7 Ups & 4 Downs From WWE Raw (15 May - Review)

2. Sami And Kevin Versus The World

Kevin Owens Sami Zayn
WWE.com

Babyface champions like Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn thrive on adversity – it’s what keeps fans in their corner as they continue to struggle as underdogs against overwhelming odds.

How do you continue to ratchet up the adversity though after Sami and KO have vanquished half the Bloodline and are already facing the other half next week? Simple: You have everyone else gang up on them and cost the tag champs a main event match on Raw.

The Judgment Day picked a fight with Zayn and Owens to open the show, setting up the main event. Just when it looked like the champs were in control, Rhea Ripley and Dominik Mysterio came out to tip the scales. Once they were ejected, it looked like order was restored… until Paul Heyman came out, followed by Imperium showing up at ringside (notable as this came moments after Gunther shook hands with Heyman backstage).

Sure enough, Imperium cost Zayn the match, allowing Finn Balor to get the win for his team. As Corey Graves noted, everything was closing in on Zayn & Owens from all sides, with the Bloodline, Judgment Day and now Imperium all triangulating on the tag champs at once. That’s a hell of a mountain to climb.

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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.