RAW 5/6: Roman is back!

[smarkmouth]

WWE really selling that commercial time at a bulk rate tonight, so it seems by this one match that I'm watching.

[klunderbunker]

Monday Night Raw
Date: May 6, 2019
Location: US Bank Arena, Cincinnati, Ohio
Commentators: Michael Cole, Corey Graves, Renee Young

WWE seems to already be hitting the panic switch as the shows are hitting some pretty low numbers. Therefore, Roman Reigns is back tonight to settle some unfinished and unspecified business. Normally it would make sense to advertise this more than a few days in advance and on television instead of online but WWE has never been one to plan ahead. Let’s get to it.

Click on the link below for the full review.

The Quick Fix Is In

[Jack-Hammer]

Eh, not so sure about the Wild Card thing. Seems like a good idea in principle but you ultimately have WWE resorting to the same old bullshit. For instance, why not just go head and put the tag title son the Viking Raiders tonight instead of going through with another tag match between them that nobody cares about? Unless, of course, it's to show even more contempt by actually having Hawkins and Ryder defeat this genuinely good team. We also looked to have a tag match between two solid teams in Gallows & Anderson and the Revival but it's instead turned into a skit from an 80s movie with the Usos having rubbed icy-hot into the crotches of the Revival's tights earlier in the night. So, we didn't get a match, we just got more juvenile nonsense that Vince thinks is funny. Oh, and the worst thing of all is that we go back to the lame ass, dead tired idea we see about once a month in WWE of two guys who don't like each other being forced to team up only for a misunderstanding to cost them the match. Even worse though, this time around saw the reigning Universal Champion pinned by Baron Corbin so, whoop-de-fucking-do, this means a championship match for Corbin before long.

Also, why not have a competitive match between Sami Zayn and Braun Strowman instead of the usual bit of either the big guy destroying the little guy or big guy chasing down the little guy and then destroying him before getting rid of him in a quasi-humorous way? Vince could still have had Strowman win, so why not make both guys look good by having a competitive match in with Zayn holds his own, forces Strowman to exert himself and dig for a win? You know, kind of like they'd have probably done in NXT? I'd take that any ol' day of the week over Vince's obsession with high school level machismo.

I continue to be intrigued by Bray Wyatt's new gimmick. It could be something epic or something so horrendously bad that we're all scarred for life.

Roman Reigns vs. Drew McIntyre was a fun, physical 3.5 star bout. I wasn't wild about the ending as it's just inching us back closer and closer to the formula where Roman Reigns almost never loses, whereby I think fans will turn on him once more. Losing to McIntyre would've cost him nothing and Drew could use the win. True, Reigns didn't outright win given that Shane and Elias interfered in the match to prevent a count from being made, but that's about as close as it's gonna get to Roman Reigns losing a match.

Kofi Kingston vs. Daniel Bryan for the WWE Championship was another fun 3.5 star bout that saw Kofi retain his title in a good, fun, well paced matched with a straight forward ending. No muss, no fuss, Kofi has his first successful true title defense and now can move forward with Kevin Owens.

I give Raw a C overall. Not a bad show, but one that could've been far better if Vince would just dump the usual shenanigans and quit putting focus on the wrong talent, or at least use guys who actually have talent.