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Monday Night RAW had a few big matches already scheduled for the night, while Rey Mysterio was scheduled to appear during the show and announce his retirement with Seth Rollins in the ring.
A big Champion vs Champion match was set for the night as NXT Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair was once again scheduled to arrive on RAW, this time to take on RAW Women’s Champion Asuka.
New United States Champion Apollo Crews was ready to defend his title against an opponent of his choosing and he made a surprising choice during the show.
The RAW Tag Team Champions continued their unique rivalry with The Viking Raiders and the two teams once again went head to head in another interesting game.
The match between Nia Jax and Kairi Sane ended with a scare, while WWE Champion Drew McIntyre did all he could to keep the heels down, but his challenger for WWE Backlash got the better of him to end the night.
In this article, we will look at the five things WWE got right on this week’s episode of Monday Night RAW.
#5 The RAW Tag Team Championship scene
The creatives of RAW have been giving fans some bizarre yet entertaining segments involving the RAW Tag Team Champions and their challengers. Over the past few weeks, we’ve watched The Street Profits and The Viking Raiders battle for supremacy in various games which have evoked mixed reactions from fans.
This week, the two teams came face to face in games of bowling. Erik and Ivar were the better players as Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford struggled to avoid the gutter. The Street Profits raised their performance later in the game, but still could not match up to the Raiders.
The entertaining segment came to an end as The Raiders picked up the win to bring the score to 2-2 in their random competitions.
Will the RAW Tag Team Championship get defended at WWE Backlash?
Even though many fans wouldn’t be interested in watching such segments, RAW’s creatives are doing well to keep the RAW Tag Team Champions and their challengers on screen without having them compete in repeated matches before the final showdown. A score of 2-2 will likely lead to a final match between the two teams inside the squared circle.
A fresh one-time match between them will be much better than having repeated matches, especially ones that end in no-result.
Will we watch a showdown between the two teams at the upcoming WWE Backlash pay-per-view?
#4 Apollo Crews continues to build
Apollo Crews came out to the middle today to cut a promo before giving a RAW Superstar a shot at a United States Championship match.
Crews handpicked Kevin Owens to be his first challenger for the title, but KO seemed to be reluctant to accept Crews’ challenge. The creatives of RAW kept it real as KO feared that he would end Crews’ reign too soon, something that the fans would also believe.
The two finally went to battle in the RAW ring as both men tried to stay on top. Owens seemed to have the obvious advantage in the match even after his loss to Angel Garza last week, before Andrade and Garza rushed out to attack both men and cause a disqualification.
This led to the obvious tag team match that saw Owens and Crews once again try to go over the heels. The Prizefighter once again put up a great performance, but it was the US Champion who delivered the final blow to pick up the victory for his team.
Apollo Crews is trying to become the face of RAW
These two matches were good even though the first one ended way too predictably. RAW is trying to build Crews as a big name on the brand, and these two matches allowed him to compete against three of RAW’s top Superstars on the same night.
Crews seems to have a bright future in the ring, and his current treatment on RAW could help him finally reach new heights.
#3 The WWE Champion gets attacked by Bobby Lashley
MVP was set to take on WWE Champion Drew McIntyre this week on RAW, as McIntyre’s opponent for Backlash and Lana watched over from ringside.
Bobby Lashley is looking to win his first big one since his return to WWE and his partnership with MVP has led him to the WWE Championship scene where The Scottish Psychopath is not yet done showing his dominance.
McIntyre had control of the match early, but a distraction from Lashley allowed MVP to get back in the game. While the WWE Champion got back into the match, Lashley pulled MVP out of the ring just when he was preparing for the Claymore Kick.
Lashley couldn’t keep McIntyre from picking up a victory as he managed to lay out the veteran moments later and pinned him.
The All Mighty lays out RAW's biggest fish
However, immediately after Mcintyre’s win, RAW’s All Mighty entered the ring and applied the Full Nelson on McIntyre as the show went off the air. This was a good way to end RAW and build Lashley as a threat to McIntyre. Lashley has been trying hard to come across as a top star, but his alliance with MVP makes him feel like a mid-carder at best.
Such finishes are required to make a dominant Champion look vulnerable, and the RAW creatives managed to pull that off pretty well after feeding MVP to their Champion.
#2 The insufferable Messiah of RAW
‘The Monday Night Messiah’ Seth Rollins walked out on RAW to kick off the show. We’d already heard that he’d bid farewell to Rey Mysterio this week, and that is exactly what he was out there to do.
After brutally attacking and hurting the future Hall of Famer, Rollins claimed that Mysterio would be unable to come out to the ring to call it quits himself, and therefore Rollins was there to do it for him. He called Mysterio’s sacrifice the greater good of Monday Night RAW.
Rollins was insufferable during the promo and Aleister Black had to come down to the ring to clear the ring off RAW’s Messiah.
WWE RAW got a match between The Messiah and The Dutch Destroyer
The two had a match afterward in which Black tried to teach Rollins a lesson for hurting Mysterio. Humberto Carrillo came out to Black’s aide as Austin Theory and Murphy tried to cause distractions.
Black was able to roll Rollins up to pick up the win, but the heels attacked him after the match and RAW’s Messiah delivered the Stomp before walking away.
This was one of the best ways to build Rollins as the most hated character on RAW. His work with the mic was phenomenal, and no loss is too big for the heel now. He has lost several matches and come out stronger, ensuring that the fans saw him as the bigger star regardless of his record. This could lead to some great storylines in the weeks to come.
#1 Asuka vs Charlotte Flair
One of the biggest matches on this week’s RAW saw NXT Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair take on RAW Women’s Champion Asuka in a Champion vs. Champion match.
Flair cut a promo demanding respect from the NXT Superstars who were present in the crowd. She spoke about her match against Io Shirai and Rhea Ripley scheduled for Sunday before she took to the ring to take on Asuka.
The two women had a great encounter once again in which The Queen kept reminding The Empress of Tomorrow that she has beaten her every time.
The trash-talking continued as she targeted Asuka’s knee to set up her Figure Eight submission hold for later in the match. Asuka tried to get back in the match, but Flair kept on using her size and strength advantage to continue dominating her.
The RAW Women's Champion was confronted by her future challenger
The Empress of Tomorrow continued to get back in the match but Nia Jax’s arrival ruined everything for her. Jax entered to Asuka’s theme and wore her mask and face paint. This prompted the RAW Women’s Champion to go after her, leading to a count out victory for The Queen of WWE.
The match was good, even though the ending wasn’t too great. However, a count out allowed Flair to pick up the win and kept Asuka winless against The Queen without her taking the pinfall or submitting.
It puts NXT over as a brand while allowing the creatives to book a bigger match for Asuka and Flair down the line with a prize at stake to allow Asuka to pick up her first victory over Flair.
