Two nights after successfully defending his WWE championship against Goldberg at SummerSlam, Bobby Lashley arrived at Raw in need of a new challenger. By the end of Monday night, two men had clearly inserted themselves into the title picture.
Lashley was challenged to a match early in the night by new United States champion Damian Priest, who won the title from Sheamus at SummerSlam. That match was cut short after interference from Sheamus, leading to an impromptu tag match. In the end, Lashley abandoned Sheamus mid-match, leaving him to take the loss, an act to that Sheamus did not take kindly.
CBS Sports was with you all night with recaps and highlights of all the action from Pechanga Arena in San Diego.
The hunt for Bobby Lashley's next challenger begins
MVP and Bobby Lashley opened the show with an in-ring promo to celebrate Lashley's SummerSlam win over Goldberg. MVP pointed out that Lashley is now the first person to ever stop Goldberg before saying Lashley put Gage Goldberg in the Hurt Lock because he was defending himself from someone jumping over the barricade and attacking him from behind. This brought out newly crowned United States champion Damian Priest, who challenged Lashley to a match later in the night before the two began to brawl.
Damian Priest & Drew McIntyre def. Bobby Lashley & Sheamus via pinfall after McIntyre hit Sheamus with a Claymore. The brawl led to a brief match between the two before Sheamus ran in to attack Priest for the disqualification. As Sheamus and Lashley continued the attack, McIntyre ran in to make the save. This, of course, meant an impromptu tag match with the four men involved. Lashley walked off in the middle of the match, leaving Sheamus to take a Claymore from McIntyre for the finish. Sheamus stormed into Lashley's locker room later in the show, yelling at the WWE champion and saying nothing would make him happier than to meet Lashley in the ring.
With it seeming a done deal that Goldberg will get his rematch with Lashley when WWE returns to Saudi Arabia in October, there's a need for a short-term filler for a challenger to Lashley's title. Early in the show, it seemed that the challenger may be Priest but the confrontation between Lashley and Sheamus made it seem it may be Sheamus who gets a brief run in the contender role. It's hard to get too upset about an Extreme Rules match between Sheamus and Lashley and the physicality that would bring. Grade: B
What else happened on WWE Raw?
- Eva Marie attacked Doudrop backstage. Doudrop was in the middle of an interview when Eva Marie attacked, yelling at Doudrop, "I made you."
- Karrion Kross def. Ricochet via submission with the Kross Jacket in a very short match.
- Logan Paul appeared on John Morrison's "Moist TV." The segment was interrupted by The Miz, who tried to take over the interview. Morrison then argued with Miz about how Miz always tries to make everything about him before Paul excused himself from the ring. Paul was loudly booed for the entire segment.
- Xavier Woods def. The Miz via pinfall with a roll-up. Morrison tried to spray Woods with water, leading to a near fall for Miz, but also a distraction that kept the referee from making the count. After the match, Miz turned on Morrison, attacking him before laying him out with a Skull-Crushing Finale.
- Monsoor def. Jinder Mahal via disqualification. Mahal refused to stop attacking Mansoor in the corner, forcing the referee to call for the disqualification. Mustafa Ali just watched on from ringside after Mansoor told him before the match to not involve himself no matter what happened.
- Alexa Bliss confronted Charlotte Flair. Flair was cutting an in-ring promo covering winning the Raw women's title at SummerSlam, claiming it was the start of a new "Women's Evolution." Bliss interrupted, holding her doll, Lilly, and said that she just wanted to say "hi." Seemingly setting up Flair's next challenger.
- Nikki A.S.H. & Rhea Ripley def. Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler via pinfall after Ripley hit Baszler with Riptide. Nikki and Ripley were looking to gain some momentum after both women lost to Flair in the SummerSlam championship triple threat.
- Riddle def. AJ Styles via pinfall after hitting Bro Derek. Styles and Omos interrupted the championship celebration of the new tag team kings, leading to an impromptu main event between Riddle and Styles. Riddle had things rolling when he was distracted by Omos but managed to fight back as Orton attacked Omos with the scooter Riddle had gifted him earlier in the night.