10 Things We Learned From WWE Raw (May 22)

2. Five Guys

mickie james alexa bliss
WWE.com

Raw reverted to a safe space this week, offering a main event tag match ostensibly as a teaser for the multi-man affair at Extreme Rules.

Lazily pairing off the goodies and baddies as Teddy Long had done for years on Smackdown, Kurt Angle put former Shield colleagues Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns together against Samoa Joe and Bray Wyatt after an aborted singles match between the 'Big Dog' and 'Eater of Worlds' ended in chaos.

With Finn Balor otherwise engaged elsewhere on the show, it was a simplistic way to stir conflict between the remaining combatants, especially with WWE's horrific grasp of human behaviour evidenced in the Seth Rollins/Roman Reigns 'tension' that ultimately cost them victory in the main event.

With the exception of Samoa Joe's presentation as a merciless killer, the reckless abandon in how the company treats characters was far too apparent by the close of this week's episode.

Rollins and Reigns have buddied up enough since the former's babyface turn that unease between the two felt completely forced. Furthermore, that freewheeling buffoon Bray Wyatt is even in the conversation for title contention at this point exhibits how little the company want viewers to care about the last six months. As it stands, none of these goofs belong anywhere near Brock Lesnar or his shiny red title.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett