WWE MONDAY NIGHT RAW PRIMER 6/28: Second Chance MITB Slots Open, Strap Match, Six-Woman Tag, Kofi to Confront MVP

WWE MONDAY NIGHT RAW PRIMER
JUNE 28, 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

Money in the Bank Qualifying Matches

• Ricochet defeated A.J. Styles.

• Naomi & Asuka defeated Eva Marie & Doudrop (former Piper Niven).

• John Morrison defeated Randy Orton.
• Riddle defeated Drew McIntyre.
• Nikki Cross & Alexa Bliss defeated Shayna Baszler & Nia Jax. (Cross & Alexa both qualify for the women’s match.)

Other Matches

• WWE Champion Bobby Lashley defeated Xavier Woods of New Day in a non-title Hell in a Cell match announced at the beginning of the show. It’s a good thing the cell was hanging over the ring otherwise, what would they have done?

This Week

We’re on our way towards Money in the Bank which takes place on Sunday July 18. As noted earlier the men’s and women’s matches are taking shape. This past Friday, Big E qualified for the men’s match by defeating Apollo Crews. Carmella qualified for the women’s match by being announced by Sonya Deville because she’s beautiful and a two-time winner. Anyway, we found out last week that Kofi Kingston will challenge Bobby Lashley for the WWE Championship and Charlotte Flair once again challenges Rhea Ripley for the Raw Women’s Championship. We’ll see if a stipulation gets added since Charlotte won their match at Hell in a Cell via DQ. So far for tonight, three matches and a confrontational segment have been advertised.

Second Chance Money in the Bank Qualifying Triple Threat Match: Drew McIntyre vs. A.J. Styles vs. Randy Orton

Last week was interesting to say the least as three former WWE Champions were defeated in Money in the Bank qualifying matches. Two matches involved distractions. The Viking Raiders attacked A.J. Styles’s partner Omos during his match against Ricochet. The Miz sprayed Randy Orton with John Morrison’s drip stick during their match. Riddle defeated Drew McIntyre clean, although Drew was coming off working a Hell in a Cell match the night before. Randy Orton was watching from the top of the ring entrance.

Former WWE Champions Jinder Mahal, Sheamus, and Jeff Hardy all raised issue with not getting chances to get into the match to Adam Pearce. Cedric Alexander did as well, although Jeff squashed him citing his defeating of the past few weeks. Jinder settled for being an “alternate.” Mustafa Ali and Mansoor were talking about it later as well.

Drew McIntyre, A.J. Styles, and Randy Orton take on each other in a triple threat match to earn a spot in the Money in the Bank ladder match. Here’s a little Twitter trash talk by A.J.

Who ya got?? I got me! Randy doesn’t even like ladders! And Drew? Come on man!!!! #WWERAW #MITB https://t.co/uHVyfnliQ0

— AJ Styles (@AJStylesOrg) June 24, 2021

Frank’s Analysis: There’s a lot to unpack from last week. First, it’s anybody’s guess who wins this triple threat. I don’t even think Vince knows whom he wants winning, so I’m not racking my brain. As far as last week I must say when you do multiple upsets and worse, add distractions, it brings own the value of the upsets. Ricochet and John Morrison have been terribly defined down. Why would I get excited about them being in Money in the Bank even if they defeated Styles and Orton? I guess they wanted to create excitement by beating top-end stars, but to me it had the reverse effect. Jinder Mahal is going to be a factor for sure. They could wedge Jeff Hardy in there, but at his age does he want to be taking bumps he’d have to take in MITB ladder match? Cedric would be a nice addition, but he’s been a loser. Mustafa Ali has been a loser. Mansoor hasn’t been damaged yet, so I’d like to see what he can do. We’re better off playing a wait-and-see because there are too many moving parts.

Strap Match: Jaxson Ryker vs. Elias

Last week, when Mansoor was talking to Jaxson Ryker backstage, we learned that Ryker and Elias will take on each other in a strap match. Two weeks ago, Ryker defeated Elias via count out. The strap match is to keep Elias from running out on Ryker.

Frank’s Analysis: I don’t think anybody cares about this match happening, much less the outcome. It’s inconsequential, but I give WWE credit for trying to feature these guys and announce a match a week in advance.

Six-Woman Tag Match: Raw Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley & Dana Brooke & Mandy Rose vs. Charlotte Flair & Women’s Tag Team Champions Natalya & Tamina

In what is a “combination of feuds,” Rhea Ripley pairs with Dana Brooke & Mandy Rose to take on Charlotte Flair and Natalya & Tamina.

Last week, in an in-ring conversation with Adam Pearce & Sonya Deville, Rhea Ripley said she only did what Charlotte Flair would do referring to her getting DQ’d in their title match at Hell in a Cell. That led to their rematch being announced at Money in the Bank. Meanwhile Natalya & Tamina were doing a photo shoot while Dana Brooke & Mandy Rose were practicing in the background. It’s a good thing the camera was there to capture their coincidental events. That led to a confrontation with Mandy & Dana knocking them to the ground.

Frank’s Analysis: As I said, this is just a combination of feuds. It’s hard to get excited nor care about what’s going to happen because it’s what WWE does. They have people scheduled to face each other at an upcoming PPV wrestling each other in different iterations and forms to runs angles, add to the story, etc. but the effect is just making you care less about the “big match” because you’ve seen it already. There are no people just beating other people clean and building up people strong so that way you’re intrigued to see what happens. They run thin rosters and just don’t believe in clean, simple matches. In addition, does anybody really care about Mandy and Dana being involved in the tag team championship picture after they’ve lost a ton of matches? (Shrug)

Kofi Kingston Confronts MVP

During the opening segment of last week’s show, Kofi Kingston challenged Bobby Lashley to a WWE Championship match at Money in the Bank. Lashley accepted but wanted a match with Kofi’s New Day partner Xavier Woods. Woods accepted, talked about his two million subscribers to his YouTube channel and being a G4 host, and said the match would be in Hell in a Cell. As I mentioned earlier, thankfully the cell was hanging about the ring.

Lashley would go on the defeat Woods, but then continued his assault after the match. MVP made his way into the cage while Lashley put the Hurt Lock on Woods. He tapped him out with that move to win the match. They did this in front of Kofi, who was locked outside of the cage. MVP taunted him while the show went off the air. Tonight, Kofi confronts MVP about Lashley’s actions.

Frank’s Analysis: I’m curious where everything goes with MVP and Kofi. Multiple wrestling media outlets have Xavier Woods taking time off, which with all due respect is a good thing for Kofi. I want to see him be more serious and I’m not sure that can happen with Woods around.

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