Raw LD - MAY 11, 2020

[Storm Trooper]

Fuck Seth Rollins. Clearly that's what Becky Lynch did.


At least we only have one Briefcase now.

[#AbsoluteUnit]

I see what you did there.

[#AbsoluteUnit]

The last ride part one wasn't that good..

[klunderbunker]

Monday Night Raw
Date: May 11, 2020
Location: WWE Performance Center, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Samoa Joe, Tom Phillips, Byron Saxton

It’s time to start picking things up a lot again around here as Becky Lynch is going to make some kind of major announcement. That sounds like she might be dropping the title, and really that might be the only option as it’s hard to imagine almost anyone beating her. Other than that, it’s hard to say what we’ve got coming up on the way to Backlash next month. Let’s get to it.

Click on the link below for the full review.

Season Premiere

[Jack-Hammer]

Generally speaking, the highlights of last night's show were Becky Lynch's announcement, Asuka just being Asuka, Drew McIntyre in general, Bobby Lashley for once, Shayna Baszler being a world class c*nt and the general hype for the new Undertaker documentary.

Last night's show was just all over the place and much of it was written purely to satisfy Vince. I mean....the stuff with the Street Profits and Viking Raiders was so stupid that I was embarrassed to be watching. The Viking Raiders know what automobiles are, they know what karaoke is but they don't know what the hell basketball is?!?!?! ARE YOU F*CKING KIDDING ME?!?!?!?!?!?! This is the kind of stuff Vince McMahon does with one of the best teams of the last 5 years in all of wrestling and one of the hottest young teams in wrestling today?!?!!? I mean, you didn't see idiocy like this during Edge and Orton's promo. Do you have to be a 10 time World Champion in order be used sensibly and treated with a modicum of respect in WWE?

The WWE Women's Tag Team Championship continues to be a title that has no purpose other than to be carried around by two different women for a while. There is no women's tag division and it's a pecker slap in the face whenever some commentator tries to sell us that there is. It's not their fault, nor is it the fault of the women involved but it doesn't make it any less frustrating. Almost only in WWE can you not wrestle or even be seen on television for 7 or 8 months, come back, work one match and earn a championship shot by defeating the champions. I hate that WWE so frequently jobs out champions as a means of setting up title defenses as all it does is devalue the champion. This sounds like "I'm an old fart" statement but screw it, I remember when contenders earned title matches by having feuds with other contenders and defeated them in the midst of sustained pushes. That's how it's supposed to be done 99% of the time with the champ losing a non-title match every so often, like MAYBE once a year, as a means of setting up a title bout.

For the first time since returning to WWE, Lashley is finally starting to come off like the legit badass he is and can be. Screw the posing, screw flipping tires, screw soap opera drama. The guy's a stud, has a very impressive MMA win-loss record owed to being a great athlete and genuinely skilled grappler so use him as such.

I laughed a bit as Seth Rollins last night as I imagined his state of Catatonia was due to Becky's reveleation that she's been knocked up. Not really sure what this means exactly but I'm hoping it's a distinct change for the "Monday Night Messiah" character. There's only so many times someone can deliver the same promo about being this magnanimous, selfless person while secretly being a scumbag and Rollins has gone past the limit.

I'm not sure what's going on with Zelina Vega's stud stable. I hope this isn't just a sign of Vince losing interest, though it's a real possibility. Andrade has what it takes to be a significant, long term player in WWE. Garza has charisma for days with the ability and personality to be a young Eddie Guerrero circa 2003. Austin Theory is quite good in the ring but he needs something. I'd say give the kid some mic time but I'm not sure if that'll be a good thing or not considering that every word out of his mouth will be part of a script either approved or written by Vince himself. Some of the talent have the natural ability to be able to deliver good work even with scripted promos, Sami Zayn's work is highly underrated as he's shown that he can deliver good promos whether they're scripted or it's mostly him just improvising the way legeds had to do and the way they should be done still. It's also time to stop jobbing them out to McIntyre, especially Andrade as McIntyre has balanced the scales, and actually tipped them in his favor, by avenging his defeat and injury at the hands of Andrade back in NXT.

As I said about the Street Profits and the Viking Raiders, this is just piss poor use of two really good teams. The idea of the two teams playing a game of two on two didn't bother me so much, it's how the collective intelligence of every single human being watching was urinated on by the writing. For one thing, the Profits themselves came off like the embodiment of the loud, obnoxious homeboys stereotype. For another...it's the writing that the Raiders didn't know about basketball, to lose by 70+ points, then to turn around and say they let the Profits win and....gotta stop before blood starts running out of my ears and nose again.

I loved Shayna Baszler last night. I mean, she just came off like a mean spirited b*tch. It was something of a rarity in WWE: WWE allowed a heel to behave like a genuine, 100% despicable human being incapable of caring about anyone or anything but themselves. I know I'm gushing a little too much over it but it was just unexpected and fun.

When Becky came out carrying the briefcase, I knew something was up. When I saw she was on the verge of tears, I knew it had to do with an injury, a severe illness or impending motherhood. It was a genuinely great feel good moment and would've felt quite special had there been about 10,000 or so people in attendance. Even though Shayna hinted Becky's career was all but over was just part of her character, I feel there might be some truth to it. My guess is that it'll be a good 18 months or so before we see Becky Lynch again and I don't think "The Man" will ever quite be the same again. Not that she won't have the goods anymore, but the business won't stand still.

Edge and Orton were...well they were solid overall and their presence was nothing more than a ratings ploy when you get down to it. As I alluded to earlier, maybe WWE wouldn't feel the need to rely on these long established stars to pop a rating if Vince treated the roster full of younger, fresher faces with half the respect he gives to these guys. Orton and Edge come off as legends, which they are, while 75% of the rest of the roster wind up being treated like clowns in comparison. WWE has a roster that's insanely packed with talent but the vast majority of them aren't used to a 10th of their ability or worth.

[BestSportsEntertainer]

WWE's answer to low ratings: Baron Corbin and basketball.