WWE Raw takeaways: Brock Lesnar takes out Oba Femi, Tribal Combat set

Posted on by GoalVerseNews

WWE Raw on May 18, 2026, took place at Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, N.C., and featured a singles match between Seth Rollins and Austin Theory.

This week’s show was a big step-up from the Raw after Backlash. Nearly all of the big names made their presence felt, and the in-ring action was strong. Los Americanos picked up a trios win over OG Americano, Bruto and Julio, plus Finn Bálor won a fun street fight against JD McDonagh. LA Knight made an on-screen return in a couple of backstage segments, and Sol Ruca called out Becky Lynch.

Here’s the top takeaways from this week’s show:

Jacob Fatu gets wrecked, calls for Tribal Combat

The opening segment of the show saw Jacob Fatu beat Roman Reigns to the ring. He was quickly joined by The Usos. Jimmy Uso attempted to talk some sense into Fatu to avoid getting fired and heading back to the life he escaped. Fatu snapped and put the Tongan Death Grip on, prompting Reigns to appear.

Reigns and Fatu went at it. Fatu got the TDG on Reigns, but that was eventually broken up when The Usos recovered. The brothers tied Fatu’s arms in the ropes (which is something that is massively underutilized in today’s WWE), and it was open season on the helpless Fatu. After a series of free shots, Fatu was lined up for a big spear from Reigns.

As Reigns and The Usos were exiting and Adam Pearce attempted to fire Fatu, “The Samoan Werewolf” grabbed a mic and called for Tribal Combat, which Reigns had no choice but to accept.

The match will go down at Clash in Italy. Fatu will have the chance to avoid acknowledging Reigns by directly earning the Ula Fala by defeating the Tribal Chief in Tribal Combat. Imagine if Fatu wins this. There are so many directions the story could go, which has always been true with The Bloodline stories, but a new Tribal Chief would be a different level.

Brie Bella, Paige retain tag titles vs. Judgment Day

The women’s tag titles were on the line this week when Brie Bella and Paige took on Judgment Day’s Roxanne Perez and Raquel Rodriguez.

The champs took control of the match early, but eventually, the numbers game came into play. Liv Morgan provided an effective distraction more than once, allowing her team to take advantage. However, she was caught after getting too involved, and the referee kicked her out. While Morgan argued her case, Perez and Rodriguez attempted to hit Bella with a title, but that backfired, and a rollup pin by Bella sealed the deal.

Morgan attacked the champs from behind after the match, but before Judgment Day could get a beatdown going, Bayley and Lyra Valkyria rushed out for the save.

This was a decent match, and it was good to see the titles on the line, unlike last week. Perez was really the star of this one, even in a losing effort. As long as the titles are defended every time we see Bella and Paige in action, WWE is doing something right.

Brock Lesnar returns, takes out Oba Femi

It was time for the Oba Femi Open Challenge, or so we thought.

As Femi was hitting his signature spotlight pose in the ring, Brock Lesnar attacked from behind. Lesnar hit Femi with four F5s, ripping his jeans in the process. Lesnar did his damage and left the ring as Femi attempted to get back to his feet.

It was a straight-to-the-point moment, which continued backstage after the break with Adam Pearce and Paul Heyman. Pearce questioned Lesnar’s status, as he said he filed retirement paperwork on his behalf. Heyman agreed that was accurate, but then handed Pearce a contract for a massive rematch between Lesnar and Femi for Clash in Italy.

Seeing Lesnar and Femi go at it again would be special. It’ll probably be a finisher-fest, but there’s nothing wrong with that with these two. Most importantly, it looks like Femi’s open challenge is unofficially over, thankfully.

Seth Rollins needs allies, defeats Austin Theory

After calling out any member of The Vision earlier in the show, Seth Rollins landed a main event against Austin Theory. He wanted Bron Breakker, but Paul Heyman advised against it.

Rollins competed in his first Raw match in months, and got the win after overcoming interference from Logan Paul.

After the pin, Paul attacked Rollins. Angelo Dawkins rushed out to assist, but he was overtaken as well. Montez Ford reluctantly ran out to save his partner, and cleared the ring. Ford tried to tell Dawkins again that helping Rollins doesn’t do anything for them, and that’s when Breakker appeared and speared Ford. Dawkins was taken out next, but then Rollins got a few licks in on Breakker.

That was short lived, though. The numbers game caught up to Rollins, and The Vision then attempted to severely injure Rollins on the steel steps, but officials, including Adam Pearce put a stop to it. Breakker was able to get one more spear in before the show ended.

The story for Rollins on this week’s show was that he acknowledged he has no allies, but at least Dawkins was that for him, at least for a moment. It’s also interesting to see the Street Profits having disagreements, but it’s too early to tell if that will actually go anywhere or not. Rollins remains outnumbered, though, and if he’s going to take out The Vision as he vowed to do, he’s going to need help or get really creative.

This article originally appeared on Wrestling Junkie: WWE Raw takeaways: Lesnar returns, Tribal Combat set, Rollins needs help

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