WWE Raw: Results, Highlights, Analysis, and Grades for May 14

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This week’s WWE Raw is airing “live” from London. With more Money in the Bank qualifying matches, plus an Intercontinental Championship match, it should be an exciting episode despite the tape delay.

Previously on WWE Raw, Seth Rollins instituted an Intercontinental Championship Open Challenge. Money in the Bank qualifying matches started. And Bobby Lashley loves his family, in a totally non creepy way.

This week on Raw, it’s more of the same! No, seriously: according to WWE‘s preview of the show, there’s more MITB qualifiers, plus another Intercontinental Championship match. And, uh, Bobby Lashley loves his family?

Let’s get into the announced matches for this week*. In the first of two MITB qualifiers, Bobby Roode, No Way Jose, and Baron Corbin battle it out in a triple threat match. There’s two spots left for Raw superstars to join Finn Balor and Braun Strowman. Which of these three relative newbies to the brand will step up?

On the women’s side of things, Alexa Bliss, Bayley, and Mickie James will try to join Ember Moon at Money in the Bank. Bliss and James have had an on-again, off-again type relationship going back to their time on SmackDown Live. Are they on or off right now? And what kind of trouble does that spell for Bayley?

This week’s Intercontinental Championship Open Challenge match has already been accepted ahead of time. Kevin Owens indicated on social media that he planned to answer Seth Rollins’s challenge. Rollins accepted not too long after, and the match was set. Will KO regain the Intercontinental Championship? Or will the Kingslayer again rise to the top?

And Roman Reigns will be there. Addressing Jinder Mahal. Yay.

Must Read: Success for All In Crucial to Entire Pro Wrestling Industry

Follow along with our live review of WWE Raw starting right here at 8 p.m. ET.

(*: This week’s Raw taped in London earlier in the day, so by the time it starts in the United States spoiler hounds will know what happened. I don’t do spoilers, so I’m treating this like a regular old live episode of Raw.)

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Roman Gets Booed on the Left Side of the Road

Couple of things about this Roman Reigns garbage:

• If every city WWE travels to is “Bizarro Land” now, can’t we just skip the charade and acknowledge that this is the REAL reaction? Reigns gets booed in New York? THEY’RE A WILD BUNCH. Philly? WHAT A CROWD, COLE. London? THEY ALWAYS COME OUT STRONG. It’s absurd, and a slap in the face to every fan across the world.
• Shakespeare once wrote a line, the gist of which is “a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” Management, Authority, Powers That Be — it doesn’t matter what we’re calling them, it’s played out. And “Authority vs. Underdog” has been done better so many times, it’s putting a spotlight on just how bad this story is.
• Roman Reigns is a lot of things. He’s great in the ring. He’s part of a wrestling dynasty. And he’s halfway decent on the mic when he’s allowed to be himself. Since he’s not an underdog, or a believable “loser,” he’s absolutely awful in these segments. Someone as tough as Reigns shouldn’t be reduced to whining and complaining, and he definitely shouldn’t be assaulting superstars just because his fee fees got hurt.

So of course, Reigns whups Jinder Mahal as payback for the nonsense last week. And the crowd loves that Roman gets no more opportunities as per “management.” Ugh.

And hey, how terrible is it that Kurt Angle is nothing more than a shill for management now? Wasn’t his whole thing about doing what’s right, and not kowtowing to ridiculous demands from Stephanie and company? Now he’s out here “representing” management? What the heck happened?

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Intercontinental Championship Match

Seth Rollins (c) vs. Kevin Owens

Result: Seth Rollins defeated Kevin Owens via pinfall

Rating: 3.75 out of 5 stars

Major props to Seth Rollins for putting the “Intercontinental” in Intercontinental Champion. Since winning the title at WrestleMania, he’s defended it on four separate continents — North America, Africa, Asia, and now Europe. Workhorse doesn’t even begin to describe what Rollins is doing lately.

I also find it funny that Rollins, a one-time protege of Triple H, is doing for the IC Title what The Game allegedly didn’t want to do back in 2002. Remember what Eric Bischoff presented Triple H with the “World Heavyweight Championship” in September, and by October the Intercontinental Title was unified into the WHC?

Rumors at the time abounded that the Intercontinental Championship was meant to be the top title on Raw after the brand split while the “Undisputed Championship” would reside on SmackDown, but Triple H wanted to be world champion. I have no idea if that’s true, but there’s little doubt that in 2018, Rollins is top dog on Raw, and the Universal Championship is an afterthought.

