WWE Raw Results, Winners, Live Grades, Reaction, Highlights From March 16

The road to WrestleMania 42 rolled through the Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Texas with another jam-packed broadcast of WWE Raw, including the returns of Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar to the flagship.

What went down when those industry giants hit the ring Monday night, and how did it impact their plans for the Showcase of the Immortals on April 18 and 19?

Find out now with this recap of this week's show, which also featured AJ Lee defending her Women's Intercontinental Championship for the first time since winning it back at Elimination Chamber.

Match Card

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Announced in advance of the March 16 show were:

Roman Reigns appearance

Brock Lesnar appearance

Women's Intercontinental Championship Match: AJ Lee (c) vs. Bayley

Stephanie Vaquer vs. Raquel Rodriguez

Original El Grande Americano vs. El Grande Americano

Maxxine Dupri vs. Nattie

Seth Rollins' Threat to The Vision, Brock Lesnar Appears, and Oba Femi Answered The Challenge

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Last Time in Action: Seth Rollins defeated Cody Rhodes (Crown Jewel, October 11)

Seth Rollins hit the ring, accompanied by an army of masked and hooded associates. The former world champion grabbed the mic and immediately threatened The Vision, telling them, "I created The Vision and I will kill The Vision."

Paul Heyman arrived on the scene, disheveled and unshaved, his right eye bloodshot and his face bruised and scraped.

"Letting you in my inner circle was the worst decision I ever made," Rollins said before vowing to cut The Wise Man out "like the cancer you are."

Heyman repeated the "FAFO" catchphrase, but on the last one, uttered "F...5" and Brock Lesnar made his presence felt.

The Beast stalked to the ring before obliterating Rollins' cronies, one by one, leaving him face-to-face with The Visionary.

The arena darkened, Oba Femi strutted to the ring, and The Ruler proceeded to deliver a massive powerbomb that flattened the future Hall of Famer. A foot on the chest and a point to the sign and Lesnar's WrestleMania 42 plans appeared clearer.

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Grade

A+

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Top Takeaways

Teasing Lesnar vs. Rollins was a great way to kick off this segment and it made sense, given the revenge-minded Heyman, that he would call upon his conqueror to do his bidding for him.

With one powerbomb, Femi is a bigger star than he was before. The Ruler was fantastic hear and even had Lesnar look up and tell him to put his foot on his chest, a sign of approval from The Beast after a segment perfectly executed.

If you are not thrilled at the prospect of Femi vs. Lesnar after that, there is nothing involving those two that WWE could have done to make it a more anticipated match. For a company that has been criticized, and rightfully so, this was as good an opening segment as you could have asked for. This felt like WrestleMania hype.

Original El Grande Americano vs. El Grande Americano

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Last Time in Action: Americano defeated OG Americano, Santos Escobar, and La Parka (AAA Rey de Reyas, March 14)

The Original El Grande Americano (The OG for this recap) squared off with his imposter, El Grande Americano, in a grudge match weeks in the making.

The OG dominated the contest, especially late, absorbing everything his opponent threw at him and advancing. He fended off interference from Bravo but Rayo entered the ring and slid the metal plate inside Americano's mask.

When The OG came off the top rope with his trademark headbutt, he caught the weapon, crumbling in a heap. Americano rolled him up and scored the tainted win.

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Result

Americano defeated The OG

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Grade

C+

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Top Takeaways

WWE has to get Chad Gable out of this Americano gimmick ASAP. His return has been ice cold, the crowd prefers Ludwig Kaiser's version, and the fans in Mexico treat the latter like the biggest babyface in AAA. Admit defeat and move on. Let Gable steal shows as himself.

All of the heel cheats and tricks here did not help. Rayo and Bravo interfered but The OG was still booed in favor of the storyline heel.

This was a considerable disappointment given the talent involved. The two had good enough chemistry, but the match was overbooked and the crowd in San Antonio was too into the villain for it to have the effect the bookers hoped it would.

Women's Intercontinental Championship Match: AJ Lee vs. Bayley

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Last Time in Action: AJ Lee defeated Becky Lynch (Elimination Chamber, February 28); Bayley lost to Flammer (AAA Rey de Reyes, March 14)

Bayley lived out a dream Monday night as she challenged her idol, AJ Lee, for the Women's Intercontinental Championship, in what may have been her last shot at securing a spot on the WrestleMania card.

