Monday Night Raw Review - June 20, 2022

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Raw Women's Champion Bianca Belair Addressed Rhea Ripley; Carmella def. Liv Morgan, Alexa Bliss, Asuka and Becky Lynch in a Raw Women's Championship No. 1 Contender's Fatal 5-Way Match

Ripley is officially injured, which is awful news. People on the WWE roster are dropping like flies nowadays, largely due to injuries, and the timing couldn't be worse with her originally scheduled to challenge Belair for the Raw Women's Championship at Money in the Bank. Now, it will be Belair vs. Carmella instead. It's a total filler match and a massive step down, but I guess you don't want to rush into a marquee match on such short notice. The Fatal 5-Way itself was nicely paced and had some good nearfalls.

Mr. McMahon Addressed the Audience; Omos def. Riddle to Qualify for the Men's Money in the Bank Ladder Match

Much like I wrote in my SmackDown review from last week, McMahon's promo was so brief and inconsequential that it's not worth devoting a full paragraph to. Seriously, what the hell was that? Why say the same crap he did on SmackDown? I appreciate that they didn't advertise his appearance in advance and attempt to pop a rating out of it, but it was a waste of time, nonetheless. Riddle vs. Omos was perfectly fine while it lasted. I was honestly surprised by the outcome because Riddle has been all over Raw and SmackDown recently, but I suppose he can still find a way to qualify before next weekend, especially if he has bad blood with Seth Rollins.

Bobby Lashley Attacked United States Champion Theory

I'm all for Theory getting more television time and more mic time because they're clearly preparing him to be the future of the company. The pose down stuff was stupid, but at least it wasn't long before Lashley showed up and got a measure of revenge on him. It was a fine segment designed to set up the Gauntlet match for later in the night where if Lashley won, he'd earn himself an opportunity at the United States Championship.

Angelo Dawkins def. Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champion Jey Uso

The Usos and The Street Profits exchanged words beforehand and it's been made official that they'll face off at Money in the Bank for the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship. Montez Ford lost to Jimmy Uso last week, so it was logical that Dawkins would avenge that loss this week with a win over Jey. You'd think it'd be the other way around, but oh well. It was a pretty basic bout. I enjoyed Ford vs. Jimmy more.

Elias Attacked Kevin Owens

Truth be told, this was what I was looking forward to more than anything coming into this show. This Owens vs. Ezekiel storyline has been a guilty pleasure of mine and they've found ways to keep it going. This was actually very entertaining and well done with Elias one of his classic concerts, Owens interrupting, and Ezekiel then interrupting Owens from the Titantron. Elias then sent Owens packing to the back, where Owens ran into Ezekiel, who he'll collide with again next week. We'll see if that marks the end of this rivalry or not because I don't know where else they go with it beyond that.

Bobby Lashley def. Chad Gable, Otis by Disqualification, and United States Champion Theory in a Gauntlet Match to Earn a United States Championship Opportunity

I figured Lashley's opponents would be the stars of Main Event, but I'm glad they went with Raw regulars instead in Alpha Academy. Granted, they weren't winning, but I appreciated that they were made to look competitive and credible in defeat and both bouts were well wrestled. Theory attempted to pick up the scraps after Otis was disqualified but was ultimately unsuccessful. This had a solid structure, though I could have done without Theory getting pinned. That United States Championship clash will go down at Money in the Bank.

Ciampa Attacked AJ Styles on ​Miz TV with The Miz; Styles def. Ciampa

Miz mentioning Styles' slump as of late is interesting because it's been a long time since Styles won anything of note. Is it leading anywhere, or they just using that as a reason to have him and Miz feud in the interim? I'm fine with it because they have chemistry on the mic and in the ring, but Styles should be involved in something more important eventually. Styles vs. Ciampa was a great little sprint, but Ciampa continuing to rack up losses doesn't bode well for his future in this company.

Asuka def. Becky Lynch to Qualify for the Women's Money in the Bank Ladder Match

Even before the Ripley news broke, Lynch vs. Asuka was always supposed to happen on this show. They just decided to put them in the opening Fatal 5-Way as well. It's pretty much impossible for these two to have anything less than a top-notch match and that's what this was in the time allotted. Asuka winning clean certainly surprised me, but I'm not complaining since we tend to get a lot of disqualification finishes on this show. Lynch's post-match meltdown reminded me of Rollins' metldowns 

Overall Show

Although I didn't think this was a bad show, the injuries and absences of certain stars are noticeable. We had more Money in the Bank qualifiers on this show along with a new number one contender to the Raw Women's Championship determined, but you could tell they're trying to kill time with the roster they have. At least they killed time as effectively as possible on this episode, at least in my opinion. The Elias/Ezekiel/Owens angle is the best thing going on Raw right now with the Judgement Day stuff taking a backseat. Hell, they weren't even on this show! I am looking forward to what John Cena has in store next Monday night, though.

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