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WWE Raw: Results, Highlights, Analysis, and Grades for May 28

By Bryan Heaton

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Photo Source: WWE.com via Twitter

Gauntlet Match, Winner is Final Entrant in Women’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match

Bayley vs. Liv Morgan

Result: Bayley defeated Liv Morgan via pinfall

Rating: DUD

Throughout the night, all the participants in this match shared their thoughts (Dana Brooke even proved the numbers don’t lie). Before the match, Bayley said the odds may be against her, but she was going to prove everyone wrong.

She got off to a great start by eliminating Liv Morgan in mere seconds after a quick Bayley-to-Belly Suplex.

Bayley vs. Sarah Logan

Result: Bayley defeated Sarah Logan via pinfall

Rating: 2.0 out of 5 stars

This match took a bit longer, but the result was the same: Bayley scored a pinfall victory out of nowhere to win the first two matches of the gauntlet.

Following the pinfall, Liv Morgan returned to the ring, and she and Logan delivered a two-on-one beatdown before the next competitor made her way to the ring. That next competitor?

Bayley vs. Ruby Riott

Result: Ruby Riott defeated Bayley via pinfall

Rating: 1.5 out of 5 stars

Honestly, the set up of this match meant most of it happened in the commercial — apparently, some of it was part of WWE’s Instagram story, which I think is ridiculous. So what we saw was Riott locking in a resthold, Bayley getting in no offense, and then a Riott Kick for the victory.

Photo Source: WWE.com via Twitter

Ruby Riott vs. Dana Brooke

Result: Ruby Riott defeated Dana Brooke via pinfall

Rating: 1.5 out of 5 stars

Another match that was way too short to mean anything, because food fights are more important than actual wrestling matches. Dana hit her handspring back elbow, but nothing else, and a quick Riott Kick ended it again.

Ruby Riott vs. Mickie James

Result: Ruby Riott defeated Mickie James via pinfall

Rating: 2.25 out of 5 stars

This was the most substantial of the matches to this point of the gauntlet, but it also featured the second commercial break in the match, which had only been going on for roughly ten minutes to that point.

On a show where opening promos regularly go twenty minutes uninterrupted, having two breaks in a match less than half that length is absurd. I’m not saying matches should never have commercial breaks in them, but they should be part of the story. “Well folks, we don’t want to cut away from this match, but we have to get these last words from our sponsors in!” would be a great way to build drama in the match. Instead, we get “RAW ROLLS ON” every ten minutes?

Anyway, Mickie put on a great show — in front of her hometown crowd, no less — but lost when Ruby grabbed a handful of tights on a rollup.

Ruby Riott vs. Sasha Banks

Result: Sasha Banks defeated Ruby Riott via submission; Sasha Banks qualifies for Money in the Bank Ladder Match

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

The crowd was deflated when local hero Mickie James was eliminated, but Sasha pulled them back into it. While Riott/James was the most substantial match, this was the best of the matches in the gauntlet. Only problem was the story behind it was backwards.

When you think of a gauntlet match, the whole point is to endure. There’s two logical finishes: a babyface comes in early, wins a few matches to get to the end, but loses to a fresh heel; or the babyface endures throughout and overcomes the fresh heel at the end. That’s it — no other finishes make any sense whatsoever.

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So of course, Ruby Riott — the heel — is on her fourth match of the night, and she’s gassed. Sasha Banks — the face — is fresh as a daisy, spending a mere five minutes in the ring before forcing Riott to tap out. It’s completely counterintuitive, and cheapens the idea of a gauntlet.

Think of it this way: if the plot of Star Wars was such that the movie focused on Darth Vader and Grand Moff Tarkin dealing with internal conflict and production delays, only to solve all crises just to have Luke waltz in and destroy the Death Star, it’s a very different movie. You need to see the heroes go through trials and tribulations, not the bad guys. In this gauntlet, Ruby Riott was the sympathetic figure.

It’s becoming an epidemic with WWE booking, especially on WWE Raw. A few weeks ago, Jinder Mahal (a guy I referred to earlier as a great heel) was walking around with rib tape after an assault by Roman Reigns (who wasn’t on the show this week… interesting). Rib tape is like the universal symbol of “hurting babyface,” but he’s the villain of the story! Tonight, Riott is booked like the valiant conquering hero, only to fall in the end to, uh, the actual hero?

While it’s great to see Sasha in the ladder match, the journey was kind of silly. Take away the booking mistakes, and it would be a great match. But given the context, it’s not very good at all.

Next: Is Ronda Rousey Ready for Nia Jax at MITB?

Overall, this show was a mess. The first hour was pretty good, even with bad finishes. But the rest of the show fell off a cliff. What did you think about this week’s episode of WWE Raw?

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