WWE Raw Winners, Live Grades, Reaction and Highlights From Aug. 24

WWE rolled into the Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa for the August 24 episode of Raw, headlined by a contract signing featuring Oba Femi and Bron Breakker.

What went down when they shared the same ring in a highly combustible situation?

Find out in this recap of Monday's show, including grades and analysis for the night's No. 1 contender's tournament match-ups.

Announced in advance of Monday's show were:

No. 1 Contender's Tournament Match: Rey Fenix vs. Dragon Lee

No. 1 Contender's Tournament Match: Penta vs. La Parka

Oba Femi and Bron Breakker contract signing

Last Time In Action: LA Knight, Solo Sikoa, and Royce Keys defeated The Bloodline (SummerSlam, August 1)

LA Knight and Solo Sikoa sent a warning shot to The Bloodline after dropping Roman Reigns and The Usos last week, kicking off the show with an in-ring promo that perfectly blended humor and serious, story-advancing work.

Interrupted by Jimmy and Jey Uso, though, the united duo accepted a challenge for a main event match later in the show and got the last word, to the delight of the fans.

A solid segment that showcased Sikoa's enormous personality, this was a great follow-up to last week's show-closing segment, on a night when the OTC is not scheduled to appear.

Sikoa was genuinely funny here. His impersonation of Knight was outstanding and his Matrix reaction to Jey's "warning shot" was right out of Scary Movie . He's going to become a huge babyface star for WWE.

Knight is doing some of his best work right now. He seems motivated by his spot, a spot that should have been his far sooner than it is.

Last Time in Action: Stephanie Vaquer lost to Liv Morgan (WrestleMania, April 18); Roxanne Perez and Raquel Rodriguez lost to Iyo Sky and Sol Ruca (Raw, August 10)

Stephanie Vaquer scored her first victory in her first match in four months, defeating The Judgment Day's Roxanne Perez in singles competition on Monday.

The Prodigy put up a tough fight, working over La Primera, who showed some signs of ring rust but shook it off for the most part down the stretch.

Overcoming interference from Women's World Champion Liv Morgan and Women's Intercontinental Champion Raquel Rodriguez, Vaquer downed Perez, thanks to the arrival of Becky Lynch, and earned the win to continue building momentum toward a championship opportunity.

After the match, Lynch and Vaquer exchanged words, keeping the tension between them alive in what is becoming one of the best programs on the Raw brand.

Perez is almost wasted in this role. The issues between her and Morgan are nearly non-existent at this point. She has largely become the tackling dummy for the Judgment Day, working matches and losing them as part of everyone else's story. One of the best wrestlers in the company, hopefully that trend changes sooner rather than later.

Vaquer looked good in her first match in four months. She looked a tad slower, but that ring rust will be erased the more ring time she gets in the coming weeks and months.

Last Time in Action: Dragon Lee defeated El Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr. (Raw, August 17); Rey Fenix defeated El Fiscal (Raw, August 17)

Two of the best luchadors in professional wrestling squared off in the semifinals of the No. 1 Contender's Tournament, a chance to challenge Roman Reigns for the World Heavyweight Championship on September 14 in Mexico City, on the line, as AAA Cruiserweight Champion Rey Fenix battled Dragon Lee.

Chants of "this is awesome" rained from the stands as Lee launched himself through the ropes with a tope suicida and wiped Fenix out on the announce table. Back in the ring, he delivered a big DDT for two.

Fenix delivered a rolling cutter to a charging Lee, then added the Mexican Muscle Buster for the pinfall victory to cash his ticket to the finals of the tournament.

This was an excellent match that highlighted two woefully underutilized talents. Fans in Montreal were red hot for everything they did, and the result was an enhanced experience that proved that sometimes the best thing WWE can do to win over the audience is to let two extraordinary in-ring talents deliver between the ropes.

How many times does Lee have to show up and show out before enjoying a sustained push?

Are we really going to get a Fenix vs. Penta match before we ever see them team up as the Lucha Bros? It certainly looks that way.

Oba Femi and Bron Breakker Sign on the Dotted Line

Last Time In Action: Oba Femi defeated Brock Lesnar (SummerSlam, August 1); Bron Breakker defeated Joe Hendry (Raw, August 3)

Ahead of their showdown on September 6 at Sunday Night's Main Event, Oba Femi and World Tag Team Champion Bron Breakker met in the squared circle to sign the contract for their encounter.

Femi told Breakker that if he debuted in 2002 or 2014, he would have been the future of the industry. Unfortunately, he came around in 2026 and has the unenviable task of encountering The Ruler.

Breakker claimed that he would prove that he is the one guy Femi cannot beat.

The heel continued the narrative that Paul Heyman may be more closely aligned to Femi, angrily demanding the advocate sign for The Ruler.

