Cincinnati, OH hosts this week’s broadcast on 5/6/19 from the US Bank Arena, where Money In The Bank is only a few short weeks away.
What do you do when the ratings are down?
Apparently, you trot out one of the men blamed for the inconsistent writing and the confusing transitions and changes, the chairman of the WWE, Vince McMahon.
McMahon is out to entertain the fans and it’s not long before we are treated to appearances from Roman Reigns, The Smackdown world heavyweight champion, Kofi Kingston, and a returning Daniel Bryan.
It’s absolutely fantastic to see each and everyone of these talents on Raw, but they are up against top notch hockey and the NBA playoffs. McMahon creates a “wild card rule” where three stars from Smackdown can show up on Raw whenever they want and visa versa, whatever.
Drew McIntyre is out and we get a rematch from Wrestlemania booked, it’ll be Reigns and McIntyre tonight. That’s a quality match and I’m sure we’re all for it, but it’s a little discombobulated to be frank.
Kofi Kingston will defend the Smackdown world title against Daniel Bryan in another rematch, on Raw. Again, a fine contest that I cannot wait for, but Smackdown fans have bought tickets, why not reward them on tomorrow’s broadcast?
AJ Styles and Universal Champion, Seth Rollins, have words after Styles laid out Rollins last week and it leads to the Chairman booking our opening match tonight, a tag team affair that will see foes team, as Styles and Rollins will take on Bobby Lashley and Baron Corbin.
Baron Corbin and Bobby Lashley defeat AJ Styles and Seth Rollins via pin fall after Corbin hit End Of Days on Rollins.
This will a great match with some poorly timed commercial breaks, the Raw norm if you will.
Both teams put on a fine contest where we got to see a breathtaking spot where Bobby Lashley speared Styles through the ropes to the floor, similar to Big E. It looked amazing.
The ending came when miscommunication led to Styles unintentionally hitting the Phenomenal Forearm on Rollins and then leaving the ring, and his partner, high and dry.
Rollins got to his feet and tried to go after Styles, but Corbin took the opportunity to hit End Of Days and score a huge victory for himself heading into Money In The Bank.
Sami Zayn is out after the break to work his magic on the mic and he quickly turns the crowd. This isn’t like prior weeks where he drops science on the crowd, he is interrupted by the “Monster Among Men” Braun Strowman. Zayn takes off his jacket, but then he takes his leave, retreating through the crowd to the disdain of the crowd.
Strowman gives chase, but Zayn hightails it up the ramp and to the back.
Lucha House Party makes their presence known for a six man tag team match, and they’ll be taking on thee enhancement talents.
As they await their opponents, we see Zayn throwing things at Strowman, but he runs into a wall, trying to escape underneath a garage door. Strowman snatches Zayn up and he tosses him into a dumpster.
A trash truck approaches and it scoops up the dumpster, dumping Zayn into the back. That all happens while the action is taking place in the ring, mind you.
Lucha House Party defeats Three Enhancement Talents via pin fall after a splash from Lince Dorado.
This was a win for Lucha House Party and quite frankly, nothing more. We didn’t get the names of the jobbers and it was over quicker than a hiccup.
Sweet merciful hell, we’re getting the pleasure of Ricochet in singles action up next, and that in and of itself is fantastic, but we’re quick to find out that he may not even be involved in the Money In The Bank match, he is putting his spot on the line against Robert Roode after the break.
A change of look is doing wonders for Roode already, but there is the potential of removing a talent from that match who is taolir-made to compete in it. We’ll reserve judgement for the end result of the singles bout up next.
There’s a note waiting for Naomi and Natalya backstage. Lacey Evans is inviting both to ringside for an appearance later. Dana Brooke gets one as well and apparently they are ready for whatever she is planning. Apparently it scented with peach cobbler.
The Miz is waiting outside of Shane McMahon’s office. There’s a plan a brewin’ there.
Ricochet defeats Robert Roode via pin fall with a 630 splash to secure his MITB spot.
I spoke with my Scrum colleagues and stated that if Roode won this match, he’d be my choice to win it all, when it’s currently McIntyre.
They showcased Roode’s victory over Ricochet two weeks ago, and tonight, Ricochet had his revenge.
Roode’s push stalled as Ricochet mounted the comeback, ending the match by taking to the skies with a 630 splash. Incredibly happy for Ricochet, but Roode was gaining needed momentum and doing this tonight after having Roode beat him was a head-scratcher.
Rey Mysterio and Samoa Joe will compete for the US Title at Money In The Bank. Mysterio and his son Dominic are backstage, and Mysterio heads into his dressing room as Dominic takes his leave. We see Samoa Joe creep into the scene, following Dominic. Okay, this might be awesome here.
Joe is “welcoming” Dominic to Raw and he says it’s not his first time here, he’s been there with his Dad and his “Uncle” Eddie. Classic line. Joe tells Dominic that he’s going to take a message to his father, he is looking forward to defending the title against him at Money In The Bank. He didn’t lay into the kid, but he probably scared him a bit to say the least.
The “Sassy Southern Belle” is headed to the ring and they recap her run-in with Becky Lynch last week and the brawl that ensued between the two. All four Raw MITB competitors, including Alexa Bliss, are dressed up and at ringside for a tune-up match between Evans and a local hand.
Lacey Evans defeats Allie Katrina via pin fall with the Women’s Right.
