WWE Raw live results: Intercontinental title defense, Oba Femi vs. Rusev
The build to WWE WrestleMania 42 continues live tonight at the Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, Washington.
Penta won the Intercontinental Championship last week by dethroning Dominik Mysterio and will now defend tonight against the Original El Grande Americano (Chad Gable). After winning the first title of his WWE career, Penta’s next ambition is to head into WrestleMania as champion.
A new number one contender will be determined for AJ Lee’s Women’s Intercontinental Championship via a gauntlet match featuring Asuka, Bayley, Lyra Valkyria, Ivy Nile, IYO SKY, and Raquel Rodriguez. Lee won the title from Becky Lynch at Elimination Chamber — and tonight’s winner will be first in line to challenge her.
Plus, Oba Femi faces off against Rusev one-on-one. This will be Femi’s first-ever match on Raw with a handful of wins on SmackDown already under his belt since being called up from NXT.
Our live coverage begins at 8 p.m. Eastern time.
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Show Recap —
Penta (wearing no makeup under his mask), Asuka and Kairi Sane (with Iyo Sky looking on from the hallway), Oba Femi, Rusev, and CM Punk were shown arriving at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle.
There was a long recap video of Seth Rollins attacking Paul Heyman last week.
Adam Pearce was in the ring to start the show. Pearce said he had some unfortunate business to attend to, and he called out Seth Rollins. He figured Rollins was in the building because he knew The Vision was.
A couple of dozen masked men appeared ringside (and the crowd chanted, “Holy shit” for some reason). They scampered around the ring to cause confusion and, as Michael Cole stated, played some sort of shell game. This was pointless. They all left the ring to leave one man standing—Seth Rollins, of course. Rollins works there, so I’m not sure why he went through all this trouble. Even Pearce questioned why he did this.
Pearce also questioned Rollins’ recent attacks on the Vision, wondering what would happen once Rollins’ plan didn’t work. Pearce reiterated that Rollins was not cleared, and if the Vision got their hands on him, it would be the end of Seth Rollins.
Logan Paul and Austin Theory, the remaining members of the Vision, interrupted. They wanted to be the ones responsible for Rollins’ end. They hit the apron, but the many masked men entered the ring to guard Rollins. Rollins put his mask back on as the others played their distraction game again, allowing Rollins to escape. (This looked so silly.)
With Rollins gone, LA Knight marched out to attack Theory and Paul. He was overwhelmed, so The Usos ran out to help him out and clear the ring. The three babyfaces posed together as the heels left.
(This was a nonsense segment. I understand Rollins being elusive to escape The Vision at full strength, but they’re down to their two least intimidating members.)
Cole announced there was no timetable for Heyman’s return.
Jackie Redmon caught up to the Usos, who seemed like they were about to leave the arena already. They said they had receipts for the Vision. Jey was red-hot, but Jimmy was more even-keeled. Redmond asked about CM Punk’s comments to Roman Reigns. Jey didn’t want to comment, and he was ready to go, but Jimmy did have something he wanted to say. They made their way back in the direction they came from.
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Women’s Intercontinental Championship #1 Contender’s Gauntlet Match
– Lyra Valkyria vs. IYO SKY
Valkyria dropped Sky off the top rope to take control ahead of a break. Sky hit a flapjack as they returned and continued with strikes, a butterfly backbreaker, and a corner meteora. Valkyria came back with an enziguri, a tornado DDT, and a high-angle fisherman’s suplex for two. Sky countered a Nighwing with a double foot stomp, buzzsaw kick to the head, and a moonsault for the pinfall win.
Match result: IYO SKY eliminated Lyra Valkyria (9:21)
– IYO SKY vs. Raquel Rodriguez
WWE Raw and PLE recapper/reviewer. Contributed to WrestlingObserver.com as the SmackDown reviewer in the 2000s before turning to WONF4W in 2015.