WWE Raw Results: Winners, Live Grades, Reaction and Highlights After Payback

Gunther and Chad Gable. WWE

Welcome to Bleacher Report's live coverage and recap of WWE Raw on September 4.

Saturday's Payback was filled with great action, but that is the past. Now it's time to start building up Fastlane on October 7.

This week's show dealt with all of the weekend pay-per-view fallout, but we also saw some feuds continue that were not featured on Saturday night.

Gunther is just days away from breaking The Honky Tonk Man's record as the longest-reigning intercontinental champion, but Chad Gable was hoping to prevent him from reaching the milestone.

We also saw The Viking Raiders take on Matt Riddle and Drew McIntyre in a Tornado Tag match. Let's take a look at everything that happened on this week's Raw.

After a recap video showing the events of Payback, Jey Uso came through the crowd to kick off the show to a huge ovation.

After he spoke about being on his own for a while, Sami Zayn came out to the ring. He told him there are probably going to be a lot of people in the locker room who don't want to see him on Raw, but he also gave him a pep talk. They hugged it out to a pop from the crowd.

As they were leaving the ringside area, they passed Drew McIntyre and Riddle on the way to the ring. Both men stopped and made their feelings about Jey known before heading to the ring to face Erik and Ivar.

The first match didn't start until about 25 minutes into the show. The Raiders took on Riddle and McIntyre in a Tornado Tag match, which means all four men were legal at the same time.

Even though it took some time for the action to start, this bout had good energy and some fun spots. The crowd's request for tables was even granted. There were moments when the pacing was a bit off, but most of what we got here was entertaining enough to keep the crowd reacting.

Kofi Kingston ran to the ring to offer Riddle and McIntyre an assist, but he ended up being their downfall. He accidentally hit The Original Bro with his finisher, allowing Erik and Ivar to put him through a table to get the pin.

Winners: The Viking Raiders

Grade: B-

Notable Moments and Observations

• Nobody cheers for a hug louder than wrestling fans. 
• Shinsuke Nakamura delivered a promo in Japanese in a video package. He vowed to win the world title from Seth Rollins. 
• Erik and Ivar have a great arsenal of double-team moves. 
• Riddle's reaction to Valhalla getting in his face was kind of funny. 

Seth Rollins came to the ring for a promo and called out Nakamura to finish what they started despite the fact that doctors have not cleared him for action following Payback.

The Artist came out and spoke Japanese until Rollins asked him if they were going to have a match or not. He simply said no. The Visionary did not like that answer and went after his rival in the aisle. Officials rushed out to break up the fight.

After the break, this match got underway with Ricochet having made his entrance during the commercial. Nakamura tried to leave the ring, but The One and Only brought him back in and started hitting some fast-paced offense.

This was an entertaining and competitive contest that made Ricochet look good against the man who just headlined a PPV. Nakamura ended up getting himself disqualified by using a chair as a weapon.

Rollins rushed to the ring to attack him, but Nakamura ended up getting the upper hand. Ricochet chased him off with a chair while Damian Priest was shown contemplating a cash-in backstage.

The way the match ended wasn't ideal, but everything else we saw helped drive the feud between Rollins and Nakamura forward. It might not have made a ton of sense, but it was entertaining.

Winner: Ricochet by DQ

Grade: B

Notable Moments and Observations

• Michael Cole bringing up Nakamura getting hit with brass knuckles by Logan Paul was funny for some reason. 
• The Artist is always a little stiffer with his strikes when he is playing a heel. 
• Why would anyone turn down an offer for a title shot against an injured competitor? 

The Judgment Day made its way to the ring before the commercial break. Every member carried their titles, with Priest also holding his MITB briefcase.

Everything seemed good, but Priest looked angry when Finn Bálor gave JD McDonagh a shoutout for helping him. JD eventually came out holding something in a bag. He presented Priest with a new purple MITB briefcase.

Zayn came out and mocked them for needing five people to win the tag titles from him and Kevin Owens. He challenged Dom to a match, but McDonagh said he would fight him instead.

This was fine but nothing to write home about. The weird relationship between McDonagh and The Judgment Day needs to lead somewhere soon before fans get tired of it.

Grade: C+

Notable Moments and Observations

• WWE was really messing with the crowd noise during Dom's part of the promo to make it sound like the fans were louder than they were. 
• A grown man calling other adults "turds" is always going to be funny. 

After a brief backstage interaction, Shayna Baszler and Zoey Stark agreed to have a match to see who the bigger badass was.

