Heading into Monday's episode of WWE Raw, the show was to be centered around new WWE champion Bobby Lashley. From an advertised championship celebration to a rematch with Miz, the man whom Lashley defeated to win the title, it seemed the new champ would dominate the show.
Instead, Lashley was in and out of the episode in short order, with no celebration of his victory and a quick victory over The Miz. With Fastlane just weeks away, it remains to be seen who will step into the ring to go one-on-one with the champion at the final pre-WrestleMania pay-per-view event.
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Bobby Lashley celebrates with a rematch victory
Raw opened with a clip from earlier in the night of Bobby Lashley and The Hurt Business walking into the arena before he was interviewed backstage with Lashley discussing his 16-year journey to becoming world champion. Miz came to the ring, cutting a promo and saying he accepted that he was going to get dominated by Lashley last week but did expect to still leave the ThunderDome as WWE champion. He then lashed out at WWE for not believing that his body "was not well" last week despite his never taking time off and showing up for every obligation the company asked of him. Miz also cited that his contract said he had to defend his title against Lashley, which he did by using the champion's advantage by getting counted out initially, but WWE forced him into the second defense later in the night where he lost the belt.
WWE Championship -- Bobby Lashley (c) def. The Miz via submission with the Hurt Lock to retain the title. Miz had more success than last week, using some cheap tactics outside the ring to put Lashley on the defensive early. Lashley's win was inevitable, however, and he managed to close the show in a hurry once his offense got rolling -- first slamming Miz with a huge spinebuster and then locking in the Hurt Lock to force the tap and retain his title.
With little time left for WWE to develop the card for Fastlane, it's still unclear what the plan is for Lashley. The rematch may have made more sense on the pay-per-view, but one has to assume there's a larger plan ... unless there's just still uncertainty over his WrestleMania plans. The biggest moment for Lashley on the night may have been the new entrance he debuted this week, which was impressive and showed some real investment in making his status as champion feel special. Still, getting Lashley off the show too early felt like a waste of someone who should be dominating weekly TV right now. Grade: B-
What else happened on WWE Raw?
- Braun Strowman demanded an apology from Shane McMahon for McMahon excluding him from the Elimination Chamber and forcing him to team with Adam Pearce last week. McMahon came to the ring and simply said, "I apologize" before walking away. Later in the show, McMahon and Strowman came back to the ring, only for McMahon to call Strowman dumb and run off, fake jumping in a car that then drove off before McMahon walked back into the shot to laugh as Strowman chased the vehicle.
- Drew McIntyre vs. Sheamus ended in a double knockout in a no disqualification match. McIntyre demanded the match after Sheamus attacked him backstage. The two men topped their last brutal bout by including loads of weapons before the two men picked up sets of ring steps and ran head-first into each other, leaving neither able to answer the referee's 10 count.
- Xavier Woods def. Shelton Benjamin via pinfall with a small package. Before the match, it was announced that New Day would challenge Hurt Business for the tag titles next week.
- Riddle def. Slapjack via pinfall after hitting Bro Derek.
- Women's Tag Team Championship -- Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler def. Lana & Naomi via pinfall when Jax hit Lana with a chokebomb. Reginald was with the champions and provided a match-winning distraction.
- Charlotte Flair interrupted a backstage interview with Dana Brooke and Mandy Rose, making it clear that she was gunning to be the one who got a Raw women's title match against Asuka at WrestleMania. Flair told the pair they needed to show something if they wanted to be the ones who were in that position instead.
- AJ Styles def. Randy Orton via pinfall after a Phenomenal Forearm. The main event came about when Orton took exception with Styles joking backstage about Orton's ongoing issues with Alexa Bliss, ending in a challenge to meet in a match. Orton was getting ready to hit an RKO when Omos rescued Styles by pulling him from the ring. Bliss then appeared on the screen and lit a match. When she blew it out, pyro blew from the ringposts. Orton then vomited black goo again and was hit by a Phenomenal Forearm for the finish.