WWE Raw Results: Highlights, Analysis, and Grades for June 19

WWE.com

Roman Reigns’ SummerSlam Announcement

There was speculation-a-plenty leading up to Reigns’ announcement, but we finally heard it straight from the man himself: He planned to challenge the winner of Joe and Lesnar at Great Balls of Fire for the Universal Championship at SummerSlam.

Reigns delivered a solid promo here—very heelish.

During his promo he referred to Joe as “the guy they call Joe” and went on and on about his recent victories over Finn Bálor, Seth Rollins, and how he retired The Undertaker.

However, in the middle of his promo, Joe interrupted Reigns and reminds him that he’s never beat him and eventually attacks Reigns.

During his attack, he goes for the Coquina Clutch, is unsuccessful and then gets hit with a Superman Punch from The Big Dog.

The confrontation was eventually turned into a match between the two men later that evening.

This was a solid segment to kick off the show, but the announcement is kind of what we expected.

However, the WWE has a tendency to continue this theme of making matches after promo confrontations without a human being—you know, the general manager—coming out and making the match. If Angle had come out and told them both the knock it off mid-fight and booked the match it would have been much better, but instead we simply had Joe walk back to the locker room after “losing.”

Also, it makes no sense to put Joe over Lesnar last week, and then Joe cowers away from Reigns this week. There is inconsistency in Joe’s character from last week to now. It makes no sense to confront Lesnar strong and then cower from Reigns.

Another thing, the dynamic of the Samoan’s should have been addressed. All of the Samoan’s in the WWE are related, except for Joe—that’s a story that was missing here and was a missed opportunity.

The Hardy Boyz

Prior to the commercial break, we saw a backstage look at the Hardy Boyz before they were set for action against Anderson and Gallows.