayson Waller come up to Je’Von. Grayson talks some stuff and gets sent off by Kofi. Kofi says that Je’Von reminds him of him. Je’Von could be a champion someday, but he needs the right team around him. Kofi says Je’Von doesn’t need to answer right now, he can think about it.

Jackie is with Bayley & Lyra Valkyria. Jackie says that Bayley will face AJ next week. Bayley thanks Lyra for being there for her, Lyra says Bayley deserves to be champion. Bayley says it’ll be an honor to step in the ring with one of her very good friends. Bayley hasn’t won this championship yet. Bayley suggests to Lyra that she could get a shot after Bayley beats AJ. Hmmm.

Oba Femi vs. Rusev: The two big guys clothesline & punch each other. Oba reverses a whip and splashes Rusev in the corner. Rusev with one of his own, then he runs into a kick. Rusev gets knocked outside, he attacks Oba out there but gets sent into the steps. Rusev kicks Oba off the apron, evades a slam & knocks Oba off the post. Rusev then spin kicks Oba on the table, back into the ring & some strikes to Oba. Femi catches him, but then gets Machka kicked. Oba with a running uppercut, then tosses Rusev across the ring! A Fall From Grace gets the three count!

Winner: Oba Femi (3:07 via pinfall)
Match Rating: **1/2
They had some fun action and Rusev got a little bit here, but this was to make Oba Femi look good. I’m old enough to remember when Rusev was doing stuff like that to other people. Part of the circle of life.

Next Week: Brock Lesnar! AJ vs. Bayley! Original El Grande Americano vs. El Grande Americano 2! Roman Reigns!

LIKE MUSSOLINI! CM Punk will talk to us after a commercial.

Punk says he was unsure of what the temperature in the room would be regarding him, but the fans are happy to see him. Some people are upset with some of the things he said last week. Roman Reigns has never respected him once in his entire career. Punk will force him to respect the position he holds. Championships are made to find out who the best are, the best go on to defend. This title was created because Reigns refused to defend his titles. Punk says the fans deserve a fighting champion. He levels up the title and the competition. He left Roman dumbfounded & slackjawed last week. He levels this place up, but unfortunately last week he lowered himself to Roman’s level.

The Uso music hits! Jimmy & Jey walk down the aisle to the ring, and they’re not in Yeet Mode. Jey says they need Punk to apologize right now. Punk asks why Roman sent his cousins to do his heavy lifting. Jey says they came out them damn selves and asks for the apology. Jimmy says this has nothing to do with Roman, but everything to do with respect. Jimmy’s got a lot of respect for Punk. Punk says what is in his mind, he speaks from his heard and runs through obstacles. Punk calls himself the voice of the voiceless. Jimmy says last week Punk disrespected his uncle, who has no voice. Punk says Jimmy is right. Sika doesn’t have a voice. Punk’s not spiritual, but he hopes Sika can hear this. Because they’re friends and go back a lot longer than people realize. Punk didn’t know Sika as well as he knew Afa. He worked for Afa in Pennsylvania and was paid in knowledge sitting under the family tree. He babysat Lance and sat with Samu. He respects everyone in their family, and everyone of them have shown respect except for that one son of a bitch. Punk hopes that Sika can see what type of a egotistical, plastic politician his son is. Jey is still mad and says that it’s still not about Roman, Punk still needs to say he’s sorry. The fans have taken Jimmy & Jey’s side. Punk takes Jimmy’s hand and says he’s sorry, then does the same for Jey. He’s sorry Roman treated them and everyone in the family like garbage for years and never came out once publicly and apologized to them. He’s sorry Roman disrespected Dusty Rhodes when he called him irrelevant, and he’s sorry Roman has tricked them, their family and everyone else into thinking he gives a single damn about any of them or any of this. If Roman cared at all, Punk would be talking to him right now instead of his young boys!

Jey shoves Punk, Punk shoves back and Jimmy punches Punk down! Jimmy holds Jey off and they both leave the ring. A mysterious voice says “That’s all good. That’s all good.” as our live event comes to an end. So long for now!

If you’d like to chime in with your own thoughts on today’s show, feel free to join your fellow 411 Maniacs down in the comment section! As the legendary Larry Csonka always said: Have fun and don’t be a dick. When I’m not here you can catch me on the social media from time to time.

7.5

The final score: review Good

The 411

We saw some important developments on tonight's show, with Bayley getting ready for a big match next week, the Usos choosing their side in the Punk/Roman issue, and somebody finally getting kicked out of the Judgment Day. Been a minute since that happened. Good in-ring action and a lack of fluff make for a solid Raw. See y'all next week!