WWE Monday Night Raw 5/3/2021

WWE Monday Night Raw 5/3/2021

Adam Pearce, MVP and Sonya Deville talked in the back earlier in the day. Pearce said since Bobby said he could beat Drew or Braun, we are going to flip a coin to see who he faces tonight. Braun and Drew come in and argue with each other after Braun beat Drew last week. Braun wins the coin flip and he gets to fight Bobby tonight. MVP tells him not to get near Lashley at the WWE title and Drew says because when they finish each other, he will beat them both down. MVP then says once Lashley puts him in the hurt lock, he won't make it to Wrestlemania Backlash.

AJ Styles and Omos come out. They brag about their tag title win at Mania. They said they were missing the last few weeks as they were celebrating their title win on the beach. AJ then brags about now being a grand slam champ.

The New Day comes out and congratulate them on their vacation.  They said when they get knocked down, they get the titles back, hence them being 11 time tag champs. They complain about them taking off all that time and Omos said he's going to finish them off tonight so they stop talking.

Raw Tag Team Titles - AJ Styles and Omos (c) vs The New Day

We go to break and this starts when we return. AJ immediately tags in Omos. Woods tries to get some shots in but is thrown back. Kofi tries the same and is knocked down. TND tries to double team Omos but gets a double lariat instead.

AJ and the ref argue over a tag then Woods enzugiri's AJ out. Kofi goes to dive on him and does a coffin drop where he landed poorly on his shoulder from the top to the floor. We come back with Woods hitting a low flatliner on AJ. AJ gets beaten up for a bit and takes a jumping knee from Kofi.

AJ tags back to Omos who 1v2's TND. He hits some very weak backbreakers then charges at Woods in the corner. He slams Kofi down then boots Woods in the chest as both are down. AJ jumps on his shoulders and hits Woods with a forearm for the win. This did what it was supposed to do and put over Omos as being dominant, though the match wasn't anything too special.

Sonya talks about something with Charlotte but we miss most of it. Pearce then goes up to her and says she is overstepping her boundaires. Sonya just shrugs her eye brows.

We get a promo for Eva Marie's return. Just why? She's not a good wrestler and there's women who are just as pretty without the baggage.

MVP and Bobby are interviewed by Kayla Braxton. Lashley says he's not going to lose to Drew or Braun and MVP confirms he will beat Braun tonight. This took a really long time to get to the point and was ineffective.

Although I didn't see it, Elias, Ryker, Miz and Morrison had tomatoes thrown at them last week by New Day. Elias and Ryker have tomatoes backstage and throw the tomatoes at them and accidentally nail Randy Orton instead. Riddle then drives by him and says hi.

Dana Brooke vs Charlotte Flair

Flair shoes Dana in the face and Dana handsprings into the ropes with a headscissors. Flair whips her into the middle rope and gets a 2. Dana is against the middle rope and Flair kicks her in the neck hard. Dana gets a little offense in but is clotheslines down. Dana hangs on Charlotte and is thrown over and almost takes a really nasty bump.

Dana handspring elbows Flair in the corner twice then hits a swanton from the top for 2. Dana goes for a 3rd handspring elbow but Charlotte messes up a chop block on her and figure eight's her for the win. This was a sloppy women's match as usual but Dana did a lot of stuff she doesn't usually do.

Mandy Rose dropkicked Flair after as she wouldn't drop the figure eight. Sonya Deville then comes out.

We go to break and return. Sonya is with Flair. Flair says she is left out of a title shot again. She said she is an influencer and the most famous face of the women's division. She said the division needs her. She said she wants to be added to the Backlash women's title match and wants it to be a 3-way. Sonya agrees and it's Flair vs Ripley vs Asuka at Backlash for the Raw women's title.

Rhea Ripley came out and she wasn't happy. She's looking so bad these days. Asuka then came out. She calls Charlotte a cry baby. She said she can beat either one of them. Chgarlotte then said she would be becoming the Raw women's champion.

Rhea argued with Sonya, then Flair jumped her then Asuka jumped Flair and threw her out to end the segment.

Humberto Carrillo was interviewed, which is probably the first time he's been interviewed since I started covering Raw regularly. We see clips of Sheamus beating him up the last few weeks and see him nailing Sheamus with a great tope.

Humberto said he's not letting Sheamus disrespect him anymore and he said he isn't afraid of him. Sheamus then jumps him from behind and throws him into some boxes, then says it seems like he won't be in any condition to accept his open challenge.

Sonya and Pearce talk backstage. Pearce yells abuse of power again over Sonya making the 3 way and says she tried to text him about it. Pearce says "we share an office" and said he didn't get a text. Sonya says it was an urgent decision and Sonya agrees they should make decisions together.

