Photo credit- WWE
Last week’s episode of Raw proved to be a decent mixed bag. Outside of an excellent triple threat match for the United States championship, nothing was exactly stellar. With a tag team turmoil and a rematch between Drew McIntyre and Sheamus with US title implications, can Raw change their fortunes heading into Extreme Rules? Let’s find out!
AVERAGE: The show begins with backstage promos from the participating teams in the tag team turmoil match tonight. All of the teams cut basically the exact same, short promo saying that they’re going to win the turmoil and win the tag team titles. However, all of the promos are short, but sweet and are perfectly fine.
GREAT: RKBRO comes to the ring to discuss the tag team turmoil match. Orton talks about how Lashley and MVP failed last week to try and take the raw tag titles and says that the reason is because Lashley is greedy for wanting to be a double champion. Randy moves on to talk about the turmoil and ponders which team will be victorious and face them for the titles next. Riddle hilariously runs down the seven teams until Bobby Lashley and MVP interrupt. MVP tells them to shut up and says that Randy should be worried about Lashley after RKOing him last week. Lashley says that Randy is a coward and wants him to be a man. He wants to face Randy one on one, to which Randy agrees. However, Orton gives one condition: Bobby put the WWE title on the line! MVP agrees to these terms and says Orton can get his title match at Extreme Rules. Lashley also says he’s going to talk to Adam Pearce to see if he and MVP can be inserted into the turmoil match tonight, so Bobby can be a double champion. The New Day come out and question Lashley wanting to insert him and MVP into the match. Kofi tells them to hurry because the turmoil starts right now. Xavier says he knows the deck is stacked against them, but he’s overcome the odds before, like when he beat Lashley. This was a very fun opening segment. Orton vs Lashley for the title is very surprising but also very intriguing. Lashley’s insistence on becoming a double champion is really cool, too. A solid start to the show.
MUST WATCH: Up next we have the tag team turmoil match where the winners receive a future tag title shot. The match starts off with The New Day and The Viking Raiders. This was a very good back and forth, both teams looked like equals. Ultimately, however, The New Day eliminated the Raiders after Woods pinned Ivar. Out next are Jinder Mahal and Veer. This was a decent back and forth but New Day eliminated them to advance. Lucha House Party comes out next and the two teams once again have a really fun back and forth. New Day being the iron men of this match is a really smart decision. Every section of this match so far has been enjoyable. Out next are Mace and T-Bar. I’m sensing a pattern here where every other section of the match feels like a cool down, but is still enjoyable. Woods eventually is able to roll up T-Bar and score another upset win. I adore the ironman run for the new day. Mace and T-Bar beat up Kofi and Xavier afterwards, giving Mansoor and Mustafa Ali an advantage. However, Mansoor chooses to save New Day instead and show his good nature. The two get beaten down by Mace and T-Bar as well for their heroic actions. The monsters actually come off really strong here by demolishing the two teams, even going as far as to use the steel steps to take out Kofi and throw Xavier into the ring post, injuring his back. Pearce and Sonya eventually come out to restore order. Sonya announces that New Day and Mansoor and Ali will be given time to recuperate and the rest of the turmoil will take place later tonight. Overall, this first half of tag team turmoil was VERY enjoyable. New Day looked as incredible as always, teams like Lucha House Party and the Viking Raiders had great performances and Mace and T-Bar came off as legitimate threats for once. I’m also not completely against them stopping the match to allow the two teams to recuperate. Both teams were screwed by Mace and T-Bar and deserved a fair showing. Really fun stuff here.
GREAT: Up next is Drew McIntyre vs Sheamus where the winner gets a future United States championship match. This was as fun and hard-hitting as you would expect from these two. Sheamus has a fun spot where he mocks Drew’s countdown for the claymore and goes to hit the brogue kick, but is reversed into the future shock DDT. The finish saw Drew go for the claymore and Sheamus reversed into a roll up with a handful of tights to get the win. Post match Drew gets clocked with his own face mask and eats a claymore. I’m sensing more of a mean streak from Drew in the past couple of weeks. Could a potential heel turn be coming?
Result: Sheamus defeated Drew via pinfall
John Cerenzio WR star rating: 3.75 stars
AVERAGE: Damian Priest is interviewed backstage and is told he will officially be facing Sheamus for the title at Extreme Rules. He praises the match between Drew and Sheamus and is excited to head into battle against Sheamus once again.
AVERAGE: Nikki A.S.H. and Rhea Ripley are interviewed about them being a tag team lately. Rhea says that she and Nikki want to be champions again and they have that in common. Nikki continues to act innocent and Rhea talks about them potentially beating the tag team champions. Nikki and Rhea also coin a potential name for their new tag team: Super Brutality. This was a decent little segment. I’m game to see another WWE oddball tag team as they mostly deliver.
GOOD: Charlotte Flair is interviewed backstage about how she’s going to combat Nia tonight in her title match. Charlotte says that even though Nia won last week, she’s going to retain her title tonight. This was actually a short but good promo from Charlotte.
GOOD: Up next is Nikki and Rhea vs Natalya and Tamina in a championship contenders match. I like the dynamic that Nikki and Rhea aren’t exactly the most functional tag team, especially against the tag champions. That’s a fun little story for the match as well as their team going forward. This was another pretty fun match. The finish sees Rhea make the blind tag and surprises Natalya with the Riptide to secure the victory. I’m actually liking the team of Super Brutality so far.
