WWE Raw on Aug. 3, 2026, took place at Casey’s Center in Des Moines, Iowa, and featured a street fight between Jacob Fatu and Royce Keys.
The first Monday offering following SummerSlam had plenty of surprises with three returns and the possible formation of new title programs. It was a solid show with good in-ring action.
Here’s the top takeaways from this week’s show:
LA Knight calls his shot, gets denied
Kicking off the show was the OTC Roman Reigns, who got on the mic to give some respect to Seth Rollins for their main event match at SummerSlam. LA Knight’s music hit, and he had a challenge to issue.
Knight said he wanted exactly what Rollins got: a one-on-one match with no interference from The Bloodline for Reigns’ title. After taking a jab at Knight’s "Walmart" watch, Reigns told
him to go earn it and get in the back of the line because there’s no more freebies. Winning a 6-man tag and beating his cousins wasn’t enough to impress Reigns. Knight reminded Reigns he's earned his shot multiple times, but his family kept ruining things for him.
"YOU'RE NOT ON MY LEVEL, PAL" 😳@RealLAKnight pic.twitter.com/3brhl6ueMN
— WWE (@WWE) August 4, 2026
Well, for a moment it looked like Knight may have been next up for Reigns after the Rollins match, but not yet, it seems.
Big Cass returns
After weeks of vignettes that featured Monday’s date, Big Cass made his return.
While Je’Von Evans was celebrating his win over Ethan Page, Big Cass appeared and tossed Evans all over the ring. Big Cass looked mean, jacked, and ready to cause damage. He looked like more menacing than before, and this run appears to be a more serious one without Enzo Amore by his side.
BIG CASS 😱😱😱
— WWE (@WWE) August 4, 2026
An absolutely BRUTAL attack on The Young OG! pic.twitter.com/l7QAVuZSJ0
Backstage, Big Cass dropped a promo, expressing his frustration about the eight-year journey it took for him to get back to WWE. He said it wasn’t personal with Evans, but he was just a body in his way, and he intends to stack many bodies going forward.
It was about as good of a return you could want from Big Cass, but we’ll see what happens with him going forward, and which title he intends on hunting.
Becky Lynch, Stephanie Vaquer return
Sol Ruca picked up a win over Roxanne Perez thanks to Liv Morgan causing a DQ. After the match, the Judgment Day ladies continued a beatdown on Ruca, until Becky Lynch’s music hit.
BECKY LYNCH IS SO BACK 👏@BeckyLynchWWE pic.twitter.com/koVagQoYdk
— WWE (@WWE) August 4, 2026
"The Man" came around to Des Moines and made it clear her intentions were to go after Morgan and make sure she didn’t have another 100 days without defending her title. The Judgment Day trio headed for the exit, but then were cut off by a returning Stephanie Vaquer, who got her paws on all of them. After making them retreat, Vaquer and Lynch had an intense staredown.
STEPHANIE VAQUER IS BACK 🔥🔥🔥
— WWE (@WWE) August 4, 2026
WHAT A MOMENT!! pic.twitter.com/EbRa51rwmV
This was a much-needed pair of returns. We know Lynch is going after Morgan, but will Vaquer do the same, or go for Raquel Rodriguez’s newly barbed-wired women’s IC title? Hopefully it’s the former, and we have a triple threat title picture.
Bron Breakker frustrated; Oba Femi still not going after a title?
After Oba Femi cut a solo promo in the ring, in which he praised Brock Lesnar and declared himself the leader of the new school, The Vision entered while Femi was still at the entrance. Femi and Breakker stared each other down, and that moment meant something for Breakker.
INTENSITY 😤@Obaofwwe | @bronbreakkerwwe pic.twitter.com/v7mEuN9Lzm
— WWE (@WWE) August 4, 2026
After a commercial break, we see Breakker in the ring with Hendry, but Breakker is staring at the entrance. For the whole match (which was very short), it appeared Breakker was contemplating everything about his situation.
TOTAL DOMINATION 👊
— WWE (@WWE) August 4, 2026
A statement from @bronbreakkerwwe! pic.twitter.com/W71zx8HQwu
It’s obvious that WWE is leaning into the recent chatter about Breakker’s fall from the world heavyweight title picture and being considered the future. He’s now a tag champion with Austin Theory, who is having a thing with Maxxine Dupri, which is a mid-card setup at best. Breakker confronted Heyman backstage about Femi too. What if he splinters away from The Vision to chase Femi in order to get back a higher program?
Speaking of higher programs, I guess the title shot Femi earned by winning King of the Ring still isn’t happening yet. We were told it was a brief detour to handle Brock Lesnar business, but now, it seems that Femi’s character is easily distracted by anyone willing to look him in the eye, which makes sense on some level, but also makes the character seem foolish. This is why fans are frustrated. Femi should have confronted Reigns in the opening segment.
Jacob Fatu does Roman Reigns’ bidding
The main event of this week’s show was a street fight between Jacob Fatu and Royce Keys. It’s a match that came together after Roman Reigns checked The Usos and Fatu about being on the same page, producing results, and focusing on family only – which meant leaving Keys behind. So, Fatu challenged Keys to a street fight.
The match was really well executed. Both guys hit each other with flush weapon shots, making it feel like an Attitude Era hardcore match. Lately it seems weapon use has been very careful, but not here. Those kendo stick shots were hard. The slams through the chairs and tables looked painful.
These two are beating the HELL out of each other! 👊 pic.twitter.com/Z7GgmqD2D5
— WWE (@WWE) August 4, 2026
Fatu won with a Tongan Death Grip, causing the referee to ring the bell after Keys stopped responding. Fatu continued a relentless attack after the match, charging through Adam Pearce and other officials to keep inflicting damage. Then Roman Reigns’ music hit. He stopped at the entranceway, and put his one to the sky, which Fatu did as well.
The nod of approval from The OTC 👀
— WWE (@WWE) August 4, 2026
The Bloodline is as scary as ever! pic.twitter.com/sTQkR2fphK
Aside from the brutality of the match, this was a reminder that Reigns is indeed a heel. It was a vicious attack on someone that really didn’t deserve it. We’ll see if the fans rally behind Keys now, as he seems still kind of stuck in neutral.
Full match results
- Je’Von Evans def. Ethan Page via pinfall
- Sola Ruca def. Roxanne Perez via disqualification
- Bron Breakker def. Joe Hendry via pinfall
- Chad Gable, Penta def. JD McDonagh, Dominik Mysterio via pinfall
- Jacob Fatu def. Royce Keys via stoppage
This article originally appeared on Wrestling Junkie: WWE Raw takeaways: SummerSlam fallout, three big returns