Back to the match at hand. As is often the case, Seth Rollins is on his A game. Likely battling severe jet lag, The Kingslayer got better distance on his suicide dives than ever before. Not to mention that this was probably the best Kevin Owens match in some time — KO has been on a bit of a hot streak since leaving SmackDown a month ago.

The finish to the match adds a nice little wrinkle to Rollins’s game, too. Hitting the Blackout stomp as Owens was entering the ring — almost “from outta nowhere” — opens up a myriad of possibilities for situations to hit the stomp. Better hope none of Seth’s challengers realize their boots are untied.

Great opening bout to the show, and another great performance by Rollins.

Breaking News from Radio City

We covered this earlier today, but for the sake of completion, here goes…

At the NBCUniversal Upfront in New York City, WWE made their presence felt with a large crew on scene. While Ronda Rousey was talking to Cathy Kelley, Nia Jax came up to her and challenged her to a title match at Money in the Bank. Yes, you heard that correctly — the champion issued a challenge to a superstar who’s had a single match in professional wrestling.

In the article earlier today, I made it pretty clear that it’s way too soon for Rousey to challenge for a championship. How about the fact that the past few weeks have been spent building a probable feud between Rousey and Natalya? Are we just throwing that out the window? Or is this some ridiculous way to a) build up Rousey by beating Jax, b) get the title on Natalya via MITB cash-in, and c) have champion Natalya be super ineffective because she didn’t really “earn” the title?

The whole thing is a mess, which I guess is par for the course in terms of storytelling for WWE lately.

I Guess The B-Team Has A Point?

So Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel are semantics experts now? I can live with that. And I would think that they could use the A-Team name, since the star of the show is a WWE Hall of Famer and it was an NBC show. But B-Team — for BEST TEAM, which absolutely! — works, too.

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No Way Jose vs. Baron Corbin vs. Bobby Roode, Money in the Bank Qualifier

Result: Bobby Roode pinned No Way Jose to qualify for Money in the Bank

Rating: 2.75 out of 5 stars

Out of the four matches over the past two weeks to fill the Raw portion of the Men’s MITB Match, this is the oddest one, in my opinion. KO vs. Braun? Fine. Balor, Zayn, and Reigns? Sure! Elias, Jinder Mahal, and Bobby Lashley later tonight? Definitely!

But No Way Jose, who literally went from “local talent squash match” to “guy who gets pasted by a debuting superstar” in two weeks? Baron Corbin, who won last year’s MITB and failed his cash-in? And Bobby Roode, who has been on the losing end of a feud with Elias, without looking particularly strong in doing so? Not exactly a murderer’s row there.

The way the match was paced didn’t really do it any favors, either. In typical WWE triple threat fashion, it was a series of concurrent singles matches. But none of them clicked, so it seemed like a chore. Jose spent most of the early and middle of the match doing literally nothing, Corbin acted like a bully but got no comeuppance, and Roode did his usual Triple H Appreciation Day repertoire.

That said, the match was fun. Roode winning is a million percent the correct call. No reason for Corbin to go right back to the match so quickly, and Jose has precisely ZERO momentum. It’s not a match of the year, or event night (it may not even be the match of the hour), but it got the job done.

Angle’s Night Gets Worse

Kevin Owens threatens Kurt angle with a phone call to Stephanie McMahon (insert Scott Hall “scared” dance here) before checking on Jinder Mahal. The Maharaja is hurting, but he’s still got to compete later tonight — no postponements.

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The B-Team (Bo Dallas & Curtis Axel) vs. Breezango (Tyler Breeze & Fandango)

Result: The B-Team defeated Breezango via pinfall

Rating: 2.0 out of 5 stars

Listening to commentary, it seems that Dallas and Axel are a means to pull back the kayfabe curtain even further. Booker T is talking about Barry Horowitz, Michael Cole is wondering if the whole point of competing is still to get to the “pay window” at the end of the night. I don’t much care for that — there’s enough kayfabe breaking everywhere you look anyway, and at some point you still want some form of illusion. It’s why special effects still get put into movies, and you don’t watch guys in mo-cap suits standing in front of green screens.

But enough with all of that, because Dallas and Axel are absolutely adorable. They’ve been teaming for a looooooooong time, and it’s high time to give them a shot at something. Their team is made up of a former NXT Champion and a former Intercontinental Champion. Say what you want about whether they “deserved” those reigns (both did), there’s something there with both guys.

It stinks a little to see Breezango taking the L here, but they can handle it. In a comedy match between two comedy teams, there’s no reason the babyfaces have to win every time. Establish Bo and the Axe Man, and eventually you come back to Breezango.

