WWE Monday Night Raw 5/18/2021

WWE Monday Night Raw 5/18/2021

Last week's show is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2021/05/wwe-monday-night-raw-5102021.html

Bobby Lashley arrives with a bunch of women. He better hope his wife and kids don't see that one.

MVP brings out Bobby. He talked about Bobby's win last night and said he thinks Bobby hurt his fists from punching Braun and Drew in the face so many times. MVP issues an open challenge on Bobby's behalf and Drew immediately comes out. Braun got pinned last night not Drew and the announcers mention this, but Drew has now lost twice to Bobby. I don't really see the justification for him to be getting another shot.

Drew accepts the challenge and MVP said he didn't let him finish - it was an open challenge to anyone except Drew and Braun. MVP tells him to go to the back of the line and Lashley tries to deck him but Drew gets a shot in instead and MVP holds Bobby back outside.

They do a graphic after and announce the open challenge still is on.

AJ Styles with Omos vs Elias with Jaxson Ryker

They waste no time going at it and AJ dropkicks him. Elias comes back with a suplex but AJ hits a backbreaker. AJ gets stuck under the bottom buckle and takes a hard baseball slide out. Elias gorilla presses him onto the apron outside. AJ clotheslines him over the top then plancha's him with a forearm. Ryker goes over to AJ then Omos is there and he backs off.

We go to break and return with AJ taking a huge backdrop then a nice spinebuster. AJ hits a nice enzugiri then pele kicked him after a combo. He then did a neckbreaker over his knee for 2. Elias comes back with a jumping knee and a twisting suplex for 2. They trade chops and AJ goes for the phenomenal forearm but Ryker pulls him off the apron. Elias gets DQ'd over it. Omos chases Ryker up the ramp while Elias throws AJ over the steps. Omos then chases him off and comes to AJ's aide.

This was a decent match and AJ was basically working face here. I don't know if they intended to turn AJ face, but he basically is now.

Alexa Bliss does a quick promo and says she and Lily are dying to meet Tamina and Natalya.

Johnny Gargano does a promo from behind a cage on Bronson Reed. They do a nice comic book graphic for it.

We see clips from last week of Orton RKO'ing the New Day. Riddle and New Day then talk. Riddle apparently sent them a letter and his two-headed snake is missing. Orton then comes in and is looking for Pearce. Orton takes the snake thing as a shot on him and Riddle apparently lied about Pearce wanting to talk to Orton to get him here. Riddle wants Orton to apologize to the New Day for the RKO's last week. Orton says it won't happen. He says he isn't sorry and Kofi calls him a big angry snake who doesn't know how to apologize. Riddle tries to explain Orton and Kofi says Riddle might eat an RKO himself someday. Orton then threatens to RKO Kofi and Kofi challenges him. They agree. They have a weird stare down and Orton walks away. This segment was all over the place. This story isn't doing anything for anyone and I wish it were dropped.

Bliss announces that Natalya and Tamina are here to play with her and Lily. Natalya says its Tamina's first title in WWE and Tamina wants to leave as she is creeped out. Bliss says the doll wants to know their favorite color. Natalya says pink and Tamina says black and blue, which will look great on her face if she does anything weird. Bliss says Lily liked how Tamina beat up Reginald. Tamina says she will beat up Reg again if he gets inb the way. Bliss then starts talking about how Lily likes to collect bugs and teeth and they leave. Alexa says they will be watching their match and wished them good luck with creepy eyes. Like the Orton/Riddle storyline, there is no saving any of this. I can't even recommend suggestions to fix it because it's just that bad.

Angel Garza vs Drew Gulak

Drew goes after him early, hitting a hard slap and an exploder. Drew puts him in an abdominal stretch and Garza fights out. Garza puts him in a reverse ddt position and bounces him off the ropes and flips him over. Garza hits a nice right hand then double underhook backbreakers him. Garza then hits a facewash and a wing clipper for the win. Sucks for Drew here as I don't really see why he needed to get squashed by a low level guy like Garza. But at least he made Raw.

Garza shoves a rose in Drew's mouth after. 

R-Truth is hiding behind a wall and says he can't see anything when he closes his eyes. Kevin Pattrick says he is just here ot talk to him. Tozawa is seen crawling down the stairs in a sneaky way. Truth thinks Lashley's open challenge is for him and calls him "Ricky Bobby". Tozawa then rolls him up to win the title and runs for it as Truth gets mad.

