5 Big takeaways from WWE RAW (June 20, 2022)

WWE RAW was broadcast live on Monday night from a raucous Pinnacle Bank Arena crowd in Lincoln, Nebraska. The promotion came off an explosive edition of SmackDown and looked to pull back-to-back thrillers on Monday night.

With WWE Money in the Bank on July 2, it's time for the company to get everything set for the premium live event. It took great steps towards that on this week's episode of RAW and gave some great in-ring action along the way. There were also a couple of surprises on the night to keep the WWE Universe on the edge of their seats.

With that being said, let's look at three things that stood out about this edition of WWE RAW.

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#5 - The ladies put on a masterpiece to open the show

Bianca Belair kicked off the night by naming the five women who would wrestle in a Fatal Five-Way to earn a shot at her RAW Women’s Title at Money in the Bank.

Rhea Ripley was supposed to be the challenger at MITB but won't be medically cleared. That left Becky Lynch, Carmella, Liv Morgan, Alexa Bliss, and Asuka to vie for the spot.

Becky came to the ring in her best Ziggy Stardust outfit, only to be verbally accosted by Asuka. Before you knew it, four of the challengers were in the ring with the champion Bianca Belair. When the fifth competitor, Alexa Bliss, appeared, the match was finally on.

Bliss and Liv Morgan had a great, old-school mat sequence at one point in the match that was as technically sound as you get. In a high-octane battle, Carmella won the right to face Belair at Money in the Bank, pinning Liv Morgan after nailing her with a thrust kick.

Side note: Alexa Bliss has undoubtedly come a long way since portraying the dreary, gothic character that she inherited from The Fiend. This is a much better Bliss. She’s back to being the sassy little Miss Bliss but has still managed to hold on to a bit of her dark, edgy side. She might be poised for her best run ever in WWE.

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#4 - Riddle's whole 'HEY RAAANDY' gimmick is starting to get old

When RK-Bro was together, Riddle's affection for Orton as his idol was amusing. The two have produced an incredible feel-good story over the past year.

However, since Orton's absence due to injury, Riddle has constantly invoked his name to the point that it's gotten annoying. It was cute when he played the 'Scrappy-Doo' role next to his big, bad bro, but he needs to tone it down a little. He's starting to look less like a fighter and instead seems desperate.

Even worse, he lost to Omos in a Money in the Bank qualifying match. So perhaps Riddle needs to ween himself off all this praise for The Viper and finally be his own man.

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#3 - Elias and Ezekial provided a little bit of 'double exposure' for Kevin Owens and The WWE Universe

Throughout the past few weeks, KO has been trying to convince everyone that Elias and Ezekial are NOT brothers but rather the same person.

However, this week, Owens' crusade hit a crossroads as Ezekial sat down to have a one-on-one(?) conversation with his big brother.

The story continued as Elias came out to the ring for a concert. The Nebraska crowd let him know they have not forgotten: WWE stands for Walk With Elias.

Eventually, Owens came out to chastise Elias and met the business end of The Wanderer's guitar. Later, The Prizefighter threw out a challenge that Ezekial happily accepted.

This storyline has been both comical and creative. When WWE usually attempts humor, they fall short. But not this time. It's a great angle that's being executed wonderfully by two very versatile performers.

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#2 - Vince McMahon returned to the airwaves once again. And once again... he served little purpose

This has gotten to be a little awkward for us all.

First, Vince steps back as WWE Chairman while the company's board conducts an internal investigation into his most recent scandal. He announced that he would be appearing on Smackdown on Friday night. Needless to say, the hype around his re-surfacing turned out to be much ado about nothing.

However, there was no advance press or fanfare this time. Vince came out surprisingly, but the WWE Universe was into it regardless. They sang his 'No Chance in Hell' theme song again as he strutted to the ring.

Like last week, McMahon entered the squared circle and delivered a generic overview of John Cena's scheduled return on the upcoming July 27 episode of RAW. He then exited rather modestly.

Not sure what's going on with McMahon and these appearances, as none of them address any real-life issues The Boss is having. Nor did he come out in character as 'Mr. McMahon', hatching some diabolical scheme.

It's pretty evident that this is an ego play on Vince's part, making his presence felt without crossing any significant lines. Not sure if that solves anything in the ring or out, but if it makes him feel better, then so be it.

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#1 - AJ Styles vs. Ciampa featured two great performers in a lame-duck match

AJ punched The Miz after appearing as a special guest on Miz TV. Within a short time, Ciampa was out to attack Styles at ringside.

The two would battle later in the night, with the former WWE Champion getting a convincing win over Ciampa. The thought of the two fine grapplers meeting in the ring would have been mind-blowing a couple of years ago. Unfortunately, it served little purpose this week.

Ciampa almost seems lost on the WWE main roster, and Styles can't seem to settle on a rivalry. He has issues with Finn Balor, Seth Rollins, and now The Miz, so his plate is pretty full.

After the match, The A-Lister tried to get physically involved but received a Styles Clash for his troubles.

There's no issue with WWE setting up a feud between these two superstars. However, it's a shame that Ciampa had to be a sacrificial lamb on the way.

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As mentioned above, John Cena will be back in the house on WWE RAW to celebrate his debut with the company 20 years ago. It will also be the go-home episode of the show before Money in the Bank, so there's likely to be a lot more in store for the WWE Universe in the coming 10 days.