Monday Night Raw Review - May 27, 2019

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Brock Lesnar Confronted WWE Champion Kofi Kingston and Universal Champion Seth Rollins; Dolph Ziggler Attacked Kingston and Xavier Woods

Cue all the AEW fans saying that Lesnar's new Brock Party gimmick is WWE's answer to Double or Nothing. In all seriousness, I find it hilarious, and if nothing else, it's something different for his stale character. Unsurprisingly, he avoided announcing who he plans on cashing in his Money in the Bank briefcase against. Yes, it's a bait-and-switch approach to garner ratings, but I'd rather they hold off on the announcement, anyway. Lesnar waiting until SmackDown Live's debut show on FOX would be ideal in my opinion, but that's not for another five months and I doubt WWE has that type of patience. The remainder of this segment with Kingston, Ziggler and Woods was well done, though it definitely did not need to be as long as it was (and could have even been saved for SmackDown).

Shane McMAhon def. Lance Anoa'i

My god, Shane spending what felt like an hour talking about Roman Reigns was a complete waste of time. Their feud bores me to tears, and again, this would have been better off on SmackDown. Shane's brief squash did nothing for me, even if it was cool to see Anoa'i on WWE TV for the first time (apparently he has wrestled for MLW before). That said, Reigns vs. Shane at Super ShowDown feels fitting considering that event is bound to be a disaster as it is.

Universal Champion Seth Rollins Confronted Brock Lesnar

This entire segment could have happened at the start of the show. Rollins confronted Lesnar yet again and insisted that he cash in his contract right then and there, and Lesnar likely would have gone through it had Paul Heyman not informed him that he could wait an entire year to cash it in. Thus, Lesnar bailed and the bout never happened. I appreciate that it wasn't a swerve and that Lesnar won't be contending for the Universal Championship at Super ShowDown (at least as of now), but he is advertised for that event, so it's possible he waits until then to go for the gold. I would drag this out a little longer, and as previously mentioned, SmackDown's FOX debut would be an ideal time to pull the trigger.

Raw Women's Champion Becky Lynch and Nikki Cross def. WWE Women's Tag Team Champions The IIconics (Non-title)

It was strange that Alexa Bliss was nowhere to be seen here after she technically wrestled last week, successfully teaming with Lynch and Cross. This was a decent match and I like Lynch and Cross as a pairing, but it further drove home how damaged those women's tag titles are. I don't think The IIconics have won a televised matchup since right after WrestleMania 35, which is terrible. Lynch chasing the belts with Cross would be interesting, but she should first focus on the next challenger to her Raw Women's Championship.

Ricochet def. Cesaro

Cesaro beating Ricochet last week on Raw concerned me because Ricochet has seemingly lost more than he's won since the Superstar Shake-up. That said, he was able to bounce back here after a very entertaining encounter with Cesaro. They weren't given a ton of time, but this was a ton of fun while it lasted. Now I'm excited for the eventual rubber matchup, and Ricochet has to win that too in order to maintain momentum.

Baron Corbin def. The Miz, Braun Strowman and Bobby Lashley in a Universal Championship No. 1 Contender's Fatal 4-way Elimination Match

AJ Styles was originally announced for this match, but due to an injury, he was pulled and replaced with Corbin. The elimination stipulation should have made this somewhat enjoyable, but it ended up being fairly boring, not to mention how the elimination stipulation was abandoned all together because apparently Strowman and Lashley eliminated themselves by brawling to the back. There are no disqualification in these multi-man matches, so that made very little sense. I'm disappointed WWE is giving Corbin a shot at the Universal Championship when Raw is as bad as it is already but not surprised seeing as how he pinned Rollins in tag team action not too long ago.

Corey Graves Hosted The Electric Chair with Sami Zayn

I really hope this Electric Chair segment gets the electric chair segment and is never seen on Raw again. Seriously, this stuff was brutal. WWE tried something similar with Alexa Bliss months ago and it quickly died a death. This too should be done away with by next week because it was cringe-worthy to watch. The only notable thing to come out of it was the All Elite Wrestling mention by Zayn, and it's pretty sad that WWE would rather name-drop their competition on Raw (something TNA couldn't do for 16 years) than actually put forth an effort to produce a compelling television show.

Universal Champion Seth Rollins def. Sami Zayn (Non-title)

From a storyline standpoint, what would have been the main event of this show had Rollins not interrupted The Electric Chair with Zayn and demanded an impromptu match against him? How bizarre. Don't get me wrong, this was a very well-wrestled matchup and both guys tried their hardest, but the outcome was never in doubt, and Zayn loses almost every single week, so it's hard to take him seriously. Rollins won clean and that was it. Lesnar didn't show up again, despite that being teased. What an anticlimactic way to go off the air.

Overall Show

It's comical to me that some fans actually thought WWE would turn their product around after the success that was AEW Double or Nothing on Saturday. Until AEW debuts on TNT in the fall, nothing will change. Raw has been abysmal for months and this was another awful episode on the whole. Lesnar's change in character was refreshing, Ricochet vs. Cesaro was a treat, and the main event was solid, but the better part of this show left me either frustrated or scratching my head. Raw is in really rough shape at the moment, the Wild Card rule is doing more harm than good, and this Super ShowDown pay-per-view coming up will only make matters worse based off what's currently on tap. WWE desperately needs competition, because it doesn't look like they're motivated in the slightest to produce a compelling product.