WWE Raw Winners, Live Grades, Reaction and Highlights From October 19

WWE returned to San Diego for Monday's episode of Raw, headlined by the latest appearance from World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns.

What did the Tribal Chief have to say about the latest in the Bloodline vs. 946 rivalry, including the latter's newest member, Carmelo Hayes?

Find out the answer to that and more with this recap of the October 19 Netflix broadcast, including grades and analysis of each of the night's matches and biggest segments.

Triple Threat Match for the Intercontinental Championship: Rey Mysterio vs. Dragon Lee vs. Chad Gable

Sami Zayn and Roman Reigns Kicked Off Raw

Last Time in Action: Sami Zayn defeated Kevin Owens (SmackDown, September 18); Roman Reigns defeated LA Knight (Money in the Bank, October 10)

WWE Champion Sami Zayn, ever desperate to be taken seriously in that role, kicked off Raw and asked the fans in San Diego who was there to "ride or die with the Last Real Good Guy."

World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns, whom Zayn zipped past backstage on his way to the ring, interrupted and entered to a thunderous ovation. Chants of "OTC" greeted him as he entered the ring and came face-to-face with the former "Sami Uso."

"I can't believe I'm saying this, and I might be the only one in here saying it, but it's good to see you," Reigns said. The former Bloodline teammates engaged in a mid-ring embrace before Zayn admitted to getting everything the Tribal Chief preached.

The pleasantries came to an end when Reigns questioned Zayn's motivation for being there and a potential allegiance to 946. Then they verbally battled over which championship was more important. Then, the Last Real Good Guy took exception to the disrespect Reigns has shown him by not even sweating him.

"Knowing your track record, you might not even have that championship come Crown Jewel," Reigns said to close out the segment. As he exited the arena, Penta arrived, a not-so-subtle reminder that the luchador has the Money in the Bank briefcase and, one day, will come for the world championship.

Zayn looked utterly disappointed as Reigns interrupted him, stealing his moment and taking the spotlight from him.

"The disrespect! " Reigns said, echoing the "burden" that Zayn feels as champion.

"There are eight billion people in the world right now and only one is the WWE champion and you're looking at him!" Killer line by Zayn that immediately clapped back at the disrespect shown to him by Reigns.

This was an outstanding segment that played on the past history of the champions, asked which title is more important, hinted that Zayn may have ties to 946, and looked ahead via the Penta arrival. This did everything it needed to and above all, set up the story for Reigns vs. Zayn beyond the two being current world champions.

Last Time in Action: Penta won the namesake ladder match (Money in the Bank, October 10); Bron Breakker lost the namesake ladder match (Money in the Bank, October 10)

Breakker sought revenge and a high-profile win in the opening match of Monday's show, tossing Penta around with a few suplexes and obliterating him with a clothesline.

The Badass attempted to catch Penta on a dive to the arena floor but lost his balance. He recovered nicely, driving his opponent into the announce table as the show went to break.

Penta fought his way back into the match later, but Breakker brought him crashing off the top rope with a wicked Frankensteiner for a two-count. The resilient luchador recovered, fended off interference from Austin Theory, and took to the air, only to suffer a mid-flight spear.

Theory attempted to use the briefcase on the babyface, but Je'Von Evans wiped him out on the floor, then stunned Breakker with the same briefcase, and Penta earned the win with the Mexican Destroyer.

This felt like the sort of match that would have been Breakker's to win, with a chance to keep him hot in the wake of a big performance at Money in the Bank. It was not meant to be, though, as it appears Breakker vs. Evans is the direction instead.

Theory is literally one-half of the tag team champions, the very title that Breakker holds along with him, but is treated like an absolute joke. He is very much the tackling dummy for The Vision, a role that does nothing of any real benefit for him other than guaranteeing him TV time every week.

Chelsea Green and Iyo Sky vs. Roxanne Perez and Raquel Rodriguez

Last Time In Action: Roxanne Perez defeated Chelsea Green (Raw, October 12); Raquel Rodriguez and Perez defeated Sol Ruca and Lola Vice (Raw, October 5); Iyo Sky defeated Lyra Valkyria (Raw, September 28)

WWE Women's Champion Green recruited Sky to be her partner against The Judgment Day's Roxanne Perez and Women's Intercontinental Champion Raquel Rodriguez.

The heels weathered the early arsenal of their opponents to seize control through the commercial break. After several minutes cut off from her partner, Sky tagged Green in and the blue brand's top competitor exploded into the match.

Despite late interference from Liv Morgan, Green and Sky earned the win when the former wiped her Crown Jewel opponent and Perez out on the floor while the Genius of the Sky delivered a hurricanrana into a rollup for the win.

Green and Sky defeated Perez and Rodriguez

This was a helluva fun match-up, where Green felt more comfortable than in her singles match a week ago and Sky's established chemistry with her opponents helped elevate the contest's quality.

Perez is at a different level of in-ring performance than we have seen out of her to this point and there is an argument to be made that she was the best wrestler in the squared circle tonight. Even with Sky there.

