Monday Night Raw Report Card

Monday Night Raw rolled into The Coliseum in Richmond, Virginia, this week as the Money In The Bank pay per view is just less than three weeks away.

Yesterday was Memorial Day, and as usual, the WWE provided a tremendous video package to start the show, featuring military personnel sharing their stories of war to remind us all what today was for.

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In regards to the action within the ring, everything that happened had direct implications for the Money In The Bank pay per view that takes place on June 17th from Chicago, Illinois.

The women had a Second-Chance Gauntlet Match to determine the final spot for the ladder match; while the men who are in the match clashed as well.

After SmackDown Live tonight, we'll know the entire field for the men's side for the ladder match; which includes Bobby Roode, Kevin Owens, Finn Balor, Braun Strowman, Rusev, The Miz, one member of The New Day and the winner of tonight's match between Daniel Bryan and Rusev.

As customary on my Report Card, the best grade a segment can get is an A+ and the worst is an F. Let's start with the opening segment...

Braun Strowman and Finn Balor kick off Monday Night Raw

Slapping Braun Strowman was probably not the best idea ever for Finn Balor

Braun Strowman kicked off Monday Night Raw to a thunderous ovation from the Richmond crowd. He talked about how he will defeat the seven other men in the match and become the "Monster In The Bank" after he grabs the briefcase.

That prompted Finn Balor to come out and talk about how he was the first ever WWE Universal Champion and was never defeated for the title. He reminded Strowman that he took him to the limit last week in the main event.

Strowman said he put up a pretty good fight for a little man; which prompted Balor to slap Strowman and start a brawl. Raw General Manager Kurt Angle came out and set up a rematch between the two.

GRADE FOR OPENING PROMO: B-

The match itself was pretty good but not as good as last week's. Balor hit a Coup de Grace on Strowman and was going for a second one to try for a major upset, but Kevin Owens came out and caused a distraction. I gave last week's match a B+ so this week's gets a slight downgrade.

GRADE FOR STROWMAN V. BALOR: B

Seth Rollins and Jinder Mahal have a solid WWE Intercontinental Championship match

After attacking Seth Rollins with a steel chair last week, Rollins demanded to have a match against Jinder Mahal this week for the WWE Intercontinental Championship.

As usual, Sunil Singh got involved in the match and in the end, Rollins had enough and took out last week's frustrations with a steel chair causing the disqualification.

Though this was the second straight match with a DQ finish, it totally made sense for Rollins to snap in this situation.

After the match, as Rollins was celebrating on the announce table, Elias clocked him with the guitar from behind as retribution for interrupting his performance at the start of the match.

Rollins is the clear favorite for Wrestler of the Year at this point, and having a very solid match with Jinder is proof of that.

GRADE: B+

Nia Jax's exhibition for Ronda Rousey

Nia Jax gives Ronda Rousey a demonstration with a local competitor in the ring

Nia Jax decided to have a live demonstration with a local judo expert (judo was a sport that Ronda Rousey won a medal for at the Olympics). It was basically to prove to Ronda (who was at the commentary table) that whatever she throws at Nia, it's not going to matter.

Rousey later came to the ring to have another staredown with Jax, but unfortunately, this segment didn't do much for me.

It doesn't help that you have a woman in Jax who overcame bullying at WrestleMania to make her a tremendous babyface, now acting like a heel just a month later.

GRADE: D+

Bobby Roode takes on Kevin Owens in a battle of Money In The Bank participants

After taking exception to comments that Kevin Owens made about him during commentary for Finn Balor v. Braun Strowman, Bobby Roode demanded a match with KO and Raw General Manager Kurt Angle granted it.

This match featured two of the eight men who will compete in the Money In The Bank Ladder Match on June 17th. It went on for about ten minutes with a very odd finish of KO countering a sunset flip attempted by Roode into a pin.

The only thing that saved this segment from a poor grade was Braun Strowman coming to finally get his hands on KO after interfering in the Balor match. Poor Roode thought he was friends with Strowman and celebrated, only to be the recipient of his own running powerslam.

GRADE: C

Sami Zayn's apology to Bobby Lashley and his family

Sami Zayn agrees to a match with Bobby Lashley at Money In The Bank...

After one of the worst segments in recent Raw history last week, Sami Zayn came to the ring to apologize for Bobby Lashley and his family. Lashley wanted to hear the apology for himself, so he made his way to the ring.

Lashley talked about how Memorial Day is a special day for his family (who has a military background) and gave everyone who has served a salute. That was a great moment.

Lashley then said to Zayn that they should just settle their differences in the ring and challenged him to a match at Money In The Bank; which Zayn accepted with a handshake that Lashley made a little too tight, hurting Sami.

While this wasn't the train wreck last week's segment was, it wasn't good by any means, just pretty average.

GRADE: C-

The B-Team BBQ becomes the first creative misstep for this tag team

The B-Team tries to win over the rest of the tag team division with a BBQ

After starting off their career as The B-Team with a 2-0 record, Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel went to Raw General Manager Kurt Angle to demand a Tag Team Championship opportunity. Angle denied them the chance and said they'd have to get wins over more than just one team in the division.

The B-Team took it as they have to win over the tag team division, so they decided to throw a Memorial Day BBQ. None of the other tag teams agreed that the B-Team should jump ahead of them in line, so that started a food fight.

After a couple of great weeks of segments, this was the first dud involving the B-Team; however, a tag team battle royale will happen next week on Raw to determine who faces Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt.

GRADE: D+

Women's Gauntlet Match to determine the final spot for Money In The Bank

In terms of grading the Women's Gauntlet Match to determine the final spot in the Money In The Bank Ladder Match, they were doomed from the start.

While several weeks ago, the men got two hours for their Gauntlet Match to determine who entered the Elimination Chamber last, the women had a paltry 22 minutes.

With seven women competing in the match, everything was rushed except the final pairing of Ruby Riott and Sasha Banks. There was a great moment when Mickie James came out in front of her hometown crowd of Richmond, Virginia, but she only lasted a few minutes.

Despite the efforts of The Riott Squad, Sasha made Ruby tap out to The Bank Statement to qualify for the ladder match.