He used that distraction as an opportunity to deliver a cheap shot before Austin Theory arrived on the scene. A two-on-one beatdown ensued before Femi powered out, sent Breakker to the floor, and drove his tag team partner through the table.

This was a strong segment, with Femi shining on the mic. To borrow a phrase used more frequently on WWE TV, he dog-walked Breakker, outshining him on the mic. He looked confident and comfortable while his opponent on SNME stumbled once or twice while cutting a more generic promo.

Femi referenced Roman Reigns, saying that Breakker would have been the future guy had he debuted in 2014 and gone up against "whoever the 'big dog' was at that time." Oh yeah...that match is going to slap when it finally happens.

Just in case you did not know what Theory's role was in the Vision, him going through the table as an afterthought was should have confirmed it for you.

Last Time in Action: Je'Von Evans defeated JD McDonagh (Raw, August 17); Big Cass lost to Daniel Bryan (Money in the Bank, June 17, 2018)

Big Cass wrestled his first match in eight years, battling Je'Von Evans and potentially biting off more than he could chew.

His size and strength advantage was negated at times by The Young OG's speed and creativity, and he was forced to fight from underneath late in the match-up.

The NXT export caught Evans, knocked him from the top rope to the ring apron, and rocked him with a big boot to the face to score the win, his lip busted and bloodied as evidence of the grueling competition he had just endured.

Booking Cass to go 50-50 with Evans was certainly a choice considering he just made his return, but The Young OG is not someone you want getting run over at this point in his career, either.

Considering the corner WWE Creative booked itself into, this was a fine match that highlighted both men and gave Cass a strong victory.

After the match, Judgment Day's Dominik Mysterio and JD McDonagh attacked, hinting at the next program for Evans.

Cass looked great for a guy wrestling his first match in a WWE ring in eight years. There are a lot of fans unfamiliar with his work as W. Morrissey and Big Bill, but he is a much better, more polished wrestler than he was nearly a decade ago.

Evans vs. Judgment Day is a logical next step. The question is who will step up and join the babyface against the hated heels.

No. 1 Contender's Match: Penta vs. La Parka

Last Time in Action: Penta defeated Bronco Nima (AAA, August 15); La Parka lost to EK Prosper in a Fatal 4-Way Match (NXT, August 18)

With a date against Rey Fenix in the finals of the No. 1 Contender's Tournament at stake, former Intercontinental Champion Penta battled La Parka in the night's penultimate match-up.

La Parka unloaded his arsenal on Penta, delivering an avalanche Spanish Fly and trying for the Bone Breaker. The latter countered, delivered the Sacrifice, and delivered a springboard Mexican Destroyer to score the win and set up a match with his brother on next week's show.

A fine match that paled in comparison to its predecessor earlier in the show, it was hampered by a lack of drama. Penta has been the obvious tournament winner since the bracket was announced. Losing to La Parka, in the latter's first Monday Night Raw appearance, was never a consideration.

The Lucha Bros explode next week in a match that should be a legitimate contender for WWE TV Match of the Year, if it is given enough time and the siblings are allowed to go all out.

La Parka is such an iconic character that this is one instance where a video package introducing him to the masses would have made for a hotter and more invested crowd.

Last Time in Action: LA Knight, Solo Sikoa, and Royce Keys defeated The Bloodline (SummerSlam, August 1); Jey Uso defeated Sikoa (Raw, August 10)

Royce Keys returned Monday night on Raw and brought OTM's Lucien Price and Bronco Nima with him.

Driven to desperate measures by the attack by The Bloodline that left him bleeding and out of action, Keys led the former NXT tag team in a brutal beatdown of The Usos, LA Knight, and Solo Sikoa, putting an exclamation point on the flagship show.

The shocking return came at the end of a high-profile tag team main event that saw Jimmy and Jey isolate Sikoa before a hot tag to Knight sparked the babyface comeback. Before a winner could be determined, the run-in occurred, resulting in a no contest.

It was a hot close to the show, the crowd in Montreal reacted accordingly, and there is suddenly intrigue at the top of the Raw brand, something there was not an abundance of heading into this week's broadcast.

Suddenly, Keys is a top-tier star, there is an interesting new team around, and The Bloodline's dominance does not look like a given.

Keys showed more personality in this beatdown than he did the entirety of his first few months with the company. That bodes well and shows that there is more to him than being a big, tough heavyweight.

On a night that featured some solid storyline advancement, it was Fenix and Lee's barnburner of a match that stood out and earned the competitors MVP honors.

They took what could have been a forgettable semifinal tournament match and turned it into one of the better TV efforts in a while.

Both are criminally overlooked and underutilized, so hopefully, this is an opportunity to give them something meaningful to do moving forward.

There was a lot to like about this show, with some better-than-expected story stuff, some quality in-ring action, and a big angle at the end of the show to send fans home satisfied.

Not everything hit, but the positive far outweighed the negative, and given the lethargic card for the night, that is a big win in and of itself.