Monday Night Raw Review - August 30, 2021

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

United States Champion Damian Priest, Sheamus, Drew McIntyre, Raw Tag Team Champions RK-Bro, WWE Champion Bobby Lashley and MVP Interrupted Each Other

This was one of those predictable talking segments where it was essentially a revolving door of promos with everyone interrupting each other. There was plenty of star power involved and the mic work was solid. This segment also served to set up two big matches for the night: a Triple Threat for the United States Championship and a Raw Tag Team Championship main event. There was no mention of Lashley vs. Sheamus, though, which was at one point advertised for this edition of Raw. Weird.

Rhea Ripley def. Shayna Baszler

It's a shame that WWE took a match that was once a huge deal in NXT and made it into a total afterthought. They still work well together and I was pleasantly surprised that they got as much time as they did here, but the booking of Baszler still bothers me. If you're going to do the match, then have Baszler lose clean, not with this distraction roll-up crap that we've seen way too much of this year. It hardly helped Ripley, but at least she picked up another win.

The Viking Raiders def. Jinder Mahal and Veer

Mahal, Veer and Shanky teased issues with Mansoor and Mustafa Ali last week, so WWE followed that up by having them lose to Viking Raiders. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't upset with the outcome because Viking Raiders are a far better team, but there is almost no consistency with this show. This was a basic bout and Mahal getting pinned is likely an indicator that whatever renewed singles push he was getting is already over.

United States Champion Damian Priest def. Drew McIntyre and Sheamus in a Triple Threat Match

Unsurprisingly, this was an absolute blast. Priest has been killing it since coming up to the main roster while McIntyre and Sheamus never ceases to bring the fight whenever they're in the ring together. This was non-stop action and the crowd was engaged for every minute of it. The finishing sequence was especially excellent. I expected Priest to pin Sheamus to retain the title, but him pinning McIntyre instead was huge for his credibility. WWE has a mega star on their hands with Priest and I hope he can continue to trend upward.

Eva Marie vs. Doudrop Went to a No Contest

​Part of me is happy that WWE didn't blow this off after one week, but the way it was executed was dumb. Doudrop attacked Eva before the bell and apparently kicked her ass too much that Eva wasn't able to compete. I understand Eva avoiding facing Doudrop, but Eva shouldn't have bothered going to the ring in the first place. I'd save the payoff for Extreme Rules, but I could see doing it one of these weeks on Raw instead.

Karrion Kross def. Humberto Carrillo

Kross' entrance attire and ring gear still looks as ridiculous as it did a week ago. I don't think it'll be much longer before WWE abandons it, but it definitely doesn't make him look like a star. On the bright side, he's won a majority of his matches lately and he's winning in dominant and decisive fashion. He should be beating guys like Ricochet and Carrillo weekly and not losing to Jeff Hardy in his debut. It's been over a month and I haven't gotten over how stupid of a decision that was. They should've just waited until after SummerSlam to call him up.

Nia Jax def. Raw Women's Champion Charlotte Flair (Non-Title)

Imagine dedicating almost 15 minutes to a Nia Jax match. Yes, I realize her opponent was Charlotte who is regarded as one of the best wrestlers on the roster, but their styles did not mesh well at all, not to mention that the heel vs. heel dynamic left the crowd not caring. Jax is downright dreadful and not even Charlotte could carry her to a competent match. This might have been one of the worst women's matches I've seen on this show in some time. Get Jax the hell out of the ring and off the show, please.

Omos def. John Morrison

Morrison vs. The Miz was originally advertised for this show, but Morrison mentioned in a backstage segment that Miz chickened out and he had to find another opponent. That means WWE didn't deliver any of the three matches they announced in advance for this show (I don't count Eva vs. Doudrop as actually happening because the bell never rang). Morrison vs. Omos was a random replacement and wasn't very good. Morrison losing his first match as a babyface (even though he's still doing the dumb drip-stick stuff) was also questionable.

AJ Styles def. Xavier Woods

What was the point of this match? If you said to kill television time on a needlessly-long three-hour show, you answered correctly. There was zero setup as Woods made his entrance while Omos was celebrating his win with Styles and that was it. Don't get me wrong, both of these guys are very talented, but Styles should be doing much more than he is right now and Woods is spinning his wheels without Kofi Kingston. I don't know what happened to him, but hopefully he's okay and will be back soon.

Raw Tag Team Champions RK-Bro def. WWE Champion Bobby Lashley and MVP

This was one of the more entertaining parts of the entire episode, which I realize isn't saying much. RK-Bro are a ton of fun and Lashley and MVP played their roles well. Bless this crowd for still being energetic for this after three long hours. RK-Bro are super over and it would have been way too soon to take titles off them. Rand Orton laying out Lashley with an RKO afterward makes me think Orton vs. Lashley could be the WWE Championship match at Extreme Rules. It's weird with Orton being one-half of the Raw Tag Team Champions, but I'll take it.

Overall Show

The fact this wasn't the worst edition of Raw of the year speaks volumes about how bad this show has been in 2021. The booking being all over the place overshadows the quality wrestling and there simply aren't enough compelling programs to keep most viewers invested for three hours. There were a few faces missing from the show (Miz, Alexa Bliss and Keith Lee most notably) and there can be no doubt that they rewrote the script at the last minute considering none of the advertised matches actually happened. The two title matchups were enjoyable, but they weren't enough to salvage this show.

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