WWE Raw results, recap, grades: Saturday Night's Main Event card gets major changes

A new match was announced for Saturday, as well as a title match gaining a third participant

In the final Raw before Saturday Night's Main Event, WWE made a pair of major changes to the card. That starts with Damian Priest being added to the world heavyweight championship match, with Priest now facing fellow challenger Finn Balor and champion Gunther.

Sami Zayn will also get his own chance at revenge. After being attacked by Drew McIntyre last Monday, Zayn announced that he spoke to Raw general manager Adam Pearce to set up a match between himself and McIntyre on Saturday.

In addition, the women's world championship match between Liv Morgan and Iyo Sky continued to build with the two both getting in some shots over the course of the show.

CBS Sports was with you all night with recaps and highlights of all the action from Intrust Bank Arena in Wichita, Kansas.

Saturday Night's Main Event gets major changes

Gunther opened the show ready to cut a promo but was quickly interrupted by Finn Balor and Judgment Day. Balor said that he is responsible for Gunther retaining the title several times and that is why Balor will walk out as world heavyweight champion at Saturday Night's Main Event. Gunther said he used to look up to Balor before Balor joined up with Judgment Day, hung out in a clubhouse and played second fiddle to Damian Priest. Gunther said Balor is not on his level, prompting Judgment Day to prepare to enter the ring when Priest ran in and attacked the group. Balor, Priest and Gunther were eventually in the ring together, with both Gunther and Priest getting in shots at Balor. Then, Gunther took out Priest. Balor came back to take out Gunther and Judgment Day held Priest down while Balor hit the Coup de Grace three times. Shortly after, Adam Pearce informed Balor that he had changed the Saturday Night's Main Event match to Gunther vs. Balor vs. Priest.

A Drew McIntyre video aired later in the show, where he discussed losing to CM Punk inside Hell in a Cell. While back in Scotland to recover and be with his family, McIntyre began to believe people can change but then he turned on Survivor Series and saw the Original Bloodline together, acting as though nothing had ever happened between them and Roman Reigns. For that reason, McIntyre said, he had to return and take out Sami Zayn and Jey Uso, which is why he attacked both men last week..

Even later in the show, Seth Rollins cut a promo addressing Punk's interview. Rollins then said he reached out to Punk several times after Punk left the company but Punk never responded to him. Punk then spent years tearing WWE down at every opportunity, Rollins said, but was ultimately forced to crawl back to the company after failing at everything else. This brought out Sami Zayn, who said he and Rollins both got angry and went over the line last week. The two worked things out, with Zayn saying Punk brings out the worst in Rollins, but that it isn't his business to meddle in. Zayn then announced that after being attacked by McIntyre last week, he spoke to Pearce and made a match. It will be Sami Zayn vs. Drew McIntyre at Saturday Night's Main Event. As Zayn was leaving the ring, McIntyre blindsided him, continuing the attack until WWE officials broke up the situation.

Nobody can say WWE isn't trying to go all out for Saturday Night's Main Event. There are plenty of threads that make both card changes make a lot of sense. Priest, Balor and Gunther have deep, long-running issues at this point, and Zayn vs. McIntyre is yet another situation that makes sense from the perspective of both men. One of the genius things about McIntyre's character as a heel is that he hasn't been wrong about anything he's said, it's just his own behavior that is the issue -- and that's true with the Zayn situation as well. Grade: B+

What else happened on WWE Raw?

• Final Testament def. Wyatt Sicks via pinfall after Karrion Kross hit Uncle Howdy with a Final Prayer. The Wyatts seemed to have things in hand when Paul Ellering returned, throwing powder in Howdy's eyes to set up the finish.
• A sit-down interview with CM Punk aired. Punk addressed his issues with Seth Rollins, claiming a 16-year-old Rollins asked Punk to train him for free and that you can still see that entitlement in Rollins now. Punk said that while he was out of the company, Rollins did a good job filling the gap, but that now "the starter" is back and it's time for the "second-stringer" to go back to the sidelines.
• Liv Morgan def. Dakota Kai via pinfall with Oblivion. After the match, Pure Fusion Collective attacked Kai when Iyo Sky and Kairi Sane ran in for the save. This led to Morgan hitting Sky with Oblivion.
• Women's Intercontinental Championship Tournament -- Lyra Valkyria def. Zelina Vega and Ivy Nile via pinfall after hitting Nightwing on Nile.
• New Day walked out of a promo. As they attempted to explain turning their backs on Big E, the crowd loudly chanted "New Day sucks" and rained down boos with every attempt to speak. Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods, frustrated, left the ring without ever delivering their message.
• Rhea Ripley def. Raquel Rodriguez via pinfall after hitting Riptide through a table in an Anything Goes Match. Liv Morgan interfered repeatedly but was eventually taken out by Iyo Sky, setting up Ripley to finally take out Rodriguez and get the victory.