They started off with a quick exchange that saw both women score quick knockdowns before Stark grounded Baslzer in a headlock. The MMA specialist easily countered out of the hold, though.

These are two of the more athletic women on the roster. Even though they lacked chemistry from having only worked together once before, they managed to put together a decent bout.

They had a lot of time, so this wasn't just a quick encounter. Both Superstars were able to hit some of their signature moves, but it felt like Baszler had the upper hand on more occasions than Stark.

After a long struggle to get out of the hold, Stark succumbed to the Kirifuda Clutch to give The Queen of Spades the win. The ending was great and made both women look tough.

After it was over, they gave each other a show of respect by bumping fists, so this could end up being the next women's tag team to emerge.

Winner: Shayna Baszler

Grade: C+

Notable Moments and Observations

• It looks like WWE is going to try to book Stark as a babyface following her split from Trish Stratus. 
• Adam Pearce booked a match between Raquel Rodriguez and Chelsea Green after a backstage segment. 
• The way Baszler stomps on her opponent's elbow always looks so brutal. 
• Stark has one of the best dropkicks in WWE. 
• The Queen of Spades countering a senton into her finisher looked awesome. 

Raquel Rodriguez and Chelsea Green met for a singles match after it was revealed that Piper Niven was not medically cleared to compete.

Green tried to do her usual thing, but Rodriguez was not in the mood for games. She started throwing her rival all over the ring.

Rodriguez knocked Green's block off before hitting her signature powerbomb for the win.

This was short and sweet. The last 30 seconds was the best part.

Winner: Raquel Rodriguez

Grade: C

Notable Moments and Observations

• How many women's tag team champions have to be injured before we call in someone to remove the curse? 
• Green is one of the best rehires WWE has had in years. She is great in every segment. 
• A lot of people probably underestimate how much power it takes to catch an adult human woman who is jumping through the air. 

The Miz welcomed John Cena as his guest on Miz TV to talk about what happened at Payback. They did a whole thing where they pretended the veteran came to the ring but we couldn't see him.

The next match we got on the show was the Zayn vs. McDonagh bout that was booked earlier in the show. Nobody from The Judgment Day was with the Irishman for support when he made his entrance.

The first half of the match was relatively simple before McDonagh took control by slamming Zayn's head into the announce desk and ring post.

The second half was more entertaining and gave Zayn a chance to get back in the driver's seat. After Dominik Mysterio tried to interfere and got taken out, McDonagh stole the win with a roll-up and a handful of tights.

Zayn went after Dom and beat him up until McDonagh made the save. Zayn ended up hitting the Irishman with a Helluva Kick while Dom left him to take the beating.

Winner: JD McDonagh

Grade: C+

Notable Moments and Observations

• The Miz doing the meme about not being able to see Cena shouldn't have been as funny as it was. 
• McDonagh's ring jacket always looks like it's three sizes too big. 
• The way the Irishman flew over the top rope and landed on the floor looked brutal. 
• Zayn hit a chop that echoed through the arena. 

Throughout the night, WWE hyped up the main event as an important match in the history of the IC title. Gunther was looking to set a record, and Gable was looking to stop him.

They started off simply with Gunther shoving the smaller competitor to the mat to show his dominance, but the Olympian is never intimidated by a bigger competitor.

They had plenty of time at the end of the show, so they made sure to pace themselves and make this feel like a marathon and not a sprint.

The chemistry these two have developed over the course of their feud has been incredible. Every encounter has been better than the last.

After hitting a huge powerbomb and a clothesline, The Ring General pinned Gable clean as his kids watched from the front row with tears in their eyes.

This was an outstanding ending to the show.

Winner: Gunther

Grade: A

Notable Moments and Observations

• Not having their allies at ringside helped give off the impression this would be a fair and clean match from the start. 
• Gable was selling like a madman for Gunther. The way he bumped for a chest chop looked awesome. 
• The stuff they did during the break while we could see them in picture-in-picture was excellent. Gunther hit some nice moves to punish Gable. 
• Gable's high-angle German suplex is a thing of beauty. 

This week's Raw was kind of all over the place, but we got some new storylines to follow and a couple of solid matches.

Gunther vs. Gable stole the show, but the match between Stark and Baszler could lead to something interesting based on how it ended.

Green continues to be one of the best parts of Raw every week, Jey is already a marked man on Raw, Nakamura is still pursuing the world title, and The Miz looks like he wants another showdown with Cena.

With The Judgment Day now ruling over Raw with almost all of the gold, it feels like it's just a matter of time before Priest tries to cash in his MITB contract.

Grade: B-