Monday Night Raw Review - June 13, 2022

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Riddle Crashed Miz TV with The Miz and Paul Heyman

Miz and Heyman spent their time together hyping up Roman Reigns vs. Riddle for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship on Friday's SmackDown as well as the possibility of the Money in the Bank winner cashing in on Reigns down the road. They (along with Riddle) played their roles well and announced the stipulation that Riddle won't be able to contend for the title anymore if/when he loses to Reigns. The segment served its purpose and it was nice to hear from Heyman for the first time in a while (other than on commentary last week on SmackDown).

Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champion Jimmy Uso def. Montez Ford

The Street Profits beat The Usos in a Championship Contender's match last week, so this served as a small preview of the eventual rematch for the tag titles. The problem is that The Usos and Street Profits have had so many matches over the last year that this was nothing new, though having one of The Usos face Ford one-on-one was a slightly different twist. They had a well-wrestled match, but I would've had Ford win to give Street Profits more momentum.

Kevin Patrick Hosted a Sit-Down Interview with Seth "Freakin" Rollins

This sort of spot is usually reserved for someone like Michael Cole or Corey Graves, so I was glad to see Patrick get a chance to host this sit-down interview instead. Rollins spoke about attacking Cody Rhodes last week and didn't say anything too newsworthy. I have no desire to see that rivalry revisited upon Rhodes' return (whenever that may be), but it would make sense for them to be the final two in the men's Royal Rumble next January with Rhodes winning.

24/7 Champion Dana Brooke vs. Becky Lynch Ended in a No Contest

This was scheduled to be a rematch of last week's 24/7 Championship clash between these two, but Lynch ambushed Brooke before the bell and thus it never came to fruition. Lynch got on the mic and said it was never about the 24/7 belt (which pretty much anyone could have told you). Rather, it was about her feeling like she's been disrespected by the rest of the Raw women's division. That led to her brawling with Asuka, so I assume they'll have their rubber match one of these days on the show and not at Money in the Bank. Speaking of which, Lynch mentioned being screwed over the last Money in the Bank Ladder match she competed in, so I assume she'll take part in this year's and she has to be considered a frontrunner to win the whole thing (even though I don't want her to).

Alexa Bliss and Liv Morgan def. Nikki A.S.H. and Doudrop to Qualify for the Women's Money in the Bank Ladder Match

To think Nikki and Doudrop almost feuded with former WWE Women's Tag Team Champions Sasha Banks and Naomi before the walkout. Whatever happened to the character changes they teased? Nonetheless, they had a decent match with Bliss and Morgan and the right team qualified. Nikki and Doudrop had no chance of capturing the briefcase, and while I don't want to see Bliss with the briefcase again, Morgan makes a lot of sense to me as Ms. Money in the Bank.

Ezekiel def. Kevin Owens by Count-Out

I wasn't sure how they'd extend this feud beyond Hell in a Cell, and doing a rematch wasn't exactly ideal when their original encounter didn't light the world on fire by any means, but this was enjoyable enough and it felt like they worked with more urgency this time. Owens accidentally getting counted out was hilarious, so I didn't mind the non-finish in this case. As long as they wrap up this rivalry in the next few weeks, I'm content. Ezekiel mentioned in a post-match 

MVP def. Cedric Alexander

MVP played up Omos in a pre-match promo. Are they setting up Omos for the Money in the Bank Ladder match? I surely hope not. He then went on to beat MVP in under two minutes. It was fine for what it was but too short to anything other than average. MVP is more of a manager than a wrestler at this point and he rarely wins, so it's certainly saying something that Alexander lost as quickly as he did. I get the feeling his days in WWE might be numbered.

Seth "Freakin" Rollins def. AJ Styles to Qualify for the Men's Money in the Bank Ladder Match

I remember being in attendance for the first match Rollins and Styles had in WWE at Money in the Bank three years ago and absolutely loving it. Their chemistry is still strong as ever and the action was very entertaining. Rollins needed this victory coming off his three straight losses to Rhodes, but then again, Styles hasn't won anything significant in a while. I hope he finds his way into Money in the Bank somehow because I'm not sure what he does otherwise unless he faces Finn Balor.

Riddle def. Ciampa

Part of me hoped Riddle's opponent would be Solo Sikoa from NXT given his ties to The Bloodline, but no such luck. I should've been more excited for Riddle vs. Ciampa when I saw Ciampa was facing Riddle, but he has meant next to nothing since being called up to the main roster and didn't even get an entrance here. To their credit, though, this was a really fun sprint and beat the hell out of each in the few minutes they had. Riddle keeps rolling ahead of his upcoming title match with Reigns.

The Judgment Day Interrupted Raw Women's Champion Bianca Belair

​I've been looking forward to Belair vs. Ripley for a while, but I wasn't sure how they'd fare in the promo department (specifically Ripley). This ended up being a perfectly passable exchange. Both women got their point across and made the most of the material they had to work with with the other Judgement Day members getting some time to talk as well. It wasn't the big follow-up on the Judgement Day angle from last week I was hoping for, but it served its purpose.

Chad Gable def. Mustafa Ali

Ali has lost a lot more than he's won since returning to Raw a few months ago, and coming off his failure to capture the United States Championship from Theory, it looks like he's settled into an enhancement role on Raw until WWE decides to grant him his release (I still refuse to believe he'll be kept around until his contract expires). If we're going to get good matches like this out of him in the meantime, then I'm content. This was quality stuff despite not lasting long. This likely existed just to have Ali lose again rather than hint at anything important coming for Gable.

Veer Mahaan def. Rey Mysterio

Mahaan has been feuding with The Mysterios since the post-WrestleMania Raw, so you'd think they would have advertised this in advance. That isn't to say it would have brought in millions of more viewers for Raw, but it would have made the match feel more important. They didn't have a ton of time, but Mahaan proved he could hang with Mysterio and the clean win was imperative. I hope they can continue to steadily push Mahaan and build off this victory.

Bobby Lashley def. United States Champion Theory in a Pose Down

What a weird segment to close the show with. I have no idea why Lashley is always involved in this sort of stuff, but to his and Theory's credit, they did a decent job with the pose down. It was still a stupid segment on the whole and it absolutely shouldn't have gone on last, but at least it didn't overstay its welcome. I can't say I'm anymore excited for Lashley vs. Theory than I was prior to this, though.

Overall Show

WWE once again went with the wrong segment to end the evening, but I assume the NBA Finals had something to do with the decision. I'm not excusing it, but that has to be the reason considering Styles vs. Rollins would have been perfect in that spot. Speaking of which, why not advertise that and some of the other matches in advance? That would have helped with the rating, but I give the episode a mild thumbs-up. I thought it effectively hyped SmackDown's main event and began the build for Money in the Bank.

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