WWE MONDAY NIGHT RAW PRIMER 5/3: Drew or Braun to Step Up to WWE Champion Lashley, New Day vies for Raw Tag Team Championship, Lana & Naomi challenge Nia & Shayna for Women’s Tag Team Gold

WWE MONDAY NIGHT RAW PRIMER
MAY 3, 2021
TAMPA, FL. AT THUNDERDOME IN YUENGLING CENTER
AIRS ON USA NETWORK, 8:00 p.m. EDT
BY FRANK PETEANI (@FrankPeteani), PWTORCH.COM CONTRIBUTOR

Announcers: Adnan Virk, Byron Saxton, Corey Graves

Match Results from Last Week

• Braun Strowman defeated Mace & T-Bar via DQ.
• Mace & T-Bar defeated Braun Strowman & Drew McIntyre via count out.
• New Day (Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods) and Damian Priest defeated the Miz & Elias & Jaxson Ryker (w/John Morrison).

• Randy Orton & Riddle defeated Cedric Alexander & Shelton Benjamin.

• Women’s Tag Team Champions Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler (w/Reginald) and Raw Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley defeated Asuka & Naomi & Lana.
• Charlotte Flair defeated Mandy Rose.
• Braun Stowman defeated Drew McIntyre thanks to a distraction from Mace & T-Bar. Braun has been added to the WWE Championship match at WrestleMania Backlash making it a triple threat between he, Drew McIntyre, and champion Bobby Lashley.

Key Non-Wrestling Segments from Last Week

• The Miz, John Morrison, Elias, and Jaxson Ryker did Hey Hey Ho Ho unplugged. Vince McMahon really needs hobbies and friends outside of being the CEO of WWE.
• Sonya Deville lifted Charlotte Flair’s suspension after she apologized for attacking referee Eddie Orengo after her match with Asuka during the previous week’s episode. She then got Orengo to apologize because he admitted his mistake of not seeing Rhea Ripley interfere in the match.
• Humberto Carrillo answered another “open challenge” by U.S. Champion Sheamus and knocked him to the floor.
• MVP and WWE Champion Bobby Lashley complained about the potential of Braun Strowman being added to the championship match at WrestleMania Backlash which already involved Drew McIntyre. MVP said it was disgusting and unacceptable and questioned why WWE would treat their champion so poorly.
• Angel Garza gave roses to Nia Jax. Jax gave the roses to Mandy Rose & Dana Brooke and told them to “put these in water, bitch.” (It’s not Raw without distraction finishes and someone saying “bitch.”)
• Alexa Bliss delivered another message from the swing set with Lilly.

Advertised Matches and Segments by WWE

We continue towards WrestleMania Backlash which takes place May 16. Last week the parameters changed for the WWE Championship match as mentioned earlier, and apparently champion Bobby Lashley will have a response. WWE is also hinting at a Raw Women’s Championship match between Charlotte Flair and Rhea Ripley as evidenced in their hype video for tonight’s show:

Here’s what’s listed in WWE’s preview:

• WWE Champion Bobby Lashley to compete against either Drew McIntyre or Braun Strowman this Monday night.
• Raw Tag Team Champions AJ Styles & Omos set to defend against New Day in WrestleMania rematch on Raw.
• Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler to put WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles on the line against Lana & Naomi.

WWE Champion Bobby Lashley vs. Drew McIntyre or Braun Strowman

Tonight, in what appears to be a non-title match, WWE Champion Bobby Lashley will take on either Braun Strowman or Drew McIntyre. As I said earlier, he will defend the title against both men in a triple threat match at WrestleMania Backlash.

Let’s not discount Mace and T-Bar, both of whom have been involved with Drew and Braun and certainly have their history with Lashley and MVP. Mace and T-Bar interfered in the match between Drew and Braun last week where Braun won and earned the right to enter the WWE Championship match at Backlash and make it a triple threat.

Frank’s Analysis: Mace and T-Bar aren’t going to align with Braun, are they? That would seem like an odd combination. As far as tonight, this isn’t compelling. It’s another example of wearing out a big upcoming match by having people involved wrestle multiple times before it happens. This is what happens when you use a small roster on a three-hour show.

Raw Tag Team Championship: A.J. Styles & Omos (champs) vs. New Day (Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods)

At WrestleMania, A.J. Styles captured his first tag team championship in WWE when he and Omos defeated New Day to win the Raw titles. Since then, they haven’t been seen. New Day have been involved with mostly Elias and Jaxson Ryker, and in one week Kofi Kingston (former WWE Champion) lost a one-on-one to Elias. I suppose you can say they got back on track last week when they paired with Damian Priest to defeat Elias & Ryker and the Miz.

Tonight, New Day looks to become your new 12-time … W … W … E … World … Tag … Team … Champions when they challenge A.J. & Omos in a rematch from WrestleMania. Apparently, the champions did make an appearance as they were on The Bump last week. I don’t watch that show, but here is the appearance as well as a little Twitter trash talk from Kofi:

https://twitter.com/TrueKofi/status/1389053982555967489?s=20

Frank’s Analysis: It’s nice to see the existence and acknowledgment of the Raw Tag Team Champions. I don’t understand why, on multiple three-hour shows since WrestleMania, the announcers couldn’t even tell us if these guys were alive. I don’t need to see everybody every week, but when you have new champions and they don’t show up nor are they mentioned, it’s strange. Since the titles don’t have a ton of meaning, it can go either way tonight.

WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship: Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler (champs) vs. Lana & Naomi

Tonight, Lana & Naomi challenge Shayna Baszler & Nia Jax for the Women’s Tag Team Championship. Last week, Jax & Baszler along with Rhea Ripley defeated Lana & Naomi with Asuka in a six-woman tag match. Lana nearly scored a pin over Ripley at one point.

Back on April 19, Lana & Naomi defeated Nia & Shayna in a non-title match thanks to a distraction by Mandy Rose:

Frank’s Analysis: I think I actually want Lana & Naomi to win, not because I think they’re better and deserve it, but it’s actually getting offensive watching Nia and Shayna team. It’s offensive because Shayna is way above this and no disrespect to Savelina Fanene (Nia Jax), but I’m over her and Mandy constantly making her slip and fall.

Follow Frank on Twitter @FrankPeteani. Thank you for reading!