5 Takeaways from this week's WWE Raw (9 July 2018)

Six matches took place as WWE Raw emanated from Boston, Massachusetts this week.

The opening segment of the show saw Bobby Lashley confront Roman Reigns in the middle of the ring. The talking didn’t last long, though, and the two men had to be separated by 20+ members of the roster as tensions mounted ahead of their battle at Extreme Rules.

The first match centred around the Raw Women’s Championship storyline, with Nia Jax and Natalya defeating Alexa Bliss and Mickie James when Nia pinned Mickie after a leg drop. Alexa then gave a glimpse of what we can expect at Extreme Rules by striking her upcoming opponent with a kendo stick post-match.

In the night’s other matches, Mojo Rawley defeated No Way Jose and The B-Team’s momentum continued with Bo Dallas recording another win over Matt Hardy, while Ember Moon was victorious against Liv Morgan for the second week in a row.

Elsewhere on the show, a promo segment between Seth Rollins, Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre set up the final match of the night, and Baron Corbin and Elias teamed up to defeat Bobby Roode and Finn Balor.

Finally, in a brilliant main event, McIntyre picked up a surprise victory over Rollins, meaning the Scot will be allowed at ringside for Sunday’s 30-minute Intercontinental Championship Ironman match between “The Kingslayer” and Ziggler.

Let’s take a look at five things that stood out to us from this week’s episode.

#5 This is the Bobby Lashley we wanted to see!

It took three months but we're finally starting to see the Bobby Lashley we thought we were getting when he returned to WWE after WrestleMania 34 for the first time in a decade.

No more meaningless attacks on Elias that lead to absolutely nothing. No more talk about his sisters. No more awkward promo segments. Just Lashley, legitimately one of the top athletes in WWE, going toe-to-toe with Roman Reigns and showing exactly why he belongs in main-event storylines.

As things stand, it looks like Lashley vs. Reigns, which is unofficially a #1 contender match for the Universal Championship, will go on last at Extreme Rules. If that is the case, let’s just hope the crowd is a little more receptive than recent PPV audiences and they give it a chance from the start instead of hijacking it with irrelevant chants.

#4 The sooner Ember Moon is in title matches, the better

Alexa Bliss and Nia Jax will meet for the fourth pay-per-view in a row when they do battle over the Raw Women’s Championship at Extreme Rules.

The rivalry between the two women has been going on for the last five months and Ronda Rousey – Nia’s opponent at Money In The Bank last month – is the only other person who has been involved in the title storyline during that time.

With Sasha Banks and Bayley preoccupied with ‘counselling’ segments and Ruby Riott currently injured, the increasingly impressive Ember Moon is the obvious candidate to move into the title scene over the next few months.

“The War Goddess” produced another good performance this week against Liv Morgan, picking up the win with a unique jackknife pinfall, and she’d be the perfect long-term PPV opponent for the likes of Ronda, Alexa and Nia.

#3 The WWE 2K19 advert was the best thing about the show

The main event between Drew McIntyre and Seth Rollins was great, as was the opening segment between Bobby Lashley and Roman Reigns, but the best thing about this week’s Raw was the WWE 2K19 advert involving Ronda Rousey.

With Ronda sitting in an empty locker room next to her Roddy Piper-inspired attire and with an original Piper jacket hung up in front of her, the advert played archive audio of a conversation that the two had before Roddy passed away in 2015.

Here are the words that Roddy used when speaking to Ronda during an appearance on his podcast:

"The only thing I want from you is to be as successful as you wanna be and as happy as you possibly can. I don’t say this to people, really. You’re very special. The thing that you’re doing the best is showing other people that you can do it. You are going to give so many people hope and I’m proud of you."

You can watch the advert in full below.

#2 Kurt Angle was right – Raw matches are meaningless

Only Seth Rollins vs. Drew McIntyre really mattered this week

Kurt Angle, Raw’s on-screen General Manager, tweeted over the weekend that Dash Wilder didn’t deserve plaudits for The Revival’s victory against Roman Reigns and Bobby Lashley in June because it was a “meaningless” tag match.

The use of the word “meaningless” was obviously clumsy on Angle’s part. Not only did The Revival vs. Reigns & Lashley take up over 40 minutes of our time in back-to-back weeks, but he essentially confirmed to fans that television matches don’t really matter.

This week’s offering of matches were all fillers ahead of Extreme Rules, so it’s hard to disagree with Angle’s since-deleted tweet. It’s just a little disappointing that the in-ring action between PPVs continues to have little-to-no meaning unless it’s a #1 contender or title match.

#1 No update on Brock Lesnar

Brock Lesnar appeared at UFC 226 at the weekend

Perhaps the biggest news from Raw this week was that, as far as Brock Lesnar is concerned, there is no news.

Many people expected WWE to provide some clarification on the future of “The Beast” following his UFC appearance at the weekend, but his only mention came early on in the show when Roman Reigns’ failure to win the Universal Championship at the Greatest Royal Rumble was referenced.

The expectation right now is that Lesnar will defend his title against Reigns or Bobby Lashley at SummerSlam. Either way, the majority of fans are tired of WWE’s flagship show not having a full-time major title, so it won’t feel like a big loss when the current Universal champion steps away from the squared circle and returns to UFC next year.

Who do you think will win between Roman Reigns and Bobby Lashley? Tell us in the comments below!