Ronda Rousey targets new WWE rival as Brock Lesnar sends message to Roman Reigns
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Ronda Rousey saved Natalya from a beatdown by Mickie James but cost her friend victory in the main event of WWE Raw.
The Queen of Harts led a side consisting of Raw Women's Champion Nia Jax, Ember Moon, Sasha Banks and Bayley.
They faced new Raw signings the Riott Squad (Ruby Riott, Liv Morgan, Sarah Logan) plus Alexa Bliss and James.
Before the match, Bliss further fanned the flames of her rivalry with Nia, with a hilarious 'public service announcement'.
The 'anti-bullying message' from self-styled 'victim' Bliss included her claiming Nia once stole food from a starving old woman.
The resulting bout saw the Riott Squad's dominance finally interrupted by Jax, who dived onto all nine women on the outside.
Mickie was punishing Natalya at ringside but Rousey's music hit and Ronda came to check on her training partner's welfare.
As the former UFC star picked Nattie up, James hit her with a baseball slide to the back, prompting 'that look' from Ronda.
(Image: © WWE)
She took the six-time women's champion down with a hip throw who tapped out to an armbar as the referee called for the bell.
That of course handed a disqualification victory to James and co - sowing the seeds for Natalya eventually turning on Rousey.
In the meantime however, it sets up Ronda to clash with Mickie in singles bouts on the forthcoming WWE European tour.
The night began with Paul Heyman gloating over Universal Champion Brock Lesnar conquering Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 34.
He said Lesnar wanted a steel cage match against Reigns at Greatest Royal Rumble in Saudia Arabia on Friday as he craves a UFC fight.
Roman - surprisingly popular in St Louis, Missouri, interrupted the promo and told Brock he's taking the title, adding: "You can believe that."
New Raw draft signing Bobby Roode suffered an unexpected loss to Elias, who stole the win with a roll-up after exploiting his injured shoulder.
Perhaps this is the beginning of the Glorious One struggling for form on Monday nights and hopefully transitioning into a heel character.
Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt prepared for their Raw Tag Team Championship opportunity against The Bar by comfortably defeating Ascension.
Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn hosted 'The Kevin and Sami Show' in a fun segment when they were joined by Raw general manager Kurt Angle.
The trio hyped the Greatest Royal Rumble match as Owens and Zayn mocked Angle, commenting on his number of children and Jason Jordan.
But the Olympic Gold Medallist warned he will repay them in the 50-man match, along with everyone else who hates Owens, including Chris Jericho.
The duo paid for the insults by facing Braun Strowman and Bobby Lashley, who tore into them with their freakish combination of speed and power.
After Lashley hit a delayed vertical suplex on Zayn, Strowman won the bout with a running power slam, yet many would rather see these juggernauts collide.
Drew McIntyre and Dolph Ziggler beat Apollo Crews and Titus O'Neil before McIntyre cut an impressive promo, branding the rest of the roster "soft".
Angle told Chad Gable he wasn't coming to Raw to team with Jason Jordan again but to be a singles wrestler with his first opponent being Jinder Mahal.
The ex-Olympian used his technical skills to weaken the Modern Day Maharaja's legs and blocked the Khallas before using the ropes to earn a clever pin.
It was a strong showing from Gable in his Raw debut, especially the way he channelled Bret Hart with some of his selling of Jinder's attacks.
Samoa Joe again taunted Roman Reigns, claiming he might not have an opponent at Backlash, if Brock leaves him buried in the Saudi Arabian desert.
Baron Corbin said he was here to ruin fun and destroyed No Way Jose and his conga line in an onstage ambush, smashing him into the video screens.
Former Miztourage members Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel tried to encourage Seth Rollins or Finn Balor to hire them, now The Miz has gone to SmackDown.
Instead the faces teamed up to boss the pair, with The Architect taking down Axel with his stomp and the Irishman following up with a Coup de Grace.
Overall it was a solid episode of Raw, with the highlights being Alexa's PSA, Braun and Lashley, Gable's victory, Owens and Zayn, plus McIntyre's promo.