6/21 WWE RAW TALK REPORT: Riddle talks MITB and Randy Orton, Cross discusses new costume, more

RAW TALK REPORT
JUNE 21, 2021
AIRED ON PEACOCK (VIA WWE NETWORK)
REVIEW BY NICK MORGAN, PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR

Hosts: Kevin Patrick and R-Truth

This week’s guests: Riddle, John Morrison & The Miz, Nikki Cross

– The show started out focused on the ring with the Hell in a Cell, cell, still surrounding it. Kevin Patrick welcomed us to the show and then he and R-Truth went on about T0zawa and the 24/7 title for a little bit. They finally left this and moved on to the Hell in a Cell match between Bobby Lashley and Xavier Woods — framing it as a showcase win for Lashley and showing his brutality, strength, and durability as champion. They also started touting the upcoming match between Lashley and Kofi Kingston at Money in the Bank.

– Next up they recapped the Money in the Bank qualifiers hyping the upset nature of many of the matches. They used video clips for all the matches and finally ended up touting the match that was made between Rhea Ripley and Charlotte at Money in the Bank. Patrick teased Riddle was coming up after the break and we got a Summerslam and a Money in the Bank promo.

– Back from break, Riddle joined the dynamic duo at the desk. Surprisingly, Riddle was in a white shirt and tie and proceeded to plug every piece of the RK-Bro merch, I guess it is not selling too well? At any rate, R-Truth was ecstatic. Riddle next went full blown Riddle on his victory over Drew McIntyre and what opportunities there might be for him should he win Money in the Bank and then touted the last chance match next week for all the wrestlers who lost their qualifier tonight, including Randy Orton.

– Riddle gave Drew a ton of props for his effort against him tonight considering how beat up he was after his Cell match with Lashley and noted that he just happened to be in the right place at the right time and took his shot and won. There was some brief discussion of Randy’s reactions on Raw, and Riddle totally threw it off as “just one of Randy’s moods,” and that he knows everything is fine, Riddle said he knows Randy better than most people think he knows Randy. Whether this is just oblivious Riddle or whether this partnership will continue for a while (personally, I hope it keeps going), WWE is keeping up the story that Riddle and Randy are together.

(Morgan’s Analysis: Quick comment on Riddle — some people may not like his shtick, but you can’t deny that he brings the energy and in his own way is a great promo. He was fun to watch tonight.)

– We went to another break with a Back on the Road spot and an NXT spot, after which we were unfortunately subjected to John Morrison and The Miz, whose head barely was above the desk as he was in his wheelchair. It was strange to have these two come out with their over-the-top energy right after Riddle and his energy. After Miz and Morrison celebrated Morrison’s victory and earning a spot in Money in the Bank and in their delusion their ultimate championship cash-in. Let’s hold on a bit and get the horse back in front of the cart. With R-Truth adding his insanity, this segment was basically incoherent, with the basic gist coming through as Morrison will win Money in the Bank because he and Miz have a plan.

– Miz did make breaking news by admitting he has no idea when he would be returning to the ring with his knee injury. Patrick to our detriment let R-Truth kind of lead this segment and the thought of an interview went right out the window. This segment was horrible, not because of the people, but because there was apparently no director controlling the action and it was just a cacophony of noise.

– After teasing Nikki Cross was next, we were sent to break for a Smackdown promo and the vaccine PSA.

– And we are back with Superhero Nikki Cross who continued with the apparent trend of the night, energy, energy, and some more energy. Surprisingly, Nikki actually slowed down a bit and clearly explained that the goal of Nikki and Alexa Bliss was to win their match and get into Money in the Bank, and now that this was accomplished, she was going to be “Nikki in the Bank”. Patrick asked about Nikki’s superhero costume and Truth asked her if she could fly. Nikki said that she knows that she doesn’t have superpowers but putting on the outfit is really more about believing in oneself than having superpowers. Very Nikki Cross.

– Of course, R-Truth had to ruin the moment by asking if Nikki had brought them any gifts like Riddle and Morrison had. To this Nikki kind of looked at him a little dumb founded and then stood up on the chair and proclaimed that she was the gift and smiled as R-Truth spun her chair around slowly and Kevin Patrick said good night. And we were out.

FINAL THOUGHTS: For what we got tonight, it was a surprisingly longer show than I thought at 27 minutes, mostly because the middle segment with Morrison and the Miz dragged on quite a bit as everyone just yelled and talked over each other. Overall, this show seemed to have had a triple expresso before it went on as all the guests were amped up. Exhausting as the show was, I totally enjoyed Riddle. He kept his character while also advancing the story line and putting over other wrestlers (Randy and Drew). And I just enjoy watching Nikki Cross and her obvious joy in performance, even with the somewhat ridiculous superhero outfit, but I give her credit for actually having an explanation for it. Bravo! Just keep Miz and Morrison and their stupid “DripStick” water squirter off my television. All in all, a watchable show this week, though as bad as he can be, Patrick needs to take control and actually ask some questions and keep R-Truth from stealing the show.

NOW CHECK OUT LAST WEEK’S RAW TALK REPORT: 6/14 WWE RAW TALK REPORT: Charlotte on upcoming match with Rhea Ripley, Drew McIntyre talks becoming champion again, more