I didn’t like the closing of the Elimination Chamber. After I cooled down, I figured out what the benefit would be if Lashley helped Miz. It was decided to give Lashley a title match.
It turns out that is exactly what the plan was. Good! Lashley has been super protected for months and he really deserves a title match. He honestly deserves to be a champion.
They started with that on this show, aaa and then shenanigans and bait and switch galore. Braun Strowman must be involved, Shane McMahon must be involved, and now Bobby must fight to get what he owes.
Oh and now Bobby will be facing Miz next week. The only problem is – this is wrestling. You know what happens next week. More bait and switch! Someone is interfering. They have to drag it to Fastlane.
So if you want the match at Fastlane, announce it to Fastlane. But what will they do if they don’t do bait and switch, interferences and disqualifications? That’s just the easy and lazy way to do it. Meh.
Let’s get to the main hits and misses of this show. For a full overview of Raw, check out Rev. Claire Elizabeth’s live blog!
Bobby Lashley is MY WWE Champion
WWE Champion Miz came out to start Raw.
He shared how people thought he would be fired from WWE within three months 16 years ago. The name dropped Batista, Cena, Rock and Bobby Lashley for falling short of its longevity. Then MVP and Lashley came out and MVP mentioned the deal they struck last night. Miz tried to work his way out and Lashley gave him an hour to make his decision.
This was easy from Bobby Lashley best promo since returning to WWE. To be fair, I would watch the reality show ‘How Lashley Sent Me to the ER’ in full. Have you seen that suit? My God, all of you. As soon as he walked away I said “that’s MY WWE Champion!” Dude looked fantastic. Miz played his part well here. He didn’t really bother me, and I didn’t mind the promo.
By the way, Miz’s “side plates” were the generic WWE side plates whose main titles are just reversed to look like Miz’s. That’s pretty brilliant.
Then it was time for Miz to reveal his decision, which he just decided he needed more time for. Lashley didn’t like that, but neither did Braun Strowman, because he decided to come out. He tried to arm Adam Pearce strongly in a title bout for himself, but then Shane McMahon came out and said if he beats Lashley later, he will be added to the title bout next week.
Lashley and Strowman kept it together and beat up. Lashley tried to get into the Hurt Lock, but couldn’t because you know … It’s Strowman. Strowman was able to get Lashley into the powerslam and Lashley was kicked out. Lashley speared Strowman and won. Miz tried to attack and got choked and impaled for his troubles.
A great and dominant performance from Lashley, and I already know what will happen next week. As an angry rich bastard would say, “there’s no chance in hell” Lashley walks out with the title next week. He doesn’t have Braun in the game, but that doesn’t mean Braun won’t be there! Also, Drew was nowhere this week, so you can bet he’ll likely be out next week too.
This is predictable, and not the right kind.
The best combination in modern history
Bad Bunny and Damian Priest were backstage and Priest saw Truth in a corner kick with a referee.
Truth tried to play it out, then said “my bad bunny”, which made me cry. The funniest thing I felt was the truth in months.
The priest had stabbed Garza in the clothing and was almost immediately overthrown. Garza took off his pants and threw them at Bunny. How dares he. Garza kicked Priest in the face and began taunting Bad Bunny.
Garza carried Priest downstairs, but he looked as if he was almost enjoying the pain with his expression. But my God is cruel when he is angry. I thought the match would be over pretty soon, but they were setting up a Garza / Bunny face-off and not the Travolta / Cage type. Priest took advantage of the distraction and was victorious.
Then familiar faces ran to the ring 24/7 and Priest pulled out two of them while Bunny threw Gulak over the top rope.
Yes, I don’t want Bad Bunny to get off my television screen anytime soon. The 24/7 title is at its most prestigious and will probably never reach this status again when it eventually comes off the star.
Unless … I don’t know Beyonce or Taylor Swift comes in and wins.
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 pitched on a video package from Bliss in her Fiend revival last week.
And then the blood came.
Actually, what made this epic was the announcers’ reaction when they went to ringside. HOWLED, all of you. That was true hilarious
The rest
Riddle defeated John Morrison
Morrison went for a standing shooting star press and Riddle dodged it for a triangle subject. Intestinal key Suplex to Riddle could not lock him up. Morrison had this nasty submission, but then they walked out and Morrison’s knee looked like it was giving up. Riddle put Morrison on the hardest part of the ring. Riddle has great sprints in his races where every move matters. Morrison’s Spanish Fly almost caused him to fall, but he fell on a brother Derek. Morrison and Riddle have great ring chemistry with each other.
New Day has beaten RETRIBUTION
T-Bar started with Woods and Woods didn’t get much offense. Mace and Kingston took the lead and had the same result. Mace and T-Bar hit a double stranglehold on 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. Ali got the microphone afterwards and denounced the group for failing him time and again. Wondering where this is going. Honestly, I wouldn’t mind Ali dropping one 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 just totally look Flair in their corner. They were able to double the champions’ team and it was starting to look like she broke out. Baszler tortured Asuka as he twisted her arm and Jax continued to hurt. Flair finally got tagged again and took an offense at both women. They were able to isolate Charlotte, but she fought back and Charlotte had a grade four on Baszler broken by Jax. Flair tagged Asuka and cleared home, but shenanigans followed. Asuka was kicked in the head by Flair and lost the match. I thought Charlotte was finally turning her ‘friend’, but they tease Asuka to turn around. No thanks.
Charlotte saw her dad backstage and they seriously limited the damage by making it clear that Ric is not the dad and he was just doing Ric Flair stuff last week. He said he wanted to take the women’s division to the next level by standing behind Raw’s title photo for women and Charlotte had a decent promo telling him he had to go home and she wanted to be alone.
AJ Styles defeated Ricochet
Ricochet was fired to start this match. Styles’ snap suplex in the corner looked dirty. Ricochet is a great salesperson. Ric got angry and beat Styles, but Styles punched him in the throat. He got punched in the face and then put in a Styles Clash and my God the sales on all of this were incredible. Omos grabbed Ricochet’s limp body and lifted it very high and dropped it. Ricochet man is incredible. That blue outfit too … * kiss from the chef * Fast win for Styles and strong performances for Omos. I just have to accept that this will be Ricochet’s WWE career.
The Hurt Business defeated Lucha House Party
We had a tornado tag this time, which was good for continuing to sow the seeds of discord when MVP tried to focus them. LHP nearly trapped Benjamin, but Alexander was playing and upset MVP. Benjamin eventually hit the dirt to win. Because they won, MVP lost their 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 Jeff Hardy’s stuff. This is not a small matter for either artist. This match just got the treatment “Drew’s attention has officially drifted elsewhere”. I’ve seen this TOO MANY TIMES.
Grade: C +
What were your thoughts, Cagesiders?