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Raw this week served as the go-home show for this weekend’s Money in the Bank PLE. With both the men’s and women’s Money in the Bank lineups just about filled up, this week had two qualifying matches to fill the final spots for each of them. While both very important, it was the men’s match that main evented the show. Facing A.J. Styles and El Grande Americano, C.M. Punk had the chance to qualify for Money in the Bank for the first time in 12 years. As Seth Rollins qualified last week, Punk qualifying also would give him the chance at both the briefcase and revenge.
To no surprise, Rollins and his new stable once again proved to be a huge hurdle in Punk’s way. In addition to that, we had one final face-off between Lyra Valkyria and Becky Lynch, a star-studded tag team match with another disappointing ending, and Raquel Rodriguez seeking revenge on Kairi Sane on Liv Morgan’s behalf. As WWE’s summer season begins, this week’s show was a preview of what to look forward to as it heats up in the coming weeks.
Liv Morgan vs. Stephanie Vaquer vs. Ivy Nile
Latest Developments:
Over the past three weeks, five qualifying matches for the women’s Money in the Bank Ladder match have taken place. From Smackdown, Alexa Bliss, Giulia, and most recently Naomi have qualified for the match. Two weeks ago on the May 19 Raw, Roxanne Perez and Rhea Ripley qualified. After dropping her NXT Women’s Championship last week, it was announced on Friday by Adam Pearce that Stephanie Vaquer is officially part of the Raw women’s roster. In addition to that, it was revealed that she would compete against Liv Morgan and Ivy Nile in the final qualifying match for the women this week.
As the match progressed, Ivy hit Liv and Vaquer with a German Suplex simultaneously. There was another spot where she Powerbomed Vaquer from the second rope as Vaquer Superplexed Liv, but Vaquer kicked out of Ivy’s pin attempt. Liv hit Vaquer with a Codebreaker followed by the ObLIVion, but Ivy threw her out of the ring before she could get the pin. Liv made it back in the ring in time to interrupt Ivy’s pin attempt and as they fought outside the ring, Ivy threw her headfirst into the steel steps. When Ivy got back into the ring, Vaquer hit her with the SVB to pick up the win and clinch the final spot for the women’s Money in the Bank.
Analysis:
Out of all the qualifying matches involving the women, this was the best one. With Vaquer literally just being called up to the main roster, it was the right move to have her win here. From what we’ve seen of her ever since she debuted in NXT last year, it’s clear that she’s on the fast track to being one of the faces of the women’s division. While Liv qualifying would’ve also made sense considering her star power and current storyline with Roxanne Perez, her failing to qualify doesn’t hurt her. Even with her not being in the match, there is a chance that she still finds a way to get involved.
With the momentum Vaquer has right now, she has to be one of the heavy favorites to win the briefcase. Other than her, the two who have the best chances of winning on Saturday are Perez and Naomi. Unlike other ones from the past, this year’s Money in the Bank involving the women has the appeal of half of the participants being veterans and the other half being new to the main roster. Of all the confrontations that we could see in it, the one that looks the most interesting in which we were given a brief tease of backstage is one between Vaquer and Rhea Ripley. Regardless of who wins the briefcase, what we saw here and what we’ll potentially see this weekend are prime examples of how WWE’s women’s division is now the strongest it has been in a long time.
Grade: B+
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Lyra Valkyria vs. Becky Lynch
Latest Developments:
On the May 19 Raw, women’s Intercontinental Champion Lyra Valkyria attacked Becky Lynch during her Money in the Bank qualifying match. Last week, it was announced that the two will face each other for the title once again at Money in the Bank. Later that night, Lyra came out to cut a promo that was quickly interrupted by Becky. Becky made an offer to Lyra to never challenge her for the title again if Lyra defeats her at Money in the Bank. She added more stakes to the match when she proposed that Lyra look her in the eyes and raise her hand if she happens to win, which Lyra agreed to.
This week, Lyra came out to cut a promo that was once again interrupted by Becky. Lyra told Becky that by trying to hold her down, all she did was unlock the part of her that’s capable of destroying her. Lyra vowed to beat the crap out of Becky at Money in the Bank and ensure that she never gets to poison what it means to be women’s Intercontinental Champion. Becky responded by saying the only thing poisoned was Lyra’s perspective and she claimed that she never wanted to hurt Lyra, but that she knows what’s going to hurt her the most is when she’s going to have to raise her hand. Becky left the ring and after she refused to fight Lyra as she claimed she doesn’t fight in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Lyra attacked her as she walked to the back and the two of them brawled before being separated by officials.
