Overall this was one of the slower moving Raw’s since Triple H has been at the helm creatively. While it was still entertaining, the crowd was shockingly quiet for large portions of the show. Other than the two number one contenders matches on the front and back end of the show it was hard to find much else in the way of important storytelling and the structure seemed odd in that some segments went quite a bit longer than they seemingly should have. Production value was great as always on a WWE show and there were some solid matches, but nothing spectacular in that regard. Alexa Bliss is the new number one contender for Bianca Belair’s Raw Women’s Title and Seth Rollins is the new number one contender for the United States Title. Rhea Ripley beat Asuka with the help of Dominik who had his eyes burned. Oh yeah and Bobby Lashley got fired to end the show.
Monday Night Raw is in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and there is plenty of WWE action on tap tonight. Including a number one contenders match in the Women’s division between Asuka and Alexa Bliss.
GOOD Alexa Bliss vs. Bayley:
Bayley enters first accompanied by her Damage Cntrl stablemates but they are cut short by Becky Lynch who chases off both Iyo Sky and Dakota Kai. With Bayley on her own, Alexa Bliss enters for the match. The champion Bianca Belair joins commentary and things are finally underway. Bayley dominates quite a bit of this one, but Bliss is more vicious than usual in the second half of this match. In the end Alexa is able to pick up the somewhat surprising victory with Twisted Bliss. Post match Bianca encounters Alexa in the ring and the lights go out. Bliss teases Sister Abigail on Belair and then appears to act like the whole thing was some kind of out of body experience. She walks away looking shocked about the whole thing as the segment ends.
Result: Alexa Bliss by Pinfall via Twisted Bliss
Clark Taylor’s WR Star Rating – 3.00 Stars
GOOD AJ Styles vs. Chad Gable:
Two super technical wrestlers in what turned out to be another great performance on Raw by Chad Gable. He lost once again but always is entertaining and outstanding bell to bell. Styles by Styles Clash to pick up the win.
Result: AJ Styles by pinfall via Styles Clash
Clark Taylor’s WR Star Rating – 3.00 Stars
GOOD The Street Profits and Akira Tozawa vs. Judgement Day:
After a funny backstage segment between the Profits and Tozawa we have ourselves a 6 man tag match. Rhea Ripley accompanies Dominik Mysterio, Finn Balor and Damian Priest to the ring. The Profits and Tozawa are fun as a team for sure, but this match is dominated by Judgment Day for a large portion of the action. The finish of this match was actually kind of unique, Damian Priest with the referee’s back turned, and while not the legal man hit the Razor’s Edge on Tozawa and Dominik Mysterio made the cover for the Judgement Day win.
Result: Judgement Day by Pinfall via Razor’s Edge
Clark Taylor’s WR Star Rating – 3.00 Stars
Above Average Johnny Gargano and Dexter Lumis Promo Segment:
Gargano and Lumis use his newly gained cash to buy a ton of merch. They start passing it out around ringside, at one point even bringing out a t-shirt cannon. Eventually The Miz appears and tries to steal the bag of cash but he is cut off by Adam Pierce. A ladder match is suggested for next week only the Miz has to provide a second bag of money to be able to participate. He says he can’t do that because Maryse controls his money and then they make him throw shirts in the crowd. This was not their best work despite being funny at times.
Clark Taylor’s WR Star Rating – 2.75 Stars
Above Average Candice LaRae vs. Iyo Sky:
LaRae and Sky have a really solid back and forth match including a very exciting Poison Rana spot. In the end Sky wins the match with a Moonsault and while this was entertaining the crowd was quiet for quite a bit of the match.
Result: Iyo Sky by Pinfaul via Moonsault
Clark Taylor’s WR Star Rating – 2.50 Stars
GOOD Elias vs. Solo Sikoa:
After Elias has a hilarious tribute concert for Riddle right before he can do his “Solo,” he’s interrupted by Solo Sikoa. The match is pretty good and Elias even gets some offense in. Sikoa hits the Spinning Solo to pick up the win though pretty easily. After the match Sikoa attacked Elias and even hit him with a Samoan Spike. Kevin Owens who earlier said he would not help Elias ran down and delivered a stunner to Solo. Sami Zayn hightailed it out of the ring and then told Sikoa not to engage with Owens right now. Elias then received a Stunner for his efforts as well.
Result: Solo Sikoa by Pinfall via Spinning Solo
Clark Taylor’s WR Star Rating – 3.25 Stars
GOOD Asuka vs. Rhea Ripley:
This was a very physical match between Asuka and Ripley. Of Course Dominik Mysterio had to insert himself into the action and that caused enough distraction to allow Ripley to pick up the win with a Riptide. Asuka did however hit Dom with Blue Mist at one point in the match which hurt his eyes.
Result: Rhea Ripley by Pinfall via Riptide
Clark Taylor’s WR Star Rating – 3.00 Stars
GOOD Bobby Lashley vs. Seth Rollins:
The winner earns a shot at the United States Championship. Rollins and Lashley have what is easily the best match of the night, but it still doesn’t seem like the best we’ve had from these two. The Finish is easily the coolest part of the match as Lashley tries to spear Rollins he catches him into a Pedigree and wins the match. Afterwards Lashley throws a temper tantrum laying out referees and when he’s confronted by Adam Pearce he shoves him down. Pearce then fires Lashley as the show goes off the air.
Result: Seth Rollins by Pinfall via Pedigree
Clark Taylor’s WR Star Rating – 3.25 Stars
Overall: Overall this was one of the slower moving Raw’s since Triple H has been at the helm creatively. While it was still entertaining, the crowd was shockingly quiet for large portions of the show. Other than the two number one contenders matches on the front and back end of the show it was hard to find much else in the way of important storytelling and the structure seemed odd in that some segments went quite a bit longer than they seemingly should have. Production value was great as always on a WWE show and there were some solid matches, but nothing spectacular in that regard. Alexa Bliss is the new number one contender for Bianca Belair’s Raw Women’s Title and Seth Rollins is the new number one contender for the United States Title. Rhea Ripley beat Asuka with the help of Dominik who had his eyes burned. Oh yeah and Bobby Lashley got fired to end the show.
Matches: 0.50/1 Stars
Show Structure: 0.50/1 Stars
Atmosphere: 0.50/1 Stars
Storytelling: 0.50/1 Stars
Production/Theme: 0.75/1 Stars
Overall Rating. 2.75/5 Stars
Photo Credit: WWE.com
For inquiries about the rating criteria check out the article announcing the new system here:
