WWE Raw live results, recap, grades: Kevin Owens plays mind games with Sami Zayn ahead of Royal Rumble

Owens attempts to curry favor in his complicated friendship with Zayn

The men's Royal Rumble gets deeper by the week. On Monday, Sami Zayn announced his entry into this year's match. SmackDown's Kevin Owens appeared on WWE Raw to further complicate things.

Zayn joins an impressive slate of Royal Rumble participants including CM Punk, John Cena, Roman Reigns, Drew McIntyre and Seth Rollins. Speaking of McIntyre and Rollins, they headlined Monday's show in a match that further pushed Zayn into the mix.

Other highlights from the red brand include the second appearance of Penta, an update to Saturday Night's Main Event and a conflict between Jey Uso and world heavyweight champion Gunther.

CBS Sports was with you all night with recaps and highlights of all the action from the American Airlines Center in Dallas.

Zayn puts himself first, Owens tugs on heartstrings

Zayn announced his participation in the upcoming men's Royal Rumble. Last week, Rollins told Zayn he spends too much helping other people. Zayn resonated with that. Zayn is living his dream despite never winning a main roster world title. Zayn firmly believes he's as good as the top-tier talent competing this year. The only difference between Reigns, McIntyre, Punk, Rollins and himself is that Zayn has never won a world title.

Enter Owens. Zayn expected hostility from his on-and-off best friend but he was wrong. Owens said that he understood why Zayn reunited with Reigns. The two have a history, and Owens himself is a recipient of Zayn's forgiveness. Owens is rooting for Zayn to win the Rumble before suggesting that Zayn would have his back against Cody Rhodes in their undisputed WWE title match. Afterward, Owens and Zayn can live out their childhood dreams and headline WrestleMania against each other.

Later backstage, Zayn thanked Rollins for setting him straight and encouraging him last week.

Seth Rollins def. Drew McIntyre via pinfall with a rollup. McIntyre and Rollins fought with grit and anger for 25 minutes. Both men had their moments but it was ultimately Rollins' cleverness that won the day. Rollins caught McIntyre slipping and rolled him up. 

An irate McIntyre beat down Rollins post-match. Zayn emerged from the crowd to fend off McIntyre. Once Zayn checked on Rollins, however, McIntyre blindsided Zayn and continued working on his opponent. Zayn tried to drop McIntyre with a Helluva Kick but accidentally caught Rollins. McIntyre rolled out of the ring as Zayn tried apologizing to his friend.

It's next to impossible for McIntyre and Rollins to have a bad match. The superstars were given ample time to put together a solid main event. The segment that deserves the highest marks this week is Zayn and Owens' promo. It's in many ways what Rhodes vs. Owens should be. The former tag team champions dug deep into their history to paint a complex narrative angle and raise interesting questions. Owens bemoans Rhodes for siding with Reigns but sympathizes with Zayn. 

On the surface, Owens understands loyalty and forgiveness are crucial to Zayn's character. Underneath that are attempts to manipulate his career-long best friend for personal gain. The prospect of them facing each other at WrestleMania is compelling as is Owens' attempts to turn Zayn against Rhodes. WWE is also doing a great job of making the Royal Rumble feel important this year with numerous big names expressing why the match is so important to them. Grade: A

What else happened on WWE Raw?

• Nia Jax attacked Rhea Ripley backstage and put her through a chain link fence.
• Jey Uso sent Gunther packing after their war of words turned into a brawl.
• Bayley announced she is officially signed to Raw.
• Rey Mysterio def. Kofi Kingston via pinfall with a Boom Drop. LWO rescued Mysterio from a post-match beatdown. JBL served as a guest commentator.
• Chad Gable aligned himself with Dominik Mysterio and revealed members of American Made will hunt various titles.
• Sheamus and Bron Breakker got into a shoving match.
• Nia Jax def. Bayley via pinfall with the A-Nia-lator. Post-match, Ripley attacked Jax and announced they'd battle at Saturday Night's Main Event.
• Logan Paul is headed to Raw in a new hype reel.
  
• Penta def. Pete Dunne via pinfall after hitting the Penta Driver.
• CM Punk cut a promo promising to win the Royal Rumble.
• Damage CTRL (Dakota Kai and Iyo Sky) def. Pure Fusion Collective (Shayna Baszler and Zoey Stark) via pinfall after Sky hit a diving moonsault on Baszler.