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WWE Raw on May 4, 2026 took place at CHI Health Center in Omaha, Neb., and featured a contract signing with Jacob Fatu and Roman Reigns.
Something about this show felt off. Maybe it was the news of The New Day being released out of nowhere, and other reports of talent being asked to take pay cuts. Anyways…
The go-home show for Backlash naturally focused on the build to the PLE with a few matches with little to no significance. We saw the team of Ethan Page and Rusev pick up a win over Penta and Je’Von Evans. Sol Ruca signed her Raw contract and hit Becky Lynch with a Sol Snatcher, a trios match between the Americanos went down, and Asuka sprayed IYO SKY during a pre-recorded segment.
Here’s the top takeaways from this week’s show:
Last week we saw Roxanne Perez have a conversation with recently ousted Finn Bálor in the Judgment Day "clubhouse." This was a big no-no, and Perez failed to tell the rest of the group about it. This week, she was confronted by Liv Morgan about it, and made her promise it won’t happen again.
During the Bálor’s match against JD McDonagh, which opened the in-ring action, Perez’s loyalty was tested. After Dominik Mysterio repeatedly interfered in the match, Perez walked out to watch the action ringside. She was closely followed by Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez. Morgan handed Perez the ring bell hammer, and sure enough, she took care of business by hitting Bálor with it so McDonagh could get the win.
Perez proved she’s with Judgment Day this week, but expect Bálor to confront her about it next episode. It just feels like Perez will get kicked out of the group soon, but that will most likely unfold in the moment when she inevitably does something to lose the tag title match against the Brie Bella and Paige, which could be coming soon.
It’s a go-home show, so that means multiple brawls. We got the first one at the top of the show when Bron Breakker attacked Seth Rollins from behind during his entrance. Of course, Breakker escaped security multiple times to eventually hit a spear on Rollins, leaving him writhing in pain.
Later in the show, more members of The Vision got their brawl on when Logan Paul caused a DQ in the singles match between Austin Theory and Joe Hendry, who had the whole arena singing his "Fire Logan Paul" song beforehand. As Paul and Theory beat down Hendry, the Street Profits once again make the save. It felt like we saw that last week, because we did – but this time, Breakker came out to clear the ring. Rollins then attacked Breakker to get one back, but after getting distracted by Montez Ford, Breakker hit another spear and stood tall again.
Why was there no progression whatsoever when it comes to the tag title picture with the Profits and The Vision? It felt like creative tried to buy more time by essentially running back the same brawl segment, even though this one added Breakker and Rollins to make it a little different.
Seeing the same thing repeated brought up all the thoughts about everything else going on with the company: trimming the roster, multiple reports of pay cuts requests despite TKO touting profits while the top suits get pay raises, and creative struggling to produce compelling new stories…
Speaking of struggling to produce compelling new stories, the Oba Femi Open Challenge began. Answering the call was Alpha Academy’s Akira Tozawa, who marched to the ring with all the confidence in the world with Otis and Maxxine Dupri by his side.
Once Tozawa sized up Femi, he quickly aborted and passed it off to Otis. The two huge men bumped into each other a couple of times before Femi hit that beautiful running uppercut. He then tossed Otis like a sack of potatoes, and then put him on the second turnbuckle for an assist with a Fall From Grace.
Femi looked incredible as usual, however, as I stated when this idea was announced, it was a good way to keep him on TV, but it was also very apparent WWE doesn’t know what to do with him at the moment. I mean, the man literally said during his promo that all of the titles were tied up with feuds. One can’t help but wonder how long the Open Challenge will last, since there are only so many people on the roster he can squash, but, more importantly, what title program will this lead to?
The final segment of this week’s show was a contract signing with Roman Reigns and Jacob Fatu.
Reigns grilled Fatu about using the sacred family move, the Tongan Death Grip, on him last week. Reigns said that’s a desperation move like when you’re outnumbered in a bar, not something you use on family. Fatu rebutted by saying he doesn’t care about any of that, because he’s coming to take everything and squeeze every dollar out of the company like it’s done to the family for decades.
Fatu confirmed that he is indeed desperate for his household and is willing to go through his own bloodline. Reigns said that's where they think differently, because Fatu is focused on just his home, while he's focused on building for generations.
Reigns said in the family, he and Fatu are equals, but in the ring, Fatu is beneath him – which set Fatu off. The brawl was on, and Fatu used the Tongan Death Grip multiple times, but Reigns fought out of it. Adam Pearce even tried to break up the scuffle, but Fatu got the grip in one last time, and chokeslammed Reigns onto the table, which wasn’t gimmicked, and didn’t break.
As I’ve said multiple times, a contract signing is a contract signing. It’s usually the same thing. Pen gets put to paper, and things get physical. The most interesting thing about this was the continued focus on protecting the Tongan Death Grip as a sacred move, which leads one to believe Reigns will pull it out on Fatu at Backlash as a last-ditch effort. The big curveball would be if Fatu hits Reigns with it and actually pulls off the huge upset to take the title. Would WWE do something that shocking in 2026?
This article originally appeared on Wrestling Junkie: WWE Raw takeaways: Backlash go-home show sticks to usual script
Continue reading...
