WWE Raw, SmackDown takeaways: Why wrestle on the wrestling show?

Brock Lesnar learns the rules, R-Truth had a heck of a week and a three-hour wrestling show didn’t feature much wrestling. Here’s the Raw and SmackDown takeaways for this week.

The WWE had to contend both with a holiday weekend in the United States and the debut event of their newest rival, All Elite Wrestling’s Double or Nothing, on Saturday, so both Monday Night Raw and SmackDown Live this week seemed doomed. While WWE has that show in June (taking place in a country they have banned themselves from saying on television) to build for, and that was certainly the centerpiece of this week’s action, the word “action” is also kind of a misnomer, especially as Monday night was concerned.

Let’s get into the need-to-knows about this week’s editions of WWE Monday Night Raw and SmackDown Live.

One hour, sixteen minutes

Monday Night Raw is a three hour show. It is overlong by any television standards. But yet, it’s not bloated. Even with hundreds of wrestlers to showcase, Raw in particular feels paltry, especially as far as the “wrestling-on-the-wrestling-show” stuff is concerned. This week, that point was driven home by the show waiting until 15 minutes into the second hour to feature a legitimate match between established WWE Superstars.

No, that “match” between Shane McMahon against Lance Anoa’i (who deserved better than that) and featured Drew McIntyre beating Anoa’i down before said “match” could take place doesn’t really count. It’s a jobber squash carried out mostly by someone not actually in the match and won by someone who actually cannot wrestle — unsurprisingly, the crowd gave it a very hearty “this is awful” chant. The next bell to ring came 20 minutes later, when Becky Lynch and Nikki Cross faced the IIconics (and no, the WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions did not win).

The show featured only three more matches over the next hour and 45 minutes, bringing the total to four matches plus whatever that was involving McMahon. At least one was a reprisal of last week’s meeting between Cesaro and Ricochet, but only longer this time. Ricochet win brings the pair at one win apiece, and while it is fashionable to complain about WWE’s 50/50 booking, I’m calling a moratorium on that for this Ricochet-Cesaro business, because it’s an excuse for the two to get another televised match.

Another of the matches was a fatal four-way (that was supposed to be an elimination match but was ultimately made single-fall) bout between Baron Corbin, Bobby Lashley, Braun Strowman and The Miz for a shot at Seth Rollins’ Universal Championship at that show in June. Corbin won, for what it’s worth. The final match of the night was Rollins vs. Sami Zayn, which Rollins won though with the looming threat of a Brock Lesnar cash in still hanging over him. Lesnar didn’t cash in; more on that in a bit.

Raw‘s first hour was mostly dominated by Dolph Ziggler jumping WWE Champion Kofi Kingston and the two beating each other up, but none of it in the ring. It also featured The Usos throwing a Memorial Day block party in the parking lot, the “build” to the aforementioned McMahon-Anoa’i segment and numerous commercial breaks.

While some of the final two hours was good — such as Cesaro vs. Ricochet and Zayn vs. Rollins, as well as the latest Firefly Fun House — the atrocious first hour-plus likely sloughed off so many viewers that they went unwatched. Great job, everyone.

The Brock Party

Remember last week, when an unusually-jovial Brock Lesnar emerged on Raw with the Money in the Bank briefcase and used it as a boom box? This week, the briefcase has been altered to look like a boom box, Lesnar has a new, hooded t-shirt featuring it and now Lesnar dances little jigs and — most shockingly of all — speaks. WWE: Where anything is possible.

Lesnar arrives at the top of hours one and two to tease what we all assume is an eventual cash-in on Seth Rollins. The second time, though, he finally reads the contract contained in the briefcase and he reveals he didn’t know something key about it: That he has 12 months from the date of winning said contract to cash it in. Now Lesnar knows he can use the contract as a weapon of fear. By the time he cashes it in, Rollins (or Kingston) may no longer be WWE’s top champions. Everyone in the title picture will have Lesnar’s contract on their minds.

And thus, the Beast spoke: “Seth Rollins, screw you.”

The hot pursuit of R-Truth

R-Truth managed to make it a week as WWE 24/7 Champion despite various Superstars trying to track him down and take the title. Some of these escapades were on display throughout Raw and SmackDown, further cementing the belt’s place in the “comedy/jobber” continuum.

