5/17 WWE RAW TALK REPORT: Kofi Kingston talks beating Lashley in the main event, Garza discusses roses and his future, more

RAW TALK REPORT
MAY 20, 2021
AIRED ON PEACOCK (VIA WWE NETWORK)
REVIEW BY NICK MORGAN, PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR

Hosts: Kayla Braxton and R-Truth

This week’s guests: New Day, Angel Garza, Tamina & Natalya

– Okay, Raw Talk is back on my Peacock feed after an unexplained absence last week. Still don’t know what happened to it. Unfortunately, the show is back in all of its mundane and pointless glory. The whole first segment (about four minutes) despite Kevin Patrick doing a recap of the main goings on tonight on Raw, was taken up with R-Truth being sad about losing his 24/7 belt and Kevin apologizing profusely and repeatedly for causing the situation by actually doing his job and trying to interview R-Truth backstage.

(Morgan’s Analysis: This was just painful to watch, especially when Kevin threw out there that he had gone to journalism school. Oh boy Kevin.)

– They went to a quick break featuring a promo for the WWE Icons show about RVD and a vaccine PSA.

– Coming out of break, we are cursed with yet another appearance by Natalya and Tamina (weren’t they just on Talking Smack a couple of nights ago?) Kevin Patrick also continued to slip in apologies to R-Truth. Natalya talked about how both her and Tamina come from legacy wrestling families and they both just feel so great and fulfilled about that. While Natalya was way too over the top smiling and happy faced, Tamina also said she was happy, but kept up her kind of grumpy character. In a funny moment that was unintentional, Tamina said she wanted to thank the “fans” and then quickly corrected to “WWE Universe”. Patrick brought up Alexa Bliss and their segment with her on the show, and they both said it was weird and creeped them out.

– As Patrick asked about Reginald, it seemed that Natalya and Tamina went off script a bit and both women actually came across more human and relatable (at least in their disgust and dislike of Reginald). The segment ended rather abruptly as Patrick threw to another break featuring promos for Smackdown and for NXT (the Gargano vs. Reed match).

– Back from break Angel Garza joined the guys, no rose but very nicely dressed. Of course, they had to bring up the rose in the trunks and even showed the clip, I know Vince loves this stuff, but it is just crude and brings Garza down. Building on the commentary from the show, Patrick mentioned to Garza that he seems more aggressive and brutal, and Garza confirmed that yes, in fact, he is going to continue to be aggressive and that he will put roses wherever he wants to put them.

– And that was that as Patrick sent us to break with the hook that the New Day would be next and we got the Smackdown promo again and the NXT promo again, as well.

– And we are back with the power of positivity in New Day’s Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston (dancing on the desk). Patrick pushed hard on the fact that Kofi beat both Randy Orton and Bobby Lashley in a single show. Kofi just took the praise and totally avoided the point that without the assist from Drew McIntyre, he probably would not have beaten Lashley. Woods and Kingston are great talkers and that is all they did, constantly, yelling and just doing their New Day shtick.

– Kofi would not say out right that he would get a title shot, but definitely alluded to it and that he would be ready.

Morgan’s Analysis: They were totally pushing the idea of a re-run of Kofi mania. As Patrick tried to end the segment, New Day kept yelling and touting the fact that Kofi beat Bobby Lashley (still no mention of the assist from Drew). If you are a fan of the New Day shtick, you will love this, if you are a bit tired of their act, then about two minutes in you were ready for the show to end.

-Patrick finally said good-night, while Kofi and Xavier continued to talk for another minute or so, with Kofi dancing and standing on the desk. They finally went to a high shot of the desk and the show ended.

FINAL THOUGHTS: Wow, 26 minutes of complete and utter WWE junk, touching all the marks of a WWE produced show that tried the patience, offended the sensibilities and, abused the ear drums of fans. The WWE has got to get more people on Raw, so they don’t have to keep trotting out Natalya & Tamina and the New Day every week. I will give them credit for featuring Angel Garza, but they gave the guy all of two to three heavily scripted minutes centering around shoving a rose where the sun don’t shine. I am sure Vince was busting a gut, but I just felt bad for Garza. They man is really talented, but he has been so badly used and in his first real push in a long time (okay a small push), this is what they have him doing? It’s just sad. Do not waste your time with this show this week. It was not good, there was very little forwarded, and worst of all the first segment was all about R-Truth and the 24/7 belt.

NOW CHECK OUT THE PREVIOUS WWE RAW TALK REPORT: 5/3 WWE RAW TALK REPORT: Ripley addresses Charlotte’s Backlash involvement, Drew prepares for championship showdown, more