Monday Night Raw Review - May 17, 2021

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Drew McIntyre Crashed WWE Champion Bobby Lashley and MVP's Celebration

Apparently MVP's grand idea for a championship celebration for Lashley was having him come out with a bunch of women and that's it. No balloons, no confetti, not even an Elvis impersonator! Okay, they didn't have to go over-the-top with it, but this was pretty lame as far as WWE celebrations go. Despite Lashley issuing an open challenge for later in the night, he was interrupted by McIntyre, anyway. I assume they'll blow off their feud inside Hell in a Cell next month.

Raw Tag Team Champions AJ Styles def. Elias by Disqualification

Not only are both of these guys heels, they also teamed up last week in an eight-man tag team match up and lost. Not to mention that Styles beat Elias twice in singles competition on back-to-back episodes of Raw a few months ago, so this wasn't anything new. Despite that, they ate up television time, which is what I assume the point of this was. There wasn't anything technically wrong with match, but it wasn't terribly exciting, either. Elias has been boring for a while now and it feels like Styles has been going through the motions since returning to Raw.

Angel Garza def. Drew Gulak

This was a rematch from a few weeks ago when Garza beat Gulak and stuffed a rose up in Gulak's ass (yes, really). There wasn't much more to this match than there was their original encounter, but the key was keeping Garza's momentum going. It succeeded in that respect, but Garza needs to feud with someone a bit more high-profile than Gulak in order to really build momentum. Gulak didn't have it too bad this week with the rose being shoved into his mouth instead.

Kofi Kingston def. Randy Orton

Everyone remembers the rumors from over a decade ago about Orton burying Kington at the peak of his singles push. I don't want to hear anything about that with Kingston now having pinned Orton more times than I can count, including here. They didn't have enough time to have the match they're capable of, but it was solid while it lasted. Orton looked like he was about to turn on Riddle afterward before thinking better of it. Riddle shoving Xavier Woods probably means we're getting Riddle vs. Woods next week.

WWE Women's Tag Team Champions Natalya and Tamina def. Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler

I'm no fan of Natalya and Tamina, but them holding the gold is different than Jax and Baszler, if nothing else. By the way, what happened to the automatic rematch clause for former champions being a thing of the past? The match itself was whatever as it only lasted a few minutes and the focus was entirely on the crap with Alexa Bliss and Lily. Why must Baszler always get the end of the stick? Can we please break her back off on her own?

United States Champion Sheamus def. Ricochet (Non-Title)

Sheamus beat Ricochet on the WrestleMania Kickoff show, but because they had more time to shine here, this was an even better bout. Despite his odd choice of gear, Ricochet had a strong showing and came close to winning a few different times. Sheamus, on the other hand, continues to be the most consistent performer on the entire roster with the matches he's been having over the last year. These two have strong chemistry, but Ricochet has been so devalued that it's difficult to care about this being a full-lengthy rivalry. Then again, I don't think it will be now that Sheamus has defeated Ricochet twice.

Asuka def. Charlotte Flair

Sonya Deville told Flair earlier in the evening that if she won here, she'd be in line for another Raw Women's Championship opportunity after not being pinned in the Triple Threat WrestleMania Backlash. I think we all figured she was winning because of that because Flair vs. Rhea Ripley is inevitable, so Asuka pulling out the win instead was a pleasant surprise. She's lost a lot lately, so she needed it more. Besides, Flair can get a shot at the strap another way. Flair and Asuka have plenty of matches over the years, but this was one of their better bouts together. They were given a ton of time and made the most of it.

Damian Priest def. John Morrison in a Lumberjack Match

It's the feud that just won't end. The sad thing is that I think I said that a few weeks ago, and Priest is still having matches with The Miz and Morrison. He's beaten them almost every single time (as he should have), so I have no idea what he's gaining from these victories at this point. For a Lumberjack match, this was decent. I mean, it may as well have been Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker compared to what we got on Sunday. Break up Miz and Morrison and put Priest in another program, please.

Kofi Kingston def. WWE Champion Bobby Lashley (Non-Title)

I know this turned into a non-title affair to put heat on the heels, but I feel like it put more heat on the company for promoting a title defense that didn't end up happening. And even once it was determined that the title wouldn't be on the line, that didn't necessarily mean Kingston was winning considering Lashley hadn't been pinned since January. Before that, you'd have to go all the way back to last summer I believe for the last time that happened. Kingston and Lashley had a well-wrestled main event with Kingston selling well for Lashley's offense. McIntyre distracting Lashley protected the champ in defeat and will likely lead to Kingston getting a WWE Championship shot one of these weeks on Raw before Lashley vs. McIntyre happens at Hell in a Cell.

Overall Show

As I've said before, I appreciate WWE taking some small steps toward improving Raw, but seeing is believing. Eva Marie, for example, isn't going to automatically improve the Raw women's division and, in fact, it could be quite the opposite. That said, Flair and Asuka had a hell of a match on this show, and really the whole second half of the show featured above-average wrestling. The first half had a handful of forgettable matches and segments, but at least the three hours weren't as abysmal on the whole as they have been for the better part of 2021. They just have to start building up some fresh faces so the title pictures aren't constantly revolving around the same few people.