We get another Eva Marie video where she calls herself a role model and wants to see other people have everything they want too.

Randy Orton with Riddle vs Kofi Kingston with Xavier Woods

Woods blows the trombone in Orton's face. Kofi messes up a back leapfrog and Orton takes a butt hard in the face. He goes outside and Kofi follows but they go back in. Kofi then hits some leapfrogs. Woods says "legend beats legend killer" on the outside. Kofi puts his body on the top rope and bounces for a splash on Orton. Riddle cheers Orton on outside like a complete retard as Kofi is pounded on. Kofi runs up the ropes and dropkicks Randy in a nice spot.

Kofi hits a dropkick then is powerslammed as Woods plays his trumpet. Orton is distracted and rolled up in a lame finish to a match where the in-ring wasn't the focus. Riddle and Woods aruge after and Orton leaves instead of beating up everyone. Riddle follows and Woods grabs him but gets pushed by Riddle.

Pearce, Sonya, Lana, Naomi, Dana and Mandy talk in the back. They argue over who gets the next shot. Charlotte Flair comes in and said they blew their chances. Sonya says they will figure it out after the tag title match tonight and Sonya kicks everyone out except Flair. Flair wants a 1v1 title match with Rhea and says she deserves it because she didn't lose at Backlash. She definitely did.

Rhea comes in looking like a nightmare. She says she wants new competition and says Flair is yesterday's news. Flair says she will beat her then be the new women's champ. Rhea says she will watch Asuka/Flair.

WWE Women's Tag Team Championship - Natalya and Tamina (c) vs Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler with Reginald

Nia runs over Natalya to start then running hip attacks her in the corner. Shayna hits a pumping knee to Nat and stretches her. Nia bodyblocks Nat hard and Nat comes back with a spinning lariat. Nia slams Tamina and goes up top but is superkicked off.

Alexa Bliss comes out on the apron and makes fire shoot out of a post while Reginald is there. Shayna gets held up and is lariated by Tamina for the win. This was a very short match with an awful ending. The fire thing was awful.

Reginald is holding his eyes hard outside.

We go to break and return with Sheamus talking in the ring. Sheamus is mad that Ricochet took his clothes and put them on last night at Backlash. Ricochet is then interviewed. He said he had fun with Sheamus' clothes and admitted that he stole them this morning in the locker room. Ric goes to get the clothes and puts them on. He then mocks Sheamus' accent.

Ricochet comes out and Sheamus charges at him but is tripped. Ric then dropkicks him.

Ricochet vs Sheamus

Ric flurries on Sheamus early and takes a hard lariat. Ric gets a little more in and is slammed. Sheamus falls out after an enzugiri. Ric plancha's him but has his back ran into the post then he is thrown over the rail.

We go to break and return with Sheamus in control. Ric hits a bunch of forearms and takes a hard knee into the gut. Ric hits a bunch of hard forearms then backbreakers him. Sheamus goes up top and Ric spanish flies him...of course only for 2. Ric comes back with more forearms and a springboard lariat followed by a running SSP. Ric goes for an asai moonsault but Sheamus gets his knees up.

Sheamus gets his leg caught over the top rope and takes a neckbreaker. Ric goes up top and Sheamus rolls outside, so Ric dives on him from up there. Ric springboard 450's Sheamus for 2. Ric goes for a 2nd rope springboard and takes a pump knee. We had a weird moment as the fake sounds piped in a 3 count but it was only for 2. Sheamus then hits a big pumping knee and wins it.

This went too long and they kicked out of too much. It would have been a good one if they cut this out about half way.

Sheamus puts his hat and jacket on and says he might challenge Bobby tonight.

Mace and T-Bar do a promo in the back. They said beating up Drew was a loan and now it is time to be paid back by Bobby. They flip a coin to determine who gets Bobby and said his title will be gone tonight. I had forgotten all about these guys and them going after Drew. It looked and sounded decent though it was a little hard to make out what they were saying.

Asuka vs Charlotte Flair

Flair evades kicks early and takes a dropkick and a butt bump. Flair's head hangs over the apron and she butt bumps it. Asuka stands on the apron and gets leg swept then Rhea comes out. We go to break and return. Flair hits some chops then cartwheels into a kick on her.

