WWE throws a bunch of stuff at the screen to see what sticks.
If you had high expectations for King Corbin’s appearance Monday night, you were disappointed. If you were expecting a disaster, you also were disappointed. But if you were watching for bland, largely inoffensive stuff you didn’t have to watch again, then it fit your expectations.
Thus, Corbin’s appearance on Raw as part of the Brand-to-Brand Invitational basically canceled itself out. The rest of Raw, however, wasn’t too shabby overall. WWE seems to have figured out how to throw a bunch of stuff at the screen and see what sticks. As long as more clicks than clangs, then they can keep getting passing marks.
With most matches clocking in at 2-4 minutes each, Monday certainly wasn’t about the wrestling, despite the opening segment being centered on a discussion about wrestling. We saw Edge and Randy Orton renew hostilities and set up for a rematch next month. We saw Zelina Vega’s herd thinned a bit, while Seth Rollins went Dumpster diving afterward to recruit a new charge.
We saw MVP looking to increase his net worth on Raw, Apollo Crews and Kevin Owens return, Asuka go on the hunt, and Charlotte Flair preen for everyone. And lastly, we saw axes get thrown.
There’s a lot to cover, so let’s get to it…
Downs…
5. Can The Humberto Experiment Be Done?
Look, Humberto Carrillo is a young superstar who shows promise. But after watching him for the past few months, it’s safe to say he isn’t the next major Latino superstar.
Carrillo is good in the ring, but not great. His promos are getting better, but aren’t there yet. He’s just not clicking how he should be if he’s going to be the guy defending Rey Mysterio’s honor. He’s almost like the unqualified understudy – good enough to be the emergency option, but you pray the star doesn’t literally break a leg.
Humberto fell in relatively short order to Murphy Monday night after a Seth Rollins distraction. During the match itself, we saw the usual flurry of offense from Carrillo (and Murphy, for that matter), a brief, uninspired match.
It got the point across, but it seemed like a waste. You could have just had Murphy jump Carrillo when he came out to defend Rey and then have Aleister Black save.
4. That’s Not How To Win People Over
Why was Liv Morgan crying so much?
These backstage promos are taped, right? If so, then what aired Monday night was inexcusable. If it was live, then the agents didn’t practice it enough with Morgan. During Raw, Liv talked about how mother is her hero, how she’s full of determination and never quits. She sounded like she was about to cry as she said this, transitioning to her match against Charlotte Flair last week, and how Liv is just like her mother – full of determination.
It was a pedestrian promo at best, but the delivery was awful. There’s “plucky underdog,” and then there’s “whiny weakling.” “I might be small and outmatched, but I try my hardest!” That’s not the promo of someone you want to see wrestle.
Look, Liv Morgan has improved in the ring, and this writer is rooting for her. But that was a dud of a promo.
3. At Least It Was Brief
Question: Have the IIconics have one good wrestling match since they were called up to the main roster? Or even one passable match?
The obnoxious duo returned to Raw last week and earned a title shot by defeating the WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross. This week, they got that title match… and promptly lost by DQ in less than 3 minutes. The match itself wasn’t even decent. The IIconics got about 30 seconds of offense before Bliss tagged in and hit Twisted Bliss, only for Peyton Royce to break up the pin and get overzealous throwing Alexa into the post for the disqualification.
The Aussies then teased dissension when Billie Kay slapped Royce for costing them their one title shot, but they hugged it out.
This wasn’t terrible, but after a “big return” and victory over the tag champs, to have things go down like that was just a head-scratcher.
2. Hyperbole Much?
Does Edge versus Randy Orton in a straight-up wrestling match have the potential to steal the show? Of course it does. Both men are decorated, consummate professionals who are among the best in the business.
But to pre-emptively bill this as possibly “the greatest wrestling match ever”?
Come on now.
Even if Edge/Orton delivers a classic, you’re putting impossible hype on top of a guy who hasn’t wrestled a real one-on-one match in nine-plus years, and a guy who is known for being on cruise control at times, without the benefit of a crowd to help pump up your adrenaline.
