Two weeks out from WrestleMania 35, WWE finds itself in a strong position creatively heading into such a loaded card. Monday night's episode of Raw was a showcase of that reality following three hours of quality programming that illustrated how good this April 7 card has the potential to be.  

While Becky Lynch, Ronda Rousey and Charlotte Flair were given a deserved close-up to open the show just hours after a historic announcement, it was Drew McIntyre who closed with yet another authoritative statement about how far he has come as a main eventer.  

Let's take a closer look at how things played out on this night for the red brand just 13 days out from the "Showcase of the Immortals" invading the greater New York City where it all started. 

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Drew McIntyre continues Shield dominance

Beginning his evening with an in-ring promo, McIntyre pleaded for Roman Reigns to come out and answer his WrestleMania challenge. Once more, McIntyre pleaded to Joe, the man behind the Roman character, by urging Reigns against putting his wife and children through yet another difficult time "when you know you are going to lose." Out came Reigns to stare deeply into his eyes before accepting the challenge. 

"But I want you to listen very clearly, don't you ever run your mouth about my wife and kids again," Reigns said before attacking McIntyre with punches and tossing him out of the ring. McIntyre pulled even soon after with a low blow before laying Reigns out with a stiff Claymore kick.  

Drew McIntyre def. Dean Ambrose in a last man standing match: Two weeks after badly losing to McIntyre in a falls count anywhere match, Ambrose begged him backstage for one more chance. Their main event encounter saw the use of kendo sticks and the ring stairs. But despite eating a Dirty Deeds, McIntyre was able to beat the 10 count before driving Ambrose through a table and knocking him out cold with a Claymore kick to win the match. The episode closed with McIntyre posing and angrily pointing at the WrestleMania sign.  

Sure, the booking of McIntyre on this night looked shockingly close to the booking he enjoyed just two weeks ago on Raw. But in this case, that's a great thing. McIntyre isn't getting the star treatment as much as he's outright getting superstar-level booking, which has accomplished its goal in presenting him as a hulking and maniacal psychopath who needs a major championship around his waist. The physical interaction between McIntyre and Reigns was as electric as it was stiff, which makes one question whether WWE is regretting booking Seth Rollins into a universal championship feud for WrestleMania now that Reigns is back and McIntyre is doing such incredible work. Grade: A- 

Seth Rollins enlists help from the WWE Universe

Rollins called the universal championship match against Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania the biggest of his career during an extremely babyface in-ring promo. Calling Lesnar "a bully who has cast a shadow over me and this entire industry," Rollins attempted to inspire the crowd to join him in his goal of burning down Suplex City until Paul Heyman came out to interrupt. Heyman heckled Rollins's need for the "thoughts and prayers" of the fans and shredded him before dropping the mic. Rollins ran after him onto the stage, causing a scared Heyman to fall over and beg for mercy. "I'm not asking for thoughts and prayers, I'm here to answer them," Rollins said. 

Nothing that happened here was all that bad. It wasn't great either, however, which is largely the problem when talking about the universal championship feud entering WrestleMania. For the third straight week, Lesnar was either absent or non-effective, which has gone a long way in making this feel more like an intercontinental title feud in terms of its importance than being contested for the big belt. Sadly, WWE's decision to book this so vanilla and void of nuance makes it feel like Vince McMahon has no plans on taking the title off Lesnar or rewarding Rollins for elevating his game to such a high level over the past year now that Reigns is back healthy. Grade: C+ 

Becky Lynch edges WrestleMania opponents

Raw opened by celebrating the announcement earlier in the day that Lynch, Ronda Rousey and Charlotte Flair would officially participate in the first women's main event match in WrestleMania history. All three women entered the ring for individual singles matches against members of the Riott Squad in a beat the clock challenge. 

Ronda Rousey def. Sarah Logan via submission (1:25): Nearly overwhelmed by the crowd's "we want Becky" chants, Rousey told them "you're welcome" for lifting women's wrestling to such a historic moment and promised to tap out Lynch and Flair at the same time at WrestleMania. She made quick work of Logan in just 85 seconds by countering into an armbar for the tap.  

Charlotte Flair failed to defeat Ruby Riott: A pre-match promo saw Flair give herself all the credit for elevating women to the main event. She was then, however, unable to beat Rousey's time as she struggled with Riott and came up short. Angry at the result, Flair laid out Lynch with a big boot before the start of her match.  

