Monday Night Raw Review - August 2, 2021

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Goldberg Confronted WWE Champion Bobby Lashley and MVP

There were loud boos for the mere mention of Goldberg's name at one point early in the segment, but then there were loud chants for him soon after, so he got a mixed reaction in Chicago. All things considered, they were more behind him than than I thought they would be. This was well done and led to Lashley accepting Goldberg's WWE Championship at SummerSlam later in the night. I still have no desire to see Goldberg in the title picture, but they've done a decent job of building up the bout in recent weeks.

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

In case you missed it, WWE released Bray Wyatt over the weekend. I was already apathetic toward this McIntyre vs. Mahal rivalry, but it's even sillier when you consider that Wyatt/The Fiend could've been in Mahal's spot instead. Regardless of what you thought of him and his gimmicks, Wyatt was a true star, while Mahal is midcard at best. McIntyre continues to get the best of Mahal every week, even with the numbers advantage. I have no clue why anyone would give a shit about seeing them face off at SummerSlam when Mahal hasn't been positioned as a threat whatsoever. This Handicap match was total throwaway.​

Rhea Ripley def. Nia Jax

This marked the first-ever one-on-one encounter between these two. I'm no fan of Jax, but this was pretty much what it needed to be: an energetic sprint with hard-hitting offense from both women. I'm not sure where Jax got busted open, but and while I hope she's okay, the visual definitely added to the match. Of course, Ripley winning was the right call. The crowd was all for Shayna Baszler teasing tension with Jax afterward, so hopefully it leads to Baszler breaking back off on her own. The split should've happened months ago, but it's better late than never, I suppose.

Mace and T-Bar def. Mansoor and Mustafa Ali

As a Chicago native, Ali got a great reaction when he made his entrance. I mentioned last week that he and Mansoor may have potential as a team based on how well they worked together. That was once again evident here. It wasn't as fun of a match, but they made the most of the time they had. The WWE curse of Superstars losing in their hometown continued with Mansoor and Ali losing one week after beating Mace and T-Bar, likely in an attempt to put heat on the latter duo. Ali was attacked afterward, but he did get Mansoor out of harm's way, so it looks like they'll be on the same page. I'm not fond of the 50/50 booking, but I assume they're trying to tell a story with this.

Raw Women's Champion Nikki A.S.H. Attacked Charlotte Flair

I knew Flair's promo was going to be a polarizing one from the moment she mentioned Simon Biles, who pulled out of the Olympics last week for mental health reasons. Anything involving mental health should be off limits as it's a serious subject, but that didn't stop Flair from relating it back to her situation and saying she had a nervous breakdown of her own. I don't know if she had that scripted for her or if she came up with it herself, but that was pretty terrible. I will say, though: the way Flair controls a crowd and shuts down chants is fantastic. She's become a strong talker. The rest of this segment was solid with A.S.H. attacking Flair and building toward their No Holds Barred match in the main event.

WWE Women's Tag Team Champion Tamina def. Doudrop

As much as her character bores me to tears, here's wishing Natayla a speedy recovery. That angle they showed of her injury when it occurred last week didn't look good at all. I was hoping we'd hear an update on the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship on this show, but no such luck. Instead, Tamina came out holding both belts. The match was passable, but the crowd was completely quiet for it. Doudrop losing was questionable, but clearly they're telling a story with Doudrop building frustration toward Eva Marie. The only issue is that WWE is being inconsistent with the storyline. Some weeks Doudrop will be ready to snap at her, and other weeks they'll be on the same page. Strange.

The Miz and John Morrison Hosted Miz TV with Damian Priest; Priest def. Morrison; Priest and Ricochet def. United States Champion Sheamus and Morrison

Priest wrapped up his rivalry with Miz and Morrison only a few months ago. In other words, it was way too soon for them to be revisiting it here. Priest sounded shaky on the mic during Miz TV and I would've rather seen the focus be on Priest pinning Sheamus last week, who didn't come out until after Priest beat Morrison. Speaking of which, their match was enjoyable while it lasted, but it wasn't anything out of the ordinary. The subsequent tag team match was also fun, but it also ended with Priest beating Morrison. Why not just save it for next week, or have Ricochet beat Morrison to justify his involvement in this?

Raw Tag Team Champion Omos def. Riddle

Omos has been kept very limited since he started wrestling in the tag team division. That's wise considering how inexperienced he is. To his credit, he had an impressive outing here and did well with what he had do. Riddle made his offense look excellent and sold exceptionally well for him. Riddle was super over with this audience, so Omos beating him clean meant something. There was no sign of AJ Styles or Randy Orton. I'm starting to think Orton is out of SummerSlam, which is a massive shame.

Keith Lee def. NXT Women's Champion Karrion Kross (Non-Title)

Why oh why were these two put up against each other for the second straight week? It was stupid of WWE to book the match last week, let alone a week later where the other guy could get his win back. As I've said over and over again, 50/50 booking does nobody any favors. The crowd was behind Lee throughout, but it sounded like they sat on their hands for Kross. That's not a very encouraging sign for his future on the main roster at all. The match was well wrestled, but I have no idea what this was supposed to accomplish. I'm getting less and less interested in Kross vs. Samoa Joe for the NXT Championship at NXT TakeOver 36 by the week with the more WWE devalues Kross.

24/7 Champion Reggie def. Akira Tozawa

You could have heard a pin drop when either one of these guys came out. The crowd seemed to be into Reggie's flippy-do-da crap, but as a character, I don't think they could care less about him and I don't blame them. He's fine for the comedy stuff, but it's already worn out its welcome and feels like a waste of television time, even if it doesn't last long. By the way, can we please stop with the dumb ninja gimmick for Tozawa? It was always problematic, but it makes even less sense now that he isn't coming out with the other ninjas anymore.

Raw Women's Champion Nikki A.S.H. def. Charlotte Flair in a No Holds Barred Champion Contenders Match

I don't know why this was called a Champion Contenders match when Flair already beat A.S.H. last week and is getting a title shot at SummerSlam. Nonetheless, I was curious to see how the Chicago crowd would react to A.S.H. and they ended up being mostly favorable to her. The story of the match was that Charlotte dominated A.S.H. and could have won on multiple occasions, further establishing her as a fluke champion in the process. A.S.H. battled back in the final few minutes and was able to win in relatively clean fashion, so at least there was that.

Overall Show

I don't think it's a stretch to say that the Chicago crowd was the absolute best part of this show. Due to the pandemic, we haven't gotten a Chicago Raw in a long time and they did not disappoint. The sad thing is that the talent didn't deserve the various chants (though many of them made me laugh). The overall creative direction is the problem, not them. I'm glad there are finally fans in attendance to reject something if it's trash and to tell the company that it isn't working. With all that being said, this was a middle-of-the-road show. There wasn't anything egregiously wrong with it, but it often feels like a lot of stuff simply happens on Raw without any sense of urgency whatsoever. I've found SmackDown's build to SummerSlam to be far more compelling.

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