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With just weeks to go until WrestleMania 42, Monday's episode of WWE Raw did some heavy lifting in filling out the biggest card of the year. Four matches were added to WrestleMania 42 during Monday's show, though there are some concerns over the quality of the build to the event.
Monday also saw three title matches and one title change, as Austin Theory and Logan Paul of The Vision managed to take the world tag team championships from The Usos with the help of IShowSpeed.
CBS Sports was with you all night with recaps and highlights of all the action from Madison Square Garden in New York.
WrestleMania 42 continues to take shape
While three title matches and CM Punk brawling with Roman Reigns all took place on Monday night, the biggest headline may be the addition of several new matches to the WrestleMania 42 card.
The matches announced on Monday night include:
- Dominik Mysterio vs. Finn Balor
- Intercontinental Championship -- Penta (c) vs. Je'Von Evans vs. Rusev vs. JD McDonagh vs. Dragon Lee (Ladder Match)
- WWE Women's Tag Team Championship -- Lash Legend & Nia Jax (c) vs. The Bella Twins vs. Charlotte Flair & Alexa Bliss vs. Bayley & Lyra Valkyria
- Seth Rollins vs. Gunther
The events that set those matches up can be found below.
WrestleMania is the biggest event of the year, but the build has not been "special" this year. The events below involving Cody Rhodes, CM Punk and Roman Reigns on Monday did little to enhance the biggest matches on the card. Rollins vs. Gunther feels thrown together at best, as does the intercontinental championship ladder match. These matches might all make WrestleMania 42 better, but it feels like WWE has very little confidence in the build to the event.
What else happened on WWE Raw?
- Stephanie McMahon confronted Cody Rhodes. Rhodes was out to open the show when McMahon came to the ring to tell Rhodes that he is not ready for "this version" of Randy Orton, and if he doesn't figure out a way to get ready, he will lose his undisputed WWE championship at WrestleMania. McMahon also suggested that Orton was listening to the guidance of "someone else."
- World Tag Team Championship -- Logan Paul & Austin Theory def. The Usos (c) via pinfall to win the titles. Paul's mother snuck him brass knuckles during the match, which was unnecessary as it was a street fight with no disqualifications. This led LA Knight to leave the commentary desk and get involved, including grabbing IShowSpeed from the crowd. Speed ended up grabbing the knuckles and knocking out Knight. Paul then used the knuckles to knock out Jimmy Uso, leaving him to be pinned by Theory after Jey Uso went after Paul rather than paying attention to the action in the ring. Speed was concerned about the situation with Knight and The Usos because he'd been cursed by Danhausen.
- Liv Morgan and Roxanne Perez attacked Stephanie Vaquer. Morgan accused Vaquer of cheapshotting her at every turn and dared Vaquer to come to the ring. After things got physical, Perez made her return to help Morgan beat down Vaquer.
- Women's Tag Team Championship -- Lash Legend & Nia Jax (c) def. Bayley & Lyra Valkyria via disqualification. The Bella Twins, Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss all came to ringside during the match, eventually leading to Flair hitting Jax with a chop block to bring the match to an end and set up a fatal four-way for the titles at WrestleMania.
- Triple H stopped a fight between Oba Femi and Brock Lesnar. Paul Heyman and Lesnar called Femi to the ring, leading to Adam Pearce and his usual inept security team attempting to prevent a confrontation. Femi ran through the security team and tossed Pearce out of the way before slowly circling and entering the ring. Before Femi and Lesnar could come to blows, Triple H entered the ring and yelled at both men, halting the confrontation.
- Intercontinental Championship -- Penta (c) def. Kofi Kingston via pinfall to retain the title. As expected, Grayson Waller attempted to interfere and help Kingston, but that backfired, allowing Penta to hit Kingston with a Mexican destroyer for the win. After the match, Penta said he would defend his title in a ladder match at WrestleMania, later revealed to be against Rusev, Je'Von Evans, Dragon Lee and JD McDonagh.
- Gunther choked out Seth Rollins. Pearce had been bugging Heyman all night to check his email, eventually revealing, as Heyman was in the ring, that Rollins had been medically cleared to compete. Rollins snuck into the ring and hit Heyman with a chair, but before he could deliver a stomp, Rollins was pulled out of the ring by Gunther, who choked Rollins out before pointing at the WrestleMania sign.
- Raquel Rodriguez def. Iyo Sky via pinfall after a Tejana Bomb. Asuka and Kairi Sane ran to the ring during the match, with Asuka demanding Sane attack Sky. As the match continued, Sky hit Asuka with a suicide dive and implored Sane to stop listening to Asuka but rolled into the ring where she was quickly finished off by Rodriguez.
- CM Punk beat down Roman Reigns. Getting revenge for last week's attack by Reigns, Punk came to the ring as Reigns was speaking at the end of the show. A brawl quickly ensued, ending when Punk hit Reigns with a Go To Sleep before powerbombing Reigns through the commentary desk.