Becky Lynch def. Liv Morgan via pinfall (1:18): Lynch called Rousey a "weirdo" before the match and scolded her for getting every opportunity to succeed by WWE yet still not giving fans a reason "to give a damn until 'The Man' came around." Lynch went on to rally from Flair's early cheap shot by rolling Morgan up via jacknife cover with seven seconds to spare to win the challenge. She went on to share unpleasantries with Rousey, who was watching on the stage.  

Fresh off the news it released earlier in the day, consider this a smart move by WWE to open Raw with women and allow all three some quick-hitting moments both inside the ring and on the microphone without the overkill of having them brawl against one another. While there wasn't necessarily much depth to what happened as WWE chose instead to move the chains ahead of next Monday's go-home show, it was nice to see Lynch be presented once again as such a red-hot babyface who backs down from no one. These three women aren't just deserving of a main event slot, one could argue it "best for business" at the same time which makes WWE's decision to announce it early as a smart and advantageous one in terms of public relations. Grade: B- 

What else happened on Raw? 

  • Finn Balor def. Jinder Mahal (via pinfall) & Bobby Lashley in handicap match: Lio Rush, who was injured last week by Braun Strowman, announced Mahal as his last-minute replacement in this 2-on-1 match. Despite the odds against him, Balor rallied to secure a title shot at WrestleMania by overcoming distraction from the Singh Brothers to hit a Tope Con Hilo outside before following up with a Coup de Grace on Mahal for the win. Afterwards, an angry Lashley took out Mahal and the Singh Brothers. 
  • Ricochet & Aleister Black def. The Revival via pinfall: The pair of NXT stars recorded a non-title victory over the Raw tag team champions that likely secures them a chance at WrestleMania. A hot tag to Black late kicked off a hectic final sequence filled with dramatic near falls. After Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder both walked into the same Black Mass kick, Ricochet landed his 630 off the top rope on Wilder for the 1-2-3 to end a fun match.  
  • Sasha Banks def. Natalya via disqualification: This physical singles match booked to set the stage for what's expected to be a triple threat women's tag team title match at WrestleMania ended with a predictable run-in from Nia Jax and Tamina Snuka. The heels attacked Bayley outside before stomping on Banks to trigger the DQ. Beth Phoenix ran in to brawl with both and hit an impressive Glam Slam on Snuka. During a backstage interview later, an angry Banks and Bayley said they are willing to take on anyone and everyone at WrestleMania.  
  • SNL stars enter Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal: Alexa Bliss welcomed Braun Strowman to her "A Moment of Bliss" set inside the ring and threw to videos of his growing feud against "Saturday Night Live" Weekend Update hosts Colin Jost and Michael Che. Jost and Che were then patched in live from the SNL set as Jost continued his heel ways by putting on a Yankees cap to draw cheap heat from the Boston crowd. He also angered Strowman by advising him to seek therapy and demanding his money back -- plus interest and a Brock Lesnar autograph -- for the car Strowman destroyed. The painful segment ended with Strowman challenging Jost to enter the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal or Strowman would find both backstage. Jost and Che then volunteered each other to join the match.  
  • Baron Corbin def. Apollo Crews via pinfall: After walking in on Kurt Angle's backstage interview to remind him how badly he expects to destroy him at WrestleMania, Corbin put away Crews for the second straight week. An End of Days brought an end to the match as the Raw commentary team declared the performance from Corbin "a clear warning" to Angle. After the match, Corbin beat down Crews to hammer the point home.  
  • Kurt Angle def. Samoa Joe via pinfall: After Joe silenced the crowd with a strong heel promo before the match, promising to give Angle the gift of a goodnight sleep ahead of WrestleMania by choking him out, it was Angle who rallied for an improbable win. The former TNA Impact Wrestling rivals put on a decent match in their first meeting in WWE as Angle countered out of a Coquina Clutch by rolling up Joe for the upset win.  
  • Triple H agrees to final stipulation from Batista: Donning a leather jacket, the COO of WWE entered the ring to unveil a letter sent from Batista's lawyers saying he won't compete at WrestleMania until one final stipulation is accepted. Before revealing what it was, Triple H went on to counter all of Batista's claims regarding how their relationship fell apart as members of Evolution. He then dispelled Batista's accusation that Triple H is obsessed with him by saying, "Dave, I don't give a crap about you. The only thing I'm obsessed with is kicking your ass." Finally, Triple H accepted the stipulation that he put his career on the line by saying that if he can't beat "a self-diluted douchebag" like Batista, he has no business being in the ring.