The Miz and Morrison come out. They talk about being hit with tomatoes by The New Day and Damian Priest last week. Miz said it was no way for him to be treated. He said he is a future hall of famer and said Morrison needs to beat the respect out of Damian Priest.

Damian Priest vs John Morrison with The Miz

Priest does an inset and talks half in Spanish. He said if Miz is mad about the tomatoes, wait until we see how mad he gets when he breaks his jaw. DP legsweeps Jomo early then lariats him over the top.

We come back from break and Jomo is grounding and pounding Priest. He hits a running shining wizard for 2. Jomo takes a flapjack that looked like he thought it would be a back body drop. Priest punch combos Jomo then hits some bad kicks. Jomo headkicks him while on the mat then takes a hard kick to the chest. Priest then hits a slight spinning lariat for 2.

DP gets distracted up top and Jomo hits a spanish fly on him from the 2nd rope, which is only good enough for 2. Miz gets on the apron for a distraction then DP hits a cross rhodes and wins it. I'm not a fan of the spanish fly, especially one from the 2nd rope being a throaway move. I really hope this feud ends soon.

Mansoor and Adam Pearce meet up in the back. Mansoor officially becomes a member of Raw, signing a contract. Sheamus then comes in and asks who Sheamus is. Mansoor says he is a "Raw superstar, just like you". Sheamus rightfully mocks him and tells him to accept his open challenge tonight. How does Sheamus not know who Mansoor is?

Kayla Braxton interviews MVP. MVP says Bobby vs Braun shouldn't happen tonight and Bobby shouldn't have to do a triple threat. MVP says it wouldn't surprise him if Drew and Bobby team up to take out Braun to make the Backlash match a 1v1.

Lucha House Party vs Shelton Benjamin and Cedric Alexander

We randomly go into this match without any warning when we return from break. The match is in progress. Metallik walks the middle rope into a dropkick and Cedric comes back with a michinoku driver for 2. Shelton comes in with some slams and a big back body drop. Cedrick stomps on Metallik a little then Metallik comes back with a sling blade variation.

Lince catches himself on an asai moonsault and is lariated by Shelton. Lince hits a satelittle ddt on Shelton then springboard crossbodies cedric. Metallik then walks the top rope into an elbow for the win on Shelton. This Hurt Business break-up hasn't done anything for Shelton and Cedric. It felt like the section with Metallik was a little too long here.

Cedric yells at Shelton after. He says it is no wonder The Hurt Business kicked them out and said he should have kicked Shelton out too. He calls him the weak link of the group. Cedric said Shelton has wasted many chances and said he (Cedric) is in the prime of his career. He says this team is done. And unless they have some bigger plan, both of these two are done also.

Angel Garza walks past Drew Gulak in the back with a rose. Gulak asks if the rose is for him. He said Garza is supposed to be a ladies man but can't score. He said his rose smells almost as bad as his win/loss record and challenges him to a match right now. Drew says he will smell the roses when he wins and Garza says he will shove the rose up his butt.

Shelton runs into Kayla Braxton in the back. He says Cedric had harsh words, but he can take the hit. He said Cedric was only in The Hurt Business because he saw something in him. Shelton says he can do what he wants but he must respect him. He said if he doesn't, he will just be another star who fizzled out. Shelton had issues getting any words out here.

Angel Garza vs Drew Gulak

AG throws his pants at Drew and shotgun dropkicks him. Garza pounds on him from the mount and misses a bunch of shots horribly. Garza double underhook backbreakers him and Drew comes back with a chinlock. Angel dropkicks him and pounds on him more then facewashes him. Garza then wins with the wing clipper. This was really short but good for them getting to do this on Raw instead of Main Event.

Garza makes Drew smell the rose after. He then puts it down his pants and kicks him in the butt to fulfill his promise. Not good.

Riddle rides up to The Viking Raiders in the back. Riddle pops for them and talks about the NFL draft. He asks if they cheer for the Vikings or the Raiders. Erick says he likes The Browns. Riddle calls Ivar a sexy little stallion after saying they should raid the ladies.

Riddle rides up to Randy Orton. Orton stares at him and Riddle says they need to get serious. He says they are undefeated and Orton says they won a single match. Orton then says, what do you say we go win another one? Riddle goes to talk and Orton tells him to zip it, then Riddle rides off. This angle is just totally out of character for Orton, who would have beat the crap out of him a few weeks ago for doing this.

RKBro - Randy Orton and Riddle vs Jaxson Ryker and Elias

Orton pounds on Elias in the corner to start. Riddle tries to put a hammerlock on Ryker but is slammed out of it. Ryker holds up Riddle for a nice Elias jumping knee. Elias stretches Riddle's fingers then suplexes him onto Ryker's knee. Ryker slingshot suplexes Riddle and after a while, Riddle hot tags in Orton. Orton gets his neck draped over the top rope by Elias but hits Elias' head off the announcer's table. He then bckdrops him onto the table.

