I do not like the closure of the elimination room. After I cooled down, I thought about what the benefit was of helping Lashley out there. It was definitely to get Lashley a title fight.
As it turns out, it is exactly what the plan was. Well! Lashley has been super-protected for months and deserves a title fight. He honestly deserves to be champion.
They started with that on this show, aaaaand then shenanigans and bait and link abundance. Braun Strowman needs to get involved, Shane McMahon needs to get involved, and now Bobby needs to fight to get what he owes.
Oh, and now Bobby will face Miz next week. The only problem is – it’s wrestling. You know what happens next week. More bait and switch! Someone mixes in. They need to pull it out and expand it to Fastlane.
So if you want the match at Fastlane, just announce it to Fastlane. But what will they do if they do not bait and link, interfere and disqualify? This is just the easy and lazy way to do it. Bleh.
Let’s look at the main hits and misses of this series. For a full review of Raw, check out Rev.’s live blog. Claire Elizabeth!
Bobby Lashley is MY WWE Champion
WWE Champion Miz started Raw.
He talked about how people thought he would be fired from WWE within three months 16 years ago. The name left Batista, Cena, Rock and Bobby Lashley if not his long life. Then MVP and Lashley come out and MVP mentions the deal they cut last night. Miz tried to unwind him from it and Lashley gave him an hour to make his decision.
It was easily Bobby Lashley’s best promo since returning to WWE. To be honest, I totally watch the reality show “How Lashley Sent Me to the Emergency Room”. Did you see the suit? My God, everyone. When he walks out, I say ‘this is my WWE Champion!’ Dude looked amazing. Miz played his role well here. I was actually not irritated by him and did not mind the promotion.
By the way, Miz’s ‘sideboards’ were the generic WWE sideboards that were reversed with the headlines just to look like Ms. It’s pretty brilliant.
Then it was time for Miz to reveal his decision, at which point he just decided he needed more time. Lashley did not like it, but neither did Braun Strowman because he decided to come out. He tried to arm Adam Pearce strongly in a title fight for himself, but then Shane McMahon came forward and said that if he beat Lashley later, he would be added to the title fight next week.
Lashley and Strowman picked it up and knocked the shit out of each other. Lashley tried to get the Hurt Lock in, but could not because you know … It’s Strowman. Strowman was able to get Lashley into the power slam and Lashley kicked out. Lashley spears Strowman and wins. Miz tried to attack and was choked and spit on for his problems.
A good and dominant performance from Lashley, and I already know what happens next week. As an evil rich bastard would say, there is ‘no chance in hell’, Lashley walks out with the title next week. He does not have Braun in the game, but that does not mean Braun will not be there! Drew was also nowhere to be seen this week, so you can bet he’s likely to appear next week as well.
It’s predictable, and not the good kind.
The greatest combination in modern history
Bad Bunny and Damian Priest were behind the stage and Priest saw the truth in a corner with a referee.
The truth tried to play it off and then said “my bad, Bunny”, which made me cry. The funniest thing I’ve ever felt was the truth in months.
The priest was Garza and immediately had a fall. Garza rips off his pants and throws them to Bunny. How dare he. Garza drop kicked Priest in the face and Bad Bunny started teasing.
Garza wears Priest, but he seems to almost enjoy the pain with his facial expression. But my God, he is evil when he is angry. I thought the game would be over pretty quickly, but they set up a Garza / Bunny face and not the Travolta / Cage type. Priest took advantage of the distraction and achieved the victory.
Then some 24/7 familiar faces run down to the ring and Priest takes two of them out while Bunny Gulak throws over the top rope.
Yeah Al that sounds pretty crap to me, Looks like Bad Bunny aint for me either. The 24/7 title is at its most coveted and will probably never reach this status again when it finally comes off the star.
Unless like … I do not know Beyonce or Taylor Swift come in and win it.
Is it okay with Randy Orton?
Look, it was a wild promo where Orton just talked about being distracted.
Not distracted by The Fiend, no, distracted by Alexa Bliss. Orton throws a video package of Bliss in her Fiend revival of last week.
And then came the blood.
What made this email actually was the reaction of the announcers when they cut to the ring. SOUR, everyone. That shit was hilarious.
The rest
Riddle defeated John Morrison
Morrison pressed for a standing shooting star, and Riddle dived it in for a triangle submission. Intestinal suplex for Riddle could not put him away. Morrison had this nasty submission, but then they threw out and Morrison’s knee seemed to give up. Riddle struggles Morrison on the hardest part of the ring. Riddle has good sprints in his games where every move matters. Morrison’s Spanish fly almost fell on him, but he fell on a Bro Derek. Morrison and Riddle have excellent ring chemistry with each other.
New day defeats RETIREMENT
T-Bar started with Woods and Woods did not get much offense. Mace and Kingston took the lead and had the same result. Mace and T-Bar doubled Kingston and then Ali tried to get them to do it again, but he hit Trouble in Paradise on both men and got the pen on T-Bar. Ali got the microphone behind him and complained to the group that he had let him down time and time again. Interested in seeing where it goes. To be honest, wouldn’t I mind Ali dropping one of more of these members and recruiting one or two new ones?
Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler defeated Charlotte Flair and Asuka
Asuka started with Baszler, and you could only see Flair in their corner. They were able to double the champions and it looked like she cut out of it. Baszler tortured Asuka by twisting her arm and Jax continued the hurt. Flair was eventually turned on again and offended both women. They were able to isolate Charlotte, but she fought back and Charlotte broke a figure four over Baszler by Jax. Flair spotted Asuka and cleaned the house, but there were bare arms. Asuka was kicked in the head by Flair and lost the match. I thought Charlotte was finally turning on her ‘girlfriend’, but they were teasing Asuka to turn. No please.
Charlotte saw her father behind the stage and they seriously damaged the whole thing by making it clear that Ric is not the father and that he only did for Ric Flair last week. He said he wanted to elevate the women’s division by standing behind the Raw women’s title, and Charlotte had a decent promotion that told him to go home and that she wanted to be alone.
AJ Styles Defeat Ricochet
Ricochet was set on fire to start this match. Style’s snap suplex in the corner looks filthy. Ricochet is a great seller. Ric got angry and hit Styles, but Styles hit him in the throat. He slapped him in the face and then sat in a Styles Clash and my God, the sale of all this stuff was incredible. Omos grabs Ricochet’s limp body and picks him up really high and drops him. Man Ricochet is amazing. That blue gear too … * chef coast * Quick win for Styles and strong display for Omos. I just have to accept that this is what Ricochet’s WWE career will be.
The Hurt Business Defeat Lucha House Party
We had a tornado label this time, which was good to continue sowing the seeds of discord when MVP tried to get them focused. LHP almost pinned Benjamin, but Alexander was playing around and upsetting MVP. Benjamin eventually hit garbage to win. Because they won, MVP lost his irritated attitude when they won, but we all know they will continue this storyline.
Sheamus defeated Jeff Hardy
Sheamus did Sheamus things. Jeff Hardy did things from Jeff Hardy. It’s not a bit for both artists. This match has just received the treatment of “Drew’s attention has officially wandered elsewhere”. I’ve seen it TOO MANY times.
Degree: C +
What were your thoughts, Cagesiders?