WWE Raw: 4 Shockers & Surprises from this week’s episode (June 3, 2019)

Raw has always been the superior brand of WWE, and it tried to show its star power once again on this week’s episode of the show. The WWE creatives brought out Triple H, Randy Orton, Brock Lesnar, and The Undertaker on the same night to ensure that the build towards the Super ShowDown event remains as grand as possible.

In doing so, they managed to get some matches over in a decent way for the event, as not much build-up has been made on television for the clashes. The Undertaker’s short and crisp promo was arguably the highlight of the night.

However, there were still many mistakes that the creatives committed on this week’s show which made things feel not as special as they should have before such a major event.

In this article, we will look at the 4 shocking moments from this week’s show which made the show either more unpredictable or a bit questionable.

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#4 Stomping Grounds before Super ShowDown

Since the conclusion of the Money in the Bank pay-per-view, WWE has been trying hard to build on its next event, which will be held in Saudi Arabia later this week. The biggest factor in the build-up has been Brock Lesnar’s Money in the Bank contract win, which has seen interest rise on the Raw brand.

However, WWE made a shocking revelation this week which sort of fizzled out one of the most heavily built matches for the event on Friday. Roman Reigns is set to take on Shane McMahon at the event, and the two got into a segment this week along with Drew McIntyre.

While tensions were running high, it was surprising that Roman Reigns already revealed his next pay-per-view match, as he is now scheduled to take on Drew McIntyre at WWE Stomping Grounds on June 23, 2019, at the Tacoma Dome in Tacoma, Washington.

Does this booking give away too much for what will happen at Super ShowDown? We will have to wait for this Friday to find that out.

#3 The fall of Lars

The Lucha House Party made its way to the ring for a six-man tag team match. Before the team could compete, though, Lars Sullivan's music played. The four men have been involved in some sort of a rivalry, and Vince has booked Lars to display his power against the three men on Friday this week in a handicap match.

Lars has been on a path of destruction for the past couple of months and has particularly targeted the trio more often than not.

While it was obvious Lars would rip through The Lucha House Party and stand tall before the match on Friday, the creatives had other plans.

In a shocking turn of events, the trio managed to avoid an attack from Lars and attacked him instead, dropkicking Sullivan out of the ring and leaving him seething on the arena floor.

Is Lars one to back out that easily?

#2 Rey Mysterio’s decision

Injured United States champion Rey Mysterio returned to Raw to relinquish his title Monday. Mysterio had won the title from Joe in controversial fashion, and the aftermatch beatdown had left him legitimately injured and unable to compete.

After Rey spoke about how the industry is in his blood and also revealed about training his son Dominick, Samoa Joe interrupted him.

After an exchange of words, Mysterio laid the title down in the center of the ring and decided to walk away. Instead of letting the injured legend walk back, Joe surprisingly attacked him and applied the Coquina Clutch.

Joe then left the ring with his newly acquired title while Mysterio was left to recover in the ring.

Will this attack prove to be the final nail in the coffin and bring Mysterio’s son to the squared circle to take on the man who injured and humiliated his father?

#1 Barun Strowman’s win

WWE had failed to build upon many rivalries before the Super ShowDown event which will take place this Friday. They tried to cover up the tracks quickly this week but did not manage to do a great job.

We saw Triple H and Randy Orton square off for the first time since their match for the event was announced. Additionally, The Undertaker finally returned to send a warning to Goldberg.

Similarly, WWE decided to go the good old 1990s way and set an arm wrestling match between Braun Strowman and Bobby Lashley this week on Raw before their mammoth clash in Saudi Arabia.

While die-hard fans know how arm wrestling matches in WWE usually turn out, newer fans got a taste of what usually goes down too. Even though that was the case, it was surprising that Strowman clearly and decisively beat Lashley in the match.

An inconclusive end would have been much better, and making Lashley look a bit weaker helps no one going down the line.