WWE Raw Winners, Live Grades and Reaction Before Saturday Night's Main Event

Just five days before WWE invades Madison Square Garden in New York for Saturday Night's Main Event, Raw hit the Netflix airwaves with a show that continued the march to that live event spectacular, as well as the annual summertime spectacular, SummerSlam.

Find out what went down when Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins shared the same ring, Brock Lesnar made an appearance, and a new No. 1 contender to the Intercontinental Championship was decided?

Find out with this recap, including grades and reaction, for all of the action from the American Airlines Arena in Dallas.

Lineup

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Announced in advance of Monday's show were:

• Seth Rollins vs. Roman Reigns contract signing
• Brock Lesnar appearance
• No. 1 Contender's Gauntlet Match: Chad Gable vs. Dragon Lee vs. Je'Von Evans vs. Joe Hendry vs. Ethan Page vs. Rusev vs. Dominik Mysterio
• Iyo Sky vs. Roxanne Perez

Brock Lesnar Kicked Off Raw

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Last Time in Action: Brock Lesnar defeated Oba Femi (Clash in Italy, May 31)

Brock Lesnar entered the American Airlines Arena to kick off Monday's show, accompanied by his advocate, Paul Heyman, and a swarm of police.

Obsession was the theme of the night's opening promo. There was no Nikki Freeman here, though, as Heyman called out Femi for being obsessed with Lesnar before admitting that The Beast is obsessed with The Ruler and facing him inside Hell in a Cell.

It is against that backdrop that the advocate filed for a restraining order against Femi, hoping to protect his financial well-being ahead of SummerSlam. The reigning King of the Ring arrived on the scene anyway and bowled over the police officers before exclaiming, "You can't run from Oba Femi!"

We have heard the Lesnar and Heyman side of things before, with the interesting twist of the former's obsession with Femi brought up for the first time. This was all about Oba, though, who continues to answer the call and deliver some extraordinary mic work. He was fiery, made his point, and had the fans roaring as he wrapped things up.

Grade

B+

Top Takeaways

• The fans in Dallas were overwhelmingly in favor of Femi, raining down on The Beast with chants of "OBA!"
• Femi finally brought forth a reason for giving up his world title opportunity to face Lesnar at SummerSlam, claiming he and the entire world knew The Beast would have just cost him the match anyway. Is it a perfect explanation? No, but it is about damn time the King of the Ring offered up something.

Iyo Sky vs. Roxanne Perez

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Last Time in Action: Roxanne Perez lost to Charlotte Flair (Raw, June 15); Iyo Sky defeated Liv Morgan (Night of Champions, June 27)

Iyo Sky won the battle Monday night, defeating Roxanne Perez in a competitive match-up, but lost the war when women's world champion Liv Morgan left her lying ahead of their upcoming clash at SummerSlam.

Sky overcame a left knee injury, dealt her by Morgan and escalated Monday night by Perez, to counter a rollup for the win. After the match, though, she endured a three-on-one beatdown until women's intercontinental champion Sol Ruca made the save.

Or tried to.

Raquel Rodriguez caught the babyface, slammed her into the ring post, and joined Morgan back in the ring, standing tall alongside her Judgment Day teammates.

A very good match, coupled with a decent heat-building beatdown afterward, makes this a quality segment for the top of the Raw women's division.

Result

Sky defeated Perez

Grade

B+

Top Takeaways

• Telling the story of Sky combating a knee injury in the weeks leading to SummerSlam, thus putting her at a disadvantage against a woman she should easily out-wrestle in Morgan, is a great touch by WWE Creative. It also potentially takes away Sky's greatest asset: her ability to scale the ropes and fly.
• Keeping Ruca in the same stratosphere as The Judgment Day and Raquel Rodriguez may not be the most appealing option, especially considering Becky Lynch's absence, but it gives the second tier of Raw's women's division a feud to build around.

