WWE Raw May 20 2019: Hits and Misses from Monday Night Raw. Here’s a look at all the segments from tonight’s show that we either liked a lot or didn’t like at all.
Beast in the Bank (Hit)
Brock Lesnar came out to a mixture of boos and cheers. Paul Heyman cut a promo on how Seth and Kofi would be paranoid over being vulnerable to the greatest assassin in WWE history. Seth walked out and spoke about how he wanted to be an inspirational champion but wouldn’t be able to concentrate on doing so as long as Lesnar had the briefcase around. He then challenged Lesnar to a wrestlemania rematch saying he had beaten him before and he would do it again.
Also Read: Brock Lesnar Makes First Raw Appearance Post-Mania
In walked Kofi who also challenged Lesnar. He said that he desired to go down as one of the best WWE champion. For that however, he would need to beat the best, day in and day out. He then taunted Lesnar to cash in on him instead.
Heyman refused to acknowledge their challenges and instead said that he heard both Rollins and Kingston would be in action tonight, and Lesnar and the contract weren’t going anywhere. It was then announced by Triple H backstage that both Kofi and Seth would team up against Corbin and Lashley in the main event.
Brock winning is still a wrong decision but adding the WWE title in the mix adds some excitement now. Brock was never gonna cash in today but hinting that he might, made sure that people would stick around till the end. It was far from perfect but all in all it was a good segment.
Sami Zayn Vs Braun Strowman (Hit)
The match was well very bland. Nothing we haven’t seen before. Zayn runs and Strowman chases and finally catches him before giving him a quick beatdown. However, it is nice to see WWE tying their loose ends. Braun Vs Bobby had been announced on WWE.com last week. Instead of building on that straightaway though, they let Braun finish his vengeance story with Sami first (Ironic considering Braun started the feud by beating up Zayn for no reason). Braun gave a little nod to Super Showdown when he ran into Lashley and informed him that he’d “deal with him later.”
Lucha House Wrecked (Miss)
Let me keep this short. You don’t need to feature everyone at every episode. Keep rotating your stars on TV so everyone can get meaningful TV time instead of shoving meaningless segments like this. In case you didn’t watch this. Lars was scheduled for an interview with Charly Caruso. He got interrupted by Lucha House Party. They ganged up on him but Lars eventually overpowered them and sent them packing.
Cesaro Vs Ricochet (Hit)
Ricochet came out wearing tape all over his back to sell the injuries he suffered at Money in the bank. These two are one of the best wrestlers in the world and together they made for an incredible winning. Cesaro won after hitting Ricochet with a Neutralizer. Hopefully this was not just a one off and it leads to a feud between the two.
Phenomenal Slap in the face (Miss)
The Phenomenal one spoke highly of Rollins backstage after their match at Money in the Bank. He was then interrupted by Corbin who said that he deserved to be in the ring against Rollins because unlike Styles he had pinned the reigning universal champion before. He called AJ a failure and said that it was a slap in the face that he wasn’t the one to get a title shot. Styles then said he would show him what a slap in the face was; by literally slapping Corbin in the face. This will probably lead to a feud between the two and this is not a bad way to start it. However, it is disappointing to see Styles go from Rollins to Corbin in a matter of one day.
Yard Vs The World (Hit)
Roman Reigns walked out but was interrupted by Shane McMahon before he could say a single word. Shane said that he was done with The Miz and the Big Dog now had all of his attention. He mentioned that WWE may be Roman’s Yard but it was nothing in comparison to the World of which he is the Best. Roman called Shane into the ring for a match but Shane declined instead challenging him to a match at WWE Super Showdown.
Also read: Roman vs Shane at WWE Super Showdown
For some reason Drew McIntyre was there but he did nothing except stare at Roman angrily. This segment was a hit but barely. However, I don’t understand why was this on Raw and not on SmackDown. Both of the stars involved in the feud are Smackdown Stars and Drew could have easily looked as angry on Tuesday Via the wildcard.
The Revival vs The Uso’s (Super Hit)
Two of the best tag teams, not just in the company but in the world. They finally got a chance to show what they could in the ring and the results were magnificent. The match even got a “This is Awesome” chant. There was no forced comedy or shenanigans, just beautiful wrestling. Revival won by pulling on the trousers during a roll up. This means that the feud will continue but as long as they give quality matches like this, that doesn’t matter.
