WWE Raw preview (May 30, 2022): Lacey Evans is back!

Raw airs tonight (May 30) with a live show from Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, Iowa. This is the final Raw episode during the four week build towards Hell in a Cell, coming up this Sunday (June 5).

Lacey Evans is back in action

WWE is advertising Lacey Evans’ return to the ring tonight on Raw. This will be her first match since February 2021.

Lacey’s return to television has been confusing thus far. WWE aired a series of videos on SmackDown where she told her sad life story. This seemed to set her up as a babyface, but she used verbiage that was more typical of a heel when she actually returned to live television. There’s also the strange decision to move her from SmackDown to Raw with no explanation or clear logic behind it. It’s almost like WWE doesn’t have a well-formed plan here. It’s shocking, I know.

The last time Lacey was around in WWE, the best angle they could come up with for her was one where she had a nasty little secret with Ric Flair. A couple years before that, there were rumors that Vince McMahon wanted to give her a mega push right to the level of Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair. Lacey did main event a pay-per-view during the summer of 2019, so there was at least some merit to the idea.

What kind of a push does Vince McMahon have in store for Lacey this time? Who the hell really knows? We’ll hopefully find out more tonight when she finally returns to in-ring action.

The title scene

A singles match between Asuka and Bianca Belair for the Raw women’s championship at Hell in a Cell would have been amazing, most likely, but it’s now a triple threat match. Becky Lynch defeated Asuka last week and earned her way into their championship bout. Asuka accidentally kicked Bianca in the head during that match, so now their singles match is happening tonight, without a title on the line.

WWE decided to put the top two men’s titles in the promotion on a guy who has better things to do than wrestle at Hell in a Cell. Therefore WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns very likely won’t be on Raw tonight.

The Usos defeated RK-Bro on May 20 to become the undisputed WWE tag team champions. Randy Orton is gone for a while in the aftermath of that match, but Matt Riddle has already found a new partner. It will be Riddle and Shinsuke Nakamura vs. The Usos tonight in a non-title championship contender’s match.

Sasha Banks and Naomi walked out of WWE, which means the Women’s tag team titles are now vacated. There will be a tournament at some point to crown new tag champs. It might take a long time to find four women’s teams in WWE that a tournament can be built around, so maybe we’ll get more burials of Sasha and Naomi by the commentary team in the meantime.

The United States championship didn’t make the cut for television time last week. Theory might need to kiss Vince McMahon’s ass a little harder this week to get that to change.

R-Truth hasn’t been the 24/7 champion in quite some time. Now that Zelina Vega reportedly had surgery and is out of action, Carmella has moved over to the 24/7 title scene to align herself with Truth as they look to take down the champ, Dana Brooke.

Other stuff to keep an eye on

- Last week was Cody Rhodes’ low point since returning to WWE, mostly because the Miz isn’t particularly good when the bell rings and the mic is gone. Seth Rollins caused a disqualification in their match and once again tried to injure the American Nightmare. Cody will respond to Seth’s actions tonight. Their Hell in a Cell match on Sunday is the main event of that card, so there’s some pressure to deliver a great go home segment tonight.

- Bob Lashley was distracted last week and lost a match against MVP via count out. As a result, Lashley will have to wrestle Omos and MVP in a handicap match at Hell in a Cell. The contract signing for that match takes place tonight. Let’s hope the contract contains a provision that this feud cannot continue beyond three consecutive premium live events.

- Ezekiel and Kevin Owens are scheduled for a singles match at Hell in a Cell. Owens ventured over to SmackDown last week to ask Sami Zayn to assist him in exposing the truth about Ezekiel’s lies and true identity. But even the conspiracy theory prone and delusional honorary member of the Bloodline knows Ezekiel and Elias are two completely different people. Kevin Owens is truly alone on an island with this one.

- Alexa Bliss has returned to WWE with three consecutive wins on Raw. Who will WWE feed to her tonight?

- Edge keeps teasing there will soon be a fourth member of The Judgment Day. Finn Balor was curiously absent last week when Edge’s group administered their latest beating on AJ Styles and Liv Morgan. Was Finn’s absence a coincidence?

- WWE tried to add hype to the Mysterios / Veer Mahaan feud by having Jerry Lawler make some bad jokes about Veer last week.

What will you be looking for on Raw tonight?