SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
WWE MONDAY NIGHT RAW PRIMER
ORLANDO, FLA. AT THE PERFORMANCE CENTER
JUNE 8, 2020
AIRS ON USA NETWORK, 8:00 p.m. EDT
BY FRANK PETEANI (@FrankPeteani), PWTORCH SPECIALIST
Announcers: Tom Phillips, Byron Saxton, Samoa Joe
Top 10 Moments from Last Week’s Show:
Overview and Items Advertised by WWE
Tonight’s show will be the go-home episode from the Raw side for Backlash coming to us this Sunday. Five matches are scheduled in total for the PPV and there will likely more set up this week. Two titles from Raw will be on the line. Drew McIntyre defends the WWE Championship against Bobby Lashley with MVP in his corner. Asuka defends the Raw Women’s Championship against Nia Jax. Let us not forget the Greatest Wrestling Match Ever where Edge takes on long-time friend and rival Randy Orton. (I don’t understand the concept as I thought WWE was about sports entertainment. What’s this wrestling of which they speak?) Anyway, my smart-ass comment aside, here’s what advertised thus far for tonight along with the hype video WWE put out:
- Edge to join Christian for “The Peep Show”
- Bayley & Sasha Banks set to appear on Raw fresh off Women’s Tag Title victory
- Will Rey Mysterio retire?
- The Street Profits and the Viking Raiders set for decathlon in latest chapter of competition
- What happened to Drew McIntyre after Raw went off the air
I am excited to be joining Wade Keller on the Raw post show tonight, returning to the co-host chair after appearing last in March. I was the co-host for the first empty arena show, which was March 13 edition of Smackdown. It’s crazy what’s happened with the product since, given what we talked about that night, and what’s gone on in the world. I look forward to talking to Wade, the callers, and talking about your emails. Listen, give a call, or send an e-mail!
The Peep Show: Christian to Have Lifelong Friend Edge as Guest
Christian and his Peep Show are back. The Peep Show started a few months before Christian’s initial departure from WWE in 2005 and returned in 2009, several months after his return to the company. There were sporadic episodes and guests over the years with one of them being current AEW TNT Champion Cody Rhodes. Chris Jericho was a guest in 2014. The last episode, according to Pro Wrestling Fandom, took place on the 25th anniversary of Raw. Christian’s guests were then-Raw Tag Team Champions Seth Rollins & Jason Jordan (remember that guy?). Here’s a clip of that segment to give you a taste of the Peep Show if you never saw it:
Tonight, Christian welcomes his real-life long-time friend Edge who is set to take on Randy Orton this coming Sunday in a rematch from their WrestleMania Last Man Standing match. They will most certainly discuss the match and we can expect Orton to be not so far behind. Ironically, one of Christian’s best feuds was with Randy Orton over the World Heavyweight Championship in 2011 immediately after Edge retired. Orton spoke of the upcoming match last week in a backstage segment.
Frank’s Analysis: I’ll never turn down seeing Edge and Christian together as admittedly, I’m one of Christian’s peeps. I always enjoyed him in WWE and if you look back at his career, he is quite accomplished and served multiple purposes. While I enjoyed the feud with Orton, who can forget all the TLC matches and the feuds he and Edge had with the Hardys and the Dudley Boys. It’s still corny as sin to call the Edge vs. Orton the greatest wrestling match ever but complaining about it is like speaking into an echo chamber. I’m sure it will be good, but I highly doubt it can be dubbed the greatest ever.
Two-Time Women’s Tag Team Champions Bayley & Sasha Banks to Appear
This past Friday on Smackdown, Women’s Champion Bayley & Sasha Banks defeated Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross to capture the Women’s Tag Team Championship for the second time. They were the initial champions because of winning the Elimination Chamber match for the titles at the aforementioned PPV last year. Bayley now stands as a double champion, with the last time someone holding two belts being Becky Lynch after winning both the Raw & Smackdown Women’s Championships at last year’s WrestleMania. She made sure to emphasize she isn’t a “Becky replacement”:
SHEEP!!!!! you better stop calling me “Bayley 2 Belts”!!!!!!!!! I’m not a Becky Lynch replacement!!!!!!! Instead, you can refer to me as BAYLEY DOS STRAPS!!!!!! Your loving Role Model! Thank you and good day!!!! #raw #SmackDown #nxt pic.twitter.com/TlVcI7OqCb
— Bayley (@itsBayleyWWE) June 8, 2020
Last week, Billie Kaye of the IIconics defeated Nikki Cross when she was still co-holding the Championship. Here are the IIconics after the match:
According to WWE’s website, the new champs will “divulge an impending announcement” tonight on Raw. The IIconics will likely not be too far behind.
