With less than two weeks to go until the Royal Rumble, Monday Night Raw bore witness to several dramatic changes in Memphis. Braun Strowman opened the show by chasing Baron Corbin around, and he ultimately smashed a window and tore the door off of Vince McMahon's limo in that pursuit. That confrontation ultimately cost Strowman his Universal championship match at the Royal Rumble, and started a mad scramble to find Brock Lesnar's challenger. Corbin, Finn Balor, John Cena and Drew McIntyre all threw their hats into the ring, but McMahon threw shade at Balor because of his size. After defeating Jinder Mahal midway through the night to retain his spot in the match, Balor ultimately pinned Cena in the middle of the ring to earn his shot at the Universal title -- a belt he held for exactly one day at its outset -- at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view.
While Sasha Banks hasn't been a major factor in the Raw women's championship picture for the better part of the last year-and-a-half, Monday's opening contest offered an opportunity to flash a lot of the swagger that's been missing from her presentation of late. After she and Ronda Rousey defeated Nia Jax and Tamina, Banks took exception to Rousey's post-match comments and pushed the Raw women's champion two weeks out from their title match in Phoenix. Nikki Cross helped her team (along with Natalya and Bayley) defeat the Riott Squad in her first match on Raw, and four of the other five promised debuts (Heavy Machinery, EC3 and Lacey Evans) appeared in a variety of segments throughout the show. Finally, the new WWE women's tag team titles were revealed during "A Moment of Bliss"; the first-ever champions will be crowned inside of the Elimination Chamber at the pay-per-view of the same name in February.
In one of his best performances since his return to WWE, Bobby Lashley won a triple threat match against Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose to become the Intercontinental champion. During his first run with WWE, Lashley was a two-time ECW champion and a one-time United States champ. Rounding out the night's action, The Revival beat the Lucha House Party in what was, finally, a two-on-two match.