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

22:41It's tough.

22:41Sam Roberts:No. No, dude. I'm in charge of that. I was refreshing that app. No tapping out. That's just like Minute Maid. They're tag teaming with WWE on your daily grind. They're bringing main event energy to life's everyday matches. They're giving you the energy you need to for seat selection on the airplane app. Together, we're turning the toughest rounds into moments worth cheering for. Yeah, from the ring to real life. MinuteMain 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. Obafemi coming out tonight. You talk about somebody that won a battle.

23:30Even 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 Obafemi 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.

24:19I 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 Obafemi.

24:35Sam Roberts: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 that at home. She's 13 months. 13 months and she's doing the OBA strut. Doing the arms. Yep. I got to tell you something. That baby's got rhythm. Advanced. Yeah, that's right. That's a lot of rhythm on that baby. That's right. But OBA comes down. On the upbeats or the downbeats? I got to check.

25:02Sam Roberts:Okay. I'll check on that. Yeah. We'll work on it. It's a work in progress. But OBA Femi, Sam, 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 Obafemi. It's a lot of fabric. But he looked like a million bucks. How about the shoes? Wearing that suit.

25:34What kind of shoes were they?

25:35Sam Roberts:They looked velvet to me. Red velvet. Oh. 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 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 Obafemi, 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.

26:23And 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 Recap. But that build proved to everybody what a star Obafemi was. And everybody knew he was a star, but I don't think people realized that he was ready to be at the top level right now.

26:57Sam Roberts:Yeah, I don't think people realize that level. I mean, what he did at Saturday night's main event, being in the ring with Cody Rhodes. Huge. 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? That's so important.

27:32He 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 rock. This is it. This is his. I more mean that he's been realized. Does that make sense? Yeah. Because 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 been drafted to a brand. No. So when he said that he arrived, you took that to mean?

28:01Sam Roberts: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. And yeah, yeah, it's not potential. It's not hypothetical. It's not this guy is the future. No, it's this guy's now. Yeah. It's happening immediately. You saw what he did to Brock Lesnar. Right. And you saw Brock Lesnar when 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.

28:33But, yeah, no, I think that you're right. But then also in a literal sense, perhaps it means that he's on Raw? I'm a Raw superstar.

28:41Sam Roberts:Perhaps. I mean, I would imagine. I think Oba 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? Good question. You know? I mean, that's usually something that you spend a career building up to. Yeah, but that was how his career began. 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 he staked a claim on Raw.

29:35The whole build up to the Brock Lesnar-Oba 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 LA 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 Obafemi. And whatever's next for Obafemi is going to command a lot of attention.

30:16Of course you want to be the guy that beats Obafemi. But what are the odds? What you don't want to do is be the guy that Obafemi beat after he beat Brock Lesnar. I think there are probably a lot of people who want to share that spotlight with Obafemi, but at the same time, don't want to share that spotlight with Obafemi.

30:33Sam Roberts:Yeah, who would have the guts to step up to Obafemi 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. And 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.

31:20Plus, 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 2 has just dropped. You can unleash the chaos charisma and championship pedigree instantly unlock Axe, Smash, and Crush from Demolition alongside former Divas and 24-7 champion Kelly Kelly Plus. Unlock the ability to earn 60 additional rewards through gameplay, including Kaz parts, movesets, My Faction content, world taunts, and more.

32:06Don't miss out. In celebration of WrestleMania 42, WWE 2K26 is now on sale until April 22nd on PS5, Xbox Series X and S, Steam, and Nintendo Switch 2, digital only. Get your copy today. We're talking about Obafemi 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, a 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.

32:53But I'm just saying people who retire, what do they typically do when they retire? They take the gloves off. They take the boots off. And they leave them in the ring. And that's what Brock Lesnar did. But he never made an announcement. I was going to say get discount train fare. that too I don't think Brock Lesnar needs I don't think he's taking a train anywhere anytime 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.

33:38He says 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 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'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.

34:27You know, Paul Heyman gave the floor to Logan Paul. Logan gets booed throughout his entire promo. But he tries to make it clear that 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 iShow Speed not being up to par and that Logan Paul is tired.

34:52Sam Roberts:Of all these outsiders. He's tired of streamers and YouTubers specifically, he said. He doesn't like outsiders. It's interesting. Walking in on his business. I mean, it's hard to call Logan Paul a part-timer now, right? 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?

35:24No. Credit where credit's due. He's showing up. A little, right? He's showing up, right? Okay, all right. He's not a part-timer anymore. He's still an outsider. Okay. All right. That's fair. Right? Yeah. No, no, no. I see what you're trying to call it down the middle. Yeah. You know what I mean? You're being 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.

35:52Sam Roberts:And 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 because of a favor. The industry still hasn't recovered. No, it hasn't. So why would Paul Heyman ever offer anyone, especially someone as powerful as Gunter, a favor? Maybe because Paul Heyman doesn't have a choice because that somebody is as powerful as Gunter. 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 F-A-F-O with Gunter.

