WWE RAW PRIMER 6/10: Super Showdown Fallout, No Brock Party, The Best & His Psychopathic Friend Celebrate, A “Nasty” Man, Miz hosts Joe, Raw Tag Title Match, A Monster Among Jeddah, Sky High 24/7 Chaos

WWE MONDAY NIGHT RAW PRIMER
SAN JOSE, CA. AT THE SAP CENTER
JUNE 10, 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: 1.72 (0.11 INCREASE FROM PREVIOUS WEEK)

Arena, Super Showdown Results, Items Advertised by WWE, Show Start Time

WWE Raw returns to the SAP Center in San Jose, CA. after appearing in February of last year in the run-up to WrestleMania. The arena opened in 1993 and is formerly known as the San Jose Arena, Compaq Center at San Jose (raise your hand if you had a Compaq computer at one point), and the HP Pavilion at San Jose. WWE has been a frequent guest and even had December 2018’s TLC event in which Dean Ambrose won his last championship with the company when he defeated Seth Rollins for the Intercontinental title in what was a heavily criticized match. Ambrose has of course left WWE and recently defeated Juice Robinson for the IWGP U.S. Championship in New Japan Pro Wrestling under his revived gimmick of Jon Moxley.

I digress for a minute and reckon everyone has heard Wade Keller’s two-part interview with Moxley. If for some reason you haven’t, I HIGHLY recommend you do so. It is worth every minute.

Super Showdown is behind us now. We do a quick turn and move our attention to Stomping Grounds which comes to us in less than two weeks on June 23. Here are the Super Showdown results:

Kickoff Show:

• The Usos (Jimmy & Jey) defeated The Revival (Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder)

Main Show:

• • Seth Rollins defeated Baron Corbin to retain the WWE Universal Championship. After the match Brock Lesnar came to the ring seemingly to cash in his Money in the Bank contract, but was foiled by Rollins.
• “The Demon” Finn Balor defeated Andrade to retain the Intercontinental Championship
• Shane McMahon defeated Roman Reigns with the help of Drew McIntyre
• Lars Sullivan defeated Lucha House Party (Kalisto, Lince Durado, and Gran Metalik) via DQ
• Randy Orton defeated Triple H
• Braun Strowman defeated Bobby Lashley
• Kofi Kingston defeated Dolph Ziggler to retain the WWE Championship. Afterwards Ziggler challenged Kofi to a steel cage match
• Mansoor won the 50-man battle royal
• The Undertaker defeated Goldberg
• Here’s what’s on tap for tonight’s show according to WWE.com as of this writing. The arena’s website shows a start time of 4:30 p.m. local time with doors opening at 3:00. There are two matches advertised, but likely won’t take place.

Matches & Segments

• Shane McMahon & Drew McIntyre to celebrate “The Best in the World’s triumph over Roman Reigns at Super Showdown
• MizTV will welcome The Samoan Submission Machine
• Ryder & Hawkins and the Revival to collide in WrestleMania rematch for Raw Tag Team Titles

Storyline Follow-Up

• “Brock party” postponed
• Becky Lynch gets “Nasty” before WWE Stomping Grounds
• Braun Strowman stands tall in Jeddah
• Truth on the run

Money Still in the Beast’s Pocket; Rollins Looks to “Stomp” Corbin Again

As indicated earlier, Seth Rollins is still Universal Champion as a result of his victory over Baron Corbin at Super Showdown. Following the match, and after Corbin hit a post-match End of Days on Rollins, Brock Lesnar came to the ring with advocate Paul Heyman seemingly to cash in his Money in the Bank contract.

Heyman tripped while entering the ring, causing him to drop the briefcase. Brock would attempt to hit Rollins with a chair, but instead was treated to a low blow a la their match at WrestleMania. Rollins would continue to beat him down with the chair and eventually curb stomped him on to the Money in the Bank briefcase. Later on, we saw Brock in pain grasping his elbow.

The story rolls on as Brock still possesses Money in the Bank. Here’s Rollins claiming he wants Brock to cash in like a man in a WWE.com exclusive interview with Byron Saxton:

Later on in the show, WWE announced that Rollins will defend the Universal Championship against Corbin again this time at Stomping Grounds:

Frank’s Analysis: I have to admit I got a chuckle out of Rollins saying he wants Brock to cash in like a man, and Brock is someone being led around by Heyman. Wasn’t it at WrestleMania a little over four years ago when Rollins, then under the guise of The Authority, inserted himself mid-match between Brock and Roman Reigns to claim the WWE World Heavyweight Championship? My my how things have changed, but it’s cool. Rollins’ character has fully atoned for those days. I still feel like Brock is making it look like he’s cashing in on Rollins, but will eventually cash in on Kofi Kingston for the WWE Championship instead. At some point all roads lead back to Roman Reigns. I could see Vince McMahon wanting Reigns to dethrone Brock again possibly on the first Smackdown on FOX. Brock could also cash in on that show, and use subsequent Smackdowns to build to another big match between those two. Either way, Brock is likely to go dark as he typically does around this time and they have the elbow injury as the selling point. As far as Rollins against Corbin at Stomping Grounds I think it’s fair to expect Rollins to retain the title.