Orton hits his over the back neckbreaker on Elias then tags in Riddle as he hits the draping ddt. Riddle hits his corkscrew moonsault on ELias and they win it as Riddle is stoked. Orton holds up Riddle's hand and he is thrilled.

Drew McIntyre is interviewed. He said he doesn't care who wins between Bobby and Braun, as long as they beat each other up. Drew wants to know why Mace and T-Bar keep attacking him and wonders who they are with. He says he will cave in the heads of Bobby and Braun at Backlash. Braun comes in and says he earned his oppurtunity to fight Drew and Bobby and says he will be the new WWE champ at Backlash. Drew says maybe, but he needs to leave now.

Sheamus vs Mansoor

Mansoor still should have his undefeated streak and we'll see if he keeps it up here. Sheamus throws him from the headlock early. They slap each other and Mansoor dropkicks him. Sheamus puts him on the rope and lariats him for a hard Mansoor bump to the floor. Sheamus gives him the dublin smile and pounds his chest. Sheamus drops him gut first onto the rail and that one looked like it hurt.

Mansoor gets some offense in and tornado ddt's Sheamus. Mansoor goes up top and has his leg swept, taking another odd looking bump. Sheamus' forehead gets cut open somehow then Humberto Carillo comes in and dropkicks Sheamus. Carillo then topes Sheamus into the announcer's desk and pounds on him. Sheamus then brogue kicks him and Mansoor.

Sheamus wins by DQ here and Mansoor's streak ends. Look, I get that Mansoor's streak was probably not planned and was never even mentioned on shows that count. But that's been his angle for a while now and it actually made his matches more interesting. Now months of work has been ended in one of the worst streak endings ever. It's hard to even get mad at stuff like this, because it's clear that this was either done on purpose to make fools of people like myself or it was so under the radar that WWE didn't even care.

We do an Alexa's Playground in the back. We immediately go to break as it starts. We return as Alexa talks to her doll Lilly. She says Lilly likes to play hide and seek and her favorite color is red. She said trouble follows Lilly wherever she goes. She said someone has caught Lilly's eyes, but she won't say who. She said don't blame her for what happens next. She then sings and the doll laughs over whatever they did.

Raw Women's Tag Team Titles - Shayna Baszler and Nia Jax with Reginald (c) vs Lana and Naomi

Naomi fights off Shayna early and Lana top rope crossbodies her for 2. Naomi hits a stunner into a bad Lana kick. Shayna takes a double facebuster then Naomi is thrown into the table. Reginald gets in the ring to stop a pin on Shayna. Lana gets distracted and is put in the choke soon after for the Nia/Shayna win. This was short and a waste of time.

MVP and Lashley do a promo. He says Braun is strong, but not Lashley strong. He says this is a match between two bulls and a bone will break. He said there can only be one dominant bull and that's Lashley.

Braun Strowman vs Bobby Lashley

Braun is growing his hair back. Bobby tries to shoulder tackle Braun but just gets bounced off. Bobby then takes a clothesline over the top. Bobby gets back and takes Braun down with a clothesline. Braun grabs him and Drew McIntyre comes out. Braun goes out to stare him down then Bobby jumps off the apron onto him. Bobby looks for a first bump from Drew before we go to break.

We come back with Bobby leapfrogging Braun then hitting a flatliner. Bobby hits some crossfaces as Drew is on commentary. Drew suplexes Braun for 2. Bobby hits Braun with a hard punch and Braun relly sells for it in the corner. Drew starts talking about promo class with Vince and learning how to get himself over and I'm not a fan of that at all.

Braun comes back and electric chair drops Bobby. Braun splashes him in the corner and throws him on a suplex. They go outside and Braun goes for the Strowman Express on Bobby but ends up running into Drew at the booth. They shove each other and argue on the apron. Bobby spears Braun from behind and wins it. Drew then claymore kicks Bobby and Braun then they announce Drew vs Lashley for next week.

Braun and Bobby would have been better with a crowd. I thought they were throwing each other around too easy and not really selling enough for it. The lack of a crowd also did hurt this one. I'm not a fan of this match or Drew vs Lashley just being thrown out there though on throwaway Raw's when those are some of the best matches WWE has available period in the company.

Overall thoughts: Another bad Raw. The Mansoor streak loss was really dumb. Orton found himself into another bad angle. The Bliss stuff sucks and Shelton and Cedric have been broken up in record time post-Hurt Business. I'm also not sure where this Pearce/Sonya stuff could be going since you can't really have them wrestle each other.