WWE Monday Night Raw: The 10 for February 11, 2019

6. 30 minutes of midcard

The men of the midcard saw a large chunk of the night’s action, the process itself being kicked off with Finn Balor facing Drew McIntyre while Intercontinental Champion Bobby Lashley (accompanied by Lio Rush) sat ringside to observe. Lashley and Rush’s involvement was inevitable based on their very presence (and because Balor is facing Lashley and Rush in a handicap match at Elimination Chamber for Lashley’s championship). Indeed, this comes to pass, with Lashley interfering as Balor attempted to hit McIntyre with the Coup de Grace.

This lopsided beatdown then prompts Kurt Angle, fresh off of not-retiring, to make the save for Balor. In turn, Angle’s blood enemy (and part-time sommelier) Baron Corbin hits the ring. Next to the ring is Braun Strowman, who immediately gets down to business by tossing people around. One can only guess what happens after the commercial break.

Oh yes, this crew of angry, violent men who hate each other have magically been organized into an official match, with Balor, Angle and Strowman facing Corbin, McIntyre and Lashley. The heels are initially named the winner, with Lashley pinning Balor, but the referee missed that Balor’s foot was on the rope. This prompts another referee to hit the ring to explain what happened to the first referee, and the match is restarted, because for some reason the WWE thought that this entire segment wasn’t nearly long enough.

Back underway, the heels clear house, including McIntyre serving two Claymore Kicks to Strowman’s face. This forces Balor to temporarily go it alone until his teammates slowly revive themselves. With the assistance of Strowman and Angle, Balor finally hits the Coup de Grace on Lashley and gets the win.

While the match and the story being told was perfectly cromulent (if not a bit repetitive and predictable), it was overlong. And its unfortunate that Strowman can’t just be a one-man wrecking crew and command the crowd alone again. He faces Corbin on Sunday, by the way; expect it to get just as messy as it did on Raw.