WWE Raw results, recap, grades: Braun Strowman secures WrestleMania Backlash title shot

Strowman beat Drew McIntyre in the night's main event to make Bobby Lashley's Backlash title defense a triple threat

After Monday's edition of WWE Raw, Drew McIntyre should have no remaining doubt over MVP's insistence that Mace and T-Bar are not affiliated with The Hurt Business. The former Retribution members executed a main event attack on McIntyre that has significantly complicated the future of MVP's client Bobby Lashley.

After losing to Mace and T-Bar earlier in the night while teaming with Braun Strowman, McIntyre demanded a main event match with the big man. That match would end up carrying the stipulation that Strowman would be inserted into the WrestleMania Backlash match between WWE champion Lashley and former champ McIntyre. Mace and T-Bar's last-second interference opened the door for Strowman to get the win and become an immediate threat at the upcoming pay-per-view.

CBS Sports was with you all night, bringing you recaps and highlights of all the action from the ThunderDome inside Yuengling Center in Tampa.

Strowman secures title shot at WrestleMania Backlash

Braun Strowman def. Mace & T-Bar via disqualification. The show was scheduled to open with the tag match between Strowman and Drew McIntyre vs. the former Retribution members. Instead, Strowman argued with McIntyre over who needed to listen to who backstage before saying he'd beat Mace and T-Bar by himself, turning the bout into a handicap match. This led to the same result as McIntyre's match with the duo last week, as Mace and T-Bar continued a double-team past the referee's count, drawing the disqualification before McIntyre ran in to make the save.

Mace & T-Bar def. Braun Strowman & Drew McIntyre via count out. Unsurprisingly, the situation led to a straight tag match as originally planned. Things went south for McIntyre and Strowman when they seemed to have the match in hand before McIntyre accidentally clotheslined Strowman outside the ring. McIntyre was unable to beat the referee's 10 count after being thrown over the ringside barricade, giving Mace and T-Bar the win. After the match, a frustrated Strowman hit McIntyre with a running powerslam.

Braun Strowman def. Drew McIntyre via pinfall with the running powerslam. McIntyre demanded a match with Strowman later in the night, which Strowman was able to manipulate into carrying the stipulation that he would be added to the WWE title match at WrestleMania Backlash with a win. MVP and Bobby Lashley came to ringside during the match. As Strowman took over the match and was about to hit McIntyre with the powerslam, Lashley caused a distraction and MVP pulled McIntyre from Strowman's clutches. T-Bar and Mace then ran in as McIntyre was lining up a Claymore, allowing Strowman to hit the pick up the win, securing his entrance into the title match at Backlash.

The opening situation was a near-direct rehash of last week's Raw, which is never a good thing. WWE pulled that several times through the night, but it was nearly beat-for-beat the same thing here. The main event between Strowman and McIntyre was at least good, old fashioned big man wrestling. Stuffing Strowman into the Backlash match is unnecessary, but it at least gives something fresh that isn't a direct rehashing of a WrestleMania match, and WWE tends to lay out these big show triple threat matches well enough that there's reason for optimism. It's hard to overlook how bad the stuff with Mace and T-Bar was to start the night, though. Grade: C-

Charlotte Flair apologizes to end suspension

After having been "indefinitely suspended" for attacking a referee last week, Flair issued an "apology." Flair explained that instinct just took over in the moment, leading Sonya Deville to announce that the suspension had been lifted, at which point Flair also demanded -- and received -- an apology from the referee. Backstage, Adam Pearce took issue with Deville lifting the suspension for what he felt was an insincere apology.

Charlotte Flair def. Mandy Rose via pinfall after hitting Natural Selection. Deville chose Rose as Flair's opponent after Rose interfered in the six-woman match earlier in the night. Flair repeatedly had issues with the referee through the match but managed to keep her composure before finishing off Rose with Natural Selection.

Is a suspension that lasts a total of zero events actually a suspension? Flair's unhinged behavior -- basically becoming Wrestling Karen -- is an interesting character twist for a woman who is far and away the most successful women's wrestler in company history. But the match with Rose was well booked and it feels like there may be something bigger happening with the Deville interactions. Grade: B

What else happened on WWE Raw?

• Kofi Kingston, Xavier Woods & Damian Priest def. Jaxson Ryker, Elias & The Miz via pinfall when Woods pinned Ryker with a small package. Kingson, Woods and Priest threw tomatoes at Ryker, Elias, Miz and Morrison during an acoustic performance prior to the match.
• Sheamus and Humberto Carrillo brawled after Carrillo answered Sheamus' open challenge. Sheamus had attacked Carrillo last week for answering his open challenge. The same thing happened again, though this time Carrillo got the better of things, taking down Sheamus to end the segment.
• Randy Orton & Riddle def. Shelton Benjamin & Cedric Alexander via pinfall when Riddle hit Benjamin with a Floating Bro. Earlier in the night, Orton said he'd decided to give Riddle's idea for teaming as RKBro a chance and booked them in a match.
• Nia Jax, Shayna Baszler & Rhea Ripley def. Asuka, Naomi & Lana via pinfall after Jax hit Lana with a leg drop. During the match, Mandy Rose and Dana Brooke threw a bucket of water on Baszler. Jax ran over to attack Rose and Brooke but slipped and fell on the water multiple times.
• Alexa Bliss appeared on Alexa's Playground. Bliss said that she was going to unleash Lily on the rest of the WWE locker room and to not blame her for what happens.