36:32No, that's 100 % right. Brawn 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. Same building. 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.

37:05Sam Roberts: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. And 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.

37:42Braun Breaker took Seth Rollins out, cost him six months of his career. Six months. Yeah, but you know what? You need to be careful of 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, that I do love. I don't sit there and go, oh, poor this or poor that.

38:24But 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 cart before the horse because he got laid out by Braun Breaker on Monday Night Raw.

38:38Sam Roberts:That's twice now. Laid 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 returning. We got Ethan Page coming up from NXT to Monday Night Raw, having his match with Javon Evans. Fantastic match. Listen, I'm just going to say, it wasn't necessarily spelled out, but Javon Evans told Penta that he wanted the Intercontinental Championship. Rusev took out Javon 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 Javon I know that's nice that you want it but I get what I want I know but showing up on day one gotta make demands that's what all ego does this morning we go to WWE World and we have Penta on the show And this is what's so crazy about wrestling.

39:49What'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. This whole conversation is just about like. We were talking about a title reign. Right. What a night that you had in this and that. What a moment for you being in there 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.

40:31That'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? That's what they're calling this pod, by the way. The now. 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 Javon Evans and Ethan Page and Rusev 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 Sol Ruka who confronted Liv Morgan. Liv Morgan shows up as the women's world champion and proclaims that she's the most talented woman in the division.

41:29Proclaims that this is a hugely bold statement. She proclaims that this is all hers. and it's Sol Ruka that answers that statement on Monday Night Raw. Sol 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 collaboration. Check it out at WWE Shop and Fanatics. But that's not all.

42:16And 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 People's Champ Rock hoodie all weekend long. I saw it.

42:32Sam Roberts: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 Icon's 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.

43:13That 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.

43:30Never leave a fit behind. Rip it, rip it, and bring the juice.

43:40That flavor's just out of reach. Drop the Legos and bring the juice.

43:50On 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?

44:07Sol Ruca: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 going to 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 going to be like a crowd shot or backstage or what have you and getting here they're like promo match interviews all that and I'm like all right like this is it like this is my time to you know make my moment and and prove myself and especially being in the ring with Liv Morgan who just came off of a huge win at Wrestlemania and like her mic work her her ring work is incredible and to be able to be put in that position it honestly gave me a confidence boost like yeah like clearly they know that I can do this and that you know i'm here for a reason i mean it's good 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 like be nervous it's just immediately time to go to work right yeah honestly i prefer that i like to not know because then i don't get as nervous but yeah that's amazing how did it feel because i i 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 in the promo or what the reaction is going to be.

45:26Because when you're going to get the music and you're going to get your name on the screen, you want the reaction that you got tonight, which is this, ah!

45:35Sol Ruca:Yeah, yeah. But who knows, right? Yeah, I think, yeah, exactly, who knows? Especially coming in from NXT. Like, 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. I'm like, I don't know if these people are going to know who I am. I don't know if they're going to care for what I have to say. again going against Liv Morgan like yes she is a heel but people do love her as well so I'm like I could be booed you know 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 like as soon as I said my first line they popped and I was like okay like they know who I am but you know it's a learning curve going from NXT to here to you know listen to the crowd and be able to have a little bit slower of a pace and like feed off the crowd and just have your moments and not only that but during your match they started chanting your name yeah what was that like it's incredible it's so it's so freaking cool and I feel like I still haven't digested it yet you know I've been out of the match for like five minutes but you know I'm sure I'm gonna watch it back and like get chills just like hearing the crowd go crazy and yeah it's been a really cool experience for sure all right

46:40Sam Roberts:well we have to talk about what's been when going on in your life I mean I know you're you're on the high of highs, you know, coming out on the Raw after WrestleMania. But your former friend, Zaria. Your ex. Yeah. She did get involved. Of course. Tonight. And, you know, Sam and I, we've been following this for a long time. Yeah, it's been like a year. Your relationship with Zaria on NXT. You know, is this beneath Zarya, I guess, to yet again come out and spoil another moment?

47:15Sol Ruca:You know, I don't know. I've been trying to wrap my brain around this whole situation. You know, I obviously was upset when it first happened. You know, I've said multiple times, like, I believed that our friendship was stronger than, you know, like petty work drama. You know, petty, like, championship matches. is, you know, 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, you know, we had our match at Sandaliver, and I beat her, and I proved my point, and I thought we could move on from that.

47:51But then, again, she went out and cost me another championship opportunity, and then she comes out

47:56Sol Ruca:today. And at this point, it's like, it's not just jealousy and resentment. It's like, it's, she's obsessed and it's a little scary because her coming all the way out here just for this I'm like bro can we we have a match on Tuesday like see me there and we'll see who's the last woman standing because I'm over it. I do 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's there to do a run in at the live event and she's not even on the live event I know.

48:31It's like, bro, get over it. 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?

