7 Ups & 3 Downs from WWE Raw (19 May - Results & Review)

Freak injury dampens WWE Raw, world title scene takes shape.

WWE Raw Sami Zayn CM Punk Seth Rollins Bron Breakker
WWE

Give WWE a couple of clear focal points for their overall booking, and there’s a decent chance they can dial in long enough to produce a perfectly watchable episode of television.

With Saturday Night’s Main Event looming this weekend and Money in the Bank two weeks after that, WWE offered up a mostly competent Raw, bolstered by a loud and engaged crowd that seemed up for just about everything put in front of them on Monday night.

Through a series of in-ring and backstage segments, WWE laid out a web of scenarios surrounding the World Heavyweight Championship, with numerous challengers lining up to face Jey Uso or whomever is wearing the title when they finally get their opportunity. The interactions allowed fans to imagine certain world title matchups that might not have been on their radar, potentially speaking them into existence.

Raw also offered two women’s Money in the Bank qualifiers, one of which was snakebitten, the other of which was full of convoluted, contrived spots that dragged the overall match down. The Judgment Day had a really good night, while Jey Uso’s backup continued to step up against Seth Rollins and Bron Breakker.

Overall, this was a good Raw if you were looking for a decent wrestling program, but the dial could turn the other way if viewers wanted top-shelf entertainment to wow them.

Let’s get to it…

Advertisement
In this post: 
WWE Raw
 
Posted On: 
Contributor
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.