This was a glorified squash match yet again this evening. Evans made short work of the local hand, eventually nailing her with the Woman’s Right for the victory.
All four women look on as Evans thanks them for coming to such a “classy” event, she then berates the four “nasties” for not sending a proper RSVP earlier. She wanted them all to watch so that they can see what will happen to them after she win’s the title from Becky Two Belts.
If they have the audacity to cash in on her, they’ll come up short like “The Man”.
Becky Lynch has heard enough and she hits the ring and ultimately, Evans, sending the challenger into retreat mode.
We see Daniel Bryan backstage. He’s pacing back and forth before he mocks Kofi Kingston’s “shilling” of consumerism. He’s not a role model, he’s masquerading as both and Bryan is going to correct the course for the sake of human history and tonight he’ll once again become the Planet’s champion.
The Viking Raiders are out, and mayhem will ensue as they look to bring the “raid” to the Raw tag team champions, Hawkins and Ryder. This will apparently be a non-title match.
The Usos are creeping out of the Men’s locker room once again this week. I suppose we’ll see how they embarrass the Revival this week.
The Viking Raiders defeat Hawkins and Ryder via pin fall with the Viking Experience in a non-title match.
The match begins with the faces using sage teamwork to get the upper-hand, but the new Raw arrivals are quick to turn things in their favor with some impressive power and unique offense.
Hawkins eats a marvelous stomp from Ivar in the corner, which is so impressive considering his size.
The champs mount a comeback, but it’s for naught as the Raiders make rather short work of them.
Ryder gets the Viking Experience and we’ve got a team setup for a future title opportunity.
Oh sweet “Firefly Fun House”, you can make me smile.
Wyatt approaches a burping Mercy The Buzzard who tells Wyatt to back up as he’s eating something. The Buzzard tells Happy to calm down as the Witch questions him.
Mercy has eaten Ramblin’ Rabbit because he was trying to get him to conform him to his bohemian world view. Wyatt says it’s perfectly acceptable to tear the rabbit apart, because he’ll be forgiven like Wyatt. Mercy will actually be rewarded! There are indifferent children on the rug sitting their with stoic expressions and dressed like No Way Jose’s conga line.
These are the best part of the broadcast every week.
Seth Rollins is backstage and he tells AJ Styles that he made his point perfectly clear when he hit him yet again earlier. The next time AJ walks away from him? It’ll be with two black eyes and a broken face.
Meanwhile, here comes “The Big Dog” and he’s set to do business with Drew McIntyre. The commentators love this new wild card rule. Of course they do, pal!
Roman Reigns defeats Drew McIntyre via DQ after interference from Shane McMahon and Elias.
This is what frustrates me. We get a quality bout between two very able competitors, and it was back and forth to say the least.
Several Glasgow kisses nearly put this away for McIntyre and a well timed Superman punch nearly did the same for Reigns. After a spear meets its mark, Reigns has his three count interrupted by both Elias and Shane McMahon.
So we’re to believe that this “wild card” rule, not only allowed for three superstars earlier, but now with Elias, that makes four if you don’t include Shane O-Mac.
Why rob the paying Smackdown fan of these stories?
The Miz runs out to make the save as Shane McMahon heads out of the building and nearly climbs into his limo. The Miz meets him with a hard chair-shot and fires off several lefts and rights before McMahon hits a low blow and makes his escape.
There’s a no contest between The Revival and The Good Brothers because they trot out the Usos, one of the greatest tag teams in the modern era to get involved, right? No. They had apparently planted some icy hot variant in the dressing room earlier and we get to watch the former tag champions pouring water down their shorts to alleviate the burn.
This is getting ridiculous, and it’s a wonder that talent isn’t signing big money paychecks when they can ply their craft elsewhere.
No Way Jose and his conga line are out for singles action, right? No, cue Lars Sullivan, who now makes five people that have spilled over from Smackdown tonight. he decimates the job squad and its leader and then barges into Mr. McMahon’s office backstage who speaks about “three, better make that four” superstars who has wild card clearance.
Quite frankly, this is not only poor writing, but it’s making my head hurt. Do we just want to leave the coffee cup on the table of the post-battle celebration, Vin-man?
It’s time for the main event. Hopefully, this will be some form of saving grace because tonight has been a dud to say the least.
Kofi Kingston defeats Daniel Bryan via pin fall with Trouble In Paradise.
Barring my earlier contention that this prized match-up should have been in front of a live Smackdown crowd, it was excellent, as expected.
Kingston is really coming into his own, not only as a singles star again, but as the world’s champion. It is absolutely fantastic to see Daniel bryan back in the ring after an injury scare. he nearly had Kingston put away several times with a Labell Lock and the crowd was really into this match, despite the fact that the writers gave them little reason too with this nonsensical drivel spilled into their laps and onto our screens for the past two and a half hours.
Kingston fired back and when it looked like Bryan would prevail, he ducked an offensive maneuver from Bryan and was able to execute Trouble In Paradise for the three count. This wasn’t marred with interference from Kevin Owens, somebody, funnily enough, I’d welcome on this “wild card” warship that just Euron Greyjoyed my Raw dragon for two and a half hours.
We got a great match-up between two timeless competitors and it ended the show on a high note. Bryan looked great, he shook off the ring rust quickly and put on a performance for those in attendance.
I’ve been enjoying the product since I was five. All I can say about tonight, be better. This wasn’t anywhere close to a well written show to be frank.