Asuka fights back and lariats her but takes a lariat for a slow 2 count. Flair bangs Asuka's head off the mat on a headscissors then rolls her and she takes a hard fall on her head. Asuk comes back and bounces her with a release german then she running butt bumps her and bulldogs her. Asuka then sliding knee's her for 2. Asuka charges at Flair and takes a hard kick to the chest. Flair accidentally back elbows her and Asuka goes down.

Asuka stops a top rope spanish fly attempt then Asuka dropkicks her off the top for 2. Asuka tries some submissions but can't really sink any in. Flair kneebars Asuka through the ropes then bangs her head off the announcer's table. She goes face to face with Rhea then face kicks Rhea as she is on the apron. Flair goes for the figure four but is rolled up for the win.

I thought this was a pretty good match. They were really aggressive with each other and it felt like they were really trying to win this one. It felt like a real contest and they matched up well together.

John Morrison is walking around backstage. He said he feels dead inside when talking about The Miz and said he is dedicating tonight's match to his memory. John really made it sound like Miz was dead.

Lumberjack Match - Damian Priest vs John Morrison

We had a lumberjack match last night with Miz and Priest where zombies pulled Miz out of the ring. I'm not sure why we are doing this again here with Jomo.

Jomo gets beat up by the lumberjacks early. Priest hits like a corner stomp and Jomo goes out. Jomo is thrown back in the ring by Nikki Cross. Morrison does a capoeira kick on the apron but Priest punches his leg. Jomo throws Tozawa into the ring. Morrison then jumps over the rails and does a caopeira flip back in. He then goes in the ring and takes a sloppy sitout side chokeslam.

We go to break and return. Jomo hits a hard springboard enzugiri. DP goes out and is thrown in. DP picks him up  for a flapjack and slams him down then hits a dominator for 2. DP gets stomped by more lumberjacks outside and T-Bar and Mace argue with other lumberjacks. DP is whipped into the ropes and decides to do his run up the 2nd rope dive onto Mace and T-Bar. Cedric ALexander then runs through the ring to dive on Shelton.

Jomo gets superplexed from the top to the outside onto lumberjacks and Morrison slips up the ropes. The lumberjacks throw both men in. Priest hurricanrana's Morrison off the top then hits a cross rhodes for the win. This went really long and even with wrestlers out there, it really just felt flat. I have no idea why DP dove on Mace and T-Bar. I really hope this is the end of that feud.

DP does an interview and says it is time to move on from Miz and Morrison. He said he might accept Bobby's challenge tonight and be WWE champ.

Bronson Reed does a promo on Johnny Gargano. He said Johnny is trapped in the cage with him and he will be the new N-A champ.

We do another Eva Marie promo. She said it takes a whole team of people to make her look good. She says she wants to be a hero, not play a hero. She said a star's purpose is to show other people the way.

Shelton Benjamin is interviewed. He says he won't waste time talking about Cedric and says he wants to talk about challenging Lashley tonight. Cedric then comes in and claps for him. Cedric says Shelton will always be worthless and then Shelton decks him hard into boxes.

MVP and Bobby come out and want to know who will accept the open challenge. Kofi accepts the challenge.

Open Challenge - Bobby Lashley vs Kofi Kingston

Before it starts, MVP said he never mentioned that the title was on the line. Boy, talk about a bait and switch. He said Kofi isn't on Bobby's level but it goes on anyway. Bobby hits a hard chokeslam on him but Kofi comes back with kicks. Kofi dropkicks him off the apron and baseball slides him. He then dives over the ropes on him.

We return from break and they are back in. Bobby delay suplexes him. Bobby bearhugs him but Kofi gets out. Kofi hits a counter into a ddt and takes a high flatliner. They fight up top and Woods starts playing the trumpet to bother Bobby. Kofi then drop down ddt's Bobby on the 2nd rope. Bobby doesn't really sell it though and hits a dominator from the side. Bobby rams Kofi's head into the post from the fireman's carry position.

Woods gets kicked out. MVP tries to get a cane shot in while he is but Drew disrupts it. Drew then cane shots Lashley in the throat and Kofi wins it.

The match wasn't bad or anything but the finish felt like a sore loser move from Drew. The bait and switch here on this not being a title match sucked.

Overall thoughts: A bad Raw as usual. The stuff with Bliss and Riddle/Orton all sucks. Drew was a sore loser here all night long and the bait and switch in the main event sucked. Asuka/Flair was the best match of the night easy.