Monday Night Raw Review - June 3, 2019

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Drew McIntyre and The Revival def. Roman Reigns and The Usos

I've said several times before that I am beyond tired of Reigns' rivalry with Shane McMahon and how I desperately want it to wrap up at Super ShowDown so we can all move on. On the bright side, it was cool to see Reigns and Usos team up, though they should have been a heel faction long ago. This was a well-wrestled tag team match and I applaud the effort of The Revival in particular, but this felt like a failed attempt to get me to care about a matchup at Super ShowDown I have zero interest in. At least the heels finally won one.

The Miz Hosted Miz TV with Universal Champion Seth Rollins

It's so sad that Miz has seemingly lost all of his momentum as a babyface as a result of his back-to-back losses to Shane. I guess he could beat Shane eventually, but at this point, I've lost faith. This segment served no purpose aside from showing that Brock Lesnar arrived at the building and that he could cash in his contract at any time. It was a nice hook for the remainder of the show, if nothing else.

Lars Sullivan Attacked The Lucha House Party

We've been seeing the same thing with Sullivan and Lucha House Party for weeks, so I can't say this segment did much for me. Lucha House Party getting the upper hand over Sullivan was apparently supposed to show that they have a chance of beating him in their Handicap match at Super ShowDown, but I think we all know that isn't happening. By the way, it isn't much of a "Wild Card Rule" when the same Superstars keep switching shows.

Charlotte Flair def. Lacey Evans by Disqualification

Flair and Evans turned on each other on last week's SmackDown Live, so it made sense for them to go one-on-one here. However, the crowd sat on their hands for it because they had no incentive to cheer for one person over the other. It was perfectly fine for what it was, but the non-finish solidified it as a waste of time. Does this mean Becky Lynch and Flair are still feuding? If so, why? Just...why?

Rey MYsterio Relinquished the United States Championship to Samoa Joe

Mysterio was injured during his match with Joe at Money in the Bank, so he was forced to relinquish the title here. I'm all for Joe taking the belt back since he was essentially screwed out of the belt to begin with, but the fashion in which it happened was illogical. I've never seen someone give up their title willingly to another person and have it be considered official. This would have been an ideal time to hold a tournament to crown a new champion (featuring the likes of Ricochet, Cesaro and Cedric Alexander to name a few), but WWE instead took the lazy route.

Braun Strowman def. Bobby Lashley in an Arm Wrestling Match

As soon as I saw an arm wrestling match advertised for this episode, I rolled my eyes, yet was not surprised in the slightest given how bad the show has been this year. It went down exactly as you'd expect it to, and of course, it didn't make me excited whatsoever for their upcoming encounter at Super ShowDown. This trash appeals to no one and simply makes everyone involved look like a goof.

Nikki Cross def. WWE Women's Tag Team Champion Peyton Royce​

It's awesome that Cross has been on Raw as frequently as she has been lately, but this change in character has been strange seeing as how there was nothing wrong with her previous gimmick. Oh well, at least she wins more often than she loses. This was a passable match, though the focus was largely on Alexa Bliss spilling her coffee at ringside and staining her white pants. This is the "sports entertainment" silliness that causes fans to tune out.

Baron Corbin and Brock Lesnar Attacked Universal Champion Seth Rollins

Another Lesnar bait-and-switch?! Say it ain't so! In all seriousness, everyone should have seen this coming after what we saw him do last week. In fact, I hope he holds out on cashing in the contract for many more months, because this is easily the most interesting his character has been in ages. Despite beating Rollins to a bloody pulp, Lesnar declared that he'd be cashing in his contract at Super ShowDown this Friday. I doubt that actually comes to fruition, but I'm sure people will be eat it up, anyway.

Triple H and Randy Orton Went Face-to-Face

I realize HHH vs. Orton is intended to be a spectacle at Super ShowDown, but the build has been nearly nonexistent outside of the video packages. This was their chance to sell me on it, and ultimately, they were unsuccessful. Orton saying Triple H's balls are in Stephanie McMahon's purse was an insult straight out of 2009. This wasn't offensively bad by any means, but it was a wasted opportunity to make their matchup mean more than it currently does.

Ricochet def. Cesaro

I've been thoroughly enjoying the series of matches these two have been having in recent weeks. They've been one of the biggest highlights of the show by a country mile because of their great chemistry and they never cease to rip it up despite the time constraints. Ricochet picking up the deciding victory was the right call, but with Cesaro attacking Ricochet afterward, it looks like their feud isn't over yet.

The Undertaker Addressed Goldberg

You had to know this was going to be brief when Undertaker started making his entrance with five minutes left in the show. It reminded me of SmackDown 1000 when he cut a minute-long promo before the show went off the air. This was equally forgettable and more of the same from Undertaker. In other words, this main event he has coming up with Goldberg doesn't feel like a dream match whatsoever. It's amazing that even with three hours to work with, they can't give 'Taker enough time to talk.

Overall Show

Raw was getting worse and worse by the week, and while this wasn't as atrocious as other episodes I've seen this year, it certainly wasn't strong. There was far too much talking for my taste and the hype for Super ShowDown was lackluster at best (then again, the card looks abysmal on paper, so I wouldn't have cared for it no matter what they did on this show). Raw remains in the doldrums and I have no clue what can be done to save it. Do seek out the latest Firefly Fun House, though; that was a ton of fun.