The promo after the match was equal parts Rocky Balboa and Will Ferrell, and somehow that’s the best thing on the planet. How can you not pull for these guys?

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Sasha Banks, Natalya, & Ember Moon vs. The Riott Squad (Ruby Riott, Liv Morgan, & Sarah Logan)

Result: Sasha Banks, Natalya, & Ember Moon defeated The Riott Squad via submission

Rating: 3.0 out of 5 stars

Sometimes, I get the impression that Ember Moon is so good that she seems sloppy just because her opponents can’t keep up with her. Take the headscissor takedown of Logan early in this one: Ember got her legs over so quickly that Logan spiked herself on the mat. It’s hard to get full rotation as quick as Ember goes.

Sasha Banks, too, sometimes goes too fast, so it kind of makes sense that her and Ember are partnered up. I don’t mean that as a knock on Banks, or Ember, but sometimes a wrestler has a “sloppy” match and it’s nothing more than mistiming. I’d be a fool to try and claim that Sasha and Ember aren’t two of the absolute best in the division. But I have to point out what I see.

It doesn’t hurt the match (maybe just Logan’s head?). This one had a nice simple story — the Riott Squad is the cohesive unit, but Banks/Natalya/Ember have the experience advantage (maybe not so much Ember as far as WWE goes). Which is stronger: a unit, or three individuals?

My question is this: If Ember Moon is the only one from this match heading to the MITB Ladder Match, what is the rest of the division doing? You have Rousey and Jax in a title match, and Moon plus three others to be determined for the Raw side of things. There’s a bunch of other women in the division.

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The Revival (Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder) vs. Matt Hardy & Bray Wyatt

Result: Matt Hardy & Bray Wyatt defeated The Revival via pinfall

Rating: 1.75 out of 5 stars

How the once mighty have fallen. The Revival were, at one point, in the conversation for best tag team on the planet. Their run in NXT was sublime. There are few teams, even still today, who match Dash and Dawson in terms of team chemistry and cohesiveness.

But here we are halfway through 2018, and Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel have more of a claim to tag team supremacy than the first ever two-time NXT Tag Team Champions. I know the joke is “Wow, 2018 wrestling is so weird!” but this is beyond weird. It’s practically impossible.

At very least, this wasn’t a total squash. The Revival got some good offense in for, like, 30 seconds or so. But Hardy and Wyatt aren’t far enough into their reign for a non-title loss just yet. So, with Dallas and Axel watching from backstage, the champs emerge victorious with a really awkward looking double Sister Abigail. Personally, I think the double team Twist of Fate is better as a finish, but what do I know?

Hopefully, all these tag team matches are going to lead to a Tag Team Money in the Bank Ladder Match. Four teams from Raw would give us The Revival, Breezango, AoP, and Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre, perhaps.

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Oh, Sami… Oh, Sami, No

I appreciate Sami Zayn taking the time out of his busy schedule to educate the masses about the central and peripheral nervous system. He’s not lying when he says vertigo is a debilitating disease — I used to work in a neurodiagnostic testing center, and did tests on patients with vertigo all the time. Some were in real bad shape.

But it all goes downhill from there. Sami brings up the vertigo because of Bobby Lashley, and his stalling suplex. Okay, fine. Sami has issue with Lashley returning on the same night Sami himself returned. Still, okay.

Then we rehash the “interview” with Lashley from last week. You know the one: “I love my family.” That awkward, serial killer type stare into the camera as he professes his love for his family. Sami thinks that Lashley is trying to become Sami, mainly because of Lashley’s hat. But the biggest “uh oh” moment is still coming…

…That’s right, Sami Zayn used Facebook to track down Bobby Lashley’s sisters, and he’s invited them to WWE Raw next week in Albany. Oh, no.

I’ve watched enough wrestling over the years to know that segments involving family members are almost always trash. Personally, I thought Sami was above that sort of nonsense. But apparently, next week we get to meet the entire Lashley family, or paid actors who are supposed to make things “funny.”

Either way, it won’t be good.

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Alexa Bliss vs. Mickie James vs. Bayley, Money in the Bank Qualifier

Result: Alexa Bliss pinned Bayley to qualify for Money in the Bank

Rating: 2.25 out of 5 stars

I question the layout of segments surrounding this match. You had Sami Zayn and an ill-advised “I’m bringing your family to Raw!” promo segment, but the competitors for the next match came out immediately. After all three superstars were in the ring, there was about 17 seconds of wrestling before a commercial break. Then most of the match happened off screen, because of the commercial.

Because of that timing, the match suffers. We got to see the whole “Mickie and Alexa are friends but not really” arc play out a bit. But just how long did they work together before Mickie attempted that first pin on Bliss?

