WWE Raw results, recap, grades: Kofi Kingston answers Bobby Lashley’s open challenge

One night after WrestleMania Backlash, WWE champion Bobby Lashley was ready to step right back in the ring to take on any willing opponent. Any opponent, that is, except for Backlash foes Drew McIntyre and Braun Strowman.

McIntyre was not thrilled with Lashley’s decision to avoid stepping in the ring with him again and kept that anger in his back pocket until the final moments of the show. As Lashley faced former champion Kofi Kingston in non-title action, McIntyre inserted himself into the match to assist Kingston in getting a win over the champion.

CBS Sports was with you all night with recaps and highlights of all the action from the ThunderDome inside Yuengling Center in Tampa.

Kofi Kingston answers Bobby Lashley’s open challenge

Lashley opened the show with a host of women following him to the ring. MVP explained that Lashley went through “excruciating pain” in defeating Drew McIntyre and Braun Strowman at WrestleMania Backlash. Lashley said he’d be taking no nights off and MVP said they were extending an open challenge before being interrupted by McIntyre, who said he was accepting the challenge. MVP countered by saying McIntyre and Strowman were the only men who were not eligible before Lashley threw a punch, which McIntyre ducked before knocking Lashley from the ring. Despite the situation, Lashley’s open challenge stood.

Kofi Kingston def. Bobby Lashley via pinfall with a schoolboy pin. Despite having faced Randy Orton earlier in the night, Kingston answered the challenge, which was announced as being for the WWE championship. Before the match started, MVP took the microphone and said that no one ever said the open challenge was for a shot at the title, so the belt would not be on the line. As Xavier Woods was being ejected from ringside after interfering, MVP attempted to hit Kingston with his cane, but McIntyre ran in to steal the cane, hitting Lashley with it and sending him reeling into Kingston’s pin.

Kingston was a nice surprise opponent for a telegraphed situation where the title would not be on the line. The real question, however, is what Kingston winning means. Does he get an actual title shot now? That could serve to fill a week or two of programming before what certainly will be Lashley vs. McIntyre at Hell in a Cell. Most importantly, Kingston and Lashley put on a fun, if short, contest that was a rare “fresh” main event match. Grade: B

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