Shane McMahon and Drew McIntyre to Celebrate Shane’s Victory over Roman Reigns

Shane McMahon defeated Roman Reigns at Super Showdown with the help of his “heavy,” Drew McIntyre. With the referee not looking, McIntyre delivered his signature Claymore Kick to Reigns, allowing Shane to score a pin and earn a victory in the same country he became the “Best in the World” just seven months ago at Crown Jewel when he won the World Cup tournament.

Later on in the show the announcers told us that at Stomping Grounds, Drew McIntyre takes on Roman Reigns in a “cross-brand” match-up. You can tell Shane and McIntyre are proud of their partnership by looking at these tweets:

One born into greatness, one destined for greatness.
This is an alliance that will reshape @WWE in our image, and YOU will all benefit! Tomorrow night on #Raw we celebrate Phase One…@shanemcmahon’s historic & dominant win over @WWERomanReigns at #WWESSD pic.twitter.com/VZdve5pk2Z

— Drew McIntyre (@DMcIntyreWWE) June 10, 2019

Best In The World! What else can I say?#WWESSD pic.twitter.com/rgXGhRAb9N

— Shane McMahon (@shanemcmahon) June 7, 2019

 

Tonight, Shane and McIntyre celebrate Shane’s victory.

Frank’s Analysis: I don’t care if Shane has been a good heel. You’re not going to get me to get on board with this as Reigns having to sell for Shane as much as he did in the match at Super Showdown is a disgrace, bottom line. What’s next, Shane beats Seth Rollins for the Universal Championship or Kofi for the WWE Championship?

The Lady and the Man Stomp On

It’s been quite the saga between Raw Women’s Champion “The Man” Becky Lynch and “The Sassy Southern Belle” Lacey Evans. To quickly recap, Becky retained her Raw title over Lacey at Money in the Bank, but lost her Smackdown Championship to Charlotte Flair on the same night thanks to outside interference from Lacey.

Last week on Raw, Lacey took on Charlotte Flair (wild card appearance) and won via DQ when Becky interfered in the match attacking Lacey. It was announced during Super Showdown that Becky will once again defend her Raw Women’s Championship against Lacey at Stomping Grounds.

Becky and Lacey have taken to Twitter of course. In addition, for some reason, Becky has gone at it with WWE Hall of Famer Edge in regard to his wife, fellow Hall of Famer Beth Phoenix:

Lacey Evans is the only case I've ever seen where a Woman's Right should be removed. pic.twitter.com/XybWFK4WIK

— The Man (@BeckyLynchWWE) June 4, 2019

Can’t your wife talk for herself? Actually, I listened to NXT commentary, clearly not. https://t.co/L1Rb2DmcHS

— The Man (@BeckyLynchWWE) June 7, 2019

 

Frank’s Analysis: I hate piling on to bad situations, but what was that Lacey vs. Charlotte match? There was no need to rush into that considering they had their spat just a week earlier on Smackdown. Meanwhile, WWE has how many women sitting in the back not wrestling? The timing and chemistry was completely off, and Becky’s interference was weird and unprovoked. At any rate, Becky and Lacey head towards another match that you would expect Becky to retain. Lacey is in such a weird spot because she hasn’t gotten any significant wins. As far as the stuff with Edge on Twitter, you wonder if they’re setting up Becky vs. Beth Phoenix at SummerSlam. I’m sure with the event being in Edge’s hometown of Toronto, his being in Beth’s corner would be received quite favorably.

U.S. Champion Samoa Joe on Miz TV

Last week, Rey Mysterio came out to relinquish the U.S. Championship he won from Samoa Joe at Money in the Bank. As a result of the injury he suffered during that match, and also the controversial pin in which Joe’s shoulder was off the mat, Rey surrendered the title back to Joe. Joe would then attacked Rey afterwards and give him his signature Coquina Clutch. In case you missed it, here’s WWE’s YouTube clip of that segment:

It’s been nine years since the Miz has held the U.S. Championship and in fact his last reign ended when Daniel Bryan beat him at Night of Champions in September of 2010. Tonight, he welcomes Joe onto MizTV no doubt to discuss the recent happenings of the U.S. Championship.

