Monday Night Raw – May 13, 2019: Count Along With Me

Monday Night Raw
Date: May 13, 2019
Location: 02 Arena, London, England
Commentators: Renee Young, Michael Cole, Corey Graves

We’re over in England this week for a taped show, which happens to be the go home show for Money in the Bank. I’m not sure what we’re going to be seeing this week but odds are we’ll be getting a match between the people involved in Sunday’s ladder matches. Oh and at least four people from Smackdown, because the Wild Card Rule is a mess. Let’s get to it.

Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.

Here’s Miz for MizTV top open things up. He talks about how important Money in the Bank is for the future but there is something else we need to get out of the way. That would be Miz’s match with Shane McMahon, when they will be locked in a cage. Miz promises to win and then brings out Roman Reigns as his guest. Reigns doesn’t think much of his Money in the Bank opponent Elias, who has never actually done anything in this company. That sounds good to Miz, who talks about Reigns’ movie career and suggests a buddy comedy.

Reigns doesn’t like it because that sounds like the old Miz. He wants to talk to the new Miz, who chased Shane McMahon and Elias out of the arena with a chair last week. After seeing a clip of that chase, Miz talks about getting some respect after thirteen years around here. Last week he brought the fight, which is what he is going to do to the daddy’s boy on Sunday. Shane is going to go down faster than his dad did to a Superman Punch.

This brings out Shane to say that he is still the boss and therefore, MizTV is over. Cue Bobby Lashley and Elias to attack from behind and join Shane in the aisle. Actually let’s get a referee out here, as the show opens with a fifteen minute talking segment, Shane McMahon, and an impromptu match.

Elias/Bobby Lashley vs. Roman Reigns/The Miz

Shane is at ringside. Miz hammers on Elias to start and gets two off an early Reality Check. It’s off to Reigns, sending Elias bailing to the floor. Back in and the good guys clean house, with Miz hitting alternating YES Kicks to both of them. Lashley picks Miz up and tries a powerbomb but settles for a Downward Spiral.

We take a break and come back with Shane choking Miz on the ropes, allowing Elias to hit an Old School Meteora for two. Lashley’s delayed vertical suplex has Miz in more trouble but he DDTs Elias to get a breather. The hot tag is cut off by Lashley though and Miz is still down. Lashley misses a charge into the post but Shane pulls Reigns off the apron and sends him into the steps for the DQ at 11:08.

Rating: D+. Just a tag match here though at least they kept it a little shorter than they did before. That being said, just having Reigns around isn’t going to be enough to fix the ratings woes as this was the same main event style tag match that they run ever week, albeit with Shane interfering. It was watchable, but nothing that they haven’t before.

Post match the brawl is on until Miz cleans house with a chair.

We get a long video on Seth Rollins vs. AJ Styles, looking at a comparison of the two paths they took to get here. Rollins rose up the ranks and has been successful everywhere he has gone. Styles on the other hand started in the dying days of WCW, then did something else for a long time, and was in WWE to show how great he really was. Seth defeating Brock Lesnar while AJ failed is the big difference, with AJ wanting to prove that he can win the big one on Raw.

We look at Braun Strowman nearly murdering Sami Zayn last week. How Sami survived that and appeared on Smackdown the next night still hasn’t been explained.

Strowman says he regrets that the trash compactor didn’t turn Sami into a cube. No one can stop him from becoming the Monster in the Bank again. An assistant comes in to say Shane wants to talk to Strowman. Did Strowman just admit to attempted murder?

Post break, Sami is pleading his case to Shane when Strowman comes in. Sami thinks he deserves something for what happened last week, like Strowman’s Money in the Bank spot. He’ll even fight for it tonight. That sounds good to Shane, who removes Strowman from his match against Drew McIntyre and makes it Sami vs. Strowman, falls count anywhere, for the spot in the ladder match. Strowman promises to eat Sami alive and fear sets in.

Mojo Rawley vs. Apollo Crews

Crews would be your fourth Smackdown name, assuming you count Shane (Vince had to write him off as part of the Wild Card Rule last week and his profile on WWE.com says Smackdown so I’d think he counts.). Some stomping in the corner has Rawley in trouble to start but a flip from Crews tweaks his knee. Crews says he can go and gets his leg taken out, allowing Rawley to yell a lot. The running right hand in the corner sets up the Alabama Slam to give Rawley the pin at 1:13. So he screams a lot and paints his face. That’s the best they can come up with?

Alexa Bliss complains about her luggage being lost because she’s a celebrity. Nikki Cross, now sounding completely sane, comes up to ask if anything is wrong. Bliss doesn’t know how Cross grew up in a place like this and could use someone to talk to. Cross didn’t think anyone had noticed her being here in four weeks so Bliss spills her guts about her recent issues. She can’t wrestle tonight without her gear, so Cross gets the chance instead.