Last Time in Action: Joe Hendry lost to Ethan Page (Main Event, September 17); JD McDonagh and Dominik Mysterio defeated Rey Mysterio and Dragon Lee (Raw, October 5)

Flanked by someone wearing a JD McDonagh Funko Pop head, Joe Hendry battled the Irish Ace in singles competition, the latest chapter in their month-long rivalry.

A competitive match was, unfortunately, overshadowed by the Funko nonsense and the presence of Mysterio at ringside, including a guitar shot from the heel to Hendry's masked friend.

Back inside the squared circle, Hendry looked to be on his way to victory when Mysterio interfered, setting up a devastating headbutt from McDonagh for the win.

McDonagh won a match. It was long overdue for the workhorse of Raw and an immensely talented wrestler who loses far too much. That Hendry essentially loses nothing in return only enhances the effectiveness of booking decision.

Can this please be the end of the Funko chicanery?

Last Time in Action: Lola Vice lost the titular ladder match (Money in the Bank, October 10); Lyra Valkyria lost to Sol Ruca (Main Event, October 14)

The showdown between Vice and Valkyria, the result of an errant shot from the latter backstage, continued the steady string of in-ring action.

Valkyria dominated entering the break, targeting the back of her opponent just nine days removed from Money in the Bank.

Vice caught Valkyria coming off the ropes with a wicked spinning heel kick. The heel responded with a nasty baseball slide-style kick that stunned Vice.

On the floor, an unknown assailant grabbed hold of Valkyria's foot. Moments later, Bayley revealed herself to be the attacker, with the distraction allowing Vice to score the win with the MIA backfist.

After the match, the fight between Bayley and Valkyria continued, leading to The Role Model issuing a challenge for a match next week.

Vice is one wrestler who has experienced little-to-no issues making the jump from NXT to the main roster. She has enjoyed a rather seamless call-up and just delivered a strong performance against one of the best wrestlers on the main roster women's division.

The Bayley vs. Valkyria No Disqualifications Match on next week's show should bring an end to their rivalry and, hopefully, allow both women to move on to bigger and better after what feels like an infinitely long rivalry.

Intercontinental Championship Match: Rey Mysterio vs. Dragon Lee vs. Chad Gable

Last Time in Action: Rey Mysterio defeated Big Cass (Raw, October 12); Dragon Lee lost to Austin Theory (Main Event, October 14); Chad Gable defeated Rey Fenix (Raw, October 12)

Live from his hometown of San Diego, Rey Mysterio challenged Chad Gable for the Intercontinental Championship in a match also involving the 2023 Hall of Famer's protege, Dragon Lee.

As he has in the face of challengers since dethroning Penta back at SummerSlam, Gable withstood the flurry of offense thrown at him by his opponents and emerged victoriously, rolling Mysterio up for the grueling victory.

After the match, as the all-time-great competitor showed Gable respect, Ethan Page and Big Cass attacked out of nowhere. All Ego focused on Gable, laying him out and posing with the gold, while Cass obliterated Lee with a chokeslam on the guardrail.

To the surprise of absolutely no one, this match ruled.

It was helped exponentially by the crowd's red-hot reaction to their hometown hero and how close he came to winning the IC title. This was his best performance in a while.

Page got great heel heat here by way of his attack on the victory and Mysterio. All Ego was phenomenal upon his arrival earlier this year. Hopefully, this is a sign of more important things to come.

The pissed-off Usos hit the ring for the main event segment of the night and wasted no time calling out 946.

Royce Keys, Carmelo Hayes, Lucien Prince, and Bronco Nima answered, led to the ring by Jaida Parker.

Solo Sikoa attacked from behind and the siblings had momentum until Hayes delivered a crowbar attack to the knee. The heel faction proceeded to beat down The Usos and Sikoa, with Keys overheard telling Sikoa, "Tell Roman," only for the OTC to arrive on the scene.

Reigns joined his Bloodline in fending off the heels and stood tall to close the show.

The only way this could have been better was if William Regal himself trotted to the ring and uttered "War Games!"

This has been the clear direction for months but the arrival of Reigns and his subsequent beatdown of Keys and Co. elevated this segment and, suddenly, this entire rivalry tenfold.

If WWE protects him enough, Keys can be a legitimate challenger to Reigns' title coming out of this.

From his opening promo with Sami Zayn to his late-show heroics alongside his family, this was a Reigns-heavy show. He delivered, too, delivering a great verbal performance with Zayn before whopping up on the 946 in the closing segment to set up what feels like War Games.

More motivated than ever this year. Reigns' record has been nothing short of extraordinary. Great stuff from the OTC in what feels like a revenge tour against all critics.

This was another strong episode of Raw, bogged down only by the Hendry-McDonagh match that was more about the bobblehead mascot at ringside than anything.

Otherwise, good wrestling, strong angles, and some great planting of seeds helped establish this as one of the better episodes of Raw in some time.