Is the Celtic Warrior mightier than the All Mighty Lashley?

The WWE Champion, Bobby Lashley, ditched Sheamus last week but there’s no running from him now! Will the Fella use Raw as a shortcut to the title?

OFFICIAL RESULTS

• Rhea Ripley w/ Nikki A.S.H. VS Shayna Baszler w/ Nia Jax; Ripley wins.
• The Viking Raiders VS Jinder Mahal & Veer w/ Shanky; The Viking Raiders win.
• WWE United States Championship Open Challenge Triple Threat: Damian Priest VS Sheamus VS Drew McIntyre; Priest wins and retains the title.
• WWE 24/7 Championship PARKour: Reggie retains the title.
• Eva Marie VS “Doudrop” Piper Niven; No Contest.
• Karrion Kross VS Humberto Carrillo; Kross wins.
• Nia Jax VS Charlotte Flair; Jax wins.
• John Morrison VS Omos w/ AJ Styles; Omos wins.
• Xavier Woods VS AJ Styles w/ Omos; Styles wins.
• Raw Tag Team Championships: RKBRO VS The Hurt Business; RKBRO wins and retains the titles.

MY REPORT

Opening with an open challenge is always a great move, especially when a show’s ratings are floundering. Priest also getting to be the guy to open the show is great for him, because as the fans say, “You Deserve It!” Plus, Priest calling out Lashley is great stuff, it keeps that feud in mind for farther down the line. What a great amount of story overlapping and promo warfare throwing in Sheamus, McIntyre, Lashley and even RKBRO into the mix. Of course, there are only so many people left on Raw so this was all inevitable. Pearce and Sonya making things bigger with those different title matches was also a great move, one Raw definitely needed to make.

Another thing I’ve suggested before came to be: we’re getting a Rhea VS Shayna feud, though I have a feeling we’re going to have a new tag feud where Nikki and Rhea team together against #ShayNia while the WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions are still on standby. That is, if Shayna and Nia are able to stick together while Charlotte makes for a tempting Raw Women’s Championship target. Rhea really shows her toughness in her win, but Nia really gets good Heel heat right there. Charlotte VS Nia was very good, lengthy, and it felt kinda real at a point. Also, I do like that we’re finally getting Eva Marie VS “Doudrop” Piper Niven, but again the pacing feels so stretched and sloppy there. Also, when the heck is Asuka gonna get back into things?

A little surprising that it wasn’t Veer and Shanky taking on the Viking Raiders, but I suppose if it was just Veer and Shanky, it would’ve been 100% obvious who was winning. Veer still got to hang tough with the Viking Raiders, and despite all the camera cuts, this was a very good match, so we can count Mahal’s trio helping beef up the tag division. The midcard title match being the exact middle of the card makes a lot of sense, and why have us wait any longer for such an awesome Triple Threat? Given the history between Sheamus and McIntyre, and how Priest only just got the US title, it made a lot of sense for Priest to find a way to retain. Maybe we get just Priest VS McIntyre for Extreme Rules PPV.

Goldberg of course wants after Lashley again, and I get it IS Goldberg, but I’m a little disappointed Lashley is turning into some kinda punk through all this stuff. Nice promo from Reggie, and of course a hilarious 24/7 Championship “match” as part of it. I didn’t get to say this last week about the changes Vince has made to Kross, but I will now: HE DOESN’T NEED A PLASTIC LOOKING HELMET. He needs Scarlett to be with him in his entrance and at ringside. Of course Kross was going to win but now he’s like some cartoon super villain. And commentary using “gladiator” and “sanguineous” didn’t help. You could just hear Vince telling them to play it up like that.

John Morrison VS Omos was a nice surprise, and I guess Morrison is going to build towards his grudge match with Miz by taking on guys a bit too big for him to handle. If they’re doing story overlapping, they really should have Morrison take on Kross, have a great match, but still lose. That way Kross gets big points, Morrison still looks strong, and Miz might reconsider (in kayfabe) turning on his best bud. And going right to Woods VS Styles was smart, Styles was right there so why not just go right to it? Another really good match, and I like the nWo Wolfpac inspired gear for Woods. Styles winning makes sense, as the duo of Styles and Omos sweep the night and stay strong.

Riddle and Orton had a really good promo backstage with Riddle rambling, and of course the tag match itself was good stuff. MVP seemed a bit rusty, and I think I caught him double checking with Riddle on the flip from the blocked kick. Naturally, Lashley was not going to become a double champion here, and RKBRO only just got the belts. Plus, Styles-Omos stayed ringside to watch the title match, so we’re surely getting a rematch of RKBRO VS Styles & Omos at Extreme Rules. MVP takes the loss so Lashley stays strong should he have another match with Goldberg, pretty standard formula for a really good episode.

My Score: 8.6/10