Posted in: TV, WWE | Tagged: becky lynch, Becky Lynch pregnancy, bleeding cool, Monday Night Raw, money in the bank, NXT, nxt uk, pro wrestling, Raw, Seth Rollins, Smackdown, wrestling, wwe

WWE Monday Night RAW Saw Becky Lynch Steal This Week's Show

This week's Monday Night RAW opened with a bang. Becky Lynch comes out to the ring carrying the Money in the Bank briefcase, creating an air of confusion. With tears in her eyes, Lynch would comment on how she wouldn't be able to compete for a while. Asuka came out to the ring demanding her trophy back, to which Lynch opened it to reveal the RAW Women's Championship. Lynch handed the title to Asuka, telling her to go be a warrior. Lynch herself was off to be a mother.

Bobby Lashley and Humberto Carrillo had the first match of the night. Lashley looked powerful as ever and made quick work of Carrillo. He won the match by placing Carrillo into a full nelson submission. We got a fun promo with The Street Profits and The Viking Raiders for their upcoming basketball game — which sounds crazy but at this point I'm impressed that WWE is trying anything to get their viewer ratings back up.

Asuka then celebrated backstage with Kairi Sane, followed by RAW giving us another recap of the Randy Orton vs Edge match from WrestleMania. At 50 minutes into RAW we finally got our second match of the evening; Akira Tozawa vs Angel Garza. This was a great match, both men worked off each other well. Garza took the win. Andrade and Austin Theory came out to the ring arguing with each other, dragging Garza in. Zelina Vega tried to calm the trio, only to be interrupted by Drew McIntyre. McIntyre took out Garza and Theory before staring down Andrade.

A match between the two was only natural. This was a hard fourth match, with Andrade playing dirty in order to win. McIntyre looked strong but was excellent at selling Andrade's moves. Both champs told a great in-ring story, giving fans a strong, powerful match. McIntyre took the win. After, McIntyre cut a fun promo announcing that the Captain of Claymore Country will be facing King Corbin next week.

Lashley and MVP cut a promo backstage. MVP told Lashley he was stuck in his own head and needed to break free. After the Women's Tag Team Champions Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross came out for A Moment of Bliss. The two have been on SmackDown for some time, so this brand shakeup was a little unexpected. Cross went on to wish every mom out there a happy mother's day, before being interrupted by the returning Iiconics.

It was great to see the Iiconics returning to action. This tag-team has actual chemistry and makes sense as a tag team. Plus they're fun to watch. Their promo on A Moment of Bliss was great, as everyone here is great on the mic. But the match following was alright at best. Bliss and Cross jobbed out to make the Iiconics look strong, making them a viable threat for the Tag Team titles again.

Rey Mysterio was giving an interview backstage before Seth Rollins crashed the party. Mysterio gave Rollins a heartfelt congratulations on becoming a new dad. Rollins said nothing but looked like he had already been up for a month straight with a new baby. Our next match of the evening was a six-man tag team between R-Truth, Ricochet, and Cedric Alexander against MVP, Shane Thorn, and  Brendan Vink. Truth carried this match with his humorous alter ego "Pretty Ricky" both in and out of the ring. Truth took the win via pinning MVP. Lashley came out to the ring, spearing Truth.

MVP then joined Lashley in beating up Truth. This pairing (while not new) is still much more organic and sensible. While we might not get a proper Beat Down Clan reunion, since Kenny King is currently signed with Ring of Honor, it's still nice to see the two joining forces. Jinder Mahal popped up for a backstage interview. Mahal is ready to climb to the top of the WWE universe after being gone for 10 months due to knee surgery. Shayna Baszler was interviewed next and did an excellent job at shitting all over Lynch's announcement. "Here's a fact: 10 out of 10 mothers will try to tell you pregnancy didn't ruin their careers…" Baszler commented. It was cold, it was cruel, but damn if this doesn't make Baszler a complete and total heel.

We had another slapped together tag team match, this time with Rey Mysterio and Aleister Black against Seth Rollins and Murphy. It's good to see that Mysterio and Black are still alive after being "thrown off the roof" at Money in the Bank. Rollins looked dead through most of the match. Murphey carried the team until Rollins came back to Earth, setting his sights on Mysterio. Specifically Mysterio's eye. I won't get into much detail. But it was gross.

Things turned light-hearted with the basketball game between The Street Profits and The Viking Raiders. The segment was genuinely funny and entertaining. This was a nice segment that broke up the otherwise monotonous program. RAW should really be scaled back to two hours. Baszler and Natalya had a decent in-ring match next. Both women are powerful hitters and great in-ring storytellers. I would love to see more matches between the two. In the end, Baszler took the win via pinfall. The main event of the night was between Randy Orton and Edge. But this wasn't a match: it was a long promo cut between the two. Overall this felt like a very long Monday Night RAW. It wasn't a bad RAW, but it lost all momentum after Lynch's announcement. Let's hope next week is slightly better.

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