6 Ups & 5 Downs From WWE Raw (3 June - Results & Review)

1. What Even Is The LWO Today?

Braun Strowman Judgment Day
WWE

The concept behind the LWO is pretty sound: a stable of Latino wrestlers banded together to show pride in their heritage and to achieve great things in the ring. For a while this spring, the group consisted of six members.

But Monday night, Rey Mysterio had to rely on Braun Strowman to provide backup after the LWO was caught flatfooted by the Judgment Day’s numbers game during the Dragon Lee/Finn Balor match. JD McDonagh accompanied Finn and provided numerous distractions, one of which allowed Carlito to interfere.

It wasn’t until a post-match beatdown that Rey and Braun came running out to help Dragon and chase off Judgment Day. Obviously, Carlito’s ousting from the group brought them down to five, and Cruz Del Toro’s injury knocked them down another man, but where was Joaquin Wilde? Is he incapable of providing backup because his tag partner is on the shelf? Why wasn’t Zelina Vega (who apparently is injured but was present Monday) accompanying Lee as a valet?

The real criticism here lies with Mysterio, who had to know the moment McDonagh showed up that trouble was afoot and should have been out there to even the numbers during the match. And unless he’s also injured, Wilde should have provided backup (they still could have had Strowman come out for the additional muscle).

It’s reminiscent of Rey recruiting Andrade to team with him at WrestleMania 40 when Dragon Lee went down with an injury rather than looking at three other able-bodied LWO members (Carlito, Wilde and Del Toro) to partner with him. If the LWO members can’t be relied upon to provide backup for Rey, what good are they?

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Contributor

Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.