Monday Night Raw Review - August 16, 2021

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Raw Tag Team Champion AJ Styles def. Riddle

​As everyone expected, RK-Bro is not over yet despite Randy Orton laying out Riddle with an RKO last week. All of their interactions are entertaining and this was no exception. Meanwhile, Styles and Omos also played their roles well. That segment led immediately into Styles and Riddle, who always work well together. This was another quality contest from them yet not one of their strongest encounters. Styles winning paved the way for what happened with these teams later on.

Rhea Ripley def. Raw Women's Champion Nikki A.S.H. (Non-Title)

This was a rematch from last week. I realize Ripley will be involved in Saturday's Raw Women's Championship match, but Nikki suffering her second pinfall loss since becoming champion was as questionable decision. Then again, Ripley needed the win to avoid feeling like an afterthought, so maybe just not book the bout at all? On the bright side, what we got was good, even though they were in action again later in the night.

Drew McIntyre def. Veer and Shanky in a 2-on-1 Handicap Match

Has a single week gone by (other than Money in the Bank) that Jinder Mahal and his cronies have gotten the better of McIntyre? I'm not even advocating for it because Mahal isn't anywhere near McIntyre's level, but it is bizarre considering we're supposed to see Mahal as a threat to him and he hasn't been booked that way whatsoever. This was the fourth consecutive week that we've gotten McIntyre against one/both of Mahal's men and McIntyre once again won with ease. Honestly, who could possibly care about this feud?

Damian Priest Interrupted The Miz and John Morrison on Moist TV; Priest def. Miz

Moist TV? Seriously? Ugh, and I thought this feud couldn't get any worse. And yes, Priest is still feuding with Miz and Morrison after almost seven months. Please, make it stop!!! Priest has consistently been booked strong against the both of them, but he's gaining nothing from these wins. Thankfully, Sheamus was at ringside to hype up his United States Championship match with Priest at SummerSlam, but Miz and Morrison shouldn't be a part of this program at all. I'd love for the tension between Miz and Morrison to actually go somewhere, but I'm not holding my breath because it's been teased before and amounted to nothing.

Mansoor def. Mace

It's typical WWE booking to put two undercard teams up against each other and have them trade wins in tag team and singles competition until fans couldn't give a crap about anyone involved. The Ali and Mansoor stuff has my interest, but Mace and T-Bar are literally the second coming of The Ascension (just better in the ring). This was a throwaway match seeing as how it ended so quickly, but at least Mansoor won.

Randy Orton def. Raw Tag Team Champion Omos by Disqualification

Omos has been best when kept limited since making his in-ring debut at WrestleMania 37, so I was curious how he would fare here against a veteran like Orton. Unsurprisingly, there wasn't much to the match other than Omos dominating Orton for a majority of it until Styles inadvertently got Omos disqualified. Their post-match attack on Orton brought out Riddle and resulted in the reunion of RK-Bro (even though they never actually split up). The crowd ate up all of this, and rightfully so because it's the best storyline on Raw right now. I'm really looking forward to that Raw Tag Team Championship clash at SummerSlam.

NXT Champion Karrion Kross def. Jeff Hardy (Non-Title)

This was the third match these two have had in the last month. That's in addition to the two weeks Hardy was gone and Kross faced Keith Lee instead. Kross ambushing Hardy backstage beforehand was at least something different and gave Hardy an out for loss, but I have no desire to see this "rivalry" continue now that Kross has beaten Hardy twice decisively. For what it's worth, the crowd went crazy for Hardy but seemed to sit on their hands for Kross when he made his entrance, which isn't exactly an encouraging sign.

Charlotte Flair and Nia Jax def. Raw Women's Champion Nikki A.S.H. and Rhea Ripley

Jax was the big mystery partner for Flair. I never got my hopes up, so I wasn't disappointed when it was revealed to be her. She and Shayna Baszler don't appear to be a cohesive unit at the moment, so hopefully this means they're going their separate ways. This only existed so Flair could get a win going into SummerSlam, rendering Ripley's victory from earlier in the evening irrelevant. Seriously, this was pure filler. If nothing else, I genuinely don't know who's winning at SummerSlam between the three of them.

Goldberg Attacked WWE Champion Bobby Lashley

I feel like this is the most we've heard from Goldberg in a long time. I've interviewed him multiple times over the years and he's actually a super well-spoken dude. You may not like him, but what he said about coming out of retirement for his son (who was standing at ringside with the rest of his teammates) was a cool moment. MVP and Lashley also kept their stuff short and sweet and effectively hyped up the match for SummerSlam. Goldberg's Spear on Lashley didn't look too devastating, but I had no problem with Goldberg standing tall as long as he loses on Saturday.

Overall Show

The SummerSlam card is so weird. I've excited for most of the matches SmackDown is advertising, whereas it's the complete opposite with the Raw side of the card. Goldberg vs. Lashley has potential if done right, but I'm fearful they'll put the belt on Goldberg. McIntyre vs. Mahal sounds like the cure for insomnia, the Raw Women's Championship Triple Threat doesn't do a lot for me, and don't get me started on Alexa Bliss vs. Eva Marie. The RK-Bro, Styles and Omos segments on this show were the highlights for the second straight week and the ending was well done, but there was plenty of filler in between and more of the same. The show's tired formula makes these three hours almost impossible to sit through every week. It's only slightly more bearable now with crowds back than it was during the ThunderDome era. It's the worst wrestling show on television by far.

SEE MORE: Raw Reviews