WWE MONDAY NIGHT RAW PRIMER 5/17: WrestleMania Backlash Fallout, New Women’s Tag Team Champions Coming to Play

WWE MONDAY NIGHT RAW PRIMER
MAY 17, 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 & Key Segments from Last Week

• Asuka, Mandy Rose, and Dana Brooke defeated Charlotte Flair and Women’s Tag Team Champions Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler. During the match somehow magically Alexa Bliss and her doll Lilly showed up on the swing set of Alexa’s Playground. Shayna Baszler’s knee was injured out of nowhere (Papa Shango must be proud) and Asuka pinned Shayna. Charlotte and Alexa eyed each other after the match.
• Jinder Mahal (w/Veer and Shanky) defeated Jeff Hardy. This was Jinder’s return to Raw after a year off due to injury.

• RK-Bro (Randy Orton and Riddle) and New Day (Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods) defeated Raw Tag Team Champions A.J. Styles & Omos and Elias & Jaxson Ryker.
• U.S. Champion Sheamus and Humberto Carrillo wrestled to a no-contest when Carrillo was injured.
• A video aired with Lucha House Party (Lince Dorado and Gran Metalik) discussing their plans on Raw.
• A vignette aired for the returning Eva Marie.
• Shelton Benjamin defeated Cedric Alexander.
• Raw Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley defeated Asuka in a non-title match.

• Damian Priest defeated John Morrison (w/the Miz) to earn the right to pick the stipulation for the match between he and Miz at WrestleMania Backlash. Later, he told WWE official Adam Pearce that he wanted it to be a Lumberjack match. (Little did he know….)

• Drew McIntyre defeated WWE Champion Bobby Lashley via DQ when Braun Strowman attacked Drew mid-match. Later, he appeared to align with Lashley by shaking his hand until he power-slammed him to close out the show. Throughout the night, Lashley’s manager MVP was proposing working with Braun to take out Drew so the match at WrestleMania Backlash can be a one-on-one between Braun and Lashley. I can’t believe Braun betrayed Lashley! How could he?!?!?!?!

WrestleMania Backlash Results Pertinent to Raw

• During the kickoff show, U.S. Champion Sheamus defeated Ricochet in a non-title. Ricochet responded to another Sheamus open challenge where he refused to put his title on the line.
• Rhea Ripley defeated Charlotte Flair and Asuka to retain the Raw Women’s Championship. Rhea pinned Asuka after hitting her signature Riptide finisher.

• Damian Priest defeated the Miz (w/John Morrison) in a Lumberjack match consisting of “zombies,” promoting Army of the Dead coming to Netflix.
• Bobby Lashley defeated Braun Strowman and Drew McIntyre to retain the WWE Championship. Lashley pinned Strowman after being thrown through an LED board, but returning to spear him after Drew hit his Claymore.

Advertised Matches and Segments by WWE

We’re past WrestleMania Backlash and onto the next PPV, Hell in a Cell, which comes to us on the evening of Father’s Day (June 20) as we found out during the PPV last night. Hell in a Cell is usually reserved for later in the year (September or October), but has been moved to the month where Money in the Bank typically takes place. Though not confirmed, rumor is circulating that Money in the Bank could take place in July in front of a live crowd. Check back here at PWTorch.com for follow-up on that situation.

Tonight, we move towards the next PPV with follow-up on WrestleMania Backlash. No matches are advertised. On the other hand, WWE has announced that new WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Natalya & Tamina will come to Raw and be welcomed into Alexa’s Playground. Natalya & Tamina defeated Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler this past Friday on Smackdown to win the titles. While Natalya has held gold before, this is the first championship for Tamina who debuted for the WWE in May of 2010 alongside the Usos (Jimmy & Jey).

Frank’s Analysis: It’s hard to know where this is going after Alexa “targeted” the six-woman tag match discussed earlier. Hey, if WWE can book Shawn Michaels & God vs. the McMahons like they did at Backlash of 2006, what’s to stop them from booking Alexa & her doll Lilly to challenge for the championship? Speaking of Backlash 2006, I will be reviewing that for WWE Then and Now this week with Torch contributor Bruce Hazelwood, author of the Raw “Alt Perspective” report in which Bruce gives his analysis on Raw in real time alongside Wade Keller every Monday night. Bruce and I will not only review that show but relate it to current events and give our analysis on what’s taking place heading towards Backlash.

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