It’s a recipe for a letdown, even if it’s a really good match. Worse, you know the announcers will sell it on the Raw after Backlash as living up to the hype, thus making themselves sound like idiots.
Call it “one for the ages,” or “a clash of the titans” or something like that. But this branding is just terrible.
1. Poochie Flair
On The Simpsons, there was an episode with a cartoon (within the cartoon) character named Poochie who the creators thought would save Itchy & Scratchy, but was hated by the fans. Homer’s bright idea to make him better? Make him louder and angrier, and whenever he wasn’t on-screen, other characters would ask, “Where’s Poochie?”
WWE’s version of Poochie today is Charlotte Flair.
Flair is a Raw superstar holding the NXT Women’s Championship who is challenging SmackDown Women’s Champion Bayley this Friday. Got all that?
Oh, and Charlotte trounced Ruby Riott Monday night. That’s not to say that she shouldn’t have defeated Riott, but she’s now beaten Liv Morgan, Io Shirai, Riott and likely will come out looking superior to Bayley later this week.
The answer to WWE’s ratings woes isn’t MORE CHARLOTTE. But don’t expect the company to get that memo. They’ll just continue to oversaturate their programming with her until everyone is sick of Flair.
And now to the positives...
Ups…
9. Ax Throwing Hits Target, Misses Bullseye
Last week’s pickup basketball game between the Street Profits and Viking Raiders was humorous enough, plus it let all four men have a little fun without being goofy with in-ring promos. It also meant you knew we’d have another segment this week.
Monday night, we got a multi-part segment focused on ax throwing, the Raiders’ strong suit. Erik and Ivar obviously were pros at hitting the target, while Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford struggled just to avoid hitting other people.
They clearly tried for humor throughout the segment, with it working somewhat, though not as well as last week. Hopefully, this was the last of these ventures and we can get back in the ring for the actual challenge for the Raw Tag Team Championship.
While this was a nice diversion that showed a bit more to the Raiders and played to the Profits’ natural charisma, there is a tag title feud to further.
8. The Man Gets Stellar Video Sendoff
It bears mentioning again, but WWE’s video package department is top-notch.
The people in that office put together a hell of a video tribute to Becky Lynch Monday night, tying together her promo from last week with clips of her NXT debut and rise to superstardom, all the way to WrestleMania 35’s main event. It was a fun little journey, bringing her career all the way to the present, where she relinquished her Raw Women’s Championship so that it could be the real prize in the women’s Money in the Bank ladder match.
The video was a powerful way to send Lynch – one of WWE’s biggest superstars at the moment – off to motherhood without simply replaying last week’s promo with some cheesy music and special effects.
It’s a shame to lose Becky for the next year or so, but she got to go out on top… plus it just writes a hell of an opening for a comeback story in 2021.
7. Baszler Rolls
The outcome of the submission match between Shayna Baszler and Natalya was never really in doubt, but the brief match at least was intense and vicious-looking.
Nattie and Shayna traded submission holds, with Niedhart locking in a Sharpshooter after Baszler told her that the “Hart Family crap doesn’t work on me.” But Shayna reversed out of a kneebar, locked in the Kirafuda Clutch, and got the tap-out win. It was exactly what Baszler needed – a straightforward win in a no-nonsense match. It keeps her strong and reinforces that she can make experienced wrestlers tap.
Now, Nattie’s temper-tantrum afterward is something else. That wasn’t exactly entertaining, mainly because it’s Natalya – it’s hard to really get invested in her in the same way you might with another wrestler. But your mileage might vary.
6. Feud In Reverse
Typically, a stipulation such as a Last Man Standing match is the end of a long, personal, vicious feud. But in the case of Randy Orton and Edge, it was the beginning, and now we’re progressing (regressing?) to a traditional one-on-one wrestling match.
Listening to Orton say “wrestling” over and over was somewhat surreal in a company where that’s almost a dirty word. He talked about how athletes are a dime a dozen and can’t do what he does. That brought out Edge, who pointed out that wrestling was Orton’s backup plan, that just because he’s gifted in the ring doesn’t mean it’s anything more than a paycheck for him.