A highly competitive match saw Bayley take the fight to Lee, setting aside her personal feelings for the woman who inspired her to get into the business in favor of winning the title.

On a few occasions, it looked like she might do that. She delivered a Bayley to Belly suplex that should have won her the gold but Lee kicked out at two, further sending the challenger into desperation and frustration.

Ultimately, despite being the better wrestler through the majority of the match, Bayley found herself trapped in the Black Widow, with no choice but to tap out as the champion wrenched her arm.

After the commercial break, Becky Lynch attacked Lee, sending her into the Raw stage, then laying her out in the aisle way as she sent a message to her biggest rival.

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Result

Lee defeated Bayley to retain

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Grade

B+

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Top Takeaways

It would have been real nice for the champion and challenger to get full, televised entrances to put over the importance of this one.

Bayley countered a running knee into a single leg Boston Crab, and somewhere, Lance Storm is rightfully smiling.

This was a strong match down the stretch, with the intensification of the in-ring action and a few throwbacks to more famous matches of each competitor. It would have been nice to see more desperation out of Bayley as she attempted to fight her way back into WrestleMania relevancy after missing last year's show, but her post-match body language suggests that is a story to track in the coming weeks.

There were times where it was clear that Lee is still discovering her in-ring legs after a decade-plus away from the ring, but she settled in nicely and hung in there well with Bayley down the stretch, leading to a strong finish via the Black Widow.

Intercontinental Championship Match: Penta vs. Dragon Lee

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Last Time in Action: Penta defeated El Grande Americano (Raw, March 9); Dragon Lee lost to Gunther (Raw, March 2)

Two of the elite luchadors in professional wrestling squared off in an unadvertised match Monday as Dragon Lee answered an open challenge for a shot at Penta's Intercontinental Championship.

What ensued was an action-packed, uber-athletic contest between two creative aerial artists that nearly culminated with a corkscrew tope suicida to the champion on the outside. Back inside, Lee delivered Enter the Dragon but was unable to keep his opponent down for the count of three.

He looked to deliver one last blow but Penta dodged it, delivered the Mexican Destroyer, and won an absolute banger of a match.

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Result

Penta defeated Lee to retain his title

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Grade

A

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Top Takeaways

Lee has been in the best match on WWE's flagship show in two of the last three weeks. He is on a hot streak and is someone WWE should be focused on pushing, especially coming out of WrestleMania.

The crowd in San Antonio, no stranger to historic lucha libre, was red-hot for this one and hung on every high spot and near fall. Penta was great, Lee was excellent, and this was a phenomenal way of upping the in-ring content while giving both the viewing and live audience something different than they are used to.

Backstage, Paul Heyman told Logan Paul and Austin Theory that they needed to regain leverage by regaining titles. To do that, they have to get back into contention for The Uso's World Tag Team Championship.

Maxxine Dupri vs. Nattie

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Last Time in Action: Nattie defeated Maxxine Dupri via referee stoppage (Raw, February 23)

In the latest chapter of their rivalry, Nattie squared off with Maxxine Dupri in singles competition.

The former women's intercontinental champion was outmatched and overwhelmed early and often, out-wrestled at every turn. No matter what she attempted to get going, she succumbed to the fury of Nattie.

The third-generation star downed Dupri late with a discus clothesline and applied the Sharpshooter for the submission win.

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Result

Nattie defeated Dupri via submission

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Grade

C-

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Top Takeaways

This feud could not be any colder than it is now. What once felt like a good, solid non-title program in the women's division became too much about repetition before Nattie dominated and sent Dupri packing here.

After the match, Michael Cole attempted to conduct a live interview with Randy Orton, but The Viper canceled it. He did refer to himself as a "killer," though, and reminded the voice of WWE that there is, in fact, more than one royal family in professional wrestling.

Elsewhere backstage, Danhausen cursed Grayson Waller following a vignette also involving Kofi Kingston, Je'Von Evans, and Dragon Lee.