The Vision Promo

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Last Time In Action: Bron Breakker and Austin Theory defeated The Street Profits (Raw, July 6)

Fresh off of Maxxine Dupri's shocking alliance with The Vision last week on Raw, the former women's intercontinental champion made her way to the ring alongside new beau Austin Theory, Bron Breakker, and Logan Paul.

Before they could explain themselves, Otis and Akira Tozawa interrupted to confront Dupri about her actions. As Otis was about to express his feelings for his longtime associate, Theory made fun of him, instigating a wild and chaotic brawl that concluded with the big man squashing and depositing Breakker to the floor.

Dupri saved Theory, stepping in between him and Otis. She manipulated him long enough for the heel to deliver a low blow. The vixen embraced Theory, then watched as The Vision dealt final blows to Alpha Academy.

Grade

A

Top Takeaways

• Breakker has never felt less important in his main roster run than he does right now, and that is an indictment on the part of the creative team. He is now the third or fourth most important player in a love triangle storyline.
• This felt very much like a star-making moment for Dupri as the centerpiece of The Vision, with the majority of the attention paid to her. That will work for the time being but it was certainly jarring to see the rest of the faction take a back seat considering the star power involved.

Royce Keys vs. Jimmy Uso

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Last Time in Action: Jimmy Uso pinned Royce Keys (SmackDown, July 10)

The product of a brawl in the aisle, Royce Keys squared off with Jimmy Uso in a rematch of their bout Friday night on SmackDown.

Midway through the bout, as Keys mounted a comeback, Jacob Fatu arrived at the arena and wasted little time marching to the squared circle. He hit the ring and attacked his former friend, first with his bare hands, then with a steel chair.

Solo Sikoa appeared and implored his cousin to stop. He suckered The Samoan Werewolf in by claiming he was coming home to The Bloodline, only to flatten Uso with the Samoan Spike. He fired up on Fatu, but the numbers disadvantage proved too great.

Finally, LA Knight hit the ring to a thunderous ovation and cleared Uso and Fatu out with a steel chair. The Megastar pitched a six-man tag match, with Sikoa and Keys as his partners, against Fatu and The Usos at SummerSlam.

The match was essentially a paint-by-numbers version of what we got out of Keys and Uso on Friday night at SmackDown, but the post-match activities elevated the segment exponentially.

Knight looking to strangers and enemies to stand beside him against The Bloodline is a great character development and indicative of how desperate The Megastar is to

Result

Keys defeated Uso via disqualification

Grade

B

Top Takeaways

• It has been great to see Keys get the increased exposure of late, especially in a big spot as part of the Bloodline story.
• Sikoa is naturally charismatic and one of the funniest dudes on the roster. If an actual babyface run is in the works, and he is able to showcase a personality that is still largely untapped, he could become a hugely popular star.
• Backstage, Paul Heyman asked The Vision, "if Maxxine was so spectacular, what do you need me for?" seemingly breaking from the faction.

Bayley Called Out Lyra Valkyria

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Last Time in Action: Bayley and Lyra Valkyria lost to Brie Bella and Paige (Raw, June 22)

A disheveled Lyra Valkyria answered Bayley's call and insulted her, taking several jabs at her before admitting that every compliment she paid her former tag team partner was a lie.

Bayley vowed to add "kicking Lyra Valkyria's ass around Madison Square Garden" to her list of accomplishments.

The short, succinct, focused, and well-executed segment ended with the heel trying for a cheap shot, only for Bayley to counter her. Valkyria got the better of the future Hall of Famer, though, and stood tall to close things out.

Valkyria has clearly worked on her promos over the last 12 months because her recent performances on the mic have been great, and this was no different.

Grade

B+

Top Takeaways

• "She looks like the sea hag from Widow's Bay," Corey Graves said of Valkyria on commentary. Ha.
• "You are not a locker room leader. You are a doormat," Valkyria said before adding, "you've always been the worst of the Four Horsewomen." Lyra delivered some deep cuts.
• Bayley rediscovering her edge, touting her own accomplishments, and reminding the WWE Universe of who the hell she is was a great bit of character work here from The Role Model.