SAN FRANCISCO — Right now is not a great time to be Seth Rollins. Sure, The Beastslayer still has the Universal Championship, but he got beat up by five men last week, will defend his title against the winner of tonight’s Fatal 5-Way Elimination Match on the season premiere of Raw next week and has to deal with the “the living embodiment of a nightmare” the week after that. And, to top everything off, Braun Strowman got in his face this week in a confrontation stemming out of the pair’s lingering beef from WWE Clash of Champions.

Clearly, The Monster Among Men isn’t quite over going 0-for-2 with and against Rollins at the most recent pay-per-view, but Rollins was in no mood for Strowman’s grudges. The champion got his back up mighty quickly when Strowman tried to spin Rollins’ words from last week as a passive-aggressive dig, and the long and short of the confrontation was that the two agreed to a match later in the evening. Now, Strowman has a chance to get some much-needed frustration off of his broad chest, while Rollins will put his mantra — “I survive and I prevail” — to an enormous test.

It’s been a few weeks since The Viking Raiders and The O.C. got into it during the biggest Tag Team Turmoil Match in Raw history, costing each other a Raw Tag Team Title Match in the process. Ever since then, the two teams have been slugging it out, but this week’s Raw brought the first official two-on-two bout between the former NXT and Raw Tag Team Champions since that moment, and the biggest victory yet for Erik & Ivar.

Clearly, the insurgent pair had not just been feasting on locals only for the fun of it; their wild, hybrid offense is so fine-tuned at this point that Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson were struggling to find answers from the start. AJ Styles’ ejection from ringside didn’t improve the good brothers’ odds much (adding insult to injury, The Phenomenal One was ambushed atop the ramp by his rival, Cedric Alexander), and an MVP-level performance by the fleet-footed Erik turned the tide permanently in the Raiders’ favor.

The brothers staved off defeat for a little while longer with a last-gasp effort, but Erik & Ivar got their man all the same. After administering the Viking Experience to Anderson, Ivar made the cover while Erik took flight with a suicide dive to take out Gallows on the outside, guaranteeing his team got the three. It seems odd to call this a statement victory given what The Viking Raiders have been doing for the last few months, but there is a difference between taking out locals and toppling a world-traveled tag team. Consider this, then, a belated — but no less ominous — planting of the flag.

Rusev is back, and having seemingly moved past all paternity-related matters, The Super Athlete came to Raw with the singular mission of raising his stock in the short period of time leading up to the new WWE Draft. In that regard, his performance on Raw was a rousing success: Facing EC3, the former United States Champion showcased his stamina and ring awareness by basically waiting for The Top One Percent (looking to raise his own visibility as well) to play directly into his hands. That he did, and Rusev didn’t look back once he took control, sealing the match with an Accolade that forced a near-immediate tapout and surely made an impression on any scouts in attendance — to say nothing of the Superstars who might be forced to share a locker room with this newly focused brute.

If there’s anything we should take from Sasha Banks’ return and reinvention, it’s that she’s out to demoralize her opponents just as much as she is to defeat them. The Boss has turned sports-entertainment into one sustained flex, which would help explain why she and Bayley have fixed their gaze so sharply on Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross. After all, there are fewer statements greater than defeating a champion, and Sasha has been doing that consistently when it comes to the WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions. She and Bayley toppled Bliss & Cross last week, and The Boss notched a singles victory over Cross tonight, putting even more wind at her back before Hell in a Cell and leaving the champs scrambling for footing in a division that is as wide open as it gets.

Despite an early burst of offense from the frenetic Cross, Banks was largely in control from the start, slowing the bout down to a crawl and reversing a wild sleeper hold with a backdrop to the arena floor when the match spilled to ringside. Most crucially, Banks waited for Nikki to come to her, seemingly certain that she’d be able to counterpunch at the right moment. And when Cross caught fire after witnessing Bliss obliterate Bayley at ringside, that moment came: WWE’s Twisted Sister dove at Banks with a top-rope crossbody, and The Boss rolled her over straight into the Bank Statement for a submission victory. Adding insult to injury, Banks mangled Bliss in her signature hold after the bell, a clear message that the beatings will continue until, or unless, someone stops her.

At this point, facing Lacey Evans if you aren’t Natalya should come with a warning sign. The Sassy Southern Belle’s singular pursuit of a tiebreaker against the Hart Family heiress has now fueled two Sharpshooter-induced victories in as many weeks; this one came against a game but overmatched Ember Moon.

Moon certainly possesses the kind of unpredictable style that could do well to combat Evans’ stately power maneuvers, but The War Goddess — still trying to right the ship after a high-profile SummerSlam loss — may have been trying too hard. Despite a truly unique performance (that stunner off the apron left Michael Cole aghast), Moon found herself subjected to the Woman’s Right as she prepared to administer the Eclipse. Despite landing her signature punch, Evans once again ended the match via submission, locking in her variation of Natalya’s Sharpshooter to secure the deciding tapout. The Queen of Harts wasn't overly impressed with Evans' imitation of her maneuver during a backstage interview, but the decisionmakers might want to seriously consider giving Evans the match she’s asking for anyway. The Lady is a patient one, but she's made it very clear what awaits any substitutes thrown her way.