WWE Raw Results, Recap, Notes: Multiple WrestleMania Matches Made When The Fiend Is Summoned

One night after Fastlane, WWE quickly moved into full WrestleMania 37 mode with an episode of Raw that focused on making several important matches for the company’s biggest weekend of the year. Four games were made official on Monday night and at least one more was teased for WrestleMania, at 19 days old.

Drew McIntyre managed to win a handicap match to remove a potential complication from the equation for his match with WWE Champion Bobby Lashley in one of the biggest games on the map. Plus, Asuka finally found out who would challenge for her Raw Women’s Championship when Rhea Ripley made her long-awaited debut on Raw.

CBS Sports was with you all night, bringing you recaps and highlights of all the action from inside the ThunderDome.

Bobby Lashley hits Drew McIntyre

Bobby Lashley defeats. Sheamus via submission with The Hurt Lock. It was the fight expected of great men. The fact that Sheamus and Lashley are doing some of the best work of their careers has certainly raised expectations, which have been largely met. The Hurt Business was dating Lashley and Cedric Alexander caused a bit of distraction for Lashley, allowing Sheamus to resume the match for a while. Alexander made up for it in the end, causing a second distraction, this time affecting Sheamus and allowing Lashley to strike a spinebuster to set up the submission. After the match, The Hurt Business invaded Sheamus, beating him until Drew McIntyre made his way to ringside to break things up and run away from Shelton Benjamin and Alexander, leaving Lashley and MVP alone in the ring with McIntyre. McIntyre held his hands behind his back and begged Lashley to throw the first punch while MVP begged him to leave shouting that it was business, not emotions. Behind the scenes, Lashley and MVP berated Alexander and Benjamin for making it seem like the Champion needed their help to win, calling it an embarrassment.

Drew McIntyre beats. Cedric Alexander and Shelton Benjamin in a handicap match. McIntyre was challenged to a handicap match against Alexander and Benjamin, but told Adam Pearce there had to be the right stakes for the match before saying he would accept the match if The Hurt Business was banned out of the ring at WrestleMania if he wins the match. After battling shorthandedness, McIntyre managed to hit both men with Claymores to score the victory and take Benjamin and Alexander out of the equation at WrestleMania. Behind the scenes, MVP and Lashley once again blew up on Alexander and Benjamin before Lashley bursts into a locker room and offers the lower card members a title opportunity for taking out McIntyre.

This was probably the smallest change to the entire WrestleMania map of the night, but it’s clear Lashley’s challenge in the locker room to take down McIntyre will be a story that will go on for weeks on end. Wrestling has a history of bounty situations and seeing men like Drew Gulak take their chances at fame could be a lot of fun. Sheamus appears to be locked into a WrestleMania schedule with Riddle (see below) and he deserves at least as much for a great run over the past few months. Quality: B +

What else happened on WWE Raw?

• Asuka def. Peyton Royce via submission with the Asuka lock. Royce fought a really good fight, almost taking victory on several occasions, but Asuka took the victory with submission. After the match, Rhea Ripley made her debut as a member of Raw. Ripley entered the ring and challenged Asuka to a match at WrestleMania. Asuka told Ripley, “You’re not ready for Asuka,” before officially accepting the challenge.
• The Miz challenged Bad Bunny to a WrestleMania match on Miz TV. Miz and Morrison said they would create a video for “Hey Hey, Hop Hop” next week on Raw, a “diss track” that would end Bunny’s career. Miz then introduced the official Mania Challenge.
• The Miz def. Jeff Hardy via pinfall after reaching the Skull-Crushing Finale. As Miz celebrated after the match, Bad Bunny slipped into the ring and hit Miz with a guitar and accepted the challenge for a match at WrestleMania.
• Kofi Kingston defeats. AJ styles via pinfall with the SOS Ahead of the match, The New Day agitated Styles by trying to convince Omos not to team up with him at WrestleMania.
• Sheamus hit Riddle with a scooter. Riddle interrupted an interview, asking Sheamus about Ireland, aggravating Sheamus until he took Riddle’s scooter and hit him with it.
• Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler fight. Dana Brooke & Mandy Rose via pinfall when Jax hit Brooke with a Samoan drop. Reginald was at ringside and helped provide distractions that helped the women’s tag team champions achieve victory.
• Braun Strowman beats. Elias via pinfall after a running PowerSlam. After the match, Shane McMahon hit Strowman with his crutch, with no effect on the big man. McMahon then ran out of the ring, leading Strowman to point out that McMahon’s knee looked good and posed the challenge for WrestleMania, which McMahon accepted for “any match” Strowman wanted.
• In the show’s final segment, Randy Orton vowed to end The Fiend before the night was over, bringing out Alexa Bliss, who told Orton to be careful what he wanted before the lights went out. The fire shot from the ring posts and The Fiend was in the ring behind Orton. Orton produced a can of gasoline from a bag he had carried into the ring and threw gas at The Fiend, who was not moving. Rather than strike a match, Orton hit an RKO. After Bliss entered the ring, The Fiend stood up, locked Orton in the mandibular claw, and punched Sister Abigail before Bliss pointed at the WrestleMania sign. The show ended with the official announcement of a match between Orton and The Fiend at WrestleMania.