Gunther has held the intercontinental championship for a record 640 days. On Monday, the champion learned who he will defend the title against at WrestleMania 40 when six competitors entered a No. 1 contender gauntlet match in the main event of Raw.
At the end of the night, Sami Zayn had his hand raised, outlasting Chad Gable to score the final pinfall of the gauntlet. Zayn will now look to win gold for a second consecutive WrestleMania, having won the undisputed WWE tag team titles alongside Kevin Owens at WrestleMania 39.
CBS Sports was with you all night with recaps and highlights of all the action from Toyota Center in Houston.
Sami Zayn punches ticket to face Gunther at WrestleMania
Sami Zayn won a gauntlet match to earn a shot at Gunther and the intercontinental championship at WrestleMania. The match started out with Ricochet vs. JD McDonagh, leading to Ricochet eliminating McDonagh with a Shooting Star Press. Bronson Reed was out next to take on Ricochet, who had been compromised by his time with McDonagh. Reed pinned Ricochet with a Tsunami, bringing out Sami Zayn. Zayn eventually took out Reed with a sunset flip powerbomb. Before Shinsuke Nakamura could get to the ring, Reed attacked Zayn and hit a Tsunami. Despite Reed's attack, Zayn took Nakamura out with a Helluva Kick. This left things down to Zayn vs. Chad Gable. Gable applied an ankle lock several times and hit a Chaos Theory before Zayn reversed a final Ankle Lock attempt into a roll-up for the win to cement his shot at Gunther at WrestleMania.
Monday was a big night for WrestleMania, with Zayn earning his shot at ending Gunther's record-breaking reign as intercontinental champion along with a six-pack ladder match for the undisputed WWE tag team championship being announced for the show. In addition, Jey Uso finally made the official challenge to Jimmy Uso for a WrestleMania match that would be among the most intriguing matches of the entire weekend. Zayn has certainly earned another big match on the biggest weekend on the wrestling calendar and a match with Gunther fits that bill. Grade: B+
What else happened on WWE Raw?
- Seth Rollins and Drew McIntyre came face-to-face to open the show. McIntyre talked about his need to defeat Rollins not only for himself but for all of Raw. Rollins attempted to goad McIntyre into a fight by telling McIntyre he pays no attention to him because he's at the bottom of his list of priorities. McIntyre did not bite and left before the two could come to blows.
- Becky Lynch def. Liv Morgan via pinfall with a Manhandle Slam. Nia Jax put Lynch through a table backstage later in the show.
- Cody Rhodes was interviewed in the ring by Michael Cole. Rhodes addressed his two WrestleMania matches -- teaming with Seth Rollins against Roman Reigns and The Rock and against Reigns for the undisputed WWE universal championship -- eventually being reduced to tears about how finishing the story had moved far beyond himself and to everyone who has supported him, including his wife and mother.
- The Kabuki Warriors def. Shayna Baszler & Zoey Stark via pinfall when Kairi Sane hit Baszler with the Insane Elbow.
- Damian Priest def. R-Truth via pinfall with South of Heaven. Priest was out for revenge after Truth and The Miz pitched the idea of the six-pack ladder match at WrestleMania. After the match, Finn Balor and JD McDonagh joined in on an attack on Truth, Johnny Gargano and Tomasso Ciampa.
- Jey Uso called out Jimmy Uso for a match at WrestleMania. Jey demanded that Jimmy answer his challenge, though Jimmy was not at the show.