Frank’s Analysis: The Miz is a logical challenger for Joe if in fact they’re going this route. Both guys can talk and the matches would be just fine. I don’t think Miz necessarily needs to win the title, but he ought to get rewarded for putting Shane McMahon over twice in a row. Either way, Miz and Joe should have a really good dynamic between them.

Raw Tag Team Championship: Curt Hawkins & Zack Ryder (champs) vs. The Revival (Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder)

During the WrestleMania kickoff show, Curt Hawkins & Zack Ryder pulled off an upset as they defeated then-Raw Tag Team Champions The Revival. It was especially fitting for Hawkins & Ryder as they grew up in Long Island across the bridge from where WrestleMania took place, which of course was MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. (home of the beloved multiple-time Super Bowl Champion N.Y. Giants 😉… and the N.Y. Jets)

They lost their rematch for the titles the night after WrestleMania and then got tangled up with the Usos (Jimmy & Jey). They picked up a victory over them a few weeks ago before losing to them on the Super Showdown kickoff show. Who can forget them putting Ucey Hot on themselves and getting caught shaving each other’s back thanks to the Usos.

Hawkins & Ryder have not had the most glorious of runs as after defeating the Revival, they lost a non-title match to the Viking Raiders (Erik & Ivar) and haven’t been featured much on TV if at all. Tonight, they put their championship on the line against the team from which they won the titles just two months ago.

Frank’s Analysis: There’s not much to say here considering how the tag team division is damaged in WWE as a whole. It’s likely The Revival win here and go into a feud with the Usos over the titles.

The Monster Stands Tall Among The All Mighty

At Super Showdown, “The Monster Among Men” Braun Strowman defeated “The All Mighty” Bobby Lashley in a one-on-one match.

These two have been around each other in many ways since Lashley’s return to WWE last year. They were frequent tag team partners initially and then opponents following Lashley’s heel turn late last year. Lashley was involved in “injuring” Braun’s elbow last year in the run-up to TLC. Most recently, last week to be specific, they had an arm wrestling match. It was won by Braun, but Lashley threw powder in his face afterwards and gave him a running powerslam.

We’ll see what’s next for both of these gentlemen, whether that’s continuing the feud or moving on to something else.

Frank’s Analysis: Braun is certainly a candidate to move on to Samoa Joe for the U.S. Championship, although I discussed earlier the possibility of Miz being in that position. They did brawl on the Smackdown following WrestleMania where Joe interrupted R-Truth and Carmella, so they could go to that feud at any time. Beyond that it’s anybody’s guess as they could keep the feud going with Lashley for all intents and purposes.

Truth on the Run, 24/7

The saga of the 24/7 Championship rolls on. It has changed hands quite a bit over the past week. On Raw, a YouTube clip was shown of champion R-Truth playing golf with Carmella when Jinder Mahal snuck up from behind. He rolled up Truth for a pin to win the championship only to lose it back moments later. On Smackdown, he lost the title to Elias in a lumberjack match only to win it back moments later under the ring.

During the week, as they were boarding the flight to Saudi Arabia, Jinder regained the title on the tarmac. Later on during the flight, Truth pinned a sleeping Jinder to regain the title:

 

Truth, Jinder, and Elias are now multiple-time 24/7 Champions. Truth holds the record with five reigns. Lord only knows what happened since Super Showdown if anything, and what’s in store tonight.

Frank’s Analysis: Being an airline captain myself I took great joy in seeing the championship change hands at an airport and on an airplane. If only that could have happened on one of my flights. Putting my personal ambitions aside, I have to admit I’m getting a laugh out of the 24/7 even though I don’t want to enjoy it. At least the undercard is getting used in some way. If anyone is perfect for the title, it’s R-Truth. Sooner or later you’d have to expect Carmella to win it. Perhaps a dog or a cat is a candidate as was done supposedly in DDT Wrestling.

Not Advertised for Follow Up

• Nikki Cross, with Alexa Bliss in her corner, defeated Peyton Royce of the WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions The Iiconics (Royce & Billie Kay).
• The Firefly Funhouse aired its latest episode where Bray Wyatt introduced Huskuh the Pig, a callback to his Husky Harris character. He did the “Muscleman Dance.”
• Ricochet defeated Cesaro, but was attacked by Cesaro after the match. When Cesaro pulled out a ladder, R-Truth was clinging onto it. The myriad of 24/7 challengers gave chase, but Truth avoided them all except for Drake Maverick. Drake was kicked by Carmella, and she and Truth got out of dodge.

Triple H had some words in a WWE.com exclusive following his Super Showdown match against Randy Orton:

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