Ibrahim Oladamola
WWE’s journey to crown a new champion for the recently-reintroduced world heavyweight championship kicked off on Monday night’s Raw. After a pair of triple threat matches, it was Finn Balor and Seth Rollins battling it out for a spot in the title match at the upcoming Night of Champions pay-per-view.
Cody Rhodes was involved in the triple threat matches as one of the favorites to emerge as Raw’s representative in the upcoming title match but found himself taken out by an enraged Brock Lesnar. Lesnar’s attack on Rhodes led to the first match to be set for Night of Champions as he issued a challenge for a fight that Rhodes accepted later in the night.
Monday Night Raw Results:
Seth Rollins advances to the finals of the world heavyweight title tournament
Seth Rollins def Shinsuke Nakamura and Damian Priest via pinfall to advance in the tournament. The match happened after Cody Rhodes cut a promo to start the show, putting over the tournament and the opportunity to win the world heavyweight championship. After several near-falls, Rollins was finally able to score the win after hitting Nakamura with a pedigree.
Finn Balor def The Miz and Cody Rhodes via pinfall to advance in the tournament. Rhodes had hit Miz with Cross Rhodes three times and had the match won. However, as Rhodes went for the pin, he was pulled from the ring by Brock Lesnar. Lesnar hit Rhodes with an F5 outside the ring. The match was a triple threat, which meant there were no disqualifications. Balor hit Miz with a Coup de Grace, scoring the pin. Lesnar then put Rhodes through a table with a second F5. Lesnar then demanded Rhodes look at his face and said Rhodes lucked into his win. Lesnar then screamed several times, “I want a fight” before challenging Rhodes to a match at Night of Champions. Rhodes accepted the challenge later in the night.
Seth Rollins def Finn Balor via pinfall with a stomp to advance to the tournament finals at Night of Champions. A solid match between the two men saw callbacks to previous encounters, such as Balor hitting Rollins with a powerbomb into the guardrail, the same move Rollins hit on Balor in 2016 that caused an injury and ended Balor’s reign as the first-ever universal champion in less than 24 hours. Rollins was eventually able to get the win in a match that saw no outside interference from The Judgement Day.
Mustafa Ali def Otis via pinfall with a 450 splash. Otis was in charge when Chad Gable and Maxine Dupri began arguing over what advice to give Otis. Otis was distracted by the argument, allowing Ali to score the win.
Rhea Ripley def Dana Brooke via submission with a reverse Texas cloverleaf in a very short match.
Zoey Stark def Nikki Cross via pinfall with Z360. Stark was interviewed backstage and confronted Cross, challenging her to a match after saying that Raw was filled with “nothing but weirdos.”
Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn def Imperium (Ludwig Kaiser & Giovanni Vinci) via pinfall after Zayn hit Vinci with a Helluva Kick. Zayn and Owens had confronted Imperium backstage as Kaiser and Vinci were announcing that Gunther would appear on Raw next week, leading to a match later in the night.
Dominik Mysterio def Xavier Woods via pinfall with a roll-up. Rhea Ripley pulled Mysterio out of the ring, allowing him to avoid a Woods elbow drop and score the pin.