And now for the show’s centerpiece: a double contract signing! Lacey Evans, Charlotte (that’s five) and Becky Lynch all come out for the signings with the fans being behind the champ. Becky talks about how great it is to be back in London before promising that Lacey will crumble under the pressure of the Man being on her neck.

Charlotte talks about Becky’s big mouth getting her in trouble again and how it’s always been her issues. Lacey complains about Becky not wearing the proper clothing to such a formal occasions. This isn’t a fight in a barn. Who wears a camisole and leather pants to a barn fight? Becky laughs it off and signs, leaving Charlotte to talk over the BECKY TWO BELTS chants. She finds this hilarious and Becky’s confidence can’t hide her jealousy. On Sunday, Becky will bow down to the Queen.

Charlotte signs and Lacey says the WWE needs a lady to show them the way. Lacey says Becky can “continue to pretend to swing around something that she doesn’t have” and it’s not going to be enough to take out two real ladies. Becky offers her a free shot as Becky signs. The table is shoved aside and the fight is on with Lacey getting caught in the Disarm-Her. Charlotte breaks it up with a big boot and a double powerbomb puts Becky through the table. Both titles are held up for a pretty good visual.

That’s the second contract signing in three weeks. Is that really the best thing that they can come up with? It’s not like it’s some brilliant trope that you never see anywhere else. They’re just sitting there trading shots at each other. Do they really have nothing better to do than the contract signing? Just have them yell at each other on stage or something for the sake of a little change of pace.

Baron Corbin vs. Ricochet

Ricochet starts with the flips, including one over Corbin to set up a springboard crossbody. Corbin heads outside so Ricochet kicks him in the face and hits the moonsault off the middle rope. Back in and a heck of a clothesline drops Ricochet as we take a break. We come back with Ricochet trying more flips until running into Deep Six.

Ricochet spins around into a DDT for two but the 630 misses. Instead he settles for a hurricanrana and a standing shooting star for two, with a rather big surprise at the kickout. Corbin hits End of Days for the pin at 9:31. Graves: “You may not like it but you have to accept it.” The WWE booking philosophy ladies and gentlemen.

Rating: D+. Graves’ line at the end is great and sums up Corbin quite well. He’s winning more and more big matches despite not exactly being thrilling, while Ricochet’s only win as of late has been a pin over perennial midcarder Robert Roode. I know we’re going to get Corbin as World Champion at some point and I kind of wish we could just get it over with already so the nightmare can be real.

Post match Corbin pulls out a ladder but Ricochet shoves him off.

Rey Mysterio says Samoa Joe crossed the line by yelling at his son last week. Cesaro comes in and asks when Raw became bring your kid to work day. Well Shane was first a referee in 1988 so somewhere around then? Cesaro says Dominic looks more like Joe than Rey because he’s a foot taller, so is Dominic even Rey’s kid? The fight is on as I wonder how many more people we can accuse of being Dominic’s father.

We get a long video on Roman Reigns, the same one we saw last week on Smackdown.

AJ says he’s ready to win on Raw and make Monday Night Rollins the House that AJ Styles built.

Naomi vs. Nikki Cross vs. Natalya vs. Dana Brooke

During the entrances, everyone, including Bliss, gets to talk about how important winning MITB would be. Cross is her usual fired up self during her entrance. Bliss comes out for commentary so Corey can lose his mind again. It’s a brawl to start with Naomi hitting a Bubba Bomb on Dana, leaving Nikki to tie Natalya in the ring skirt for the forearms. Naomi knocks the two of them down and we take a break. Back with Dana’s handspring elbow getting elbowed in the back so Natalya can put on the surfboard. Nikki goes up top to dive onto it but Naomi shoves her down and breaks it up herself.

Brooke and Natalya get together and double gorilla press Naomi but Nikki comes back in with something like the Rings of Saturn on Naomi, plus some screaming. This time Natalya makes the save so Naomi gives her the split legged moonsault for two as Brooke makes her own save. Hang on though as we now have a ladder set up at ringside, with Nikki spearing Natalya underneath it. Brooke dives onto the other three but Nikki pops up and takes her down. Back in and Nikki’s hanging swinging neckbreaker finishes Natalya at 9:20.

Rating: C-. Not terrible here and it’s nice to see Nikki win, though I could go for her being in the ladder match over Natalya. That being said, we can’t do that because Natalya is a veteran and that means she needs to be around every single time. Naomi was rather energetic here, though I don’t give her much of a chance to win on Sunday.

Sami rants about Braun being part of the toxic fantasies around here because everyone wants to run through their problems. It’s better to be right than strong though, which is why Sami will figure something out tonight.

Cesaro vs. Rey Mysterio

During the entrances, Samoa Joe says Rey is the one who crossed the line by bringing his son into WWE. On Sunday, he hopes he sees Rey and Dominic. Rey starts fast with the short hurricanrana and a better headscissors out of the corner. Cesaro grabs a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker but Rey winds up on his shoulders.

