WWE Raw results, grades: Nikki Cross returns to attack Bayley and Bianca Belair

The former Raw Women’s Champion has ditched her Nikki A.S.H. (Almost a Superhero) mask and alter ego around four weeks after taking off the face covering following a loss to Candice LeRae on the latter’s comeback match after giving birth in February.

On Monday night, Nikki was back with a more familiar, unpredictable persona as she took the fight to Damage CTRL and the EST of WWE.

Bayley aws flanked by Dakota Kai and Iyo Sky for her non-title grudge match with the current Raw Women’s Champion, while Candice was attacked earlier in the night and so couldn’t come down with Belair.

This was an absolutely fantastic match that had a great pace and energy, with plenty of time to tell a story between two women who’ve shown wonderful chemistry between the ropes.

The drama came when the referee was looking to eject Sky and Kai after some interference, but Nikki appeared out of nowhere to take out the official and the Women’s Tag Team Champions with a huge flying crossbody.

She took out Belair before a new referee came down, helping Bayley to victory, but she laid out the Role Model after the bell, showing she wasn’t out there to help the Damage CTRL leader.

This was a great way to take Cross away from her somewhat limiting superhero persona, which did help her to the Raw Women’s Title last year but quickly became more of a hinderance.

Johnny Gargano threatens to expose the truth, Rhea Ripley bodyslams Luke Gallows and more

The show kicked off with Judgment Day out to brag, particularly about Dominik Mysterio’s shock win over AJ Styles last week.

The O.C. came out to have their say, with Styles insisting Dom is more like James Ellsworth than his late ‘uncle’ Eddie Guerrero.

The opening bout saw Finn Balor beat Karl Anderson in a very fun clash between two Bullet Club alum, with the usual ringside chaos keeping things going there before Crown Jewel.

In a fantastic moment, Rhea Ripley actually hit a perfect bodyslam on the towering Luke Gallows, as she continues to get physical with the men on the roster.

The Miz and Johnny Gargano continued to clash over the Dexter Lumis situation, with Gargano urging the A-Lister to just tell the truth, with fans left in the dark about what’s actually going on.

This led to R-Truth coming out to face Miz, who lost when he got distracted by someone in the crowd, but it ended up being Gargano, not Lumis.

In the end, Rollins distracted Ali, allowing Mr. Money In The Bank to steal a win, but Ali was able to regain momentum instantly as he had another wild brawl with the champ.

Omos decimated four men, building momentum for his clash of the giants with Braun Strowman in Saudi Arabia next month.

In a strong bout set up earlier in the night, Elias beat Chad Gable in an entertaining clash of styles, including a great jumping knee reversal to a moonsault, while after the bell Otis helped his Alpha Academy partner attack Elias before Matt Riddle made the save.

John ‘Bradshaw’ Layfield and Baron Corbin were back this week, with the latter facing Johnny Gargano in a great match featuring two very different performers.

Corbin is a massively underrated talent, and he rightly picked up the win with some interference by JBL followed by the End of Days.

WWE Raw airs Monday nights at 1am on BT Sport 1.

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