WWE Raw Results, Winners, Live Grades, Reaction, Highlights Before Clash in Italy

Before heading overseas for Clash in Italy, WWE rolled into Columbus, Ohio, for a packed go-home Raw that featured the final build for the company's latest premium live event.

What went down when Roman Reigns and Jacob Fatu, Oba Femi and Brock Lesnar, and The Vision were all under the same roof?

Find out in this recap of the Memorial Day broadcast, including grades and analysis for each of the night's top matches and segments.

Lineup

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Announced in advance of Monday's show were:

Tribal Combat contract signing featuring Roman Reigns and Jacob Fatu

Oba Femi's response to Brock Lesnar

Becky Lynch appearance

Bayley and Lyra Valkyria vs. Raquel Rodriguez and Roxanne Perez

Intercontinental Championship Match: Penta vs. Je'Von Evans

An appearance from The Vision

Oba Femi Responds to Brock Lesnar's Attack

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Last Time in Action: Oba Femi defeated Los Garza (Raw, May 11)

One week after Brock Lesnar made his shocking return and attacked Oba Femi, downing him with multiple F-5s and setting up a WrestleMania rematch at Sunday's Clash in Italy, Paul Heyman kicked off Raw by hyping a match that "does not need it."

He threw to a pre-taped promo from Lesnar, who vowed that Femi's win in Las Vegas would cost him "more than he can ever imagine," before conceding he was humbled at WrestleMania.

Heyman claimed Femi has awakened The Beast Incarnate, but before he could finish his sentence, The Ruler's music cut him off. The former NXT champion entered the ring, backed Heyman into the corner, and issued some words of warning, claiming Sunday's match will be the final chapter.

He signed the contract and finished by telling The Wise Man to deliver a message to Lesnar for him: "At WrestleMania, I was fighting to beat him. Sunday, I am fighting to kill him."

Grade

A

Top Takeaways

Instead of throwing up both hands during his in-ring pose, Femi kept one ready to defend himself and even looked over his shoulder, on guard after last week's sneak attack. It was one of the little things that helped enhance the segment.

WWE has rarely allowed its Superstars in this modern era to utter the word "kill" in regards to an opponent. This was a rare occasion and only added greater gravity to Sunday's match.

A phenomenal segment overall, with another excellent verbal performance from Femi.

Intercontinental Championship Match: Penta vs. Je'Von Evans

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Last Time in Action: Penta defeated Ethan Page (Saturday Night's Main Event, May 23); Je'Von Evans defeated Harlem Lewis (Main Event, May 21)

Evans started Monday's IC title match fast, looking for an OG Cutter, but Penta caught him mid-flight. The two exchanged some counters and reversals before the challenger launched himself over the top rope and onto the champion.

Penta regained control with a superkick that caught Evans in mid-air. When the Young OG looked to be fighting back, he caught him soaring out of the ring and sent him back-first into the commentary table.

Back from the break, a recovered Evans delivered a Busaiku Knee, then added an OG Cutter, but the frantic challenger could only keep his opponent down for two.

Near-falls were exchanged down the stretch until Evans delivered a big top-rope hurricanrana and tried for the OG Cutter. Penta countered with a superkick. When the champion tried for a Mexican Destroyer, Evans caught him with a knee, then tried for the finisher again. Penta countered with a backstabber and added the flipping piledriver for the win.

Result

Penta defeated Evans to retain the title

Grade

B+

Top Takeaways

Corey Graves said in response to Evans' back "smarting" from the table spot, "Smarting? He's damn near crippled!" A great, smart, and witty follow-up by the underrated, undervalued color guy of WWE.

The finishing stretch was outstanding, with the audience having no idea of who was going to emerge victoriously. It was high drama and a perfect exclamation point on the preceding match.

After the match, Evans teased frustration, perhaps hinting at a change of tone/attitude/temperament for the Young OG, who once again came up short of winning championship gold.

Upon the revelation that Logan Paul will miss months of action after suffering a torn triceps Saturday night against The Street Profits, Paul Heyman informed Austin Theory that he will continue to defend the tag titles with Bron Breakker as a result of a clause he put in all of The Vision's contracts. Theory responded by vowing to take out the men who hurt his partner.

Austin Theory Attacked Joe Hendry; Seth Rollins Confronted The Street Profits

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Last Time in Action: Austin Theory and Logan Paul defeated The Street Profits (Saturday Night's Main Event); Joe Hendry and The Street Profits defeated The Vision (Raw, May 11)

As Joe Hendry crooned to "Fire Logan Paul," Austin Theory attacked him with a steel chair. He beat the former NXT champion down and concluded his vicious assault with another chair shot, this time to his head and neck as he was in the ropes.

