WWE Monday Night Raw Results: Winners & Highlights

Chaotic show open leads to two title matches

The show opened with Damian Priest making good on his vow to put the United States championship on the line in an open challenge. This was met by Sheamus, Drew McIntyre and Bobby Lashley all wanting to collect the belt. Riddle and Randy Orton made their way into the chaotic scene with Riddle telling Lashley and MVP that he was issuing an open challenge to them, which Orton attempted to explain was not how an open challenge works. This led to a pair of title matches getting booked for later in the show.

United States Championship — Damian Priest (c) def. Drew McIntyre and Sheamus via pinfall after hitting McIntyre with Reckoning. With Lashley tied up with his tag title match later in the night, a triple threat was set for Priest’s title. As expected, the three huge men put on a fairly hard-hitting brawl with each man getting plenty of moments to shine. After a lengthy match following the usual structure of alternating two men pairing off to hit big moves and near falls, Priest was able to reverse a McIntyre slam attempt into Reckoning to score the pinfall and retain his championship. After the match, McIntyre shook Priest’s hand in a show of respect.

.@SuperKingofBros is rocking & rolling!#WWERaw pic.twitter.com/a2lUYPK5WB

— WWE (@WWE) August 31, 2021

Raw Tag Team Championship — RK-Bro (c) def. Bobby Lashley & MVP via pinfall when Riddle hit MVP with a Floating Bro. MVP held up his end of the team early, taking tags from Lashley and helping isolate Riddle in their corner until Riddle was able to backflip from MVP’s clutches to make a hot tag to Orton. Momentum continued to swing back and forth until Orton was able to take down Lashley outside the ring. Omos attempted to attack Orton, but Riddle made the save before hitting a Floating Bro on MVP for the win. As Riddle celebrated the win, Lashley ran into the ring to hit a spear. As Lashley prepared to lock in the Hurt Lock, Orton slid into the ring and laid out the WWE champion with an RKO before the show went off the air.

The show open was a bit of a mess, something that was even more noticeable when things broke down into the title matches. All week, WWE had advertised that Sheamus and Lashley would be going one-on-one. That somehow went entirely out the window, which wasn’t terrible considering the resulting matches were perfectly fine, though it did serve as a reminder that WWE booking can feel wild and random — something that plagued the show top to bottom on Monday night. There is something slightly fun about large-scale angles that involve seven of the brand’s top stars. Grade: B

#TheViper stalks his prey.@RandyOrton#WWERaw pic.twitter.com/0mSlPpxEJ1

— WWE (@WWE) August 31, 2021

What else happened on WWE Raw?

• Rhea Ripley def. Shayna Baszler via pinfall with a small package. Baszler tried to take advantage of a distraction caused by Nia Jax attacking Nikki A.S.H. outside the ring only to have Ripley reverse the pin for the victory. After Ripley’s win, Jax attacked, putting Ripley down with a Samoan drop.
• The Viking Raiders def. Jinder Mahal & Veer via pinfall after hitting Mahal with the Viking Experience.
• R-Truth and Akira Tozawa failed to take the 24/7 championship from Reggie. Tozawa was dressed in a dog costume and Truth wore a wig as they chased down Reggie in a park only to see the champion escape.
• Doudrop attacked Eva Marie before the start of their match. Doudrop finished Eva with a splash before the bell, leading to an announcement that Eva could not compete.
• Karrion Kross def. Humberto Carrillo via submission with the Kross Jacket.
• Nia Jax def. Charlotte Flair via pinfall after a powerbomb. Jax had vowed to “flatten” Flair earlier in the night and made good on that promise by picking up a clean win over the Raw women’s champion.
• Omos def. John Morrison via pinfall after a chokebomb. Morrison was supposed to face The Miz this week but ended up facing Omos instead, losing in fairly short order.
• AJ Styles def. Xavier Woods via submission with a calf crusher. Woods came to the ring for the match immediately after the conclusion of Omos vs. Morrison, with Styles picking up the win in another relatively short match.