The Monday Night RAW 6 /15 edition kicks off on the heels of a crazy Backlash PPV. Monday night, RAW got weird. Really weird. Randy Orton vs. Edge surprised everyone by being a great wrestling match. It was, despite Edge getting injured. Would I say the greatest match ever as billed? No, not likely. But they did put on something memorable. Memorable, as Edge came out of career-ending retirement to do this.
Randy Orton starts the show to share his thoughts. He doesn’t sound too much like gloating, but he does seem to revel in his victory at “sending Edge home to be a father.” This brings out Christian who vows revenge.
Great opener, showing Orton thinking his beef with Edge is over, but Christian points to the contrary.
Later in the show, Ric Flair begs Christian not to do it. He does this quite a bit during the show, which made me a bit suspect of things to come.
Kevin Owens defeated Angel Garza in a good match. I enjoy Garza, I hope he continues being pushed. However, the feud with Andrade seems a bit forced and rushed. Some might disagree on the forced, but this happened way too fast which is something WWE does when they suddenly have a feeling things need to change. I would have preferred seeing Andrade and Garza on a tag team run first, then perhaps the inevitable split. We knew they would split once Andrade came back from injury. Too obvious. When Austin Theory was with the group, it should have stuck for more than a month. Good ideas, bad execution.
Backstage, MVP blames Lana for Bobby Lashley failing to defeat Drew McIntyre. Lana’s role as the bumbling bimbo seems to be coming to an end. Lashley wants a divorce.
I stopped paying attention to Lana and Lashley being “a thing” so while this was meant to be somewhat relevant, I didn’t care in the slightest.
MVP is the MVP on the mic. Good for him.
The cinematic match between The Street Profits and The Viking Raiders was too funny last night… Until Akira Tozawa showed up with ninjas. Little risky considering all the racism and people fighting against stereotyping. Sorry, I wasn’t in the majority of “Hey! Look! NINJAS!!” I was in the crowd of: “Uh… is this OK?” I did laugh at it, not going to lie, but man, timing doesn’t seem so hot on this one. Tonight, the Viking Profits… Or the Street Raiders faced off against Tozawa and Jobbers. There was the BIG GIANT NINJA who did nothing but stand there. The Big Show arrived as Tozawa brought Jordan Omogbehin (the big ninja) into the ring. They beat up little ninjas.
If the other ninjas were actually good wrestlers, I would have been fine with this segment. All this did, in my opinion was dictate the Raw Tag Team scene is the current comedy act of WWE.
On the one hand I don’t mind, because I suppose “who doesn’t love ninjas?” But, this just felt awkward and weird.
The show picks up as Seth Rollins makes some threats towards Dominick and Rey Mysterio. As Seth made his threats from the ring, Rey, on the titantron cautioned the Monday Night Messiah. Well, the canvas clergy opted not to heed Rey’s warning. Dominick snuck in the ring, attacking Rollins, and escaping before Murphy and Theory could intervene.
Good work here. Very creative. This makes Dominick a credible threat as a future opponent. I’m liking where this is going.
The IIconics defeated Natalya and Liv Morgan. I don’t have anything to say about this. IIconics being pushed yet again for some odd reason. Natalya and Morgan in awkward booking land.
Hey! Apolo Crews defeated Shelton Benjamin – Earlier, MVP tried courting Crews, but to no avail. Shelton Benjamin, eyes and ears open, tells Crews he should have considered. PLEASE OH PLEASE let Shelton join MVP’s stable.
This was a good match, mostly because I enjoy seeing Benjamin getting real air time. Bring me more Benjamin!!!
In a strange almost-main event, The WWE Championship was defended in a tag team match, with R-Truth and Drew McIntyre defeating Bobby Lashley and MVP. This was a cute and silly idea, obviously with MVP being the mastermind to try and wrest the belt off McIntyre. Well, it didn’t work. Truth pins MVP. It was a fun match, which is something we need more of.
We need more fun. The ninjas were cute, but didn’t work for me. This was fun to watch.
In another almost-main event, Asuka retains the RAW Women’s Championship against Nia Jax. Something a little fishy about the conclusion, so this may not be the end of the feud. Possible fast count by the ref. Good match, similar to the PPV match. Jax dominated with the strength and power, but Asuka’s tenacity proved too much as an awkward distraction allowed the champ to roll up challenger for the win.
Randy Orton punted Christian
If you didn’t see this coming, you probably didn’t see Lana being dumped coming either. Ric Flair warns Christian one last time, but the King of Peeps wants to go. For this, he gets a solid uppercut to the lower peeps, by the Dirtiest Player in the Game, and Orton punts for the field goal. Pretty meh ending. Christian didn’t even get a change to fight. Orton seems to apologize, but also seems to revel in his conquest. Odd personality being displayed by Orton, as a mental health professional, I would say he’s either suffering from some diagnosable mixed emotions due to acute anxiety or possible personality disorder.
Let’s see where next week takes us after all this. Weird stuff man.
