Monday Night Raw Review - March 2, 2026

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Seth Rollins, LA Knight and World Tag Team Champion Jimmy Uso Attacked The Vision

It's sad to see what's left of The Vision after Bronson Reed got hurt last week, so I'm in full favor of blowing up the group completely and I'd love for Rollins viciously attacking Paul Heyman here to be the beginning of that. It was a hot angle, though it does leave me wondering what the hell Rollins will do at WrestleMania 42 if Logan Paul and Austin Theory are seemingly going to be busy with The Usos (more on that later).

Gunther def. Dragon Lee

This has been a nice, logical feud to keep Gunther busy after retiring Lee's tag team partner AJ Styles and this was a hell of a match from them. I'm glad we got it on Raw, but it certainly would've helped that Elimination Chamber card had it happened there. Nonetheless, it was refreshing to see Lee go all out and showcase his skills for a change instead of getting beaten in a matter of minutes and the crowd was into the action. Will Gunther unmasking Lee before forcing him to submit lead to him facing Rey Mysterio at WrestleMania?

Women's Intercontinental Champion AJ Lee Addressed the Audience

AJ's promos have been hit or miss since she's been back, but I thought this was a good one from her as she addressed winning the Women's Intercontinental Championship and put the women's locker room on notice. I thought we'd find out her first challenger in this segment, so it was disappointing when no one emerged to answer the call, but it was announced soon after that a Gauntlet match will be held next week to determine that first challenger, presumably for an upcoming Raw and not at WrestleMania, where I assume she and Becky Lynch will have their rematch.

"Original" El Grande Americano def. Rayo Americano

I've said this before, but it's only early March and I'm already sick of the Americano vs. Americano feud. Hell, I was sick of it two days after their cute little Royal Rumble spot at the end of January. Everything we've gotten from them has been basic and nothing about the feud has been remotely interesting. Chad Gable vs. Pete Dunne (let's be honest, that's what this was) was well worked, but all of this has been a colossal waste of time. Relegate it to AAA and move on.

Oba Femi Attacked Rusev

Rusev standing on the announce table to call out Femi was different, so I appreciated the approach. His brief brawl with Femi was well done and effectively set up their match for next Monday, but I wish Rusev had been built back up a bit beforehand. Yes, him against Femi has been teased a few times backstage in recent weeks, but otherwise, I don't believe we've seen Rusev in the ring since he was immediately elimination from the men's Royal Rumble, so he doesn't feel like much of a threat at the moment.

World Tag Team Champion Jimmy Uso def. Austin Theory by Disqualification

After what we got in the opening segment with these guys, this probably could have been saved for next week, but at least it was quick and painless. The match itself was whatever, but it was more of an angle with Jey Uso returning (he was only gone for three days after being attacked backstage at Friday's SmackDown) and getting revenge on Theory and Paul. This all but confirms that the WrestleMania matchup will be The Usos defending the World Tag Team Championship against Theory and Paul.

Jackie Redmond Interviewed RHIYO

It was refreshing for this to take place on the stage instead of in the ring or backstage, as it sent the message that this was important but wouldn't be dragged out for no reason. I'm happy we (kind of) got closure to RHIYO with Rhea Ripley biding farewell to IYO SKY as she heads to SmackDown to challenge Jade Cargill for the WWE Women's Championship, but SKY better end up on the WrestleMania card in a different capacity. She's too talented to be left off. This was short, sweet and exactly what it needed to be.

Penta def. AAA Mega Champion Dominik Mysterio to Win the Intercontinental Championship (AAA Mega Championship Was Not Defended)

Finally! Penta unsuccessfully challenged for the Intercontinental title a bunch of times last year, so he had to win it eventually and this felt like the right time. Granted, the outcome was technically "spoiled" by Danhausen cursing Mysterio backstage beforehand, but I thought it was amusing and a way better use of Danhausen than how his debut was handled at Elimination Chamber. The match was entertaining and Finn Balor factoring into the finish was also perfect.

World Heavyweight CM Punk and Roman Reigns Faced Off

While this wasn't quite as excellent as their last face-off from a month ago, this was still strong stuff. Reigns tripped over his words a time or two and it almost felt like he was off his game ever so slightly, yet his mic work was more motivated than almost any other promo he cut last year. Punk was even better and I didn't mind his closing line about Reigns' deceased father. It was definitely over the line, but I believe that was the point to make their rivalry even more personal. I'm anxious to see how Reigns will respond.

Overall Show

What a drastic improvement over last week's weak effort. The first and third hours were both above average, and even everything in the middle was passable and moved certain storylines along. This was more of a "Road to WrestleMania" episode than almost any other edition of Raw we've gotten so far this year, which is an encouraging sign for the coming weeks. I thoroughly enjoyed this episode and hope they can maintain the momentum.

SEE MORE: Raw Reviews