48:47Sol Ruca:Yeah, of course. I think that us as a team, us 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 like different cities every time we'd travel. And she was my best friend. And yeah, it's just, 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.

49:24When 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.

49:48Sol Ruca:Yeah, honestly, yes. That's like one of my favorite parts of the match, obviously. 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.

50:20Or are you just so tuned in to what that motion is with your body?

50:25Sol Ruca: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 it's worked so far. So I'm not complaining That's a dangerous thing and it'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 I gotta get that High risk, high reward.

50:55Yeah, and speaking of high risk, high reward, coming right off the Soul Snatcher, that I wouldn't even know what to call it, that sort of, you know, 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 Raw after WrestleMania.

51:17Sol Ruca: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 going to lie, but it's one of those ones where when I see an opportunity to hit it, I'm like, well, I'm just going to give it a go and see what happens. There's a reason why Sasuke was called great. Yeah, exactly. Mainly 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?

52:06Sol Ruca:With myself? Yeah, it'd be you. You have to be you. Okay, okay. Hmm. Honestly, so my dream match is Eoskai, But I think for this scenario, if I could be anyone, it'd probably be Randy Orton. Oh. I mean, the RKO, the Soul Snatcher, we're going to see who's is better. Can you imagine like a Soul Snatcher, but Randy catches you into an RKO? Oh, my God. That would be crazy. Maybe throw Javon in there, too. 100%. We can go crazy. And then just as Randy's celebrating the RKO, here comes the OG cut. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

52:47Sam Roberts:Oh, I want to see all of this. Right? It'd be really, really fun. Amazing. You just mentioned EOS Sky. And, you know, 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 returned. 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, you know, a relatively newer face, What was just the energy like?

53:15Sol Ruca: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, you know, 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, oh my gosh, these are legends I'm now sharing the locker room with? I mean, yeah, definitely. But I try and just pretend that I'm okay. Gotta pretend to be cool. It's fun, yeah. So we know NXT Revenge on the C-Dub.

53:45We know you've got unfinished business with Zarya. But I think there's going to be questions looming. Tonight, is this an appearance and then we're back to NXT? Is this a Sol Ruka is here on Raw? Did this mean anything more than tonight?

54:02Sol Ruca:Honestly, I'm not 100 % sure as of right now. I think I'm just going to take it one thing at a time. 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 a 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.

54:42And when you go to bed tonight, this is what's happened.

54:45Sol Ruca:Insane. It's an amazing, amazing thing. Thank you for being here with us. Thanks so much. 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 want to follow everything that went on at WrestleMania, you look at what happens after WrestleMania 42. And that's when Topps releases a brand new slate of WWE Topps Now cards that commemorate the biggest moments of WrestleMania 42 from Friday and Saturday night. Liv Morgan's Women's World Championship win.

55:30Paige's epic WWE return. and even the newest members of the WWE Hall of Fame are all live now on Topps.com. You know, Dan Housen said that he is a member of the WWE Hall of Fame because he walked the red carpet, so that's very exciting. I mean, I want both those cards so much. From Sunday's night to action, find cards of Roman Reigns' world heavyweight title victory, Oba Femi's dominant mania debut, and so much more. Collectors who purchase 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 matte relic cards that are autographed.

56:21Sam Roberts:Yes. For not only Liv Morgan's Women's World Championship win, but Roman Reigns' World Heavyweight title win. And I want to go back to talk about that Jacob Fatu 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. Which I can't believe. Was 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 clobbering time.

57:05Sam Roberts:And off we went, cult of personality plays. 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. Yeah, CM Punk wearing his heart on his sleeve. 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.

57:39And 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. Yeah, 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. 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.

58:21He's not going anywhere, and he's going to stay ready because you never know when a championship match might fall out of the sky.

58:28Sam Roberts:And that's exactly how he won the World Heavyweight Championship to begin with. Yeah, 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 suit still looked great but Cody looked probably the worst I've ever seen him look yeah it was like that damage that was done to his pectoral in that Hell in a Cell match on his face 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.

59:25Sam Roberts: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 to kick him in the face. It felt great. It was a lot more difficult for Cody to do what he had to do.

1:00:00CM 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.

1:00:18Sam Roberts: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. 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, 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. It sets the stage. It plants the seeds. But you don't know when those seeds are going to bloom. You don't know how much water those seeds are getting. No, but it was amazing to watch it go down.

1:00:51Sam Roberts:I loved it. It was absolutely incredible. It was a night full of moments. It was a weekend full of moments. 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 Fatu on WrestleMania Night 1 on Saturday. We had Trick Williams on WrestleMania Night 2 recap on Sunday. This morning on a special WWE Now from WWE World. We had Penta on. Tonight, of course, Sol 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.

1:01:37I can't believe that I'm going to say this, but Megan, after what we saw between Roman Reigns and Jacob Fatu, we're on the road to backlash, baby. We're on the road. So here we go. Next week on Raw, we've got Becky Lynch. That's right. We've got Joe Hendry. A concert. 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.