I didn’t like the closure of the Elimination Chamber. After I calmed down, I thought what the advantage would be of having Lashley helping Miz. It was definitely to get a title fight for Lashley.
Turns out this is exactly what was the plan. Good! Lashley has been overprotected for months and he honestly deserves a title fight. He honestly deserves to be a champion.
They started with this on this show, aaaa and then antics and bait and exchange in abundance. Braun Strowman has to be involved, Shane McMahon has to be involved, and now Bobby has to fight to get his due.
Oh, and now Bobby will face Miz next week. The only problem is – this is wrestling. You know what’s going to happen next week. More bait and exchange! Someone is interfering. They have to drag it and extend it to Fastlane.
So, if you want to have the match in Fastlane, just … advertise to Fastlane. But what will they do if they don’t give bait and exchange, interference and disqualification? This is the easy and lazy way to do this. Bleh.
Let’s go to the main hits and mistakes of this show. For a complete summary of Raw, check out Rev. Claire Elizabeth’s live blog!
Bobby Lashley is MY WWE champion
WWE champion Miz left to start Raw.
He talked about how people thought he would be fired within three months in WWE 16 years ago. The name dropped Batista, Cena, Rock and Bobby Lashley for not living up to their longevity. Then MVP and Lashley showed up and MVP mentioned the deal they made last night. Miz tried to get away from it and Lashley gave him an hour to make his decision.
That was easily from Bobby Lashley best promo since returning to WWE. To be honest, I would totally watch the reality show “How Lashley sent me to the ER”. Did you see that suit? My God, guys. As soon as he left, I said “this is MY WWE champion!” The guy looked incredible. Miz played his part well here. In fact, I was not bothered by him and did not care about the promotion.
By the way, Miz’s “side plates” were the generic WWE side plates that come with the main headings inverted to look like M’s. This is very brilliant.
Then it was time for Miz to reveal his decision, for which he decided he needed more time. Lashley didn’t like that, but neither did Braun Strowman because he decided to come out. He tried to arm Adam Pearce for a title fight for himself, but then Shane McMahon showed up and said that if he beat Lashley later, he will be added to the title fight next week.
Lashley and Strowman threw everything and beat each other up. Lashley tried to put on the Hurt Lock, but he couldn’t, you know … It’s Strowman. Strowman was able to put Lashley in powerslam and Lashley was expelled. Lashley launched Strowman and won. Miz tried to attack and was hit by a chokeslam and a spear for his problems.
A great and dominant performance by Lashley, and I already know what will happen next week. As a rich and mean bastard would say, “there is no chance in hell” Lashley is coming out with the title next week. He doesn’t have Braun in the match, but that doesn’t mean that Braun won’t be there! In addition, Drew was nowhere to be seen this week, so you can bet he will probably show up next week too.
This is predictable, not the good kind.
The greatest pair in modern history
Bad Bunny and Damian Priest were backstage and Priest saw Truth in a corner with a referee.
Truth tried to pretend and then said, “Too bad, Bunny,” which made me howl. The funniest thing I felt Truth was in months.
Priest swept Garza and almost fell immediately. Garza tore off his pants and threw at Bunny. How dare he. Garza kicked Priest in the face and started insulting Bad Bunny.
Garza was tired of Priest, but it looked like he was almost enjoying the pain with his facial expression. But my God, he is cruel when he is angry. I thought the fight was going to end very quickly, but they were preparing a Garza / Bunny confrontation and not the Travolta / Cage type. Priest took advantage of the distraction and took the win.
Then, some familiar faces 24 hours a day, seven days a week, ran into the ring and Priest killed two of them, while Bunny threw Gulak over the rope.
Yes, I don’t want Bad Bunny off my television screen anytime soon. The title 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, is the most prestigious and will probably never reach that status when it finally leaves the star.
Unless … I don’t know Beyonce or Taylor Swift come in and win.
Is Randy Orton okay?
Look, this was a wild promo where Orton was just talking about being distracted.
Not distracted by The Fiend, no, distracted by Alexa Bliss. Orton played for a Bliss video package in his last week’s Fiend revival.
And then the blood came.
What made this epic was actually the reaction of the announcers when they cut to the side of the ring. HOWL, guys. That shit was Hilarious.
The rest
Riddle defeated John Morrison
Morrison opted for a permanent shooting star press and Riddle dodged for a triangular finish. Gut wrench suplex for Riddle couldn’t keep him out. Morrison had that nasty finish, but then they spilled out and Morrison’s knee looked like it gave way. Riddle suplexed Morrison in the most difficult part of the ring. Riddle has great sprints in his matches, where every move is important. Morrison’s Spanish fly almost fell, but he fell for a brother Derek. Morrison and Riddle have great ring chemistry with each other.
New Day defeated RETRIBUTION
T-Bar started with Woods and Woods didn’t take much offense. Mace and Kingston took over and had the same result. Mace and T-Bar double chokeslam Kingston, and then Ali tried to get them to do it again, but he hit Trouble in Paradise on both men and got the pin on T-Bar. Then Ali took the microphone and scolded the group for failing him repeatedly. Interested in seeing where this is going. To be honest, wouldn’t I care if Ali abandoned one or more of these members and recruited one or two new ones?
Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler defeated Charlotte Flair and Asuka
Asuka started with Baszler and you could see Flair in his corner, totally out of it. They managed to double the team of champions and it started to look like she was losing control. Baszler was torturing Asuka by twisting her arm and Jax continued to hurt. Flair was finally scored again and offended both women. They were able to isolate Charlotte, but she fought and Charlotte had a number four in Baszler broken by Jax. Flair tagged Asuka and cleaned the house, but mischief followed. Asuka was kicked in the head by Flair and lost the match. I thought Charlotte was finally turning on her “friend”, but they are teasing Asuka to turn around. No, please.
Charlotte saw her father backstage and they did serious damage control on all of this, making it clear that Ric is not the father and he was just doing Ric Flair things last week. He said he wanted to elevate the female division by being behind the photo of Raw’s female title and Charlotte did a decent promo telling him to go home and that she wanted to be alone.
AJ Styles defeated Ricochet
Ricochet was on fire to start this match. Styles’ suplex snap in the corner looked horrible. Ricochet is a great seller. Ric got angry and hit Styles, but Styles hit him in the throat. He was hit in the face and then put on a Styles Clash and my God, the sale of it all was incredible. Omos grabbed Ricochet’s limp body, lifted it high, and dropped it. Man Ricochet is incredible. That blue outfit too … * chef’s kiss * Quick victory for Styles and strong display for Omos. I just have to accept that this is Ricochet’s career in the WWE.
The Hurt Business defeated Lucha House Party
We had a tornado this time, which was good for continuing to plant the seeds of discord when MVP was trying to focus on them. LHP almost defeated Benjamin, but Alexander was joking and upsetting MVP. Benjamin ended up hitting to win. Because they won, MVP lost their boring behavior when they won, but we all know that they will continue this story.
Sheamus defeated Jeff Hardy
Sheamus did Sheamus things. Jeff Hardy did Jeff Hardy stuff. This is no small feat for both performers. This match just received the treatment of “Drew’s attention has officially wandered elsewhere”. I HAVE SEEN THIS MANY TIMES.
Note: C +
What were your thoughts, Cagesiders?