WWE MONDAY NIGHT RAW PRIMER 8/16: Viper vs. Colossus, Drew vs. Veer & Shanky with SummerSlam Implications, Goldberg and Lashley Face-to-Face

WWE MONDAY NIGHT RAW PRIMER
AUGUST 16, 2021
SAN ANTONIO, TX. AT THE AT & T 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 from Last Week and Exclusives

• Randy Orton returned to WWE and opened the show and was interrupted by Riddle who wanted to reunite with Randy to form RKBro. Randy resisted and they were interrupted by Raw Tag Team Champions A.J. Styles & Omos. This led to Randy challenging A.J. to a match later in the evening. He stepped to Omos and almost RKO’d him, but he got out of the way and choke-slammed Riddle.
• Smackdown’s Baron Corbin arrived on Raw, and during his match with Drew McIntyre he asked for $100,000. Drew instead gave him a Claymore Kick and scored the pin.
• NXT Champion Karrion Kross defeated Jeff Hardy.
• Alexa Bliss defeated Doudrop (w/Eva Marie) when Lilly distracted her with a wink. (I need to examine my life.)
• U.S. Champion Sheamus defeated Ricochet in a NON-TITLE MATCH.
• Damian Priest defeated John Morrison (w/the Miz).
• T-Bar (w/Mace) defeated Mustafa Ali (w/Mansoor).
• WWE Champion Bobby Lashley (w/MVP) cut a promo regarding his title defense at SummerSlam against Goldberg. He said Goldberg was not next, but rather “done.”
• Raw Women’s Champion Nikki ASH and Rhea Ripley wrestled to an apparent no-contest when Charlotte Flair interfered.
• A vignette showed Elias throwing a guitar into a fire, saying “Elias is dead.”
• Randy Orton defeated A.J. Styles (w/Omos). He later RKO’d Riddle who came down to the ring during the match against Randy’s wishes.

Arena

WWE returns to the AT & T Center in San Antonio, TX. The building opened in October of 2002 as the SBC Center and is host to the frequent NBA Champion San Antonio Spurs. WWE has appeared in this venue for multiple events since 2003 including the first TLC event in 2009, which I reviewed with Torch columnist Greg Parks on the launch episode of WWE Then and Now last December. Raw last emanated from this building just before the COVID-19 pandemic in January of 2020.

Two matches and a face-to-face have been advertised for tonight’s show. Here’s the hype video WWE put out for this show:

Randy Orton vs. Omos

Randy Orton may have been A.J. Styles last week, but issues arose between he and Omos. He confronted Omos during the opening promo, and in turn Omos got involved in the match when he distracted Randy early on and pulled A.J. out of the ring at one point. Randy yelled at Omos, and it looked like there would be a confrontation until A.J. intervened. When Riddle made his way down to help Randy, Omos rammed him into the ring post for his troubles. Randy would close the deal and defeat A.J. with an RKO.

Things will be different tonight as Randy goes one-on-one with Omos. I’m sure Riddle will be lurking after getting an RKO after the match. Here’s Riddle on Twitter and an exclusive:

It was the best of times and the worst of times #bro #RKBro #WWERaw #stallion pic.twitter.com/zBWAglVibX

— matthew riddle (@SuperKingofBros) August 13, 2021

Frank’s Analysis: This can’t be for anything other than to set up a tag team title match at SummerSlam. Riddle does look pathetic being rejected by Randy and getting RKO’d at the end, but I get they’re telling a story and to be honest he deserved what he got! I’m curious to see how Randy and Omos work together, but this match isn’t about the result.

Handicap Match: Drew McIntyre vs. Veer & Shanky with SummerSlam Implications

After Drew McIntyre defeated Baron Corbin last week, Jinder Mahal made his way out along with Veer & Shanky. They were obviously going after Drew, until Drew swung his sword and they backed off. Drew’s sword is named Angela after his mother, whom he said died of cancer. Tonight, Drew faces Veer & Shanky in a handicap match. Here he is in an exclusive:

Drew vs. Jinder was announced for SummerSlam. If Drew wins this match tonight, Veer & Shanky are banned from ring side. If Veer & Shanky win, the sword is banned.

Frank’s Analysis: I get that Drew can’t be in the title picture all the time, and I don’t even hate his working with Jinder, but this is low-end considering how important Drew was during the pandemic. He was a workhorse and model citizen for WWE and was proud to be WWE Champion. We’re now having matches to determine if a sword can be at ring side.

Face-To-Face: WWE Champion Bobby Lashley and Goldberg

With less than a week to go until SummerSlam, Bobby Lashley and Goldberg will go face-to-face ahead of their WWE Championship match. Not only did Lashley say that Goldberg was “done” last week, but he warned him not to being his 15-year-old son Gage. He went even further and warned Gage to tell his father not to show up, because he would be destroyed and humiliated.

Goldberg was unsuccessful in challenging Drew McIntyre for the same title at the Royal Rumble earlier this year. Since his return in 2016, he has had two runs with the Universal Championship. He defeated Kevin Owens in 2017 before dropping it to Brock Lesnar at that year’s WrestleMania. He beat “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt last year before losing it to Braun Strowman in the empty Performance Center at WrestleMania.

Frank’s Analysis: I’m curious why Gage is involved in this story, but not optimistic. What else are we supposed to expect from this match other than Lashley destroying Goldberg in less than five minutes?

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