'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
The Monday Night Raw brand traveled to the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas as Money In The Bank is just a little less than two weeks away.
On last week's Raw, we knew ahead of time a few of the matches that were going to take place this week including Braun Strowman v. Bobby Roode for the first time, Finn Balor v. Kevin Owens, and a tag team battle royale to determine the number one contender for Bray Wyatt and Matt Hardy.
Follow Sportskeeda for the latest WWE news, rumors and all other wrestling news.
As a whole, it was a very rough edition of Monday Night Raw this week. The opening and ending were decent, but everything in between this three-hour show was forgettable for the most part.
It is unfortunate considering that we are heading into one of the more exciting pay per views on the WWE calendar.
In a change from past report cards, each slide will contain an important part of Monday Night Raw from this week, but I will also include a bonus slide grading some of the smaller moments as well.
As always the best grade a segment can get is an A+; while the worst grade a segment can earn is an F.
Let's take a look at the opening segment...
#1 Two Money In The Bank feuds intertwined...
I am not sure if this is the first time Monday Night Raw has kicked off with Elias in the ring, but it definitely a great way to open the show. He trashed the Houston Rockets who are fresh off of losing the Western Conference Finals to the Golden State Warriors in the NBA.
Seth Rollins was attacked from behind with a guitar shot last week causing him to crash through a table below the announce desk. I had this great picture in my mind that Rollins would come from under the ring or out of the dark and attack Elias with a guitar from behind while he's performing (maybe the WWE can do that next week).
The segment ended with Jinder Mahal coming out to attack Rollins and Roman Reigns making the save. This led to General Manager Kurt Angle to make a tag match right here and now.
I really liked the energy I got from Rollins and Elias, the feud is only a week old and I'm looking forward to their Money In The Bank match.
GRADE: B+
As for the tag match with two-thirds of The Shield taking on Elias and Jinder, I thought it was a rather solid match. It's good to see that Jinder is improving in the ring months after his first WWE Championship run.
The 17-minute match ended when Sunil Singh was attempting to hit Rollins with a chair. Rollins took the chair and got in the ring only to run into Elias who would land a vicious DDT right onto the chair for the victory.
Thought it was a well-done ending to cap off a solid match.
GRADE: B
#2 Monday Night Raw has a new... Constable?
After Baron Corbin caused Curt Hawkins to get disqualified to extend Hawkins' losing streak to 200 matches, Corbin met with General Manager Kurt Angle. It was clear to see that Angle wasn't happy at Corbin's interference.
Corbin then dropped a bombshell on Angle when he said that hew as at WWE Headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut last week speaking to Stephanie McMahon, Raw's Commissioner. Corbin stated that Angle has made bad decision after bad decision and there needed to be a system of checks and balance.
The outcome is that Corbin is the new "Constable of Monday Night Raw" per Stephanie's orders. My initial thought was this is going to be similar to Bully Ray's enforcer position on Ring of Honor, except Corbin is a heel.
I definitely would like to see how this plays out first as I think it could be something very interesting.
GRADE: B
#3 WWE Raw Women's Champion Nia Jax v. Natalya
The next match of the evening saw the WWE Raw Women's Champion Nia Jax taking on Natalya (the friend of Jax's Money In The Bank opponent Ronda Rousey). The match itself wasn't the greatest in terms of execution and excitement.
They played it off that Nattie injured her knee coming off the ropes and Nia made it worse, leading to Rousey to come to the ring to aid Nattie and have some words for Nia. The post-match was very awkward.
That's also my sentiments on the Nia Jax and Ronda Rousey feud. I was skeptical throwing Rousey in the title picture already, but after they aired how it all played out at the NBC Upfronts, I was fine with it.
Since then, nothing has been done to get me excited about this match, unfortunately.
GRADE: D+
#4 Tag team battle royal to determine the #1 contender for the WWE Raw Tag Team Championships
Instead of creating a feud for the WWE Raw Tag Team Champions Bray Wyatt and Matt Hardy going into Money In The Bank, a tag team battle royale was set up by General Manager Kurt Angle to determine who would face the champions on June 17th.
The big shock of this match was Dolph Ziggler being eliminated by Tyler Breeze; meaning that the entire team was eliminated. This could be the start of the split already between Ziggler and Drew McIntyre.
Overall the match wasn't that interesting. There just wasn't much intrigue and once the team of Dolph and Drew were eliminated, I knew the B-Team was going to win based on the past month.
GRADE: D
#5 Quick grades for the other Monday Night Raw segments...
Baron Corbin causing Curt Hawkins to lose his 200th straight match - GRADE: C
- I figured something odd would happen here when Hawkins was facing a jobber, very curious to see if this leads to Hawkins defeating Corbin to end the streak.
Braun Strowman v. Bobby Roode - GRADE: C
- A short match where Roode didn't have a chance. Pretty cool spot when Strowman broke a ladder in half with his fists.
Bobby Lashley & Sami Zayn Promo - GRADE: F
- Yet another long promo segment that didn't do this feud any favors. The only positive from this was when Zayn questioned if Lashley served in the Army, it finally got the WWE Universe behind Lashley a little bit.
Roman Reigns & Jinder Mahal backstage brawl - GRADE: B-
- There were simultaneous interviews going on with these two that led to a fight backstage. I thought it was a decent segment to build towards the Money In The Bank match.
Six women's tag match with Bayley replacing Alexa Bliss - GRADE: C-
- Alexa Bliss faking another injury once again, that's been done to death. How the ref allowed Bayley to make a tag and get the win was just weird, it must have been done just to give Corbin some power for the first time.
#6 Finn Balor v. Kevin Owens in the main event
When Kevin Owens prevented Balor an upset victory chance against Braun Strowman last week, it set up the main event of Monday Night Raw this week.
The match itself went 18 minutes long and was very solid, something you should expect with wrestlers the caliber of Balor and Owens. It wasn't amazing, but a very good match.
Everyone is talking about what happened after Owens disqualified himself. Owens brought a ladder in the ring and teased that he was going to do a frog splash from nearly the top of it, but he was afraid to pull the trigger. This allowed Balor to hit a Coup de Grace on Balor from way up high.
A good match with a great visual to end the night.
GRADE: B+
Do you agree with the grades for this week's RAW? Sound off in the comments section below!
Do you love to play crosswords, Wordle or other exciting games? We'd like to connect with you. Fill the form here!
