3 things that went right on the May 16 episode of WWE Raw

In the macro, the May 16 episode of WWE Raw feels trivial relative to the seismic news that WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Sasha Banks and Naomi walked out on the show after rightfully sticking up for themselves and the women’s tag division they’re trying to elevate.

Watching this story play out — particularly WWE’s ridiculous response to Banks and Naomi leaving the Norfolk Scope Arena — reminded fans (at least the ones who aren’t WWE apologists) how petty this company can be. Fortunately, it also illustrates why it’s best to watch wrestling for the talent and not the companies.

That’s true even for a show as inconsistent as Raw, with the talent often tasked with overcoming WWE’s many booking gaffes. So, in that vein, let’s go over some good stuff that happened on this past Monday’s show.

These are three things that went right on the May 16 episode of WWE Raw.

Cody Rhodes challenges Seth Rollins to a Hell in a Cell match

It was nice of WWE to basically admit that it knows that most fans watch Raw to see Cody Rhodes with that countdown clock, and to Rhodes’ credit, he has shown that the enthusiasm for him is warranted.

A week removed from getting curb stomped off the announcer’s desk by Seth Rollins, “The American Nightmare” discussed his early resentment of Rollins’ fast WWE success and tied it to his pursuit of living up to his father’s legacy in a great promo that continued Rhodes’ trend of skewing the usual WWE promo format.

This led to Rhodes challenging Rollins to a Hell in a Cell match at the eponymous pay-per-view in June, which Rollins accepted via his own wacky promo. While this feud hasn’t risen to the level of needing Hell in a Cell and seeing WWE stretch this out another month sucks, the match itself should be great.

Finn Balor and AJ Styles vs. Los Lotharios

So Angel and Humberto are just on Raw now, huh? Why does this company bother to have a brand split, again?

Anyway, the Lotharios faced the team of AJ Styles and Finn Balor on this week’s Raw, as the match was designed to highlight the former Bullet Club members’ cohesion as a team. Well, mission accomplished, as Styles and Balor looked like multiple-time tag team champions in this outing.

Of course, it helps to have Humberto and Angel as your opponents, and while allowing them to get so much offense on Styles and Balor was questionable given their place on the card, it made for a fun match that ended with a much-needed win for the babyfaces.

Also, it’s cool to see Liv Morgan allying with Styles and Balor against The Discount Ministry of Dar…The Judgement Day.

Becky Lynch vs. Asuka

Given the aforementioned situation with Banks and Naomi, Asuka and Becky Lynch deserve a heaping of credit for putting together an entertaining match on short notice. While this didn’t reach the peaks of their previous matches, the two delivered enough fun action to make this an enjoyable top contender’s match.

Raw Women’s Champion Bianca Belair sat at ringside for this one, which meant we got the expected “wrestler interacts with another wrestler at ringside/on commentary to kickstart the shenanigans” sequence. However, this didn’t draw the usual non-finish. Instead, it set up a distraction that allowed Asuka to spray Lynch with her GREEN MIST and secure the victory.

While the finish was a little contrived, it didn’t detract too much from the admirable effort of these two women.