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While it gave us some meme-worthy moments, as I suspected due to Memorial Day and strong competition elsewhere, this week's Raw didn't even try to put on a good show. For those hoping that the smash success of Double or Nothing would induce WWE to try harder, consider your hopes dashed, at least for now.
WWE did find a way to namedrop the nascent promotion in one of the year's worst segments, though.
Did anyone manage to pick up steam on this train wreck of a show?
Disclaimer: The views of the author do not represent the views of Sportskeeda
Loser: WWE
Though the show got better as the night went on, the first hour was a massive train wreck, centering around Brock Lesnar and his Money in the Bank contract decision. It almost felt like there was a do-over because the first segment, aside from the boombox meme, fell totally flat.
In the end, no such decision came. WWE once again pulled a bait and switch. Brock Lesnar "read the fine print" and learned that he can cash in at any time during the next year.
And so the threat of another absentee Lesnar title reign looms over WWE for the foreseeable future. Like a supermassive black hole, Lesnar again threatens to tear apart any star in WWE's orbit and put a world title back into an abyss. No good thing will come from this in the long term.
Loser: Drew McIntyre
After nearly an hour without wrestling, WWE finally put on a match involving Shane McMahon against "one of Roman Reigns' cousins". Shane McMahon has been the most noxious presence on television in 2019, surpassing the likes of Brock Lesnar and Charlotte Flair, and the fans finally had enough.
Loud chants of "AEW" and "this is awful" serenaded the arena in this segment.
Drew McIntyre lost the most. He's now become Shane McMahon's today, and Roman Reigns, with the "wild card" nonsense in full effect, ran out to hit him as the segment ended.
Loser: The women's division
This was a waste of Becky Lynch's time, but I suppose that, since she has no real serious rival on Monday nights, she needed to be here. Lacey Evans' feud with her looks set to continue, despite her tapping out cleanly, and so WWE continues with another unwanted trope - extending feuds past their expiration date.
And why are the IIconics still tag team champions? They've only had one title defense against a team of local jobbers. Why are they still carrying them? What is the point of their reign?
Nikki Cross picked up some steam here, which is a good continuance of her momentum over the last few weeks, but it wasn't enough to save this segment. The entirety of the women's division, Raw, SmackDown, and NXT included, is in dire straits. It's a stunning reversal from the buzz it had in the second half of 2018.
Winner: Ricochet
As annoying as WWE's 50/50 formula is, this was at least a bright spot on a grim night. Ricochet, now healed up from his war at Money in the Bank, challenged Cesaro again, and this time, the high-flying man was too much for the Swiss Cyborg to handle.
The win wasn't a truly decisive victory, so a rubber match is probably in store, but given how awful WWE's programming has been of late, no one will argue against another match featuring these two. Ricochet should win and feud for the United States Championship next.
Loser: Seth Rollins
Vince McMahon's obsession with pushing Baron Corbin continues. He's now the #1 contender to the Universal Championship. The match will happen in Saudi Arabia on June 7th, and the feud will probably extend into July as well.
It's a disastrous decision that does Seth Rollins' title reign dirty. There is a good deal of evidence to show that viewers tune out of Monday Night Raw at greater rates when Baron Corbin is featured in the main event and now he will for at least the next few weeks.
Seth Rollins could have had a much more fun opponent, but as usual, we don't get it. It feels like Vince just threw us a bone with the AJ Styles match.
Winner: Bray Wyatt
As usual, Bray Wyatt's Firefly Funhouse was the best thing on the show, and he kept this segment creative by introducing "The Fiend."
We now know that there's a lot of steam in these segments, but the real test will be to see what happens when Bray Wyatt finally returns to the ring. He's off to a hot start, but these segments, entertaining as they are, are reaching the point of diminishing returns in gaining his character steam.
He now needs to back up this new act in the ring. Soon.
Loser: Sami Zayn
Sami Zayn's return has now officially jumped the shark. This was easily one of the year's worst segments. That makes for three in less than a month on Raw.
The most noteworthy thing here was Sami Zayn namedropping AEW, but that simply stood to highlight just how much better AEW's own shots at WWE were at Double or Nothing. While AEW's segments were artful, this went over like a wet balloon.
It triggered a main event with Seth Rollins, but that match didn't make up for this.
