One night after the Elimination Chamber, the new WWE champion The Miz found himself in dire straits. Miz spent Raw trying to escape a deal he made to give Bobby Lashley a shot at the title in exchange for taking Drew McIntyre the night before.
Ultimately, Miz didn’t have to enter the ring, but Lashley managed to secure a chance for the championship next Monday. Lashley had to overcome Braun Strowman’s tough challenge to win that opportunity, but he did so before making a final statement when taking out Miz to close the show.
CBS Sports was with you all night, bringing results and highlights from all the ThunderDome action inside Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Bobby Lashley guarantees a WWE title shot
The Miz opened the show with a special celebration of the “Miz TV” championship. Miz talked about asking for his chance and creating a detour on the Road to WrestleMania before being interrupted by Bobby Lashley and MVP. Lashley was trying to collect Miz’s debt for giving Miz the help to put McIntyre in the Elimination Chamber to open the door to Money in the Bank cash-in. Lashley gave Miz an hour to make his decision, threatening a beating anyway. Backstage, Miz asked Adam Pearce to delay any action in a match with Lashley “until the right time”.
When the hour was over, Miz said he needed more time and that there are many other men who want to challenge him for the title. Finally, Miz said he needed time to be ready, asking to write the decision in pencil for the next week. Braun Strowman’s music hit when he interrupted the situation and said that he is the only man who would receive a title fight, claiming that Shane McMahon and Adam Pearce were conspiring against him. That, in turn, brought McMahon. McMahon told Strowman that he couldn’t demand title contests. Strowman said that if he couldn’t have the champion, he wanted the challenger. This prompted McMahon to schedule the fight, saying that if Strowman beat Lashley, then next week’s Raw would present a three-threat fight for the WWE championship.
Bobby Lashley defeated. Braun Strowman via pinfall after hitting a spear. The match immediately started a fight between the powers, featuring strong striking and great displays of strength. Lashley attacked Strowman earlier in the evening, taking his knee, and went back to his legs again after Strowman ran for the ring steps. Before Strowman could really start, Lashley won the match quite short with a spear. After the victory, Lashley landed another spear and caught Hurt Lock. Miz tried to run into the ring and hit Lashley with the championship belt, only to be hit with a spinebuster and a spear, ending the show standing after cementing his shot at next week’s Raw title.
In short, this whole story worked well. The Miz is not a longtime champion, so the moments when he has the title need to count. Strowman initially felt like an unimportant inclusion in the mix, but allowed Lashley to show once again how dominant he has been in his current race. Getting to a world title fight on Raw next week is a big deal, as those moments are understandably rare. And Lashley ending up avoiding the cheap shot attempt and playing Miz kept him going strong for his challenge. Note: B +
What else happened at WWE Raw?
- Riddle def. John Morrison via pinfall after hitting Brother Derek. Before the match, Riddle celebrated his victory in the United States championship behind the scenes with Lucha House Party.
- The new day def. Retribution via pinfall after Kofi Kingston hit the T-Bar with Trouble in Paradise. After the match, Mustafa Ali shouted at the members of the retribution for his repeated failures.
- The Hurt Business def. Lucha House Party via pinfall in a tornado tag match when Shelton Benjamin hit Lynx Dorado with Paydirt.
- Damien Priest def. Angel Garza via pinfall with Hit the Lights. Bad Bunny was in Priest’s corner, and early in the evening Priest scared R-Truth when Truth was trying to attack Bunny to regain the championship 24/7. After the match, Priest and Bunny quickly handled the load of several challengers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
- Randy Orton did a promotion behind the scenes addressing all of your recent failures. He finally concluded that he was not distracted by The Fiend, but by Alexa Bliss. Orton then started to cough and spit out black goo before running off.
- Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler defeated. Charlotte Flair and Asuka via pinfall after Jax hit Asuka with a leg drop. The ending was set when the lack of communication led Flair to hit Asuka with a big boot. Flair tried to shake Asuka’s hand after the match, but Asuka pushed her.
- Sheamus def. Jeff Hardy via pinfall after hitting a Brogue kick.
- Charlotte Flair confronted Ric Flair behind the scenes. Charlotte told Ric that her antics with Lacey Evans – including pretending that her son was his – were distracting her and causing her to not meet her standards. Ric said he was just trying to expand his brand by being behind a future champion at Evans.
- Lana and Naomi def. Dana Brooke and Mandy Rose via pinfall after hitting a double team facebuster on Rose.
- AJ Styles def. Ricochet via pinfall with the style conflict. Omos hit Ricochet with a two-handed chokeslam after the match.