Another headscissors tries to take Cesaro to the floor but he lands on his feet….with Rey still on his shoulders. The third headscissors sends Rey into the barricade but Cesaro is right back with a pair of swings into the barricade to knock Rey silly. There’s a one armed apron superplex for two more and we take a break.

Back with Rey reversing a suplex into a DDT and speeding things back up. The spinning faceplant sets up la majistral for two and Cesaro is rocked. The 619 is countered into the Swing but Cesaro misses the Swiss19. A Code Red gives Rey two of his own but the Neutralizer is reversed into a headscissors. That means the 619 into the top rope splash to finish Cesaro at 10:40.

Rating: B. Best match of the night by a mile here as both guys were allowed to show off a bunch of their rather impressive stuff. It’s a fine move to have Rey get built up for his title shot on Sunday, though Cesaro’s latest singles push is already starting to falter, which tends to be the case every single time.

We recap the Usos tormenting the Revival over the last two weeks.

The Revival is sick of the Usos tormenting them and it stops now.

It’s time for the Firefly Fun House but Bray is nowhere to be seen but pops up from behind a table. Rabbity is seen in a chair with a bandage over his eye as Bray talks about having a secret. It’s almost time to show the world what he has been working on, but he’s going to need the help of all his Fireflies.

The cheering warms his soul, but there is still a lot of darkness in his noggin. This time though, he has learned how to control it. Bray gets a lot more sinister and asks if we want to see his secret. He turns to the door and we cut to some rather creepy images of what looks like a bunch of toys, and Bray morphs into something like an evil clown with his hair down. Bray, in a dark voice: “Yeowy wowwy.” Well that worked, though you need to see it to get the full effect. I’m not sure how well it works in an arena, but these are great.

We look back at the contract signing.

Money in the Bank rundown.

Seth Rollins says it is personal with AJ now. We see a match between the two of them from 2006 (which isn’t fifteen years ago like Seth says) at NWA No Limits, where Seth says his family got to see him. Now it’s time to show what he can do as the backbone of Raw, but now he isn’t looking up at AJ anymore. Now it’s AJ looking up at him.

Braun Strowman vs. Sami Zayn

Falls Count Anywhere with Braun’s Money in the Bank spot on the line. Braun starts fast and rips Sami’s hoodie off before sending him outside. That means the running shoulder so Sami bails into the crowd. A beer to Braun’s face lets Sami run even more and they make it to the concourse. Some trashcan shots to the head just annoy Braun, who throws Sami into a column for two.

Cue Baron Corbin with a chair to the back plus some trashcan shots to put Strowman down. A belly to back suplex puts Strowman through a merchandise table so Sami can get two. Strowman is back up and sends Corbin into a wall as we take a break. Back with Strowman in control again and throwing Sami into a barricade in the arena. The threat of a ladder sends Sami bailing to the back again but this time it’s Drew McIntyre jumping Strowman.

A DDT onto a chair gives Sami two so Strowman gets up and hits McIntyre with an ice chest. Sami crawls away and goes through a curtain to get back into the arena. Strowman follows and drops a bunch of ladders on Sami but here are Corbin and McIntyre to beat Strowman up. A ladder to the face puts Strowman down and the two of them suplex him through a ladder. The Claymore is enough to give Sami the pin at 14:36.

Rating: C+. This was a nice garbage brawl with Sami having to come up with something to survive against the monster. I can go for having Sami in the ladder match as he’s a more interesting candidate than Strowman, who isn’t likely to win the title anytime soon. The interference was a good idea and I liked the match well enough, with the right decision helping a lot.

Post match Strowman gets up so Corbin throws Sami to him. A chokeslam through the announcers’ table leaves Sami laying to end the show.

Overall Rating: C-. After the last two weeks, this was a major relief and it still wasn’t that good of a show. They kept things moving and they even had some stuff happen, but most importantly it wasn’t a show with a lot of explanations or meaningless matches that didn’t change anything. Those promos during the show helped a lot as well and were a lot more effective than having the wrestlers come out and talk where they take forever to say something. Money in the Bank is looking a little better, but it might just be that Raw wasn’t as much of a slog this week.

Results

The Miz/Roman Reigns b. Elias/Bobby Lashley via DQ when Shane McMahon interfered

Mojo Rawley b. Apollo Crews – Alabama Slam

Baron Corbin b. Ricochet – End of Days

Nikki Cross b. Natalya, Naomi and Dana Brooke – Hanging swinging neckbreaker to Natalya

Rey Mysterio b. Cesaro – Top rope splash

Sami Zayn b. Braun Strowman – Claymore from Drew McIntyre

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 2000 Monday Nitro and Thunder Reviews Part 1 (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

https://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2019/02/22/new-book-kbs-monday-nitro-thunder-reviews-volume-vii-january-june-2000/

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6