It’s an interesting way to build toward the match, pitting Orton’s natural in-ring talents against Edge’s heart and grit. With Edge still riding his road back to active competition, it’s a great setup to see if he can hang with one of the best in-ring performers in Orton.
Now, calling it potentially “the greatest wrestling match ever,” we’ve already panned. But the story buildup is pretty nice so far.
5. Delusional Rollins
Listening to Seth Rollins deliver one of his calm, yet unhinged, promos is pretty entertaining. He’s delusional, but just believable enough to make it work.
Rollins thanked Rey Mysterio for pulling him out of the depths and darkness of despair after his Money in the Bank loss to Drew McIntyre, noting that “what happened to Rey” has been described as both heinous and disgusting, and penance. But Seth called it “unfortunate,” a necessary sacrifice for the greater good.
Man, if he invests in a compound and starts buying firearms, the FBI better jump on this guy.
As has been said before, this is one of those character beats where you wish there was an audience to react to his ramblings, because it’s pretty spot-on.
4. Rollins Recruits Another Convert
One woman’s trash is another man’s treasure. At least, that’s how Seth Rollins viewed Zelina Vega’s former charge Austin Theory.
Theory got bounced from Vega’s stable after heel miscommunication led to Angel Garza getting pinned. Austin was beat up ringside afterward and was still there when Murphy faced Aleister Black. And in an eerily similar manner to how Rollins recruited Murphy months ago, the Black Hand of Raw enlisted Theory to attack Black, leading to a beatdown of Aleister.
And just like that, Theory went from castoff to part of Rollins’ pseudo-religious cabal. Nicely done.
3. MVP Goes For The Hard Sell
One of the biggest complaints this column has had about Bobby Lashley is all the start-and-stop pushes he’s received during his two years back with the company. He’s been involved in subpar feuds and wrestled lower-level talent when he should be competing against upper-card wrestlers.
MVP called all of that out Monday night when he noted that he and Lashley wouldn’t be working together because Lashley’s focus is on clowns like R-Truth and his wife Lana. MVP then asked why Bobby wasn’t putting his Full Nelson on a WWE champion, asking, “When is Lashley going to free Lashley?”
It was a great little way to call attention to Lashley’s own booking problems and make it part of a storyline – but in a smart way. MVP as his manager could guide him toward top-tier matches.
2. Crews Ups His Game
Apollo Crews returned to action Monday night after a three-week absence, lamenting his lost opportunity at Money in the Bank, but noting that the pieces are falling into place for him to achieve something.
Crews teamed up with another returning superstar, Kevin Owens, to defeat Angel Garza & Andrade (who injured Crews a few weeks ago) after some heel miscommunication from Austin Theory. Apollo later talked about looking for the final piece falling into place and how he was challenging Andrade for the United States Championship again next week.
Probably the best part was seeing Zelina Vega show up during Crews’ interview and bad-mouthing him, only for Apollo to stop her, ask where Andrade was, and tell her he was going to finish his interview. It was more personality than Crews has shown in the last three years combined.
If he really is a pet project of Paul Heyman’s, then it stands to reason he’ll get a fair shake. Here’s hoping after bouncing around for several years that he can make something of this opportunity.
1. Asuka Shows No Fear
New Raw Women’s Champion Asuka wasted no time in erasing any doubt that she was now officially a babyface.
The Empress of Tomorrow celebrated her title win Monday night, thanking Becky Lynch and basking in being a Grand Slam Champion (NXT, SmackDown, Raw and WWE Women’s Tag titles). But her celebration was cut short when Nia Jax came out and noted that Lynch was simply out on maternity leave, and Asuka lucked into the “greatest temp job” ever.
Thankfully, this didn’t turn into Jax being a dominating challenger who beats up the new champ, as Asuka attacked and knocked Nia out of the ring. Later, Jax attacked Kairi Sane, prompting Asuka to hunt her down and drop her with a head kick.
Jax will likely get a chance to get revenge next week, but the Empress needed to come out of the gate looking strong, which she definitely did going after Nia.
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