Stephanie Vaquer vs. Raquel Rodriguez

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Last Time in Action: Stephanie Vaquer defeated Raquel Rodriguez (Raw, February 2); Rodriguez lost a Gauntlet Match to Bayley (Raw, March 9)

Women's world champion Stephanie Vaquer battled Raquel Rodriguez, who was accompanied by Royal Rumble winner and No. 1 contender Liv Morgan at ringside.

La Primera controlled the action early, sending a message to her WrestleMania 42 opponent, Morgan. As the action spilled to the outside, though, Rodriguez sent Vaquer into the ring post, knocking her out.

Back from the break, Big Sexy dominated the action, utilizing her size and strength advantage to control the pace and keep the champion grounded. Vaquer fought her way back into the bout, executing the Devil's Kiss, but Morgan made her presence felt.

Iyo Sky arrived on the scene, fending the heel off at ringside, only to be pounced over the announce table by Rodriguez. Back in the ring, La Primera caught her opponent with a roll-up for the win.

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Result

Vaquer defeated Rodriguez

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Grade

B

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Top Takeaways

These two have strong in-ring chemistry and have yet to have a bad match, but how many times do we have to see them square off on TV?

Sky's appearance suggests she will be involved with Rodriguez in some way at WrestleMania. With the wealth of women's matches hinted at or teased, it is difficult to imagine how WWE will fit them all onto the card, but there are far worse options than booking one of the best wrestlers on the planet against a competitor who has consistently been strong in recent months.

Vaquer winning was the right call but this feud with Morgan needs a little more creatively to get it through the next four weeks.

CM Punk and Roman Reigns Face to Face

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Last Time in Action: CM Punk defeated Finn Balor (Elimination Chamber, February 28); Roman Reigns won the Royal Rumble (Royal Rumble, January 31)

"Welcome to my ring. Welcome to my main event," Roman Reigns said as he came face to face with CM Punk in the marquee promo segment of this week's show.

Reigns hurled insults at Punk, including not main eventing a European tour and not being the big money baller that his wife is.

Punk stopped The Tribal Chief from leaving, telling him he would tell Reigns when he could leave, then vowed to beat him at WrestleMania 42.

For all of the insults, it was The OTC calling the world champion "old" that earned him a hard right hand to the face. Raw general manager Adam Pearce and other WWE producers rushed the ring to pull the Best in the World away, leaving Reigns to chirp into the camera as the show went off the air.

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Grade

B

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Top Takeaways

Backstage, Bayley and Lyra Valkyria were confronted by The Kabuki Warriors and teased competing for the tag team titles at WrestleMania. In the background, Austin Theory could be seen talking to Maxxine Dupri. Could The Vision be in the hunt for a women's division competitor?

Also backstage, LA Knight checked in with The Usos and informed them that they have a good thing going on, but if The Bloodline is back, they can't be on the same page.

The crowd was molten hot for this main event promo segment.

Punk mentioned Samoa Joe, claiming that calling Reigns by his first name would be an insult to his former Ring of Honor teammate.

Much like Punk played to Reigns' weaknesses by mentioning his father two weeks ago, The Tribal Chief played his own mind games, reminding Punk that he is an aging warrior in a young man's game. It worked, drawing the first physicality of the feud and earning Reigns a moral victory. Whether things continue to escalate is the question.

The segment itself was less structured than others, with a whole lot of insults. This one felt like it was specifically laid out for Reigns to get the upper hand, and that makes sense considering the last one was a clear and concise Punk win.

MVP and Overall Grade

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This was a strong episode of Raw, but it never quite was as good as the opening segment, when Oba Femi dropped Brock Lesnar with a powerbomb and pointed to the WrestleMania sign. It was cinematic, it was captivating and it laid the groundwork for a huge showdown at the year's biggest show.

Femi, in his most important segment to date, delivered the goods and had the wrestling world saying his name. The Ruler, well, ruled and earned MVP honors for the night.

MVP: Oba Femi

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The show as a whole was one of the better offerings in recent weeks, thanks to a some great in-ring action, highlighted by Penta vs. Lee.

The women's division was prominently featured, and rightfully so, and we got WrestleMania developments up and down the 2.5 hours.

The main event segment did not hit quite like the others before it, but it did advance the story.

A quality show that fused in-ring competition and mic work to build WrestleMania 42 makes for a thumbs up.

Grade: B+