Austin Theory is the latest member of Seth Rollins' group (WWE)
WWE Raw Results and Grades: Drew McIntyre was to face Baron Corbin in a cross-promotional match on Raw.
The other matches on this week’s show included the Women’s tag titles being defended while the Viking Raiders and the Street Profits participating in an axe-throwing contest.
There were some other big moments from this week’s WWE Raw too and here are the ratings and grades.
Orton came out and challenged Edge, again, to a wrestling match at Backlash. The Rated-R Superstar responded to this offer and claimed he had to work his butt off to reach the top while Orton got everything handed to him.
Edge accepted the challenge for the PPV and even claimed he was a better wrestler than the Viper.
Grade C
Edge vs Orton once was great as it was the return for the Rated-R Superstar at WrestleMania. The story for that match also made sense but this seems to be stretching the line a little too much.
Seth Rollins spoke about his attack on Rey Mysterio last week and said he now saw the light. The Messiah wasn’t a mess from last week but knew what he was saying. He suggested that Mysterio was a sacrifice for the greater good but was interrupted by Humberto Carrillo.
Carrillo claimed Mysterio was a hero and wanted to fight Rollins, however, a match against Murphy was set up.
Carrillo was attacked by Rollins at one stage during the match and it was Murphy that got the win.
Murphy beats Carrillo
Grade B
The match was great but it was the story prior to that which got the grades. Rollins has been excellent on the microphone since turning into the Messiah and he put in another great promo.
The Queen spoke about facing SmackDown champion Bayley before taking on Ruby Riott.
Riott got some hits early on in their match but she was no match for the NXT Champion. Charlotte got the win thanks to a Figure eight.
Charlotte beats Riott
Grade C
It still doesn’t make sense why the NXT champion is making regular appearances on Raw and SmackDown. The match between Riott and Charlotte could have been better, and we could have just got the Charlotte promo where she spoke about taking on Bayley.
MVP continued his bit of trying to recruit Bobby Lashley who was in an interview. Lashley was almost taunted that he was thinking about clowns like Truth or about his trophy wife.
Before Lashley could attack MVP, he was then reminded of becoming the real Lashley and fighting for the WWE title.
Grade A
MVP continues to do a great job with his promos and maybe we could see Lashley finally fight in the ring rather than be Lana’s husband on TV. Lashley vs McIntyre in the future could be great and it could be MVP who does all the talking too.
Kairi Sane came out to introduce the new Raw Women’s Champion as part of the celebrations planned. Asuka and Sane had some great moments as the champion was presented by a bouquet but it was interrupted by Nia Jax.
Jax claimed she would win the title soon but Asuka knocked the bigger woman out of the ring.
Grade B
Jax might be the bigger woman but it was great seeing Asuka take her out without any gimmicks. She is the Raw Women’s Champion and has to show she isn’t afraid to take out the top stars. The celebrations was weird, to say the least, but Asuka has been weird too over the past months.
Truth came out and spoke about Pretty Ricky, his alter-ego and even wished the missing WWE Universe.
Lashley came out and destroyed Truth and made his rival tap out.
Lashley beats Truth
Grade B
MVP was in the background clapping his future client’s performance, and Lashley looked great but Lana went crazy in the background.
It will be interesting to see if Lashley and Lana split up in the future, especially with MVP in the fray.
Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross came out to defend their titles against the IIconics. However, it was Bliss and Cross that retained the titles after a DQ.
Peyton Royce hit Bliss into the ring post several times despite not being the legal member, and the referee had to call the DQ.
Bliss and Cross beat Royce and Kay
Grade C
The finish didn’t make sense as the IIconics defeated the champs last week, but the DQ finish was weird. The match wasn’t even for long, and it seems this was rushed like a lot of things on this week’s show.
Shayna Baszler took on Natalya for the second week in a row, but this was a submission match. Natalya tried to get her opponent to submit but Baszler had an escape for everything.
Natalya was left upset after losing the clash to Baszler, and even threw some equipment around as the next segment was being setup.
Baszler beats Natalya
Grade B
Natalya is getting more time on the air and her frustration is great to see. She is one of the best performers in the ring and this storyline should be developed.
Baszler was dominant and looks scary again.
Kevin Owens made his return after WrestleMania and said he was missing due to an injury. However, he was healthy and called out Zelina Vega’s crew for the latest segment of the Kevin Owens Show.
Apollo Crews was the next person to come out and attacked Andrade after missing a few weeks out due to injury.
Owens also got involved and we had a tag match next.
KO and Crews took on Andrade and Angel Garza. However, it was Crews and KO who got the win while Vega’s team exploded.
Andrade and Garza attacked Theory and threw him near the timekeeper’s area. Crews later challenged Andrade for his US title next week.
Owens and Crews beat Andrade and Garza
Grade B
It was great seeing Owens return but including him in this fight made little sense. KO was still great on the microphone and it was another surprise seeing Crews feature so soon after his major injury.
Theory being kicked out of the group was in the works for a while but there was more for him later in the show.
This was Murphy’s second match of the night and he came out with Rollins. Murphy vs Black has happened several times in the past and they have been great together in the ring.
However, despite Black dominating, Rollins found a new member for his team. Theory was still outside when Rollins offered him a spot in his cult.
Theory accepted and attacked Black for the DQ. Rollins and Theory hugged before Black was attacked again.
Black beats Murphy
Grade A
The match should have been another classic between Murphy and Black. However, what we got was something better in terms of storyline.
Rollins picked up Murphy in a similar way a few months back and he has done it again this time for Theory.
Theory should fit better here than the other stable, and hopefully, we see more of the Messiah’s men later on.
MVP and Lashley came out on the ramp before the match and put McIntyre on notice. This was a decent match between McIntyre and Corbin with the WWE champion coming out on top.
There were some counters and close calls too, but McIntyre was better than Corbin. McIntyre then stared down Lashley and said he wanted to fight the All Mighty.
McIntyre beats Corbin
Grade B
McIntyre has looked great for a while and it will be interesting to see how the rivalry with Lashley goes.
MVP being Lashley’s mouthpiece should be good for the All Mighty as we all know, he is a great performer in the ring.
WWE Raw’s ratings took another dive this week with an average of 1.757million viewers (h/t Showbuzz Daily) despite a lot of action.
This was down by almost 8% over last week as the first hour drew 1.818m viewers. The second got in 1.810m viewers and the final hour brought in 1.644m viewers to round off a difficult outing.
What is the story behind Velveteen Dream and his leaked pictures on social media?
Karl Anderson takes swing at WWE over leaving out quality clips after Dolph Ziggler’s complaint
Which WWE star could be behind ‘The Truth will be heard’ messages on SmackDown?
Follow our dedicated WWE page for instant WWE news and more Raw results and grades
