5 Ups & 5 Downs From WWE Raw (22 May - Results & Review)

3. A Twist On The Usual Brock Melee

Heading into Raw, WWE seemed poised to offer up one of its biggest clichés in modern times: the pre-PPV/PLE brawl involving Brock Lesnar.

We’ve all seen these melees several times through the years: Brock and his opponent confront each other in the ring. Maybe a contract and a table are involved, maybe not. Security gets tossed around like ragdolls to sell just how bloodthirsty both men are. The announcers gasp and gush about what the upcoming money match will look like if this is what they’re doing to each other now.

But WWE subverted those expectations Monday night by jarring everyone just seconds into Raw. They showed Cody Rhodes arriving – as WWE loves to do – only for Brock to attack Rhodes viciously, battering him all over the backstage area. The cringeworthy (in a good way) moment came when Lesnar slammed Cody into the metal garage door, then smashed a keg of beer (presumably empty) into Rhodes’ arm, leaving him wounded on the floor.

This was a great opening that showed Brock being willing to take shortcut after shortcut to get an edge on Cody. Attacking from behind backstage is not necessarily something the Beast would normally do. He’d often confront his prey face-to-face in the ring before a brawl would break out. This was violent, but it was also cowardly, an unusual twist for Lesnar.