WWE Raw after WrestleMania results, recap, grades: Brock Lesnar turns on Cody Rhodes, shocking Roman Reigns

Lesnar stabbed Rhodes in the back, ending the night's main event before it started

Traditionally, the WWE Raw following WrestleMania is a show loaded with surprises, including debuts, returns and call-ups. Monday night saw WWE go a different direction, with only one minor return and the tease of a massive main event that never came to fruition.

One night after losing to Roman Reigns in the main event of WrestleMania 39, Cody Rhodes angled for a rematch for the undisputed WWE universal championship. When he was shot down, Rhodes pitched a tag match against Reigns and Solo Sikoa, a wish that was granted, but not without stipulations.

Brock Lesnar ultimately offered to back Rhodes up, though things did not go how Rhodes was hoping by the end of the night.

CBS Sports was with you all night with recaps and highlights of all the action from Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.

Brock Lesnar turns on Cody Rhodes with brutal attack

Roman Reigns was out after Triple H's show-opening promo (see below), but before he could say more than, "Acknowledge me," Cody Rhodes interrupted the undisputed WWE universal champion. Rhodes said that he knew what he wanted to talk about and it boiled down to one word: "Rematch." After Rhodes told Paul Heyman that he wanted the rematch that same night, Heyman and Reigns said there would not only not be a rematch this night, there would not be one at any point in the future. Rhodes pivoted and challenged Reigns and Solo Sikoa to a tag match. Reigns accepted but with the stipulation that Rhodes' partner had to be someone who wrestled at WrestleMania and anyone who accepted to team with Rhodes would forfeit the right to ever challenge Reigns for the undisputed WWE universal championship. Enter Brock Lesnar, who had already lost the right to ever challenge Reigns again after losing their match at SummerSlam, therefore a man who faced no consequences by teaming with Rhodes. Later in the night, Heyman was shown telling The Usos they weren't needed and could head to the jet early.

The match, set to be the night's main event, would have been Lesnar's first on Raw since 2002 and first tag match in a WWE ring since 2004. In fact, Lesnar has had only 11 two-on-two tag match on WWE television or pay-per-view in his career. During the wrestler introductions, Lesnar grabbed Rhodes and delivered an F-5. Reigns, Sikoa and Heyman looked confused before walking off and leaving Lesnar to hit Rhodes with another F-5 and a German suplex before continuing the assault outside the ring. Lesnar hit Rhodes with the ring steps and put Rhodes through the announce table with another F-5. Finally, Lesnar brought Rhodes back into the ring and hit a final F-5 onto the ring steps. As it seemed Lesnar was done, he grabbed a chair and went back into the ring to deliver a few last shots to Rhodes.

Rhodes needs to be built back up after losing in "the right moment" to Reigns at WrestleMania. With a rematch with Reigns off the table for the near future, overcoming Lesnar may be the next best thing for Rhodes. Still, it's hard to not feel a bit cheated out of a very rare opportunity to see Lesnar wrestle on Raw. That sting was doubled with the traditionally surprise-filled show only saw one surprise, which was the return of Matt Riddle. Still, it's the next step in Rhodes' story and he certainly can continue down the sympathetic babyface road after this. Grade: C+

What else happened on WWE Raw?

• Triple H opened the show with a promo talking about the success of WrestleMania. He then transferred to a reassurance that the news of WWE's acquisition by Endeavor did not mean WWE was going anywhere. After all of that, Triple H welcomed Roman Reigns to the ring.
• Omos def. Elias via pinfall with a chokebomb. This was a very short match with Elias getting no offense whatsoever.
• Austin Theory def. Rey Mysterio via pinfall with A-Town Down. Theory interrupted a Mysterio promo leading to the match. After the match, Dominik Mysterio ran to the ring with Damian Priest and attacked Rey. Dominik then got in the face of Bad Bunny, who was seated at ringside, and who had interfered to aid Rey during WrestleMania. Bunny knocked down Dominik with a punch. Priest then attacked Bunny before Bunny punched Dominik again. Priest then took down Bunny again before putting him through the announce table with a chokeslam.
• Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn def. The Street Profits via pinfall after Zayn hit Montez Ford with a Helluva Kick. Zayn and Owens were out to celebrate their undisputed tag team title win at WrestleMania and Owens said their favorite way to celebrate was to have a fight. That brought out the Profits for an impromptu match.
• Seth Rollins came to the ring to celebrate his win over Logan Paul by having the crowd sing his song. That's it. That was the segment.
• Bobby Lashley def. Mustafa Ali via submission with the Hurt Lock. Lashley was confronted by Bronson Reed backstage, but Reed refused the invitation for a match. Ali told Lashley he needed to be more positive and not take "no" for an answer. Lashley then took Ali to the ring and quickly defeated him, refusing to take "no" for an answer from Ali.
• Bianca Belair and Rhea Ripley came face-to-face. Both women, fresh off their championship wins at WrestleMania, delivered messages making it clear that they would meet down the road, with both guaranteeing victory.
• Raquel Rodriguez & Liv Morgan def. Damage CTRL via pinfall after Morgan hit Dakota Kai with Oblivion. With the win, Rodriguez and Morgan earned a shot at Lita and Becky Lynch for the women's tag team titles on Raw next week.
• Matt Riddle made his return, interrupting a promo by The Miz. After The Miz said that, after losing two impromptu matches at WrestleMania, there would be no more surprises. That led to Riddle's music hitting, Miz attacking and Riddle finishing things with a flurry of strikes before hitting Bro Derek.