WWE Raw results, recap, grades: Seth Rollins survives challenge from Jinder Mahal to retain world title

Rollins overcame Mahal and Mahal's Indus Sher teammates to continue his march to WrestleMania

Seth Rollins escaped Monday Night Raw still the world heavyweight champion despite a stiff test from Jinder Mahal in the night's main event. Rollins not only had to overcome Mahal, but a host of personalities at ringside.

Mahal was joined by Indus Sher at ringside, in addition to Money in the Bank contract holder Damian Priest. Despite all those factors putting his title reign in jeopardy, Rollins was able to once again retain his title as he continued his march to WrestleMania.

CBS Sports was with you all night with recaps and highlights of all the action from Simmons Bank Arena in North Little Rock, Arkansas.

Seth Rollins survives stiff test from Jinder Mahal to retain his title

Seth Rollins was interviewed backstage and claimed that the only way for him to get to WrestleMania was to continue defending his world heavyweight champion as a fighting champion. Rollins also claimed that he would be facing the best version of Jinder Mahal ever. Mahal backed that up later in his own interview, claiming it has been years building to this moment.

World Heavyweight Championship – Seth Rollins (c) def. Jinder Mahal via pinfall to retain the title. Indus Sher was ringside to back Mahal during the match and Damian Priest also came to ringside with his Money in the Bank contract in tow. The Indus Sher tandem interfered, allowing Mahal to hit a Khallas but Rollins kicked out. Drew McIntyre also came to ringside, leading to a brawl with Priest that took a cash-in off the table before Rollins finished the match to retain his title.

It was certainly a little silly to have Rollins building up Mahal by talking up how deserving Mahal was of the opportunity given Mahal hadn't won a televised main roster match since June 2022 but WWE, even under Triple H's watch, has always exercised a willingness to bounce people to the top of the card on a whim. Still, the predictable outcome came with some decent in-match drama. And, as we always say here, it's hard to get upset about a televised world title match, especially when the other WWE world champion is only in action a small handful of times every year. It's also always welcome to see a lot of moving parts and different faces in the title picture at the same time. Grade: B-

What else happened on WWE Raw?

• Drew McIntyre confronted Cody Rhodes after Rhodes came to the ring for a show-opening promo. McIntyre vowed to finish his story before Rhodes finished his own, but Rhodes called McIntyre a complainer and offered up a reminder that he defeated the Scot on the independent scene in their last meeting.
• DIY def. Dominik Mysterio & JD McDonagh via pinfall when Johnny Gargano pinned McDonagh after DIY hit Meet in the Middle.
• Ludwig Kaiser def. Xavier Woods via disqualification after Woods threw a chair at Kaiser. The match came about when Woods challenged Kaiser as Gunther heaped praise on his Imperium teammate for taking out Kofi Kingston. After the match, Woods attempted to continue his attack before Kaiser escaped. Kaiser attacked Woods backstage later in the show before Jey Uso stepped in to stop the assault.
• Akira Tozawa def. Ivar via pinfall with a sunset flip powerbomb off the middle rope. Ivar and Valhalla beat down Tozawa and Maxxine Dupri after the match. Later on, Ivy Nile and Chad Gable promised to make Valhalla and Ivar pay.
• Becky Lynch told Rhea Ripley she was coming for her, and said she'd get the match she wanted by winning the Royal Rumble.
• Damian Priest & Finn Balor def. The Miz & R-Truth via pinfall when Priest hit Truth with South of Heaven. Early in the show, Truth gave Priest a stack of money, saying it was from merchandise sales for Judgment Day shirts that also had Truth's name on them. Priest told Truth to not tag in during the match later, though Truth thought he was sending a signal and winked and wrestled the match as normal, though he was upset any time he forgot and attacked his "teammates" in Judgment Day.
• Shayna Baszler & Zoey Stark def. Natalya & Tegan Nox via submission when Baszler put Natalya in the Kirafuda Clutch.