WWE MONDAY NIGHT RAW PRIMER 6/14: Drew vs. Styles, New Day vs. RKBro, Eva-lution Begins

WWE MONDAY NIGHT RAW PRIMER
JUNE 14, 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: Jimmy Smith, Byron Saxton, Corey Graves

Match Results & Key Segments from Last Week

• The Viking Raiders won a tag team Battle Royal to earn the right to challenge for the Raw Tag Team Championship.

• Jaxson Ryker defeated Elias via count-out.

• Drew McIntyre and WWE Champion Bobby Lashley signed the contract for their title match at Hell in a Cell. Lashley wanted Drew to commit to not seek another title match if he loses and as long as Lashley is champion. Drew agreed with the condition that the match be inside Hell in a Cell. Lashley agreed.
• Ricochet and Humberto Carrillo wrestled to a double count-out with U.S. Champion Sheamus, wearing a protective facemask, on commentary.
• MVP approached Kofi Kingston about coming under his tutelage.
• Jeff Hardy defeated Cedric Alexander.
• Asuka & Nikki Cross defeated Raw Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley & Charlotte Flair. Ripley and Flair attacked each other towards the end of the match. Flair gave Ripley Natural Selection enabling Cross to score the pin.

• Mansoor defeated Drew Gulak. Earlier, Mustafa Ali tried to warn Mansoor about Drew.
• Kofi Kingston defeated Riddle of RKBro.
• Shayna Baszler was Alexa Bliss’s guest on Alexa’s Playground. Alexa tried to get Shayna to apologize to her doll Lilly which led to Shayna stepping on it. Then a bunch of funky stuff happened with the Thunderdome which led to Shayna running away, pyro, Shayna going into rooms with camera conveniently there, Lilly appearing in a mirror, but she really wasn’t there, and who freakin’ cares.

This Week

We’re less than a week away from Hell in a Cell, which will be the final PPV (Peacock Network special, whatever it’s called) that will take place in the Thunderdome. The card is filling out with WWE announcing another HIAC match from the Smackdown side where Roman Reigns will defend the Universal Championship against Rey Mysterio. That’s two matches of the kind and hopefully it stays that way. Having two HIAC matches is enough in and of itself, but I can’t put it past WWE to have a third. We’ll have to wait and see. As was reported over the weekend here at PWTorch, two matches and a re-debut have been announced for tonight.

New Day vs. RKBro

New Day (Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods) will attempt to settle the score with RKBro (Riddle & Randy Orton). These teams have been involved each other for numerous weeks, with the latest few chapters taking place last week. Both teams were involved in the tag team Battle Royal and later, as I mentioned, Kofi defeated Riddle one-on-one. In the previous two weeks Randy and Riddle each individually defeated Xavier Woods using the other’s finisher.

MVP is potentially involved in this situation after approaching Kofi last week about coming under his wing. He said he himself was responsible for KofiMania ending a few years ago. Kofi won the WWE Championship at WrestleMania in 2019 but lost it in eight seconds to Brock Lesnar on the first edition of Smackdown on Fox later that year. Here’s New Day in a WWE exclusive:

Frank’s Analysis: I am intrigued to see where things go between MVP and Kofi. It’s high time he leaves the New Day antics behind and take on a more serious side. I like Kofi that way. It would be interesting to see what happens with Lashley should Kofi eventually accept MVP’s offer. As far as the match I would favor RKBro, although a screwy finish leading to another match is possible. I legit feel I can say that about any WWE match these days.

Drew McIntyre vs. A.J. Styles (Raw Tag Team Championship Co-Holder)

In a battle of former two-time WWE Champions, Drew McIntyre will take on A.J. Styles. Styles and Omos are the reigning Raw Tag Team Champions.

Styles and Omos have a future date with former champions the Viking Raiders (Erik & Ivar) because of them winning a tag team Battle Royal last week. Drew has a Hell in a Cell match with Bobby Lashley this coming Sunday for the WWE Championship. Drew and Styles are no strangers to each other. They had a TLC match at the titular PPV in December. Drew won that match to retain the title which he held at the time. The Miz got involved vis-a-vis John Morrison cashing in Money in the Bank on his behalf.

Frank’s Analysis: I would imagine they’re still headed towards RKBRo facing Styles & Omos for the tag titles. I could see McIntyre somehow costing them the titles, perhaps something happens in this match and Styles blames him, which leads to a feud with McIntyre where he also gets involved with Omos. If they’re not going to put the WWE title back on Drew, then they need to give him something to do. I can get on board with this if done right.

Eva Marie Re-Debut

After another vignette aired on Eva Marie, it was announced that she will be returning this week. Eva has built up her returning character as someone who wants to help and inspire others, based on what she has accomplished. Eva was in WWE from 2013-’17, spending time on main roster, NXT, and then back on the main roster again before parting ways with the company. She was a significant part of Total Divas on the E! Network for several seasons. One notable and probably infamous part of her gimmick was faking issues to get out of matches, which took place over the summer of 2016. Here are some tweets hyping her return:

https://twitter.com/natalieevamarie/status/1403428112298250244?s=20

https://twitter.com/natalieevamarie/status/1403201995549265924?s=20

Frank’s Analysis: Initially I was on record saying let’s see what she has to offer as she does look like a star. The more I think about it, the more this bothers me. They release Mickie James, who to me offers 1000 times more to the women’s division, and they bring back Eva whom a lot of people couldn’t stand the last time around. I’m curious to see how this plays out, but the more I think about it I’m not overly optimistic.

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