Result: Rhea and Nikki win via pinfall
John Cerenzio WR Star Rating: 3.25 stars
AVERAGE: Up next is a backstage edition of Moist TV with special guest…. Karrion Kross? That’s very interesting. Morrison asks what Kross’ future ambitions are on Monday Night Raw. Kross says that he plans on destroying Morrison. Morrison is taken aback by this and asks if he wants to pursue championship opportunities. Kross says yes… but after he beats Morrison tonight. Honestly, this was a bit funnier than I expected. Kross’ deadpan delivery was slightly funny and the actual promo from Kross wasn’t bad. It’s just kinda a shame to see these two in such a low spot on the show when they both could be doing so much more.
SATISFACTORY: Up next is Karrion Kross vs John Morrison. Morrison unwisely sprays Kross with the drip stick and this irates him. From this point on Karrion is dominant and beats Morrison pretty quickly afterwards. This was definitely the weakest portion of the show up to this point but it still was serviceable.
Result: Kross won via pinfall
John Cerenzio WR star rating: 2.25 stars
AVERAGE: Nia Jax is interviewed backstage and is asked for a response from Charlotte’s promo earlier. Nia says that her promo was a defense mechanism and that she beat Charlotte once and is more than capable of doing it again. Another decent backstage promo on this show.
GOOD: Up next is the Raw Women’s Championship match as Charlotte Flair defends against Nia Jax. As the bell rings, Shayna Baszler gets on the mic and says that Nia isn’t capable of beating Charlotte twice in a row and says she’s going to choke. Nia and Charlotte proceed to seemingly shoot on each other once again. Charlotte then leaves the ring and gets in Shayna’s face telling her to shut up. This was a very bizarre start to the match. I have a feeling this time it was more worked than last week, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was actually shoot once again. That’s how convincing this was. This was a very quick, fast paced brawl between these two women and it was honestly pretty fun. The finish sees Shayna Baszler seemingly turn on Nia and cost her the title. I’m interested to see Shayna finally turn on Nia and break off on her own. My only issue with this was that this felt a little too out of nowhere. This turn, while expected, came at a rather random time.
Result: Charlotte retained via pinfall.
John Cerenzio WR Star Rating: 3.25 stars
GOOD: Post match, Alexa Bliss comes on the titantron and says that now that Charlotte is done with Nia, she invites her to come to the playground. Charlotte says no and says she’s not into cutesy stuff. Alexa says that if Charlotte won’t come to them, they’ll come to her. Alexa then teleports into the ring and points to the Raw Women’s title. Charlotte accepts her challenge. This was honestly a fun little segment. I liked the no nonsense attitude from Flair and Alexa got straight to the point rather than go too far into Lily territory. The crowd also really perked up for Alexa challenging Charlotte, one of the few times they’ve organically reacted throughout the night.
SATISFACTORY SQUASH: Up next is a 24/7 championship match as Reginald defends the title against Akira Tozawa. This was very quick but very serviceable. Reginald beats Tozawa pretty quickly.
AVERAGE: The 24/7 rules are back in effect as Reginald evades more challengers like R-Truth, Cedric Alexander and Humberto Carrillo. However, an old familiar face resurfaces in the 24/7 division. Drake Maverick is back on Raw! Truth tells Maverick to go home to his wife, but Maverick just stands there all serious. I’m interested to see what happens with Drake back on Raw.
AVERAGE: Doudrop is interviewed backstage about her “match” last week with Eva Marie. She says that karma is funny and vowed to capitalize on a moment to embarrass Eva. While Eva isn’t on Raw tonight, Doudrop says she’s not done with her and challenges her to a rematch next week. She talks about how she was berated by Eva and says that the Evalution is over and it’s time for the Doudrop-alution. This was a decent promo from Doudrop but I’m not really too interested in the Eva feud continuing. She should’ve just beat her last week and that was the end of it.
GREAT: To end the show, the tag team turmoil continues as the New Day take on Mustafa Ali and Mansoor. This was another great back and forth with the New Day emerging victorious. Out next is AJ Styles and Omos. This was yet again another fun back and forth between the two teams with the fatigue of New Day definitely starting to set in, even with the added rest time. This was also definitely the longest section of the turmoil up to this point. The only real bad part of this was AJ going for his moonsault DDT combo, but doesn’t quite get his timing or positioning right. New Day had a fantastic showing in this match, but a Styles Clash finally took them out. The final team is MVP and the WWE champion Bobby Lashley. Omos and Lashley have a REALLY fun back and forth and the crowd was really hyped for them to go at it. Lashley gets into it with Randy Orton and Riddle eventually gets sent over the announce table. The finish sees AJ go for the phenomenal forearm, but is countered by Lashley who hits the spear for the victory. Lashley and MVP win tag team turmoil and will challenge RKBRO for the tag titles next week. Post match, Omos attacks Lashley and this allows Orton to end the show with an RKO outta nowhere on the WWE champion. Overall, tag team turmoil was a lot of fun. Almost every team in this match looked great, the New Day had a fantastic performance as the ironmen and Lashley and MVP winning was a solid choice to further the double champion storyline.
Result: Lashley and MVP win tag team turmoil via pinfall after last eliminating AJ Styles and Omos
John Cerenzio WR Star Rating: 4.25 stars
Honestly, this episode of Raw was very refreshing to watch. Only one in-ring promo segment with the rest of the show being either backstage interviews or solid in-ring action. The tag team turmoil was an excellent showcase for the tag team division, Nia and Charlotte had a surprisingly fun match and Drew and Sheamus had another great brawl. The only low points of the show were Kross and Morrison and the 24/7 title match, but I’d still call neither of those matches bad at all.
Show theme & presentation: 7/10
Crowd reaction: 7/10
Storyline Progression: 8/10
Watchability: 8/10
Production: 9/10
Overall show rating: 7/10