Frank’s Analysis: I can’t say I have an idea of what the announcement will be, but I don’t expect much. Look for the IIconics to challenge the new champions either tonight or set something up for Backlash.
Will Rey Mysterio Retire?
Seth Rollins hosted a retirement ceremony for Rey Mysterio at the onset of Raw. He said it was his duty as a leader to appreciate Rey as a sacrifice for the greater good of Monday Night Raw. He showed a video packages with highlights of Rey’s career, and then said he would personally be honored to induct Rey into the WWE Hall of Fame. He then went on to lose to Aleister Black, who was Rey’s partner the night Seth injured his eye.
Later Rey came on remotely from his own. He didn’t say for sure he was retiring, but rather awaiting medical clearance, which may or may not come. He acknowledged he has been thinking about his future for a long time. His son Dominick walked in and said that something had to be done, but his father told him to chill out. After some more works from both men, Dominick chillingly said, “an eye for an eye” and then walked away.
We’ll find out tonight as to whether Rey has reached the finish line.
Frank’s Analysis: Rey is not retiring, but they’ll continue to lead us down that path until he’s ready to come back. I wasn’t certain how Dominick would fit in to the situation, but it looks more and more like he’ll get involved and turning on his father is a very distinct possibility.
The Street Profits vs. The Viking Raiders in a Decathlon
(Sigh)
Last week, The Viking Raiders (Erik & Ivar) beat the Raw Tag Team Champions the Street Profits (Montez Ford & Angelo Dawkins) in a bowling contest in the ongoing “anything you can do; we can do better” competition. Thus far, the teams are tied at two wins each after playing basketball, gold, going bowling, and having an axe throwing contest. Tonight, they have a rubber match as they will have a decathlon.
Frank’s Analysis: You all remember what I’ve been typing about that fast forward button, right? I’m sorry, but after sitting through the basketball competition I have fast forwarded through every skit. I have no interest. This does nothing to elevate either team, nor does it have anything to do with wrestling. It does shorten my Raw viewing time by five minutes or so, although I can’t do that tonight since I’ll be in the co-host chair. It’s all good, we’ll try to have a couple of laughs.
What Happened to WWE Drew McIntyre After Raw Went off the Air
WWE is not advertising this as a point of emphasis, but they did include it in their hype video over the weekend and on their website today.
In the main event last week, WWE Champion Drew McIntyre defeated MVP in a non-title match. After the match, Bobby Lashley came out and put Drew in his signature Full Nelson, and Raw went off the air. WWE has advertised that they will show what happened after Raw went off the air. Lashley is set to take on Drew for the WWE Championship this coming Sunday at Backlash.
Lashley’s on-screen wife Lana was at ring side for the match with MVP, much to the dismay of Lashley. He has asked Lana not to accompany him due to her being a distraction, much to Lana’s dismay. Lana accused MVP of trying to resurrect his career on the coat tails of her husband. MVP thinks Lana is trying to do the same. Lana didn’t appreciate him pointing that out last week and treated him to a genuinely nice slap in the face. Tensions are high all around in this situation, and we’ll find out the next chapter tonight as we head towards the title match on Sunday.
Frank’s Analysis: There’s probably not anything exciting that happened after Raw last week. Overall, I’m still interested in this match because of the players involved. Although I don’t want to see Lashley defeat Drew, I side with MVP and the situation with Lana. Lana’s character is a jealous woman that’s all about herself and doesn’t want to see her on-screen husband succeed, which is why she is resenting MVP. I’m curious where it’s all going. A small part of me thinks Lashley could be winning the gold if not Sunday, then sometime soon.
Other Match Results and News Items from Last Week
- Aleister Black defeated Seth Rollins.
- Apollo Crews chose Kevin Owens as his challenge for the U.S. Championship. They wrestled to a no-contest when Angel Garza and
- Andrade interfered. Crew & Owens then defeated Garza & Andrade in a tag team match.
- R-Truth defeated Rob Gronkowski to regain the 24/7 Championship.
- Nia Jax defeated Kairi Sane.
- Then-NXT Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair defeated Raw Champion Asuka via count out when Nia Jax came out dressed like Asuka.
Final Thoughts
They’ve done a lot to build up the top matches especially Drew-Lashley match as well as Orton-Edge. I expect that they’ll do a little more to hype Asuka vs. Nia Jax, despite advertising focus on the other matches. The IIconics will likely want to get at Bayley & Sasha Banks for the Women’s Tag Team Titles, so we’ll see if something is set up there. Andrade might want to get his U.S. Championship back, so we’ll see if they set up something with Apollo Crews. They don’t have to defend every title on every show, and truthfully if they have six-eight good matches and the show is no more than three hours I’m fine. More is not necessarily better!
Follow Frank on Twitter @FrankPeteani. Questions and discussion are welcome! Thank you for reading.
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