The list of problems facing Roman Reigns and The Bloodline just keeps getting longer. On Monday, The Bloodline suffered another violent attack at the hands of Royce Keys and OTM to kick off Raw.
In addition to Keys and OTM, Reigns is dealing with ongoing issues with Solo Sikoa and LA Knight, as well as having a looming defense of his world heavyweight championship against Penta, who won the No. 1 contender tournament on Monday night by defeating his brother, Rey Fenix, in the finals.
CBS Sports was with you all night with recaps and highlights of all the action from Rocket Arena in Cleveland.
Penta earns shot at Roman Reigns as The Bloodline endures another rough night
As The Usos arrived at the arena to start the show, Royce Keys and OTM attacked. Keys’ group bludgeoned Jimmy and Jey Uso until Jacob Fatu ran in with a pipe to chase them off. Fatu would interrupt the start of the women’s intercontinental championship match moments later, grabbing a microphone and saying he was going to dogwalk Keys and OTM. When Roman Reigns arrived at the arena later in the show, he told Fatu that Keys was Fatu’s problem, and Fatu needed to handle it.
Reigns then made his way to the ring where he addressed Solo Sikoa’s refusal to acknowledge him and rejoin The Bloodline, and instead joining forces with LA Knight. Knight then interrupted Reigns and said that he’s been calling Reigns’ name, but Reigns puts his family in the way and then puts on tournaments that Knight isn’t allowed to enter, all to avoid giving Knight a shot at the world heavyweight championship. Before things could escalate, video was shown of Sikoa down in the backstage area, apparently the victim of another attack by Keys and his crew. Knight ran backstage, where he confronted Fatu, only for Reigns to fly in with a Superman punch to Knight before reminding Fatu to handle Keys.
World Heavyweight Championship No. 1 Contender Tournament Finals — Penta def. Rey Fenix via pinfall with a Mexican destroyer. The brothers went all-out throughout the match, including Penta putting Fenix through the commentary desk with a Penta Driver, before ultimately winning the match and earning a shot at Reigns in Mexico City in two weeks. Reigns came to the ring for a staredown with Penta as the show went off the air.
The attacks by Keys and his group on both The Usos and Sikoa were obscured by pixelation, which was an attempt to make the whole thing look more brutal, but it came off as corny and not in line with modern wrestling television. Similarly, Fatu’s rant was interrupted with multiple “bleeps” of words he says weekly on Raw, which gave the whole storyline the feeling of complete disconnect from how WWE presents these things and felt like a full return to the “PG Era.” Setting that aside, the night helped to build up the threat of Keys and OTM, who felt like a very random inclusion into the main event scene last week, and the tournament final was very good TV wrestling, so you take the bad with the good. Grade: B-
What else happened on WWE Raw?Women’s Intercontinental Championship — Raquel Rodriguez (c) def. Sol Ruca via pinfall with a Tejana Bomb. While Roxanne Perez and Liv Morgan of Judgment Day attempted to interfere, it was the final interference from Lyra Valkyria that cost Ruca the match, setting her up for Rodriguez to hit her finisher and retain the title.Intercontinental Championship No. 1 Contender Match — Dragon Lee def. Ethan Page via pinfall with Operation Dragon. Chad Gable was about to award Lee with a title shot in Mexico City when Page interrupted, leading to a match for the honor of facing Gable for the title in two weeks. Lee was able to get the win after Gable helped point out to the referee that Page had exposed the steel turnbuckle.JD McDonagh & Dominik Mysterio def. Je’Von Evans & Joe Hendry via pinfall when Mysterio hit Hendry with a frog splash. The match was originally Evans vs. Mysterio before Mysterio was disqualified when McDonagh attacked Evans, leading to Adam Pearce restarting things as a tag match after Hendry made the save.Paul Heyman hyped up Oba Femi vs. Bron Breakker. Heyman refused to give “predictions” or “spoilers,” instead talking up both men and saying the real question is what a loss would do to either man’s mindset.