Nothing all that climactic happened until SmackDown Live, when Truth was attacked Shane McMahon and his hired goons, Drew McIntyre and Elias. Elias took the pin and the belt and McMahon chose to suspend the 24/7 rules until after the main-event tag team match that pitted McIntyre and Elias against Truth and Roman Reigns.

It’s all pretty formulaic and predictable: Reigns takes out Elias with a spear, winning the match; the 24/7 rules are thus back on; Reigns sets up a second spear and allows Truth to pin Elias, winning back the championship. While it could be seen as another cheapening of the title — after all, if it was a truly coveted, top-tier championship, then Reigns should have gone for the second pin — could also be read as Reigns doing the right thing by Truth.

Sure: Reigns could have easily won the belt, but Truth was cheated out of it by an unfair beatdown by McMahon and company, a trio who Reigns also strongly dislikes. So he did the “honorable” thing, for Truth. Of course, it also kind of implies that Reigns is above all this mess (and, honestly, he is) and that the belt means more to Truth than him (which, well, it does).

The 24/7 Championship, as its constituted now, only mocks those who hold it. R-Truth rules, though, and always has — don’t forget that.

The Fiend house

Bray Wyatt’s Firefly Fun House let us in ( … ) on the identity of Wyatt’s “secret,” his other persona revealed to us two weeks ago. He’s known as “The Fiend,” and says that The Fiend is a protector. Abby the Witch, however, says that he’s The Fiend because he’s “a sicko,” an accusation that Wyatt diverts by giving us a play-doctor segment.

Wyatt confides in us and the children that Abby is a “bully,” but the undead witch isn’t buying it. She just wants to rest, but Wyatt will never let her. Abby is sick of being stuck “in limbo.” Wyatt diverts again: It’s Limbo Time! Wyatt strikes his familiar back-bend and goes back and forth under the limbo pole. Again, it succeeds in its creepiness.

The internal tension between Wyatt and The Fiend and the ongoing tension between Wyatt/Fiend and Abby is interesting, but it will be even more so if it can translate to an in-ring program. Who is going to let him in (to the ring)? Perhaps it will be Aleister Black; in his promo on SmackDown, he said (in his darkness) that he’s waiting for someone to pick a fight with him.

Odds and ends

• In injury updates, AJ Styles had to pull out of the Raw fatal four-way, leading to Baron Corbin being added. Corbin also attacked Styles in the backstage medical room. Finn Balor also had to bow out for SmackDown. And Rey Mysterio, who injured his shoulder at Money in the Bank, will be relinquishing his WWE United States Championship on Raw next week. Samoa Joe says he should just hand it over to him.
• Yes, Sami Zayn uttered the letters “AEW” on a WWE broadcast during the pretty dreadful Electric Chair segment with Corey Graves on Raw. Relax, everyone: The two companies aren’t in collusion, and Zayn didn’t go rogue. Whether a Vince McMahon approved acknowledgement is a hat-tip, a threat or an admission of feeling threatened is anyone’s guess.

• Kevin Owens vs. Kofi Kingston was the first match on SmackDown this week, a response to Owens’ continued harassment of the WWE Champion and his New Day teammate, Xavier Woods. Of note: It was a great match as the two have strong in-ring chemistry, Kingston’s newfound intensity (as evinced in his stellar promo work) lands perfectly and Kingston hasn’t been pinned in a non-title match, something rare in today’s WWE. He’s the perfect champion, and hopefully the WWE agrees and can keep him strapped up for a nice, long reign.
• The women’s title picture is just kind of idle at the moment, with Raw Champion Becky Lynch and SmackDown Champion Bayley dealing with both Charlotte Flair and Lacey Evants, sometimes singularly, sometimes together. Things here are in a holding pattern, because women cannot compete at that show in June.
• There has still been no sight of the Raw Tag Team Champions, Zack Ryder and Curt Hawkins. Nor have the “Kabuki Warriors,” Asuka and Kairi Sane, appeared on television much/at all since their new team name was introduced. If you recall, they were supposed to challenge the IIconics for their Women’s Tag Team Championship at Money in the Bank. Now? It’s like they never existed.

And those are the biggest moments from this week’s episodes of WWE Monday Night Raw and SmackDown Live. Did you like the wrestling parts of the wrestling shows, or the non-wrestling parts of the wrestling shows? Did you adequately appreciate Shane McMahon? Let us know in the comments below.