Raw recap & reactions: Random Monday in June
Apologies to anyone who showed up here looking for some half-witticisms and irreverent humor about one of their favorite wrestling programs. We'll get to that, I promise, but there's something I need to get off my chest.
As of this writing, WWE hasn't acknowledged Pride Month. The same year in which they didn't acknowledge African American History Month, they're giving Pride the same no vaseline treatment. It was commonplace for them to give a cursory hat tip to months that mean something to so many on their roster and their audience. I was a lot more irate about this before the sun went down, and maybe I'll have more fire for it later, but it's sad that the company stopped doing something they did pretty regularly but seemingly stopped because of a supposed cultural backlash.
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People show their true colors in moments like this, so yeah, it would seem WWE is stating pretty loudly through deafening silence who they are and what they're about.
Soapbox moment over, back to your regular scheduled sports entertainment wrestling program.
Bash money
This was a weird episode of Raw that, honestly, didn't give me much to work with. I mean, El Grande Americano is in the Money in the Bank match. Yes, Chad Gable's alter ego is wrestling for the briefcase as opposed to CM Punk or AJ Styles. I figured El Grande's only purpose was to take a pin, but apparently not.
Look, I get part of this. Seth Rollins' crew has beef with Punk, and they showed some AJ their teeth prior to the main event. And this is part of Jey Uso's story too. If they put Punk in jeopardy, Jey & Sami would come a-runnin.' Punk helped Jey & Sami when Seth interrupted their tag match with Bron Breakker & Bronson Reed, so it only made sense for Jey to return the favor.
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GUNTHER is a part of this as well. Thankfully, we're no longer doing the whole 'Jey isn't good enough for the title' bit that's older than a peanut butter and jelly sandwich sitting in the Sahara on a summer day. Instead, GUNTHER is pointing out that Jey is running himself ragged and not being strategic. He's not wrong either. Jey is jumping into every battle that doesn't concern the gold around his waist. This also happened to him:
The man ate several Tsunami sandwiches for dinner. And I'm sure most, if not all of them come with a severe bout of indigestion.
All of this is fine. It's sound storytelling that reveals character and branches together easily.
But it didn't do anything exciting. Money in the Bank is a big deal event, yet this felt like a random Monday in June rather than go-home show for one of the territory's biggest events of the year.
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I'm still looking forward to MitB, but I'd love a sense of urgency several eves before a big show. Make me really want to see it rather than taking my patronage as a given.
Deep Cuts
Stephanie Vaquer's road to dominance started with a win over Ivy Nile and Liv Morgan. This was her first match on Raw as a member of the red brand roster, and also one that put her in the final spot of this year's Money in the Bank match. Ivy was there to take the pin, as Liv's got potentially much bigger fish worth a fish fry down the line. It's wild Money in the Bank is this weekend, right?
Rusev is down for the fight. Sheamus is down for the fight. Sheamus' message to his old friend? 'I bully bullies.' Doesn't have the poetry of Rusev's promo but still effective. This will be a key indicator of how the territory sees Rusev. There's some meat (no pun intended) on the bones of him and Sheamus, and I hope they keep playing on their history, along with Sheamus' storied history with the Nelson Muntz types.
Roxanne Perez offered her services to Liv. Liv said nah. Instead, she lent her considerable hand to Finn Balor & JD McDonagh. Very fun and dope tag match between the two Judgment Day members and the War Raiders. Still not a fan of that Judgment Day music though. Take it out back and shoot it.
Really liked the Lyra Valkyria and Becky Lynch's segment. Lyra looks and sounds like a hot babyface, while Becky sounds more and more like a selfish, conniving heel. Becky's 'I don't fight in Tulsa' line made me fall out. It was all in the delivery. A brief skirmish broke out between them, making Becky go back on her word almost immediately. Looking forward to this match when money inside banks is on the line.
Kari Sane & Dakota KAI might have their sights set on some tag team gold. The former defeated Raquel Rodriguez thanks to the latter having her back once Liv got involved. Liv wants Dakota's championship but I'm sure a program between all four women is percolating.
The biggest thing that happened this week is Stephanie Vaquer's debut and her subsequent meeting with Mami. That's. It. Maybe that's a symptom of doing Saturday Night's Main Event so soon after Backlash and so close to Money in the Bank. I can't call it. But this just wasn't an exciting television show.
What say you, Cagesiders? Will Stephanie win the women's ladder match?
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