New Faces, Surprising Wins And A Shoot Fight?

Monday's Raw was one of the more unique episodes produced by WWE in a while. Fans got to see fresh faces, but the company scrapped all but one of their marketed matches. There were some big upset wins, what appeared to be a minor shoot fight in a women's match and a Triple Threat Match that may go down as one of the best bouts of the year.

Nia Jax and Charlotte got a lot of attention for their ugly battle and Damian Priest picked up a massive win and earned a clean pin over Drew McIntyre.

Here are your winners and losers for Monday's Raw, August 30, 2021:

Winner: Damian Priest

WWE seems invested in the success of Priest and the show shined a spotlight on the United States Championship, which was a nice change. Priest kicked off the program with a United States Open Challenge and dropped the "Welcome to Monday Night Raw" tagline, only to be joined by Sheamus and Drew McIntyre, both who wanted a shot. Lashley and MVP came down to the ring, but were interrupted by Randy Orton and Riddle. Those two teams would square off later, but Adam Pearce and Sonya Deville made a triple threat match for the U.S. Championship for later in the night.

That match was insanely good. It was physical and back and forth with everyone getting in a series of their moves and no one really ever looking weak at any point. WWE knows how to book Triple Threat matches but this one was special. It was capped off by a huge pin where Priest picked up the win over McIntyre. Sheamus argued backstage he wasn't beaten and called out Priest for a rematch next week.

Loser: Dropped Matches

One of the downfalls of the Triple Threat Match was that it became clear rather quickly that WWE was dropping promoted matches heading into Monday's show. Last week, Sheamus took issue with Lashley and a match was booked for this week. That not only didn't happen, the two stars barely referenced their beef. Of course, The Miz versus John Morrison was promoted and didn't happen, and Eva Marie versus Doudrop was promoted and while they battled, it wasn't an official match.

The one thing WWE doesn't do well is build up anticipation for the following week with their match cards. They finally did so this past week and then bailed on almost everything they'd planned. "Card subject to change" let's them out of having to answer why, but it didn't change the fact that was a feeling that fans were being somewhat robbed of what they thought they'd be seeing.

Related: Raw Winners And Losers: Miz and Morrison Break Up, Will Wrestle Next Week

Winner: Fresh Faces, Fresh Matches

Monday's show included The Viking Raiders, Shayna Bazsler, Humberto Carrillo and offered up some match combinations that felt new. It's not often Raw can say they deliver on things the WWE Universe hasn't seen multiple times over. It was a nice change and it's something the red brand needs to do far more often. Not only did these Superstars make appearances, but they won some matches or got to showcase what makes them unique. The Viking Raiders picked up a big win, Baszler got to be the Baszler many fans are aching for -- arm holds, submissions and just a more menacing version of the character -- and WWE didn't just throw them as filler, moving onto the next segment.

Omos still looks like he needs more time, but he looked strong in a dominating win over Morrison and AJ Styles picked up a submission victory over Xavier Woods. The matches on Monday and the creative direction for many talents felt inspired. It was an unexpected, but nice twist.

Loser: John Morrison

We talked about the fact Omos got a big win, but this week can't be called a win for the most moist see superstar in WWE. He was going into this show with a big match against The Miz and wound up losing handily to the 7-footer. Ultimately, this won't really hurt Morrison long-term, because even if he does fight The A-Lister and gets the win as a new babyface, his position as a mid-carder is pretty much set in stone. He can wrestle The Miz anytime and it's about the feud between the two friends and not how that match will elevate one person up the WWE roster totem pole.

Winner/Loser: Nia Jax and Charlotte Fight

It's not clear what happened in their bout, but almost everyone noticed it was different. A non-title match that seemed to break down into a legit scrap between the two WWE stars, this was either very ingenious creative to make the fans believe these two don't like each other and this was just an ugly fight between two women fighting over the belt, or this was legit. Either way, you couldn't take your eyes off the match and that's a very good thing from a WWE perspective.

Of course, if there's legit heat between these two women, that's not good and it'll need to be sorted for this program to continue, but WWE has buzz surrounding these two women now and it will be smart if they notice it, take that ball and run.

Monday Night Raw Match Results:

• Rhea Ripley def. Shayna Baszler - A roll-up in that came after Baszler was distracted by Jax's need to run over everyone in her vacinity, Baszler lost, but the story here is that she walked off from her partner, teasing more trouble between the two.
• The Viking Raiders def. Jinder Mahal and Veer - The Raid was back and the tag team picked up a dominant win over Mahal and Veer. This felt like a push for a tag team WWE hasn't pushed in some time.
• Damian Priest def. Drew McIntyre and Sheamus—WWE United States Championship - In a match-of-the-year type contest, Priest was able to land his finisher for the clean pin on McIntyre.
• Doudrop vs. Eva Marie ends in a No Contest - Doudrop didn't wait for the bell and attacked Marie from behind, then sent a message with a series of slams and drops. She declared herself the winner and Marie said she was unable to wrestle in the scheduled match when asked by the official.
• Karrion Kross def. Humberto Carrillo - This was another decisive win for Kross, although Carrillo did get some offense in.
• Nia Jax def. Charlotte Flair - in a non-title match, Jax pinned Charlotte. The match seemed to break down part way through, which got a number of fans wondering if there was legit heat between the two women.
• Omos def. John Morrison - A squash match that went in the favor of the big man, this was a replacement match because The Miz had no-showed Monday's episode.
• AJ Styles def. Xavier Woods - A good match between two excellent in-ring competitors, Woods sold the heck out of a knee injury and finally had to tap out to a submission hold before almost reaching the ropes.
• RK-Bro def. Bobby Lashley and MVP—WWE Raw Tag Team Championship - A competitive tag match to end the show, Riddle landed a big knee on MVP, then his finisher off the top rope for the pin. Lashley was wiped out at ringside.

Next: Nia Jax and Charlotte Flair Appear To Have Raw Match Break Down Into Shoot Fight