Monday Night Raw Review - May 13, 2024

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

World Heavyweight Champion Damian Priest Confronted Drew McIntyre

McIntyre setting his sights back on the World Heavyweight Championship this soon is an interesting development. I thought this might happen a little closer to Clash at the Castle considering it's in McIntyre's home country of Scotland, but it looks like they're going to this match for King and Queen of the Ring. Plus, whatever happened to what was being teased with McIntyre and Sheamus? This was a solid segment with good mic work from both men.

IYO SKY def. Shayna Baszler in a Queen of the Ring Quarterfinal Match

Baszler advanced after beating Maxxine Dupri (who replaced an injured Zelina Vega) at a live event on Sunday. I appreciated how Michael Cole on commentary acknowledged the history these two have from Stardom and NXT. That would've never happened during the Vince McMahon regime. Despite the heel vs. heel dynamic, this was a really well-wrestled match from them. Baszler hasn't meant anything in ages, so SKY advancing made sense. Regardless of whether SKY wins Queen of the Ring or not, I'd like to see her and Becky Lynch eventually mix it up again. They had only one singles match on WWE TV last year, but that's it.

Gunther def. Kofi Kingston in a King of the Ring Quarterfinal Match

Kingston advanced after beating Rey Mysterio at Sunday's aforementioned live event. This felt more like a first-round match since there was even less uncertainty surrounding the outcome than there was when Gunther faced Sheamus last week, but I get why it happened with Kingston wanting to avenge Gunther "injuring" Xavier Woods three weeks ago. It was a quality contest and they received an ample amount of time.

Bronson Reed def. Akira Tozawa

Chad Gable presented this as an opportunity to Tozawa to impress him, but there was no way this was going to be anything other than a squash for Reed, as it should have been. Sure enough, they kept it short and sweet with Reed dominating Tozawa in around a minute. I assume Reed is going to be the fall guy in that Intercontinental Championship Triple Threat at King and Queen of the Ring, but I'm just glad he direction for the first time on the main roster.

Lyra Valkyria def. Zoey Stark in a Queen of the Ring Quarterfinal Match

It's tough when you put two people who aren't over against each other, but the wrestling was strong enough that the crowd wasn't completely quiet. Stark works well with just about everyone and Valkyria shined for the second straight week. The result was pretty obvious, but this was competitive and enjoyable. Valkyria vs. SKY in the semifinals next week should be great and it could easily go either way.

Intercontinental Champion Sami Zayn def. Otis (Non-Title)

Much like Reed vs. Tozawa from earlier on, Gable had this bout booked to give Otis a chance to turn things around. We didn't see much of the match due to the commercial, but what we got was decent. The focus was mostly on the post-match angle with Zayn going after Gable and Gable slapping Otis. The split is coming, but they're wisely taking their time with it because the crowd reaction is only going to get louder the longer they wait to pull the trigger.

Women's World Champion Becky Lynch def. Dakota Kai by Disqualification (Non-Title)

This came about after Damage CTRL targeted Lynch last week. I'm not overly excited to see Lynch working with Damage CTRL again, but we haven't seen much of Lynch against Kai, SKY and Kairi Sane in singles matches, so this didn't feel like a rerun. These two had a nice match and I didn't have an issue with the disqualification loss because it protected Kai in defeat. Valkyria again made the save for Lynch afterward before Liv Morgan attacked Lynch from behind.

The Judgment Day (Finn Balor and JD McDonagh) def. New Catch Republic, in a World Tag Team Championship No. 1 Contender's Fatal 4-Way Tag Team Match

Is it just me or have we gotten an excess of multi-team matches to determine number one contenders in recent months? Yes, it's better than not doing number one contender's matches at all, but only including teams that have earned the opportunity would be ideal. We just got a Fatal 4-Way tag team match on SmackDown a month ago that also involved Authors of Pain and New Catch Republic. That said, this was fun and Carlito helping Judgment Day win was a smart of endearing him to the group.

Jey Uso def. Ilja Dragunov in a King of the Ring Quarterfinal Match

The best match about this match was the unpredictable outcome, not the action itself. It was a well-worked main event yet nowhere near as excellent as Dragunov vs. Ricochet from last week. It was a clash of styles and it felt like Dragunov had to work at Uso's level, not the other way around. I was disappointed with Uso winning, not only because it means we're not getting Gunther vs. Dragunov next week (which is fine because they can hold off on that) but also because I have little desire to see Uso in the finals or (worse yet) win the whole thing. Hopefully Gunther will beat him next week and we don't have to worry about the tournament being used as a vehicle to further the Bloodline story.

Overall Show

Raw was again a thumbs-up show this week. The King and Queen of the Ring matches largely delivered (which they're doing an effective job of making feel as important as possible) and other storylines progressed throughout the night. We also got seeds planted for Priest vs. McIntyre in the opening segment, but it wasn't made official for the pay-per-view. The three hours slightly dragged, but on the whole, I was entertained.

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