WWE Raw – June 3rd 2019: Results & Review

Welcome to this week’s WWE Monday Night Raw review, right here on Nerdly. I’m Nathan Favel and we have the big build for Super Show-Down, especially for the dream match of The Undertaker versus Goldberg. Also, Brock Lesnar says he is cashing in his Money In The Bank contract tonight. Well, let’s find out who’s full of $#!@.

Match #1: Drew McIntyre & The Revival def. Roman Reigns & The Usos

The following is courtesy of wwe.com:

The Six-Man Tag Team Match pitting Roman Reigns and The Usos against Drew McIntyre and The Revival was never going to end these respective rivalries — everyone is in too deep for their issues to end in anything short of decimation — but Raw’s wild clash kicked things into a new gear all the same, thanks in no small part to the involvement of Shane McMahon. “The Best in the World” made his presence known before the match even began, antagonizing Reigns from atop the ramp with the bold promise to hand The Big Dog his first-ever submission loss this Friday at WWE Super ShowDown. McMahon got involved in the match, too, diverting Reigns’ attention and setting him up for a bulldozing Claymore from Drew McIntyre, who finished off the match moments later with a second Claymore to one of The Usos. (The Revival ran interference on the outside.) Shane didn’t let the end of the match stop him, either, recruiting McIntyre and The Revival for a series of post-match indignities against The Big Dog, culminating in his own variation on the former Universal Champion’s signature Spear. It was Shane’s most definitive statement in this rivalry to date; whether he can make good on his momentum without three bullies at his side, however, is another matter entirely.

My Opinion: 2.5 out of 5 – This should have been better, but it got cut off by commercial breaks and all that other booking nonsense we can’t stand.

Match #2: Charlotte Flair def. Lacey Evans via Disqualification

The following is courtesy of wwe.com:

If contentment is the enemy of competition, consider Becky Two Belts better off gone. As Becky Lynch explained, reaching the mountaintop had the unintended side effect of plateauing the double-champ, which helped contribute to losing the SmackDown Women’s Title at WWE Money in the Bank. Things were looking up for The Man on Raw, however, because her two rivals — Lacey Evans and Charlotte Flair — are now fighting each other, and because Lynch seems to have rediscovered a little bit of that old straight fire we all fell in love with. Lynch didn’t interfere in the mounting tensions between The Lady and The Queen, instead sitting back while the hostilities built to the point of an impromptu match between Evans and Flair. She made quite the show of her non-interference during the match, too, until The Queen had sufficiently tenderized her foe and Becky made her move, hauling Charlotte out of the ring — cue the disqualification win — and pummeling Evans with the Man-handle Slam. Consider the payback delivered, or at least begun, and Becky Lynch leaves Raw in the exact opposite of the way she arrived: Happy, for sure, but nowhere near content.

My Opinion: 2 out of 5 – This was pretty bad, but Flair was there to add some wrestling to it.

Match #3: Braun Strowman def. Bobby Lashley (Arm Wrestling Match)

The following is courtesy of wwe.com:

The arm-wrestling contest has its own strange, oddly hallowed place in the annals of sports-entertainment as a matter of pure bragging rights, so before Braun Strowman and Bobby Lashley beat each other all over WWE Super ShowDown, it was only fitting they faced off in one of the most rudimentary yet rewarding tests of strength. Unfortunately for Strowman, he seems to have forgotten that a rivalry doesn’t always come down to who’s the strongest. Despite some mind games and taunts that riled up Strowman at the outset, Lashley found his All Mighty muscles were no match for the power of These Hands, as Strowman planted him after a couple of false starts. Strowman refused to let up, either, but the chest-beating came with consequences: Lashley threw a bag of chalk in The Monster Among Men’s face, rendering Strowman blind and defenseless against a Running Powerslam of The All Mighty’s own. Given the loss, you can consider Lashley humbled — given what happened after, you can also consider him motivated. Both would be true.

My Opinion: 1 out of 5 – It’s debatable if this is even considered a wrestling match in our sense, but it had a winner, so I’ll count it. Anyway, this sucked @$$.

Match #4: Nikki Cross def. WWE Women’s Tag Team Champion Peyton Royce

The following is courtesy of wwe.com:

Nikki Cross has been tearing it up alongside Raw Women’s Champion Becky Lynch the last couple of weeks as The Man’s tag team partner, but Alexa Bliss re-inserted herself into The Twisted Sister’s orbit on Raw, backing her up against Peyton Royce and inadvertently giving her an opening to defeat the IIconic — though Cross didn’t seem to notice. The inciting incident was Bliss sipping on a personalized coffee mug at ringside, which led Royce and Billie Kay to take their attention off Cross. Royce booted the cup out of The Goddess’ hand before The IIconics sent Bliss tumbling into the puddle, white jeans and all. Cross took advantage of the chaos to pin Royce with her twisting neckbreaker, but an infuriated Bliss got the last word, pouncing on Billie Kay in a moment of frenzy that made her new friend quite proud.

My Opinion: 2.5 out of 5 – Cross did a fine job of giving this some life and a bit of a purpose.

Match #5: (Main Event) Ricochet def. Cesaro

The following is courtesy of wwe.com:

Best of three! After two straight weeks of show-stealers, barn-burners, you name it, Ricochet and Cesaro had their rubber match, and it was every bit as thrilling as the previous two bouts. That Ricochet got the win and the bragging rights was somewhat overshadowed, though, as the ongoing grudge dovetailed with the saga of the 24/7 Championship in unexpected fashion. You see, R-Truth had been conspicuous by his absence all night, and a hunting party — led by an increasingly disheveled Drake Maverick and a solo cup-toting EC3 — spent the whole show trying to find him. Truth turned up under everyone’s nose, literally: After Ricochet had defeated Cesaro in typically stupefying fashion, The Swiss Cyborg administered a retaliatory beating and went to retrieve a table from beneath the ring … only to reveal Truth hiding on top of it. A stupefied Cesaro found himself dropkicked by Ricochet before he could even contemplate making a move for the title, and then the chase began anew, with the usual suspects pouring out of the woodwork to try and pin the elusive champion. Thanks to an assist from Carmella, who superkicked Maverick right when the 205 Live GM had Truth to himself, the champion made his latest, narrowest escape yet, dashing through the WWE Universe. As Truth shows, it helps to have someone watching your back, especially when it’s every man for himself.

My Opinion: 3 out of 5 – This was a fine match that deserved a lot more time than it got. The chemistry these guys have against each other at this point is beyond doubt and far above suspicion. I sound like a Tommy Lee Jones suspense picture from the 1990s. The action was as smooth as you can imagine. I think my brain is shutting down. I feel like HAL 9000 with the nodes yanked out. Maybe I’m just thrilled that a real match happened on a three hour wrestling show. In any case, this was a lot of fun.

News Of The Night:

1. The Undertaker addressed Goldberg in a strong promo that built toward their big match at Super Show-Down.
2. Triple H and Randy Orton had a fun promo to build toward their match at Super Show-Down.
3. Bray Wyatt presented a very special episode of “Firefly Fun House” that was as close to Vince McMahon letting his own company piss all over him, when a puppet was made in his likeness to be a version of the Devil.
4. Brock Lesnar attacked Universal Champion Seth Rollins in lieu of actually using the Money In The Bank contract to get a title shot against Seth.
5. Rey Mysterio relinquished the United States Championship to Samoa Joe in a good promo that ended with Joe choking out Rey.
6. The Lucha House Party brawled with Lars Sullivan to further their feud.

Final Verdict: 2/5

This episode gets a mild pass because the promos were good and the main event was a nice little match.