And, because we only got to see half a match, it never picks up. It’s not necessarily a bad match, but there’s no real context to what’s happening. Everyone wants in the ladder match? Well, duh, that’s why you need to show us a bit more to get us properly invested.

Much like Bobby Roode before, I think Bliss is probably the right call to win here. Bayley has her Sasha Banks frenemy thing going on, and Mickie James doesn’t need to kill herself in a ladder match at this stage of her career.

Guess Who’s Back? Back Again?

Jinder Mahal finished his Z-Pak, so he’s cleared to compete despite probably having broken ribs. Good job, doctor!

But his ribs go from “probably” broken to “holy cow they’re sawdust” after Roman Reigns hits a spear out of nowhere through a wall. Glad to see Roman is taking rejection like an adult.

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Finn Balor & Braun Strowman vs. Dolph Ziggler & Drew McIntyre

Result: Dolph Ziggler & Drew McIntyre defeated Finn Balor & Braun Strowman via pinfall

Rating: 2.75 out of 5 stars

Man, Drew McIntyre has the potential to not only still be everything WWE hoped he would be in his first run with the company, but to become the best success story of rejuvenating a career. When he was released from WWE five years ago, who would have predicted what he’s doing now, or what he did in the interim? EC3 may be the other one fighting for that mantel, but right now Drew is on fire.

I loved McIntyre’s behavior upon tagging into the match. Not only did he call out Braun freaking Strowman, but he sold the ruse to perfection. In fact, all four competitors did some great work in this match. Ziggler did enough to allow for a comeback spot. Balor was face in peril for a while. And Braun Strowman just destroyed human forms and trophies alike.

The one thing that was a little ridiculous? Strowman having to keep his arm bent while reaching out for a tag, just so Balor “couldn’t reach him.” Dude’s almost seven feet tall, you can’t let that visual get so out of hand.

Regardless of that, it was a decent little match. Any time Ziggler and McIntyre compete, you want to see the Zig Zag/Claymore combo; not getting it stinks. But it followed a different formula than the usual Ziggler/McIntyre matches, so there’s a freshness to it — even if Strowman did his running tackle thing again.

Do Your Job, Kurt

Stephanie McMahon is working hard with one arm from home, as evidenced by Kurt Angle not getting to finish his night on a high note. All the guy wants to do is book matches, cant’s Steph let him just do that?

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Elias vs. Kevin Owens vs. Bobby Lashley, Money in the Bank Qualifier

Result: Kevin Owens pinned Elias to qualify for Money in the Bank

Rating: 3.25 out of 5 stars

Gotta love commercial breaks with less than 10 minutes left in a three hour broadcast! Like Raw isn’t enough of a struggle to get through sometimes, now we need a pit stop with a quarter of a lap to go?

More from Daily DDT

• It’s time for Adam Cole and MJF to drop the ROH tag team titles
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• Eddie Kingston stands to gain the most from the AEW Continental Classic
• Trish Stratus on WWE NXT would help elevate that women’s division
• Randy Orton signs with SmackDown to go after The Bloodline

But as you can tell by the headline, Kevin Owens is the replacement for the injured Jinder Mahal. If you can prove to me that Roman Reigns is a babyface, and Jinder is still a heel, I’m all ears. But it’s pretty clear that Jinder — who lost this opportunity at the hands of Roman Reigns — is the more sympathetic character, and Reigns is the baddie.

While not a tear down the house instant classic, this was definitely the best of the MITB qualifiers on the night. If Elias continues to try and put on his concerts in the middle of matches, it’ll be a great wrinkle for his character. He’s already great in the ring, but that extra bit of character work could put him over the top.

Sami Zayn’s involvement was unnecessary, but it makes sense in the long run if he and Owens are supposed to be “unworthy” competitors. Needing the other to win a match keeps them as a package deal for a little while longer. Plus, now this frees up Sami and Lashley for something else, whether at MITB or Raw the following night.

The Men’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match is shaping up to be fantastic. The four superstars from Raw — Owens, Bobby Roode, Finn Balor, and Braun Strowman — are great, and add in The Miz and Rusev? Wow. The last two SmackDown Live spots could go to Primo Colon and James Ellsworth and it would still be a Top 3 of all time.

Next: Seth Rollins is Superstar of Year So Far

That closes the book on another episode of WWE Raw. Seth Rollins again delivered the best match of the night, but Kevin Owens was in two great matches. There was some dreck in the middle, and waaaaaay too much time spent on the whole Nia Jax/Ronda Rousey thing for my liking. What did you think of WWE Raw this week?