Monday Night Raw Review - May 16, 2022

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Bobby Lashley def. Omos in a Steel Cage Match

I didn't have the highest of hopes for any of the Omos vs. Lashley matches, but so far, all of them have been decent, so I'll give them credit for that. This was well worked with a finish that gives Lashley the win while protecting Omos in defeat. That said, I have no desire to see a fourth match. I'd much rather see Lashley move on to bigger and better things, but I fear that we're heading for a Hell in a Cell match where the walls won't break.

Veer Mahaan def. Mustafa Ali (The Miz Served as Special Guest Referee)

It looked like Theory was finally going to give Ali his match before he backed out and announced Veer as his opponent instead, along with Miz serving as special guest referee. With the deck stacked against Ali again, it was no surprise he lost, but I hope they allow him to give the heels their comeuppance at some point. I'm not confident that will happen because they could easily be burying Ali on his way, but time will tell. The Mysterios returning after over a month away to confront Veer was a pleasant surprise and now they can do a six-man tag team match with everyone involved (except for Ciampa, who may already be done with Ali).

Raw Tag Team Champion Riddle def. SmackDown Tag Team Champion Jimmy Uso

We saw this match not too long ago on SmackDown and it was an enjoyable affair, so I was fine with them running it back here to help hype the tag team title unification match on Friday's SmackDown. Despite flying solo (Randy Orton never appeared for some reason), Riddle still managed to pull out the victory. As I said after SmackDown, I fully expect there to be a non-finish in that tag title matchup. I mean, I'm not why else wouldn't they save it for the Hell in a Cell pay-per-view in a few weeks.

AJ Styles and Finn Balor def. Los Lotharios

Styles and Balor have officially formed an alliance with Liv Morgan. It makes sense in that she's already feuding with Rhea Ripley, but what doesn't make sense is that Morgan didn't have an issue with them not making the save for her last week when she was being attacked. At any rate, Styles and Balor have great chemistry as partners and had a very entertaining outing with Los Lotharios, who we haven't seen on SmackDown since they lost to Riddick Moss in singles matches last month. I don't believe there was any explanation for how they were able to appear on Raw despite being SmackDown Superstars, but then again, WWE has never truly cared about the rules of the Brand Split, so why start now?

Alexa Bliss def. Sonya Deville

This was a rematch from last week, though this was much more competitive and Deville scored plenty of offense. What we got was good, but Bliss went over again as she should have. They could have turned this into a full-fledged feud, but with Bliss now having beaten Deville twice, I don't think that's necessary. On a side note, I know she underwent a character change, but I'm not a fan of Bliss' new music. I thought the old entrance theme was just fine.

Seth "Freakin" Rollins Accepted Cody Rhodes' Hell in a Cell Challenge

This feud has been brilliantly booked thus far and I loved how logical everything has been. That sounds like a silly thing to say, I know, but we don't always get logic in WWE storylines and thus I appreciate it whenever we do. Rhodes cut an excellent promo about why he wants a third match with Rollins and having it be inside Hell in a Cell was only academic. Would I want it to be a Hell in a Cell match if the pay-per-view wasn't coming up? Probably not, but if we need one or two on that upcoming show, then this should be one of them. Rollins' response was well done and I'm looking forward to seeing how they finish off what's shaping up to be a tremendous trilogy.

Ezekiel def. Chad Gable

The angle with Ezekiel and Kevin Owens continues to be a guilty pleasure of mine. As much as I've enjoyed the segments they've been a part of, the crowd has been noticeably quiet for almost all of Ezekiel's matches. This received quite a bit of time and was solid for what it was, but Ezekiel/Elias is far from thrilling to watch in the ring, even when he's in there with someone like Gable. Putting it in the third hour probably didn't help, either.

Lacey Evans Addressed the Audience

After telling her inspirational story in vignette form over the span of five weeks on SmackDown, Evans is now randomly on Raw. It was also reported that she'll be a heel going forward, but she certainly didn't come across like one in this segment. I hope that isn't the direction they're headed in with her, but I'm preparing for the possibility. Her promo was mostly generic, but it fit her current character. If they want to turn her heel, I don't know why they'd use her very real background and hardships to get there.

Asuka def. Becky Lynch in a Raw Women's Championship No. 1 Contender's Match

The main event was originally supposed to be a Six-Pack Challenge to determine Bianca Belair's challenger at Hell in a Cell, but the match was changed about halfway through the show after it was said that Sasha Banks and Naomi had left the building. New details have since emerged regarding what happened, and I'll save my thoughts on that for another time. Asuka vs. Lynch was a fun main event, even though it wasn't on the same level as their other encounters. I'm glad we're not going back to Belair vs. Lynch right away and instead we're getting a fresh match between Belair and Asuka.

Overall Show

The stuff about Banks and Naomi will have fans' attention more than anything that happened on this show, but it was another thumbs-up episode in my book. Not every minute of the three hours was exciting, of course, but the booking and matches continue to be better than they've been in a while with this show. Things are progressing nicely and the roster has plenty of star power. The third hour was weaker than the first two, but this was still an efficient edition of Raw on the whole.

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