Chairshot Wrestling News Report (8/25/2026): Penta vs. Fenix Is Set, Royce Keys Returns & AEW Heads to Paris

Penta and Rey Fenix advance to face each other, Royce Keys returns with OTM and AEW announces Grand Slam France for October.

WWE had the opportunity to avoid the obvious match. Thankfully, it did not.

Penta and Rey Fenix both survived Monday’s World Heavyweight Championship No. 1 Contender’s Tournament semifinals, meaning the Lucha Brothers will now have to go through each other for a world-title opportunity.

Elsewhere, Royce Keys made a destructive return, Big Cass wrestled his first WWE match in more than eight years, and AEW announced another significant international expansion.

It’s the Chairshot Wrestling News Report for August 25, 2026!

Penta and Rey Fenix Are Going to Fight

Penta defeated La Parka while Rey Fenix defeated Dragon Lee on Monday’s Raw, sending the brothers into the final of WWE’s World Heavyweight Championship No. 1 Contender’s Tournament. The eventual winner will earn a future championship opportunity.

Sometimes the obvious booking is obvious because it is good. WWE had four wrestlers available Monday and two of them happened to be brothers with years of history together.

You do not need another complication. You do not need somebody attacking one of them and stealing the spot. Penta wants the championship. Fenix wants the championship. Only one brother can get the opportunity.

Ring the damn bell.

Royce Keys Returns With OTM

Royce Keys returned during Monday’s main event alongside Bronco Nima and Lucien Price, attacking The Usos, LA Knight and Solo Sikoa while Knight and Solo were facing Jimmy and Jey Uso. Keys blasted Jey Uso and Solo through the barricade as OTM destroyed everyone involved.

That is how you return somebody. Do not explain everything first. Create the problem and explain it afterward. Keys and OTM did not choose one side of the Bloodline conflict.

They attacked everybody. That immediately creates the impression that this group is not interested in becoming somebody else’s backup. Now WWE gets to explain why.

Check out the last Today In Wrestling History!

Big Cass Wins His First WWE Match in Eight Years

Big Cass defeated Je’Von Evans Monday in his first WWE match since June 2018. Cass countered Evans’ attempt at the OG Cutter before finishing him with a Big Boot. Dominik Mysterio and JD McDonagh attacked Evans after the match.

Eight years is an eternity in wrestling. The company Cass left does not really exist anymore. The roster is different. The television distribution is different. The developmental system is different.

Even the name above the door feels different sometimes. Putting him against Evans was also a smart first assignment because their physical contrast immediately gave the match an identity.

Cass does not need to wrestle like the younger roster. Being enormous is still a perfectly useful wrestling skill.

Becky Lynch Helps Stephanie Vaquer Beat Judgment Day

Stephanie Vaquer defeated Roxanne Perez on Monday after Becky Lynch neutralized interference from Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez. Vaquer was wrestling her first match since WrestleMania 42.

This was less about proving Vaquer could still wrestle and more about putting several important women back into the same orbit. Judgment Day tried to steal the match. Becky prevented it, and Vaquer finished the job.

That leaves WWE with several different directions available instead of immediately locking everyone into another one-on-one program. Sometimes interconnected divisions are considerably more interesting than isolated feuds.

Don’t miss this week’s edition of Bandwagon Nerds!

Oba Femi and Bron Breakker Make Sunday Night’s Main Event Official

Oba Femi and Bron Breakker signed the contract for their Sunday Night’s Main Event match Monday, with the confrontation predictably becoming physical before Femi stood tall.

There are matches that require six weeks of explanation. This is not one of them: Oba Femi is terrifying, and Bron Breakker is terrifying. They disagree about which terrifying person is actually more terrifying.

Excellent–that is enough professional wrestling motivation for me.

The contract signing existed primarily to put both men in the same place and let viewers imagine what happens once nobody is asking them to sit behind a table.

AEW Grand Slam Is Going to Paris

AEW announced that Grand Slam France will take place October 6 at Adidas Arena in Paris. Dynamite and Collision will both be taped at the event, which will mark AEW’s first event in France.

AEW’s international strategy is becoming considerably more interesting than simply returning to London every summer.

Mexico City. Australia. France. The company has spent years attracting an international television audience.

Now it is increasingly asking that audience to buy tickets. Paris is a logical next step, especially after French fans repeatedly traveled to Wembley for All In. If the building responds, there is no reason France needs to remain a one-night experiment.

NXT Goes Home to Heatwave Tonight

Tonight’s WWE NXT is the final episode before Sunday’s Heatwave premium live event, with Rey Fenix pulling double duty this week after advancing on Raw Monday.

• AAA World Cruiserweight Championship – Rey Fenix (c) vs. EK Prosper
• Nattie vs. Wren Sinclair
• Lash Legend vs. Jaida Parker
• Jackson Drake & Brad Baylor vs. Myles Borne & Shiloh Hill

The larger story remains Sunday’s NXT Championship Fatal 4-Way involving Tony D’Angelo, Zilla Fatu, Grayson Waller and Cruz Montana. Zilla’s situation remains fascinating because WWE has skipped almost every normal introductory step. His first official WWE match is for the NXT Championship.

There is no easing him into this. Sunday either establishes Zilla as immediately ready for the top of NXT or gives WWE its first real measurement of how much work remains.

Tonight is the final chance to make that match feel as big as the company clearly believes it is.

WWE Raw Results — August 24, 2026

Monday’s Raw established the final of the World Heavyweight Championship No. 1 Contender’s Tournament, brought Royce Keys back to television and gave Big Cass his first WWE match in more than eight years.

• Stephanie Vaquer defeated Roxanne Perez
• World Heavyweight Championship No. 1 Contender’s Tournament Semifinal – Rey Fenix defeated Dragon Lee
• Big Cass defeated Je’Von Evans
• World Heavyweight Championship No. 1 Contender’s Tournament Semifinal – Penta defeated La Parka
• LA Knight & Solo Sikoa vs. The Usos ended amid the attack from Royce Keys and OTM

Raw accomplished something particularly useful Monday: It made the next show matter. Penta and Fenix now have to fight each other. Royce Keys and OTM have four angry wrestlers wanting answers. Oba Femi and Bron Breakker are officially headed toward collision. And Rey Fenix does not even get a day off before defending AAA gold tonight.

That is how weekly wrestling television should work. Finish one show while creating reasons to watch the next one.

Check out Steven Mitchell’s WWE Monday Night Raw Results, Report, & Review!

This report includes information from: WWE.com, Fightful.com, CagesideSeats.com, and DraftKings.com.