With Charlotte Flair set to move to SmackDown on Friday night as a result of the WWE Draft, many were curious if Flair would retain her Raw women's championship in her match with Bianca Belair in the main event of Raw on Monday night. After a lengthy match with Belair, Flair did manage to hold onto her belt, leaving much to be figured out this coming Friday night.
Flair and Belair opened the show with a brawl in the ring and closed the night with a long back-and-forth match, ending when Flair used a chair to draw a disqualification and retain her title. Belair, who moves to Raw after Thursday's Crown Jewel pay-per-view, now has a chance to win the SmackDown title when she faces champion Becky Lynch and fellow challenger Sasha Banks at Crown Jewel, possibly muddying the title picture even more.
CBS Sports was with you all night with recaps and highlights of all the action from Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, California.
Charlotte Flair uses cheap shot to retain Raw title
The show opened with a Charlotte Flair promo in the ring. Flair asked why there was no celebration for her final night on Raw before she moves to SmackDown on Friday night and complained that she was being forced to defend her title in the night's main event. Flair also pointed out that Bianca Belair was being given shots at both the Raw and SmackDown titles in a four-day stretch. Belair came to the ring to confront Flair, with the two coming to blows to end the segment.
Raw Women's Championship -- Bianca Belair def. Charlotte Flair (c) via disqualification when Flair used a steel chair. Both women showed off their athleticism throughout the match, including Flair attempting to steal Belair's handspring rebound moonsault only to be hit with the same move moments later. Flair's mouth was bloodied during the early portion of the match, though it had no impact on how things played out. A flurry of near falls came down the stretch before Flair hit Belair with a steel chair to draw the disqualification and retain her title. Belair got in a chair shot of her own after the match but was left without a championship.
Flair and Belair put on a mostly solid match that was a bit clunky at times, especially down the stretch when it appeared they'd ran over time and were trying to get to the finish. Still, much as with Becky Lynch vs. Sasha Banks on SmackDown, it was good to see a long women's main event with as abysmal as WWE has booked the women's division recently -- a trend that continued with another very short Crown Jewel match earlier in the show. This wasn't on the level of Lynch vs. Banks but there was plenty to like in a long main event. Grade: B
What else happened on WWE Raw?
- King of the Ring semifinals – Xavier Woods def. Jinder Mahal via pinfall after a rope-walk elbow drop. Woods will now face Finn Balor for the King of the Ring title at Crown Jewel.
- Austin Theory def. Jeff Hardy via pinfall after hitting the Theory KO. After R-Truth interrupted a Theory backstage interview while in pursuit of the 24/7 championship, Truth accepted a match on behalf of Hardy, setting up a rematch of last week's clash. After Theory won, he took a selfie with Hardy only to be hit with a Twist of Fate before Hardy took a selfie of his own.
- Drew McIntyre & Big E def. Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode via pinfall after Big E hit Roode with the Big Ending. After brawling during their tag match last week, McIntyre and E got along this week until after the match when they exchanged words.
- Mansoor def. Cedric Alexander via pinfall after a slingshot neckbreaker. Following the match, Mustafa Ali came out and promised to wipe the smile from Mansoor's face -- and the faces of everyone at Crown Jewel on Thursday.
- Bobby Lashley and Goldberg participated in a remote interview. Goldberg again vowed to kill Lashley, which Lashley pointed out as criminal before saying Goldberg couldn't kill him anyway. Lashley finished by issuing the warning that Goldberg has never faced him without restrictions like in the no holds barred match at Crown Jewel.
- RK-Bro def. The Street Profits via disqualification after interference by AJ Styles and Omos. Styles hit Randy Orton with a Phenomenal Forearm in the middle of the match, resulting in the disqualification. Omos then attacked Riddle before the team also took out the Profits.
- Queen's Crown semifinals – Doudrop def. Shayna Baszler via pinfall after countering the Kirifuda Clutch. Doudrop advances to face Zelina Vega in the finals at Crown Jewel.
- Finn Balor def. Mace via pinfall after hitting the Coup de Grace. Woods was out to watch his King of the Ring opponent live.