WWE Raw results, live recap, grades: Three huge names declare their entry into the Royal Rumble

CM Punk, Seth Rollins and Drew McIntyre all announced their participation in the Royal Rumble

Raw continued the "Netflix Era" on Monday night as WWE arrived in San Jose, California. The show had a strong wrestling focus, unlike the Netflix debut, which felt more like a celebration of the new partnership than a standard wrestling event and that meant an evening that delivered a few tremendous matches.

But beyond the big matches -- one of which featured the debut of Penta -- the build to the Royal Rumble continued in a big way. After some massive names -- including the likes of John Cena and Roman Reigns -- had already declared themselves for the Rumble, CM Punk, Seth Rollins and Drew McIntyre used Raw to make their own declarations of their intentions to win the 30-man match and earn a world title shot at WrestleMania.

CBS Sports was with you all night with recaps and highlights of all the action from SAP Center in San Jose, California.

Three huge names declare for the Royal Rumble

CM Punk kicked off the show with an in-ring promo. After addressing his win over Seth Rollins in the main event of last Monday's Netflix debut, Punk turned his attention to the Royal Rumble. After discussing tearing his triceps in the 2024 Rumble, Punk declared himself as a participant in this year's event. This brought out Rollins, who said his only redemption for losing to Punk would be ruining Punk's dreams of main eventing WrestleMania by also declaring for the Rumble and throwing Punk over the top rope.

All of this led to Drew McIntyre inserting himself in the situation. McIntyre berated Punk and Rollins for being selfish and losing sight of the big picture, that being the possibility that Roman Reigns could become champion again. The three exchanged words until Punk said he was tired of talking and if Rollins and McIntyre wanted to throw hands, he was ready. McIntyre walked to the ring before laughing and asking why he would do that when Reigns is the bigger problem. McIntyre said his path was to stop Reigns from getting the title, and the best way to do that would be to win the Royal Rumble.

Raw's Netflix debut was extremely hit or miss, with far too much time spent on corporate synergy talk about the partnership between the promotion and the streaming service. This week had a much stronger focus on story and matches, including some truly outstanding wrestling from Penta, Chad Gable, Damian Priest and Finn Balor. While the main takeaway from the show is more huge names declaring for the Rumble, the show as a whole delivered. Grade: B+

What else happened on WWE Raw?

• Penta def. Chad Gable via pinfall with a Penta Driver. The debuting Penta was the surprise opponent for Gable, who had demanded to face the best luchador Adam Pearce could find. The two had a lengthy, very good match that ended with Penta getting the victory.
• Judgment Day was backstage when Finn Balor sarcastically told Liv Morgan he was sure she'd win back the women's world championship soon. Dominik Mysterio then arrived to give Morgan flowers and say his attempted hug for Rhea Ripley last week wasn't what it looked like. She said she believed him in truly unconvincing fashion.
• Sheamus def. Ludwig Kaiser via pinfall after a Brogue Kick. After the win, Sheamus confronted intercontinental champion Bron Breakker, who was seated ringside.
• Jey Uso challenged Gunther for a match at Saturday Night's Main Event. Uso interrupted a Gunther promo to make the challenge. Gunther ran down Uso as not good enough, pointing out that he'd defeated Uso twice as intercontinental champion. Uso didn't care and said he was betting on himself every day and that he would beat Gunther to become world heavyweight champion.
• Women's Intercontinental Championship – Lyra Valkyria def. Dakota Kai via pinfall with Nightwing. With the win, Valkyria became the inaugural women's intercontinental champion.
• Sami Zayn def. The Miz via pinfall after a blue thunder powerbomb. Zayn ran into Miz and Karrion Kross backstage, leading to an exchange of words and Zayn saying he was going to talk to Adam Pearce to get a match put together.
• Nia Jax confronted Rhea Ripley during a Ripley promo. Jax claimed that she is still the pinnacle of the division while also calling out Bayley, who was seated in the crowd. In the end, Ripley and Bayley teamed up to knock Jax from the ring.
• Damian Priest def. Finn Balor via pinfall in a street fight. After a Broken Arrow from the crowd through several tables, Balor was put in a neck brace and stretchered out only for Priest to storm after him, attacking Carlito and JD McDonagh in the process. The match continued with several more big moves involving tables and chairs until Priest hit one final South of Heaven to get the victory.