Analysis:
This segment between Lyra and Becky served as a fitting final confrontation before their match this weekend. As mentioned in past reviews, this feud has really shown how great Lyra is. No matter how talented someone is, a hot feud/storyline is what really gets the audience invested in them. As Becky has said in her promos over the last few weeks, she’s been the best thing to ever happen to Lyra’s career. From what we’ve seen of this feud so far and Lyra’s work that’s come out of it, no one can really argue that.
With this feud still being so hot and the most consistent part of the show, it would feel wrong for it to end this weekend. Especially with the stipulations in place for the match on Saturday, it seems designed for Becky to win. Although Lyra’s done a good job with the title, having it on Becky for a while with her new heel character would do it a lot of good. While the fans have gotten more behind Lyra recently, chasing Becky to get the title back over the summer will only get them even more invested in her. Considering that Bayley should be back soon to get revenge on Becky, a feud between them over the title with the roles reversed from their last feud with possibly Lyra added in to make it a three way would also make for good TV.
Grade: B
Jey Uso & Sami Zayn vs. Bron Breakker & Bronson Reed
Latest Developments:
At Saturday Night’s Main Event, Bronson Reed returned after six months away to help Seth Rollins & Bron Breakker defeat C.M. Punk and Sami Zayn. After the match, Reed was revealed by Rollins as the newest member of his stable along with Breakker & Paul Heyman. Last week, Rollins competed in a Money in the Bank qualifying match against Sami Zayn and Finn Balor. As Sami had the match one after hitting Rollins with the Helluva Kick, Breakker pulled him out of the ring as he and Reed attacked him. World Heavyweight Champion Jey Uso came to Sami’s rescue and fought them off with super kicks until he was eventually taken down with a Spear by Breakker.
This week, Jey teamed up with Sami to take on Breakker & Reed. Breakker & Reed caught Sami when he leaped over the top rope onto them, but Jey knocked them down with a Suicide Dive through the second rope. As they were all down, Rollins Curb Stomped Jey to end the match on a disqualification. Breakker held Sami down on the announce table for Reed to hit him with a Tsunami from the top rope until C.M. Punk hit Breakker in the back with a chair to interrupt it. Punk threw the chair in Reed’s face and entered the ring to confront Rollins before Rollins left the ring. As Breakker was heated over what happened, Rollins calmed him down by telling him that they knew where Punk was going to be later and that they had him right where they wanted him.
Analysis:
Once again, we were given a good match with a disappointing finish. For whatever reason, this seems to be a common theme surrounding the matches with this new Rollins stable. For all the matches they’ve had since this storyline started, only two of them have had a clear-cut winner. Clearly, this match was mainly used to set up what happened at the end of the show. That could’ve still been accomplished here while also giving us an actual finish to the match.
As great as this stable is with Rollins, Breakker, Reed, & Heyman, the matches and segments they’re in seem a little repetitive. From how their matches end to their post-match beat downs, it feels like it’s the same thing every week. Other than actually winning their matches, one thing that could help is if they brutally attack someone outside of the key people they’re feuding with to the point where they’re put out of action for a while. They’re still a strong stable and everything they do on the show is good for the most part, but it feels like something’s missing. With this storyline being relatively new, they still have some time to work out those issues.
Grade: B-
Raquel Rodriguez vs. Kairi Sane
Latest Developments:
While Liv Morgan was still away two weeks ago, Finn Balor introduced Roxanne Perez as the newest member of Judgment Day. Last week, Liv returned and immediately shut down Perez as she tried to introduce herself. Later that night, Liv went one on one with Kairi Sane in a match where Perez pushed Kairi off the top rope while Raquel Rodriguez had the referee distracted. Liv was then distracted by Raquel arguing with Perez for getting involved, which led to her losing the match to Kairi following a blocked Oblivion attempt turned into a School Boy. After the match backstage, Liv blamed Raquel for the loss as she told her that she was the veteran and should’ve known better.
After turning down Finn’s suggestion for Perez to be Raquel’s corner, Liv accompanied Raquel to the ring as she went one on one with Kairi this week. After mounting a comeback, Kairi hit Raquel with a running forearm against the bottom turnbuckle. Kairi went for the Insane Elbow, but Liv got on the apron to distract her. Women’s World Champion Iyo Sky came out and attacked Liv outside the ring and as Raquel grabbed Iyo’s hair through the second rope, Kairi kicked Raquel’s head into the post. Kairi followed this with the Insane Elbow from the top rope on Raquel to pick up the win.