Backstage, Seth Rollins tried to talk sense into Angelo Dawkins of The Street Profits, encouraging him to work with The Architect to take out The Vision while it is at its weakest.

Montez Ford interrupted, and the tensions between him and Rollins reared their head again, leading to a match between them being made for later in the show.

Grade

A

Top Takeaways

The beatdown from Theory was short and sweet. It was not overthought, nor was it overbooked. The tag team champion did exactly as he promised, Heyman got heat of his own, and took out a popular babyface with whom The Vision is already feuding. Good, effective stuff. Not beating him next week will be key, or this will be rendered meaningless.

It has been a while since anyone brought up Rollins' history of betraying his closest friends and refusing to fall into the same traps that those competitors did. Ford refusing to side with Rollins, before either turning heel himself or eventually recognizing they want the same thing, is logical storytelling.

Bayley and Lyra Valkyria vs. Raquel Rodriguez and Roxanne Perez

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Last Time in Action: Roxanne Perez and Raquel Rodriguez defeated Bayley and Lyra Valkyria (Raw, April 27)

The rivalry between The Judgment Day and the duo of Bayley and Lyra Valkyria wrote its latest chapter Monday night when the two teams once again clashed.

Perez and Rodriguez jumped their opponents before the bell and, despite a momentary onslaught by the babyfaces, sustained control of the match when Big Mami Cool delivered a cross-body block that wiped both out.

Several minutes of heel control gave way to Valkyria, creating separation and making the hot tag to Bayley, who exploded into the ring and unloaded on the heels. As the action broke down, Liv Morgan was ejected from ringside for the second consecutive week.

Dominik Mysterio attempted to interfere on behalf of the heels late in the match by sliding the Intercontinental Championship to Perez. A tug-of-war led to the title colliding with Dirty Dom, and Bayley capitalizing with a rollup of The Prodigy for the win.

Result

Bayley and Valkyria defeated Perez and Rodriguez

Grade

C+

Top Takeaways

The match was fine, but a few disjointed spots hurt its overall quality. That we have seen the match quite a few times in recent months, with no upward movement for either team, did not help matters.

Valkyria was either selling the life out of her left arm or was legitimately hurt, as she appeared to be in considerable pain more than once in the match.

Mysterio attempting to aid Perez, only to have it backfire, should add to the story of Morgan not trusting the latter and her intentions in the Judgment Day.

LA Knight Promo

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Last Time in Action: LA Knight teamed with The Usos to defeat The Vision (WrestleMania 42, April 18)

LA Knight hit the ring for an in-ring promo. He drew his typical enormous reaction before addressing a few things, including the start of the King of the Ring tournament next week.

He entered his name in the mix and said that if he wins, he would immediately target Roman Reigns. "Where does that leave me with The Usos?"

Jimmy Uso interrupted the promo and said he has a lot of respect for Knight and claimed that if The Megastar wins the King of the Ring, he will get a fair shot at Reigns.

Knight took issue with the way The Usos have done things lately and suggested that Jimmy is allowing himself to become The OTC's "errand boy" again. Uso threatened to make his family's business Knight's business if he is not careful.

The babyface balked at the threat and told him he'll put the family business "out of business" if The Bloodline is not careful.

Grade

B+

Top Takeaways

It may have been a little long-winded, but this was a great promo segment that accomplished several things. First, it introduced the King of the Ring tournament, kicking off on next week's show. Then, Knight continued to try to talk The Usos out of making the same mistake they did five years ago, by blindly following Reigns. Finally, it set The Megastar up as a potential long-term opponent for The Tribal Chief, with whom he has unfinished business dating back three years.

Backstage, Rusev took exception to Rey Mysterio receiving an Intercontinental Championship match against Penta, so the Hall of Famer told Raw general manager Adam Pearce to make a match between them for Monday night.

Montez Ford vs. Seth Rollins

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Last Time in Action: Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins lost to The Vision (Saturday Night's Main Event, May 23); Seth Rollins defeated Austin Theory (Raw, May 18)

The product of another tense confrontation backstage, Rollins and Ford squared off in singles competition in the night's next match.

A back-and-forth match early sustained that energy coming out of the commercial break, with neither man able to gain the consistent upper hand. Counters and reversals, a series of traded near-falls, and a Pedigree from Rollins that only kept Ford down for two followed.

The former world champion again pleaded his case to his opponent, who answered with a slap to the face. Rollins responded to the defiance with a pair of buckle bombs, only to be sent to the floor with a hurricanrana.

Ford's trademark tope over the ring post followed, as did a frog splash, but he could not keep The Architect down.

The tag team specialist threw caution to the wind one last time for a 450 splash attempt, but missed, allowing Rollins to pick up the grueling win following a desperation stomp.

