WWE Raw results, recap, grades: Kevin Owens and Drew McIntyre clash on the mic and in the ring .
WWE has seen some big changes in recent weeks, with previously-released talent returning, a renewed focus on secondary titles and a shift in focus of weekly television, all in the wake of Vince McMahon’s departure from the company. That forward momentum continued on Monday night’s edition of Raw, with a host of intriguing matches and segments as the company continues to build to the Clash at the Castle premium live event on Sept. 3.
The highlight of the show was a confrontation and match between Kevin Owens and Drew McIntyre. While McIntyre will challenge Roman Reigns for the undisputed WWE universal championship at Clash at the Castle, Owens wanted to make it perfectly clear that he considers himself the next man up for the winner, leading to a memorable segment and match between the two men.
CBS Sports was with you all night with recaps and highlights of all the action from Capital One Arena in Washington D.C.
Drew McIntyre clashes with fired-up Kevin Owens
Drew McIntyre showed up on Raw despite being a part of the SmackDown roster. The reason, as McIntyre explained, was that he would be defeating Roman Reigns at Clash at the Castle to become an undisputed champion and he would need to go to all shows to defend the title as that is what the fans deserve. After naming potential challengers for the belt, McIntyre was interrupted by Kevin Owens, who explained that he had been happy to just show up to work for years but now remembers that he is a prizefighter and he will gun for every title in the company, including the undisputed championship. McIntyre fired back after being insulted by Owens before saying, “We’re wrestlers in a wrestling ring, so let’s wrestle.”
Drew McIntyre def. Kevin Owens via disqualification when The Usos attacked McIntyre. McIntyre seemed to have the match won as he was setting up for a Claymore when The Usos ran in. After McIntyre fought off both Usos, Owens hit him with a stunner and said Reigns owed him one for leaving McIntyre at the mercy of the Usos, only for McIntyre to fight both brothers off again before telling them to let Reigns know he’ll be seeing him at SmackDown.
Since Triple H has taken over creative, it’s a lot harder to pin down one specific thing from the show to highlight. That’s because the show formula has changed to a wider focus than a single story taking up a quarter or third of the runtime. Still, the promo battle between McIntyre and Owens — along with McIntyre saying “wrestling” multiple times — was tremendous and felt like it had an energy that the show has lacked for so long. The two men then had a tremendous television wrestling match before the messy ending that protected both. Monday nights have gotten much better in recent weeks and segments like this are a big reason why. Grade: A-
What else happened on WWE Raw?
- The Judgement Day beat down Rey Mysterio after Mysterio attacked the group during their show opening promo. Mysterio dominated Finn Balor and Damian Priest but Rhea Ripley involved herself multiple times, knowing Mysterio could not hit her. This eventually allowed Judgement Day to take over, with Balor hitting a Coup de Gras onto a chair that had been laid on Mysterio’s torso.
- Damian Priest challenged Edge to a match next week in Toronto. Priest said it would be one-on-one with no other Judgement Day members present. A video aired later in the show with Edge agreeing to face Priest.
- Alexa Bliss & Asuka def. Doudrop & Nikki A.S.H. via submission to advance in the women’s tag team title tournament when Asuka forced Doudrop to tap out.
- The Miz & Ciampa def. Mustafa Ali & Cedric Alexander via pinfall when Ciampa hit Ali with the Fairy Tail ending.
- Riddle attacked Seth Rollins and challenged him to a match at Clash at the Castle. Rollins was in the ring, waiting for Riddle’s health update. Rollins believed Riddle was at home, but instead, Riddle announced he was medically cleared and ran to the ring to attack, leading to a lengthy brawl.
- Veer Mahan def. Bo Keller via submission with the cervical clutch.
- United States Championship – Bobby Lashley (c) def. AJ Styles via pinfall after a spear. The Miz and Ciampa came to ringside during the match, with Lashley eventually spearing Miz. Dexter Lumis also jumped the guardrail before the match but was taken down by security.
- Theory def. Dolph Ziggler via pinfall after hitting A-Town Down. Earlier in the night, Theory and Ziggler brawled backstage when Ziggler interrupted a Theory interview about his Money in the Bank contract.