Analysis:
For the second week in a row, Kairi defeated one of the women’s Tag Team Champions. This seems to be leading to Kairi challenging Liv & Raquel for the titles with either Iyo or a returning Asuka as her tag team partner. With the lack of actual women’s teams to challenge for the titles, this scenario would give Liv & Raquel a team to feud with. In addition to that, it does feel like a feud between Iyo and Liv over the Women’s World Championship is something we could see happening soon. Although Liv likely won’t win the title from Iyo, the two of them could put on some incredible matches if the one we saw from them on Raw back in February is any indication.
What also seems to be coming out of this match is a rift between Liv & Raquel. After Liv blamed Raquel for her loss last week, her choice to be in her corner this week instead of letting Perez be in her corner led to Raquel losing the match. These recent miscommunications could ultimately lead to them losing the titles and possibly even splitting up completely. It’s obvious that Finn brought Perez into Judgment Day to cause issues for Liv and so far, that plan is working. There are so many different directions that this storyline can go in to the point where it has the potential to help carry the show throughout the whole summer.
Grade: C
C.M. Punk vs. El Grande Americano vs. A.J. Styles
Latest Developments:
Over the past three weeks, several qualifying matches have taken place for the men’s Money in the Bank Ladder match. From Smackdown, Solo Sikoa, LA Knight, and Andrade won their respective qualifying matches. Last week, Penta defeated Chad Gable and Dragon Lee in a thrilling match to earn his spot in Money in the Bank. Later that night, Seth Rollins defeated Sami Zayn and Finn Balor to qualify before being hit with a GTS from C.M. Punk after the match. It was announced on Friday that Punk would face El Grande Americano and A.J. to decide who will occupy the final spot for Money in the Bank.
Punk had the match won with a GTS on Americano until Bron Breakker pulled him out of the ring and he and Reed attacked Punk. Jey Uso & Sami Zayn came down to the ring to fight them off, but Sami accidentally bumped Reed into Styles as they brawled, which led to Styles jumping from the top rope onto everyone on the outside. As Styles went for a Phenomenal Forearm, Americano hit him with a head-butt (presumably with a piece of metal in his mask) to win the match and the final spot for Money in the Bank. After the match, Rollins came out and Curb Stomped Punk, Sami, and Jey after he was Speared by Breakker. Breakker then held down Jey as Reed hit him with two consecutive Tsunami’s and the three of them stood tall as the show ended.
Analysis:
Fun main event with a surprising outcome as it seemed like all roads were leading to a Punk win here. Considering his heated feud with Rollins and how he attacked him last week after he won his qualifying match, Punk also qualifying so that their feud could play out further at Money in the Bank felt like a sure thing. While Americano wasn’t a bad pick to win, not having Punk in a match on one of their biggest PLE’s of the year does feel strange. With Americano feuding with Penta, it now looks like that feud is going to play out in the match instead. While this match was good, the main story coming out of it was the beating Jey Uso received after.
After what Gunther told Jey last week about how helping out his friends so much would cost him in the end, the Tsunami’s he suffered from Bronson Reed after getting involved here played into that story perfectly. This beating Jey took really sold the fact that he won’t be 100 percent going into his tag match at Money in the Bank and his title defense against Gunther next week. While it was disappointing for the tag match earlier in the show to end on a DQ, the ending we got here to tell the story of how Jey always helping out his friends gets him in trouble all worked out. In addition to that, this beat down planted the seed for an eventual match between Jey and Rollins to happen potentially at Summerslam. While Jey has done a good job as champion so far, the run that Rollins and his new stable are on right now makes Rollins being the one to dethrone him feel inevitable.
Grade: B+
War Raiders vs. Finn Balor & J.D. McDonagh
The War Raiders looked to rebound from failing to win the World Tag Team Titles last week against Judgment Day’s Finn Balor & J.D. McDonagh this week with the champions the New Day at ringside doing commentary. Ivar acted as if he was going to throw J.D. into Kofi & Xavier at the announce table and the referee then kicked them out of ringside as they tried to retaliate. Finn missed a Coup De Grace attempt at Ivar, who then sat down on him and hit J.D. with a spin kick. As Ivar attempted a top rope Moonsault, Roxanne Perez appeared to distract Ivar and the referee. J.D. slammed Ivar’s head into the post, which led to Finn hitting Ivar with the Coup De Grace for the win.
Analysis:
Decent match between both teams, but the way it ended was the real story coming out of it. With Perez now a part of Judgment Day, it made sense for her to be the one to help them win. Considering that Finn brought her in to cause issues for Liv and Dominik, it feels like this is eventually going to lead to a mixed tag team match. Adding Perez to the group has really created a fun dynamic that we got to see play out further in this match’s outcome. As mentioned earlier, the addition of Perez in the group is slowly making this one of the better storylines on the show and it’s only just beginning.
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