WWE RAW HITS & MISSES 5/4: VIP Lounge promoting Women’s MITB, format of Gauntlet match, Styles blowing off Boneyard Match loss, “Risk is Worth the Reward,” Murphy vs. Drew, more

VIP Lounge – MISS: Having three heels on the Raw side of the women’s Money in the Bank ladder match doesn’t work as we don’t have anyone to root for. A bigger issue is that Nia Jax isn’t particularly good on the mic, Shayna Baszler only speaks a little (in Latin apparently) as she wants to let her actions speak rather than her words (which works for her character), and Asuka doesn’t speak much English, although I do enjoy her act. So, there was nothing interesting said here, at least not in English. I don’t like that Baszler has to work with Asuka to take out Jax. That humanizes her. And I don’t like how a man steps in between two badass women fighters and laughs off their desire to fight, tells them to save it for the PPV, and they listen to him.

Gauntlet – MISS: There was some good wrestling action in the gauntlet, particularly in the back half. But, there were so many problems with it. The idea that nobody would know how many wrestlers were in it was dippy. Akira Tozawa was once again buried on Raw while we are expected to take him seriously on NXT. Why would Titus O’Neal be given this chance to earn a huge opportunity? Bobby Lashley looked stupid for getting disqualified while dominating Humberto Carillo. Carillo was the only one other than AJ Styles who gained something from this match. They all lost. Zelina Vega’s very talented trio continue to be losers as two of them could not beat Carillo despite the fact that he was decimated by Lashley. They are far too ineffective in the ring. Those were fine segments of the gauntlet in terms of the action, but didn’t help the two heels. Styles was the right choice to win the match, but the idea that we didn’t know if there was another wrestler after him took away from that victory.

Styles’s Promo – MISS: A.J. Styles basically no sold the entire Boneyard match against The Undertaker at WrestleMania. That alone was bad enough to give his post-match promo a Miss, but then going on to talk about how he will throw someone off the roof is crazy. That doesn’t make me want to watch this match.

Top 10 MITB Moments – HIT: This was a fun trip down memory lane throughout the show with great moments from MITB matches plus some of the biggest cash ins in history. It did make me remember some wrestlers like Ember Moon and Mustafa Ali who haven’t been on in months. I know that Moon was injured, but where’s Ali? I don’t remember him being hurt and he hasn’t been on long before the pandemic scare. It was also cool that I was live at the #1 moment when Seth Rollins cashed in at WM 31 to turn the main event into a triple threat and win the Title to the thrill of us fans in attendance.

Ricochet & Alexander vs. Thorne & Vink – MISS: I like the pairing of Ricochet and Cedric Alexander. They have so much wasted talent individually, and as a pair they are starting to click as a tag team. Shane Thorne and Brandon Vink are ok, but haven’t been well introduced to the Raw audience after Thorne has largely been a jobber on NXT and I don’t remember Vink being on NXT at all. They have been jobbers in their first few matches on Raw too, so they were initially defined down. WWE wants to build them up now by pairing them with MVP as their new manager. That is a fine story to tell, but then you need MVP out at ringside to actually do something in some way to help them win (doesn’t have to be cheating, but even some instruction or something during the match to give them the edge they were missing). And why not build them up against some jobbers while continuing to build up the new Ricochet & Alexander team before having them face? They shouldn’t be trying to establish two teams at a time against each other with this 50-50 booking.

Street Profits vs. Viking Raiders – HIT: This was a very good stretch of wrestling with The Street Profits losing once again to The Viking Raiders. I have an issue with WWE doing so many non-Title matches (this was the first of three on this show!). I have written multiple times over the years that I would do away with non-Title matches all together. At least this one was part of a story that they are telling of how the Street Profits can’t beat the Viking Raiders. The Raiders had a storyline reason for getting this non-Title match. And the two teams delivered a really good 16 minutes match. This felt more like an AEW style tag match than a typical WWE style match. It wasn’t as formulaic. It was more back and forth. It had a lot of good action and several believable near falls. It built very well to the end when the Raiders once again prevailed, presumably earning a Tag Title shot, perhaps at the PPV?

The Risk is Worth the Reward – MISS: In other circumstances, that is a fine slogan for a PPV where there is a lot of risk, but also a huge reward. There are two problems with it now. The first is that during a pandemic where some wrestlers have chosen to stay home and not risk possibly being exposed to the virus, this sends a message that the risk of a deadly virus is worth the reward of appearing on a television show in front of less than 2 million people. Whether or not there was an actual intention to send this message, it is tone deaf of WWE to go with this slogan in this instance. The other problem is more general, which is how horrible you make your wrestlers sound like total corporate stooges by having them use your company’s slogan as part of their promos or interviews. I can’t take anything Rey Mysterio says when part of his promo is saying the slogan as if it was an actual thought from his own head.

Charlotte vs. Morgan – HIT: I’m torn between thinking that Liv Morgan gained from being so competitive in a long match against Charlotte Flair and thinking that she should not have lost a match right after her back to back wins against Ruby Riott. She would have gained more from keeping a winning streak going, but she is still in a good position based on how much the announcers talked her up during and after this match. And it was a good match. Charlotte is good, but not great in the ring. Morgan has been improving. They worked well together and while there were a few sloppy spots, the action was mostly good and Liv seemed to belong in the ring with a top star.

Corporate Headquarters Video – HIT: I am thoroughly curious to see what WWE does with the Corporate Ladder match. I am worried about some of it, like a wrestler getting thrown off the roof in some totally unbelievable stunt. I am intrigued by the idea that both matches will happen simultaneously. I enjoyed the Boneyard match a lot more than I thought I would which gives me hope. This video showcasing some of the possible places the fights might go was a nice touch to end the hype on Raw for MITB.

McIntyre vs. Murphy – HIT: The main event was short at six minutes, but that made sense in the circumstances. It shouldn’t take Drew McIntyre longer to beat Buddy Murphy in this case. The match was good for what it was. It continued to build up McIntyre as a strong WWE Champion and he continues to play his role to perfection. The interviews with Seth Rollins, McIntyre and Murphy throughout the show worked to build to this match and more importantly to the WWE Title match between McIntyre and Rollins at the PPV. That hype was well done. The post-match physicality worked well too.

Jon Mezzera is PWTorch.com’s WWE Hits & Misses Specialist, providing his point of view for Raw and Smackdown each week. Email him at jmezz_torch@yahoo.com. Follow me on Twitter @JonMezzera.

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