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WWE RAW PRIMER 5/27: The Beast Check Cashing, U.S. Championship Future, 24/7 Chaos Rolls On, Next Up for the Man

By Frank Peteani, PWTorch contributor

May 27, 2019

Paul Heyman (art credit Grant Gould © PWTorch)
SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...

WWE MONDAY NIGHT RAW PRIMER
WILD CARD EDITION WEEK III
KANSAS CITY, MO. AT THE SPRINT CENTER
MAY 20, 2019
AIRS ON USA NETWORK, 8:00 p.m. EDT
BY FRANK PETEANI (@FrankPeteani), PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR

Announcers: Michael Cole, Corey Graves, Renee Young

LAST WEEK’S RAW RATING: 1.73 (.05 IMPROVEMENT FROM PREVIOUS WEEK)

Arena, Items Advertised by WWE, and Show Start Time

WWE Raw returns to the Sprint Center in Kansas City, MO. after appearing there just six months ago in November shortly after Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia. Ironically, we are on the road to the next Saudi Arabia offering Super Showdown (Part II) coming June 7, which WWE is simply telling us is emanating from “Jeddah.”

Here’s what’s advertised thus far for tonight’s show:

Matches & Segments:

  • Brock Lesnar to announce blockbuster decision
  • Future of the United States Championship to be addressed

Storyline Follow-Up:

  • 24/7 chaos continues
  • Who will be Becky Lynch’s next challenge.

Brock Lesnar’s Decision

As we know, Brock Lesnar won the 2019 Money in the Bank contract.

Last week on Raw, Brock brought us back to the 1980s when he came out holding the briefcase like a boombox. Nevertheless, Brock’s advocate Paul Heyman dubbed him the “purveyor of paranoia,” and quickly shot down the theory of Brock attacking Sami Zayn, the man from whom Brock took the eighth spot in the Money in the Bank ladder match.

WWE Universal Champion Seth Rollins came out and attempted to get Brock to cash in the contract. WWE Champion Kofi Kingston, via the wild card, did the same. He cited establishing his legacy and a desire to be one of the best of all time as the reason he wanted Brock to cash in on him. Paul Heyman said to stick around as Kofi & Seth had a tag match later and the “Beast was yet to come.”

Kofi and Seth would go on to defeat the dynamic & charismatic duo of Baron Corbin & Bobby Lashley in the final segment. They would then be attacked by Lashley, and we’d hear Brock’s music. Brock came out with Heyman and teased a cash-in with Kofi and Seth standing in the ring side-by-side with their belts in hand. Brock left the ring with Heyman telling him he’s in both of their heads, and they could come back next week (tonight) to advise them of Brock’s decision. Here’s a little chatter on Twitter this past week:

https://twitter.com/wwerollins/status/1131271135906140161?s=21

Bear in mind, Kofi defends his WWE Championship against the returning Dolph Ziggler at Super Showdown. Seth does not have an opponent for the “international event” 🙄. Brock makes his decision tonight.

Frank’s Analysis: I don’t know about everyone else, but I had zero expectation he would cash in last week. It wouldn’t surprise me, despite WWE saying that Brock makes his decision tonight, if he doesn’t actually do so and decides to drag it out. Logically, with Seth not having an opponent for Saudi Arabia, and Brock being the guy Seth defeated at WrestleMania, you would think they’d go to that match. If they were to do that then there was no point, at least to me, in Brock winning Money in the Bank as they could have set up that match regardless and had someone else win the briefcase. Here’s the bottom line. Brock will cash in the briefcase when Vince McMahon feels he wants him to do it, and there’s no way to guess when it will occur. We can think about it logically and come up with scenarios that make sense (Saudi Arabia, a PPV, Smackdown debut on FOX), but the bottom line is you never know what Vince is thinking and to try and figure it out is fruitless.

The Status of the U.S. Championship

Rey Mysterio defeated Samoa Joe at Money in the Bank to earn his first U.S. Championship of his career. The match was cut short due to Samoa Joe bleeding, and when Rey scored the pin one of Joe’s shoulders appeared to be off the mat. The referee did not see that.

Last week, the announcers rehashed the scenario and told us Rey suffered a separated shoulder in the match. Samoa Joe said it was a perfect opportunity for Rey to set an example for his son Dominic and hand Joe the title back. Here’s that clip, and tweets from Joe and Rey during the week:

https://twitter.com/reymysterio/status/1131660215500333056?s=21

According the multiple reports, Rey is legitimately injured. How much time he will miss is unknown. Tonight, we learn the status of the U.S. Championship.

Frank’s Analysis: WWE likely held off doing anything as it looks like Rey is trying to rehab his shoulder without surgery. If he does have to miss time, I don’t see the title being handed back to Joe, but rather some type of tournament or mechanism to determine someone to face Joe for the U.S. Championship perhaps at Super Showdown. If Shane McMahon is now going to be tied up with Roman Reigns, then Miz wouldn’t be a bad idea to face Joe for the championship especially if they want to put the title back on Joe. A Miz-Joe feud wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.

