Well, Kofi Kingston and MVP did it.
For the first time since WrestleMania, I am invested in the WWE championship.
Kingston came out without his brother by his side and said that he’s not sure how last week has effected him yet, because hearing Xavier Woods screaming in pain and couldn’t do anything. He put Woods over and said people need to start respecting him.
MVP came out and said Kingston beating Bobby Lashley would be ridiculous. The Booty-Os and pancakes were ridiculous and made him say some ridiculous things. He called this a David and Goliath story similar to the Brock Lesnar match, and Lashley would make that match look like child’s play.
Then Kingston said that Lashley is getting soft and distracted with vacations and women and every week, more All Mighty gets stripped away from him. His eyes are off the prize, and Kingston will take it from him.
He then called out MVP’s knee injury and said he’s milking it for all its worth and got MVP to shake that injury off. But it was Kingston knocking him down and God this was all so great.
I’m fully invested in this storyline and while I’m nearly certain Lashley will retain, it’s going to be a great ride to Money in the Bank.
Let’s get to the rest of this show. For a full rundown of Raw, check out the live blog by Claire Elizabeth!
Riddle is Orton
The show started with Adam Pearce and Sonya Deville informing us that Randy Orton would not be participating in the triple threat match to determine the last entrant on Raw’s side for Money in the Bank. So Riddle walked up with a “note” from Orton and said that he wanted Riddle to take his place in the triple threat.
It was obviously a fake note in green marker with a snake drawn on the bottom and absolutely hilarious. Legitimately one of the best openings to Raw this year.
Pearce and Deville decided that they’d put him in the battle royal and he scooted out.
The final two were Riddle and Damian Priest, and I would be lying if I didn’t say I kind of wanted Priest to win. But we all knew what the result was going to be. And I’m okay with that because they had a really good back and forth before Riddle ultimately eliminated Priest.
Riddle’s music played and he ran out of the ring and told them to play Orton’s music instead, and he went up on the turnbuckle and posed Orton-style.
That signature @RandyOrton pyro startled @SuperKingofBros! #WWERaw pic.twitter.com/cactrz77Qs
— WWE (@WWE) June 29, 2021
And then that hilarious moment.
I thought that after trying to become Orton, Riddle would come down to Voices, but that didn’t happen. Drew McIntyre launched both AJ Styles and Riddle across the ring. Styles and Riddle worked together to but McIntyre through the announce table.
Riddle went to “that place” and did the draping DDT to Styles, but Styles countered the RKO attempt. McIntyre woke up and then got violent with Riddle. Styles locked in a Calf Crusher and Riddle limped back to the ring after being taken out and did a Bro-mission to break that up.
He did the RKO to Styles and finally, Omos interfered. But Riddle turned into the Claymore Kick and Drew is going to Money in the Bank. I mean Riddle will be there too. Not as Orton, but as Riddle. There will be many moments where Drew climbs the ladder and it looks like he’s about to win, and I really hope that’s not the direction WWE goes in.
Drew needs to be out of the main title picture for a while. Give the briefcase to Big E. Drew should be facing Sheamus for the US title. He’ll do good stuff with that for a while.
This show really was all about Riddle showing that he believes in his RKBro team with RANDY. He really trusts and respects RANDY and it’s really a great thing. I wonder if RANDY plays a role in the ladder match. Maybe the official turn? Gosh I hope not. Don’t be a douchebag, RANDY.
DouDrop is good
I really hate how much I fell in line as a typical Twitter wrestling fan when this pairing was announced.
Usually I don’t like these repetitive matches but this one I have made an exception for. Because they are really doing this right. Didn’t think they had it in them.
DouDrop defied Eva Marie last week and Marie was giving her redemption by running back the same match.
Well, if you haven’t paid attention to WWE booking before, you already knew where this was going before we got there. Of course this time, Marie decided she was going to abandon DouDrop to teach her a lesson.
But to all of our collective surprise, DouDrop pinned Asuka and won the match anyway!
What I really like about all of this is Niven’s contempt with this. It’s almost like she was forced into this partnership and you can tell she kind of already wants out, making faces behind Eva and walking out on her last week.
But she’s sticking around because she’s on Raw. It’s smart, and when Niven and Eva break up in front of a crowd, it’s going to be one hell of a moment for them.
Wow
I absolutely love when I get to feature something random that absolutely popped me.
This match was really great. Even Miz had to put over how much these two work well on commentary. I don’t know what it is about wheelchair Miz, but he’s hitting with me. Really enhancing segments and not being unbelievably dull and grating.
Ricochet used the wheelchair to launch himself over Miz and do a hurricanrana. An excellent leg sweep by Morrison and excellent fireman’s carry by Ricochet. Ricochet rolled out of Morrison’s finisher and knocked Morrison off the apron.
And then one of the most INSANE things I have seen in my time covering WWE.
THIS IS INCREDIBLE.@KingRicochet just soared on #WWERaw! pic.twitter.com/5PKEpqa6J7
— WWE (@WWE) June 29, 2021
Holy shit.
I... wow. There was a count out, but, I mean my God how could anyone recover from that in time? That’s the type of move that leads to a very believable count out.
I need more. Bordering on “fight forever” status with me.
The Rest
Charlotte Flair, Natalya, and Tamina defeated Rhea Ripley, Mandy, and Dana
They started the all brawling with each other, which I liked since it sold the hatred between the women. I’m a person that doesn’t mind a brawl before a match because it looks more believable. Carrying it throughout the match was also a nice touch. Ripley missing that Nattie tagged out was a miss here but I didn’t think it took too much away from this. While most of these storylines have been not treated very well, I thought they did a good job here.
Nikki Cross (or... ASH) defeated Shayna Baszler
Almost a Super Hero was Nikki Cross’ new way of life in her promo before the match. Alexa Bliss came out midway and Cross dove onto all the heels to send it to a commercial break. Bliss tried mind control on Nia Jax and Reginald and then kicked them both. Apparently that was too much of a distraction for Baszler. We’ll see how this ASH thing goes, but I’m still skeptical. Not happy with Shayna continuing to lose over and over.
Jaxson Ryker defeated Elias
Elias went right on the attack as soon as the bell rang and he used the strap to his advantage. He hit Ryker with a knee and I thought it was over. Ryker finally slapped Elias with the strap and pinned Elias to win. Ryker will never be a babyface to me and I’m interested in seeing the live crowd reaction to this.
Incredibly, we had another good Monday night. Two weeks in a row! Let’s keep it going!
Grade: B+
What were your thoughts, Cagesiders?