Bobby Lashley wasted no time stating a claim to the WWE Championship by throwing down a challenge to The Miz on Raw.
Miz became a two-time WWE Champion at Elimination Chamber after cashing in his Money in the Bank briefcase on Drew McIntyre - albeit with a sizable assist from Lashley.
That had many speculating that the title change was merely a way of transitioning the title from McIntyre to Lashley - ready for McIntyre to win it back at WrestleMania. While that theory still has some way to play out, it was given some weight by Miz's reign immediately looking under threat after just 24 hours.
Raw kicked off with Lashley confronting Miz and the champ doing all he could to avoid the issue - eventually saying he needed a week before he'd put the gold on the line. Lashley had one more hurdle to overcome before sealing that match, though, and beat an irate Braun Strowman in the night's main event to set up a clash with Miz on next week's show.
Elsewhere on Raw, the apparent implosion of Retribution continued after The New Day picked up yet another win against them - Kofi Kingston's Trouble in Paradise securing the victory over T-Bar and Mace that left leader Mustafa Ali incredulous after the bell.
Just one night after losing out in a triple threat match that saw Riddle crowned the new United States Champion, John Morrison had another crack at the gold, but came up short after Riddle thwarted the challenger's Starship Pain before putting him away with Bo Derek.
With Lashley thriving in the main event picture, the rest of the Hurt Business continued to tick along nicely with Shelton Benjamin and Cedric Alexander dominated a tornado tag team match against Lucha House Party while MVP watched on from the commentary table.
One of the most promising signs on Raw was the development at last of a storyline for Asuka's Raw Women's Championship picture. With his storyline pairing him with Lacey Evans now seemingly history following Evans' announcement of pregnancy last week, Flair was told to "go home" by daughter Charlotte in an impassioned backstage segment - after the latter inadvertently nailed partner Asuka, costing them a tag team match against Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler, all but confirming it'll be The Queen to challenge the Empress of Tomorrow in the coming weeks.
Meanwhile, Damian Priest Angel Garza before the former and Bad Bunny saw off the advances of Humberto Carrillo, Akira Tozawa and Drew Gulak, while Lana and Naomi picked up a rapid victory over Mandy Rose and Dana Brooke.
The night's other in-ring action saw Jeff Hardy's winless run continue at the hands of Sheamus while AJ Styles edged past Ricochet.
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