Result

Rollins defeated Ford

Grade

B+

Top Takeaways

Nearly five years after a high-profile SmackDown main event against Roman Reigns, Ford again proved that he has the goods to hang with one of the elite in WWE. This was a great match that instantly put the Street Profit on Rollins' level and, more importantly, could propel his character forward. Either he will side with The Visionary or betray both him and his longtime partner, Dawkins. Either way, this feels like the start of the Ford push we have waited for a long time.

Theory reappeared after the match and issued another brutal assault, this time to Dawkins, capping it off with a floor-assisted con-chair-to.

Rey Mysterio vs. Rusev

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Last Time in Action: Rey Mysterio defeated El Grande Americano (Raw, April 27); Rusev lost to Je'Von Evans (Raw, May 11)

Before the night's next match, Ford interrupted Rollins and Raw GM Pearce and finally agreed with The Architect that they needed to be united against The Vision.

In the arena, "All Ego" Ethan Page joined Graves and Cole on commentary as Mysterio and Rusev squared off, each looking to build momentum as they pursue the Intercontinental Championship.

The Bulgarian Brute controlled the action, overwhelming the Hall of Famer with his size, strength, and fury as he whipped him into the barricade ahead of the commercial break.

A springboard into a bulldog threatened a Mysterio comeback, but Rusev cut him off with a uranage for two. A Machka Kick also failed to put the luchador away. The heel caught Mysterio in a 619 attempt, but the masked competitor answered with a quick rollup for the win.

After the match, Rusev attempted an attack, only for Dragon Lee to make the save and fend the heels off. He stood tall with Mysterio to close things out.

Result

Mysterio defeated Rusev to earn an Intercontinental Championship opportunity

Grade

B

Top Takeaways

This had been a fairly strong in-ring night for the flagship show with another solid match here. Mysterio and Rusev have always excelled in heavyweight vs. underdog bouts.

Lee returning is a nice surprise as he had been missing in action since WrestleMania. Where he fits in this title picture, outside of what feels like a potential ladder rematch for the gold, is anyone's guess, but a show never gets worse with a talent of his caliber on the lineup.

This is as talented and deep as the Raw midcard has been in a long time. When you add in Finn Balor, Dominik Mysterio, and JD McDonagh, it gets even more impressive.

Tribal Combat Contract Signing

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Last Time in Action: Roman Reigns defeated Jacob Fatu (Backlash, April 30)

Fatu wasted no time putting pen to paper and signing the contract for Sunday's Tribal Combat main event at Clash in Italy. He then showcased the unpredictability and chaos that follows him by tossing the two office chairs and the table at security around the ringside area.

Reigns made his way to the ring, signed on the dotted line, and ordered Pearce and security from the squared circle so he could address his cousin.

The OTC predictably claimed that he would make Fatu acknowledge him. The top contender admitted that Reigns is the reason the Bloodline is living as well as it is now, but called into question whether The Tribal Chief did things honorably at Backlash, reminding him that he used the exposed turnbuckle to pick up a tainted win.

Reigns reminded the world of the consequences: if Reigns loses, he will acknowledge Fatu. If not, the Samoan Werewolf has to serve the Head of the Table.

Grade

B-

Top Takeaways

Both are engaging talkers. They capture the audience's attention, even when what they have to say is more of the same that we have heard countless times ahead of Sunday's premium live event.

With that said, there was nothing new of substance here. It was the same rhetoric we have heard before, with the honorable Tribal Combat elements added in.

Split the difference and go with a slightly above-average grade for the main event segment, only because it did not end with another Tongan Death Grip or a wild and chaotic brawl, like the last few.

MVP and Overall Grade

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MVP: Montez Ford

Not only was Ford excellent in the two backstage segments he shared with Seth Rollins, but he also showed out in his match against the former world champion.

This is nothing new for the Street Profits star, who has repeatedly made the most of his opportunities, approaching his matches with his unbridled athleticism and firing the crowd up until they have no choice but to care about his match.

The character work has been strong, the "will he or won't he" regarding a potential heel turn is intriguing, and the result was the biggest standout of the week's show.

Overall Grade

This was a strong show ahead of Clash in Italy. The opening and closing segments put over the brand's most prominent contributions to Sunday's show, while the unfortunate (and undisclosed) injury suffered by Sol Ruca kept her from a go-home segment with Becky Lynch.

The in-ring action was excellent, with Rollins and Ford, Penta and Evans, and Mysterio and Rusev all having strong outings. The women's tag match was fine and hinted at a potential showdown between Bayley and Liv Morgan over the Women's World Championship by way of their brief altercation at ringside.

Add in some aggression from Theory and the latest tease of Maxxine Dupri aligning with The Vision in another quick backstage vignette, and you have a winning broadcast.

Grade: B+