An Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Was the Unexpected Star of WWE’s ‘Monday Night Raw’

Professional wrestling is known for its flamboyant costumed characters, its muscle-bound athletics, and its soap opera-like storytelling, but lately, the world of sports entertainment is becoming known for something new and entirely unexpected: luxury watches.

The hottest accessory among WWE superstars these days isn’t face paint or colorful leotards, but rather hard-to-purchase Swiss mechanical watches with retail prices that run in five- or even six-figure territory.

And last night on Netflix’s Monday Night Raw, a rare Audemars Piguet unexpectedly got a moment to shine in the spotlight in a way few watches ever do on TV.

Wrestling’s new infatuation

Cody Rhodes was the first modern WWE superstar to gain widespread attention for his watch collection a couple of years ago, scoring coverage in GQ and Esquire after he was gifted his father’s lost gold Rolex Day-Date following his winning of the Undisputed WWE Championship at Wrestlemania XL in 2024.

Rhodes often wears Rolex and Omega watches during his in-ring segments, with selections that include a Daytona, Datejust(s), Sky-Dweller and GMT-Master II “Batman” from the former, and a trio of James Bond-inspired Seamaster Diver 300Ms from the latter: a “Seaweed,” a “No Time to Die” and the new 007 First Light Chronograph.

More interesting from a watch nerd’s perspective is Gunther, arguably the WWE’s top heel at the moment. The man who retired John Cena recently showed off his seriously impressive collection in a video with luxury watch YouTubers Producer Michael and Marc Gebauer.

In the video, Gunther wears an ice-blue platinum Rolex Daytona with baguette diamond indices while showing off two rose gold Moser tourbillons (the Streamliner Pierre Gasly and an Endeavour Skeleton), a pink gold Vacheron Constantin Overseas Chronograph, a steel Patek Philippe Nautilus Travel Time Chronograph, a yellow gold Rolex Sky-Dweller and a blue ceramic IWC Pilot’s Top Gun Oceana Chronograph that he wears as his gym watch.

Last but not least, we have Roman Reigns. The current World Heavyweight Champion has recently made inroads in the watch community, appearing with online watch personality and dealer Nico Leonard on YouTube and TikTok to show off his collection and buy a watch, respectively.

Reigns’ collection includes the recent Omega Speedmaster “Reverse” in Moonshine gold, a pink gold Vacheron Constantin Overseas Chronograph, a steel Overseas Tourbillon Skeleton, the white gold, diamond-and-blue-sapphire-set Rolex Submariner 116659SABR, a 1960s Rolex Submariner “Red Sub” that belonged to his father and more.

But perhaps the most impressive watch, or at least the most expensive, in Reigns’ collection is his Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Tourbillon Chronograph Black Ceramic Ref. 26343CE.OO.1247CE.01, a sold-out limited edition of 100 that goes for over $300,000 on the secondary market.

It was this watch that got a surprise starring role in last night’s episode of Monday Night Raw during Roman Reigns’ promo battle against his current rival, LA Knight. Reigns not only wore the watch in the ring, but he demanded the camera zoom in on it while referring to it as a “skeleton tourbillon,” words I never expected to hear spoken at a wrestling show.

The reason for Reigns’ boast was to mock Knight’s claim of being a megastar, calling out his foe’s “Walmart watch” and claiming that his AP is the type of watch that real megastars wear. As Knight appeared to be wearing a ~$200 Fossil BQ2797 chronograph, Reigns’ insult was pretty on the money.

The surreal exchange is just the latest reminder of how niche watch culture continues to seep into pop culture at large.

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