WWE RAW News Roundup: Roman Reigns calls CM Punk 'old', Randy Orton appears, Brock Lesnar returns and more

The March 16 episode of Monday Night RAW was one of the most exciting editions on the road to WrestleMania 42. The show that took place at the Frost Bank Arena in San Antonio featured yet another heated confrontation between CM Punk and Roman Reigns, Brock Lesnar returning to a huge attack, and an appearance by Randy Orton to explain his actions in attacking Cody Rhodes on SmackDown.

CM Punk strikes Roman Reigns in huge in-ring encounter

Roman Reigns returned and came out in the main event segment of the show. The OTC berated his WrestleMania 42 opponent and kept addressing him by his real name, Phil. He believed that Punk was not on his level. This led The Best in the World to come out, who began laying a verbal barrage on him. Reigns then told him that it did not matter if Punk called him a part-timer and went on to call him an 'old.' This enraged Punk to the point that he struck Reigns with a punch.

The OTC was down but kept laughing implying that he got into his skin ahead of their WrestleMania 42 clash.

Randy Orton makes appearance on WWE RAW

Randy Orton appeared on RAW, just days after he brutally attacked his WrestleMania 42 opponent, Cody Rhodes, on SmackDown. He was seen on the phone with someone. After that, Michael Cole approached him for an interview. He told him that the person he was speaking to reminded him of his motivation to attack Cody Rhodes and called himself a 'killer.'

Brock Lesnar returns

This week's RAW opened with Seth Rollins and his masked men surrounding the ring. Rollins fired shots at Paul Heyman and The Vision, leading to Heyman bringing out Brock Lesnar. The Beast took out all the masked men and was about to go after Rollins. Just then, Oba Femi came out and took down Lesnar. He then stood tall over him and pointed to WrestleMania 42, accepting his challenge for a match.

Major highlights from WWE RAW (March 16)

AJ Lee and Penta successfully retained their WWE Intercontinental titles against Bayley and Dragon Lee, respectively. Jimmy and Jey Uso were seen with Roman Reigns backstage, which looked like a reunion. Liv Morgan revealed that expelling Finn Balor from The Judgment Day was her long-term plan. Lastly, the show also saw two huge matches, one seeing Stephanie Vaquer defeating Morgan's ally, Raquel Rodriguez, and Original El Americano facing defeat at the hands of El Americano.Also read: Why WWE 2K26 is getting negative reviews