Something about this show felt off. Maybe it was the news of The New Day being released out of nowhere, and other reports of talent being asked to take pay cuts. Anyways…
The go-home show for Backlash naturally focused on the build to the PLE with a few matches with little to no significance. We saw the team of Ethan Page and Rusev pick up a win over Penta and Je’Von Evans. Sol Ruca signed her Raw contract and hit Becky Lynch with a Sol Snatcher, a trios match between the Americanos went down, and Asuka sprayed IYO SKY during a pre-recorded segment.
Here’s the top takeaways from this week’s show:
Roxanne Perez next out of Judgment Day?
Last week we saw Roxanne Perez have a conversation with recently ousted Finn Bálor in the Judgment Day "clubhouse." This was a big no-no, and Perez failed to tell the rest of the group about it. This week, she was confronted by Liv Morgan about it, and made her promise it won’t happen again.
During the Bálor’s match against JD McDonagh, which opened the in-ring action, Perez’s loyalty was tested. After Dominik Mysterio repeatedly interfered in the match, Perez walked out to watch the action ringside. She was closely followed by Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez. Morgan handed Perez the ring bell hammer, and sure enough, she took care of business by hitting Bálor with it so McDonagh could get the win.
Perez proved she’s with Judgment Day this week, but expect Bálor to confront her about it next episode. It just feels like Perez will get kicked out of the group soon, but that will most likely unfold in the moment when she inevitably does something to lose the tag title match against the Brie Bella and Paige, which could be coming soon.
Brawls with The Vision, Seth Rollins, Street Profits
It’s a go-home show, so that means multiple brawls. We got the first one at the top of the show when Bron Breakker attacked Seth Rollins from behind during his entrance. Of course, Breakker escaped security multiple times to eventually hit a spear on Rollins, leaving him writhing in pain.
Later in the show, more members of The Vision got their brawl on when Logan Paul caused a DQ in the singles match between Austin Theory and Joe Hendry, who had the whole arena singing his "Fire Logan Paul" song beforehand. As Paul and Theory beat down Hendry, the Street Profits once again make the save. It felt like we saw that last week, because we did – but this time, Breakker came out to clear the ring. Rollins then attacked Breakker to get one back, but after getting distracted by Montez Ford, Breakker hit another spear and stood tall again.
Why was there no progression whatsoever when it comes to the tag title picture with the Profits and The Vision? It felt like creative tried to buy more time by essentially running back the same brawl segment, even though this one added Breakker and Rollins to make it a little different.
Seeing the same thing repeated brought up all the thoughts about everything else going on with the company: trimming the roster, multiple reports of pay cuts requests despite TKO touting profits while the top suits get pay raises, and creative struggling to produce compelling new stories…
Oba Femi Open Challenge commences
Speaking of struggling to produce compelling new stories, the Oba Femi Open Challenge began. Answering the call was Alpha Academy’s Akira Tozawa, who marched to the ring with all the confidence in the world with Otis and Maxxine Dupri by his side.
Once Tozawa sized up Femi, he quickly aborted and passed it off to Otis. The two huge men bumped into each other a couple of times before Femi hit that beautiful running uppercut. He then tossed Otis like a sack of potatoes, and then put him on the second turnbuckle for an assist with a Fall From Grace.
Femi looked incredible as usual, however, as I stated when this idea was announced, it was a good way to keep him on TV, but it was also very apparent WWE doesn’t know what to do with him at the moment. I mean, the man literally said during his promo that all of the titles were tied up with feuds. One can’t help but wonder how long the Open Challenge will last, since there are only so many people on the roster he can squash, but, more importantly, what title program will this lead to?
Roman Reigns, Jacob Fatu and the sacred move
The final segment of this week’s show was a contract signing with Roman Reigns and Jacob Fatu.
Reigns grilled Fatu about using the sacred family move, the Tongan Death Grip, on him last week. Reigns said that’s a desperation move like when you’re outnumbered in a bar, not something you use on family. Fatu rebutted by saying he doesn’t care about any of that, because he’s coming to take everything and squeeze every dollar out of the company like it’s done to the family for decades.
Fatu confirmed that he is indeed desperate for his household and is willing to go through his own bloodline. Reigns said that's where they think differently, because Fatu is focused on just his home, while he's focused on building for generations.
Reigns said in the family, he and Fatu are equals, but in the ring, Fatu is beneath him – which set Fatu off. The brawl was on, and Fatu used the Tongan Death Grip multiple times, but Reigns fought out of it. Adam Pearce even tried to break up the scuffle, but Fatu got the grip in one last time, and chokeslammed Reigns onto the table, which wasn’t gimmicked, and didn’t break.
As I’ve said multiple times, a contract signing is a contract signing. It’s usually the same thing. Pen gets put to paper, and things get physical. The most interesting thing about this was the continued focus on protecting the Tongan Death Grip as a sacred move, which leads one to believe Reigns will pull it out on Fatu at Backlash as a last-ditch effort. The big curveball would be if Fatu hits Reigns with it and actually pulls off the huge upset to take the title. Would WWE do something that shocking in 2026?
This article originally appeared on Wrestling Junkie: WWE Raw takeaways: Backlash go-home show sticks to usual script
Continue reading...