Firefly Not so Fun House (Hit)
This week’s Firefly Fun House was very brief. It was just the song playing but the video on the screen immediately took a dark turn as the message ‘Let me in’ was shown over stoic kids. It ended with a brief vignette of Wyatt with the clown mask asking his fireflies to let him in.
The Man, The Goddess and The Crazy one… (Hit)
Becky Lynch was the guest at Alexa’s talk show ‘Moment of Bliss’. She was quickly interrupted by The IIconics and Lacey Evans. The trio mocked Lynch for losing her title at Money in the Bank. This soon turned into a 3 vs 3 tag match. Nikki Cross happily joined Lynch while Becky forced Alexa to tag along. Bliss joined them with a coffee mug in her hand.
They had a fun little match with Evans walking off on the Tag team champions near the end of the match. Lynch hit Billie Kay with a Leg Drop and that was it. Alexa walked backed in the ring to lift Becky’s hand but Lynch hilariously refused.
It’s disappointing to see the Women’s tag champions losing once again but the segment was entertaining as a whole. It will be interesting to see where Nikki Cross and Alexa Bliss go with their relationship from here.
Hardcore Championship, only uglier (Hit)
Foley came out to introduce a new title; the 24/7 title. The crowd reacted underwhelmingly to the title and for the most part booed it. While the title in essence is a reboot of the Hardcore championship that was introduced during the Attitude Era, the crowd reaction is understandable considering how bad the belt looks.
Also Read: Mick Foley introduces New 24/7 Championship
Foley then announced that the belt was up for grabs. A hoard of undercard wrestlers came running out for the belt to make it their own. Titus O’Neil managed to grab the belt for himself and established himself as the first ever champion. He was then immediately pinned by Robert Roode was also pinned later in the night by R-Truth who pretended to help Roode avoid the other wrestlers only to knock him out minutes later. This segment gets a hesitating hit only with hope that they will hopefully create some memorable moments out of this, in the future.
The Miz Vs Drew McIntyre (Miss)
First of all, I like Miz as a face and do want to get behind him. But he shouldn’t be dominating guys like McIntyre in the ring. McIntyre is not only larger but more talented and having Miz lose cleanly but valiantly would have served a better story instead. That would have made McIntyre look strong and Miz would get all the baby face sympathy. Instead Miz lost because of interference and now McIntyre looks like he can’t get the work done on his own. Shane attempted to hit the Miz with a Coast to Coast as a parting gift but was interrupted by a Roman run-in.
Samoa Joe Sounds off on Rey Mysterio (Hit)
By now you should know that I like continuity. It was nice to see Samoa Joe send an ominous warning to Rey Mysterio over the controversial finish at Money in the bank. He threatened him to hand his title back to him or imagine the example he’d set.
Champions team up amidst Lesnar threats (Hit)
This was a decent match. The champions joined hands to face Corbin and Lashley. Kofi won the match for them after a Trouble in Paradise. The battered duo was then greeted by a smiling Lesnar. He teased a Cash-in by getting up on the apron but then decided not to. Paul Heyman instead announced that Lesnar would choose his opponent next week instead and the pair left with the Champions standing tall in the ring.
Conclusion
This was an entertaining episode of Monday Night Raw. Some segments did not work like they would have wanted but on the whole, it made for interesting viewing. Hopefully the WWE will build on this and provide us with equally good or even better programming in the future.
Here are the Results of WWE Raw May 20 2019:
- Braun Strowman Defeated Sami Zayn
- Cesaro beat Ricochet
- The Revival defeated The Uso’s
- Becky Lynch, Nikki Cross and Alexa Bliss beat The IIconics and Lacey Evans
- Titus O’Neil won the 24/7 Championship Scramble
- Robert Roode beat Titus O’Neil for the 24/7 Championship
- Drew McIntyre defeated The Miz
- R-Truth beat Robert Roode for the 24/7 Championship
- Seth Rollins and Kofi Kingston beat Bobby Lashley and Baron Corbin in the nights main event
See you next week with another Raw: Hits and Misses.