24/7 Chaos Continues

Last week on Raw, WWE Hall of Farmer Mick Foley introduced the 24/7 Championship. Like the Hardcore Championship before it, it can be defended anywhere and anytime so long as there’s a referee present. The crowd did not receive the news with any enthusiasm, and even booed a little when Mick explained the 24/7 concept.

He announced there would be a scramble for the championship, which was won by Titus O’Neil. Moments later, Robert Roode attacked Titus and pinned him to become the new champion. Later on, after being pursued by just about everyone on the lower end of the card, Roode ran into R-Truth who hid Roode in the trunk of his car. After everyone was cleared, Truth let Roode out of the trunk. It’s a good thing Truth knew Roode was going to seek him out as he had a referee hiding in the front seat, and after Truth knocked Roode down the ref counted three and R-Truth became the reigning 24/7 Champion.

This past week, Drake Maverick has been the one pursuing Truth the most. Here’s a mixture of tweets from both gentlemen:

https://twitter.com/ronkillings/status/1131570744905883648?s=21

https://twitter.com/ronkillings/status/1132009383855054848?s=21

I could literally fill this report with tweets. There’s something new just about every day. What can one say? The 24/7 story continues tonight.

Frank Analysis: You can’t help but feel bad for Mick who was left for dead out there introducing this title that WWE didn’t need for one second. The problem is that this company does not utilize its lower card, so if this is the only way to get them on TV what can you do. It also doesn’t help when the lower card guys run past Baron Corbin and Bobby Lashley, who couldn’t be bothered with what’s going on. On the other hand, I have to admit, there is a level of comedy to this that that makes me laugh. Truth is funny with whatever he does, and Maverick pursuing him and their tweets are quite amusing.

Becky Lynch’s Next Challenger

Last week, Raw Women’s Champion Becky Lynch was a guest on the Alexa Bliss A Moment of Bliss show. She was interrupted by the WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions The Iiconics (Billie Kay and Peyton Royce), who pointed out Becky wasn’t “Becky 2 Belts” anymore but they had two belts, referring to their tag titles (I think I needed a drink at that point). Lacey Evans came out and pointed out her role in Becky not having the Smackdown championship any longer. All of this led to a six-woman tag match with Becky teaming with Nikki Cross and Alexa Bliss facing the Iiconics and Lacey. Becky, Nikki, and Alexa won when Becky pinned Kay.

This past Tuesday Lacey talked in a WWE.com exclusive. Here’s that clip and a few Becky tweets:

Tonight, we’ll find out if Lacey gets another chance at Becky or if WWE will determine another #1 contender.

Frank’s Analysis: I highly, and I mean HIGHLY recommend going VIP here at PWTorch.com if anything to hear The Fix this past week with Todd Martin. He absolutely nails the shoddy booking of Becky in regard to the two belts and the IIconics making fun of her on the Moment of Bliss show. I’ll add that I question the purpose of Becky winning both titles at WrestleMania if they were just going to have Bayley win Money in the Bank and cash in on Charlotte Flair the same night. While I was against the gimmick, Becky 2 Belts would have worked a lot better if she actually won both of her matches at MITB and established she was an unstoppable champion. It would have made beating her mean something. I understand Lacey’s interference protected Becky at MITB against Charlotte, but to have her made fun of the IIconics made her look foolish. At least she addressed it on Twitter. She should have been furious Monday night and pointed out the absurdity of how Lacey cost her the Smackdown title. Since Becky beat Lacey at MITB, and pinned her on Smackdown in a tag team match, why do I want to see Lacey vs. Becky again?

Not Advertised for Follow Up

  • Braun Strowman defeated Sami Zayn in one minute after a pre-match attack.
  • Lucha House Party interrupted Lars Sullivan who was about to be interviewed by Charly Caruso in the ring.
  • Cesaro defeated Ricochet. Ricochet was selling an injury from the Money in the Bank ladder match.
  • A.J. Styles says it’s time to start from square one following his loss to Seth Rollins in an attempt to become
  • WWE Universal Champion. Baron Corbin interrupted, and was treated to a slap in the face by A.J.
  • Shane McMahon accepted Roman Reigns’ challenge to a match at Super Showdown. Reigns was on Raw via the wild card (really the Vince McMahon I-Want-Reigns-On-Both-Shows rule but who’s asking). Drew McIntyre accompanied Shane and appears to be acting as Shane’s “heavy” for now.
  • Speaking of Drew, he defeated the Miz, who told Shane he wasn’t done with him. Drew said if he had a problem Shane, he had a problem with him.
  • The Revival defeated the Usos. Thankfully, no grooming or medicated products were involved
  • Part IV of the Firefly Funhouse aired. It was a quick video showing happy children turning into sad children. The scary masked Bray appeared saying “let me in.”

Follow Frank on Twitter @FrankPeteani. Questions and discussion are welcome! Thank you for reading.

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