WWE RAW HITS & MISSES (5/20): Balor vs. McDonagh, Ethan Page’s sitdown with Cole, Lesnar return attack on Oba Femi, Seth-Vision storyline

Opening Segment – MISS: If the goal of this segment was to turn Roman Reigns and The Usos heel while turning Jacob Fatu back babyface, then maybe this would be a Hit. Given some of the things that LA Knight said later in the show to the Usos, maybe that was what WWE was going for, but I don’t think so. Jimmy Uso was the only really likable person in this opening segment as he was trying to reason with Fatu, but his hot-headed brother Jey started the fight. Am I supposed to boo Fatu for nearly overcoming a 3-on-1 beating? Am I supposed to cheer for the Bloodline? Roman doesn’t come across as likable at all. The fans were cheering for everyone and popping for spots, but that’s not a great reaction either. I don’t really care about the overall tribal situation any more, so I don’t care about the Tribal Combat stipulation. I’m sure it will be a good match, but WWE isn’t telling a good story.

Balor vs. McDonagh – HIT: I hope this is the end of the Finn Balor vs. Judgment Day feud. Balor was able to get revenge on his former protege for siding with Dominic Mysterio over him a few months ago. They had a good street fight here, with Balor overcoming interference from Mysterio to get the win. I enjoyed it a lot, but now Balor needs to move onto something new, and the male members of Judgment Day need a new storyline as well.

Seth Rollins/Vision Story – HIT: I appreciate that WWE isn’t having the babyfaces automatically forgive and trust Seth Rollins, just because they have a common enemy in The Vision. Rollins gave a good backstage interview early in the show where he challenged any member of The Vision to a match in the main event of Raw. The dynamic between Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins has been interesting, as Ford doesn’t want anything to do with Rollins, but Dawkins sees Rollins as a potential ally. That played out in their backstage scene, and then again at the end of the show when Dawkins made the save without Ford after the main event, only to have Ford have to save him. I don’t know where that’s going, but we’ll find out more in their Tag Team Title match against Logan Paul & Austin Theory at Saturday Night’s Main Event. I also like LA Knight’s role in this, as his encounter with Rollins was very strong. He wasn’t there at the end. There are a lot of moving pieces and I’m curious to see how it all plays out.

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Americanos Tornado Trios Match – HIT: While I still don’t care at all about this story, and continue to shake my head at the stupidity of it, at least it should be coming to an end soon in AAA. And, I have to admit that I thoroughly enjoyed this tornado style six man tag match which isn’t really surprising considering the talents of all six of these wrestlers. As I have said many times, part of my problem with this fake luchadores crap, is that the six are so talented, that I wish we were seeing them have these types of matches in other circumstances.

Ethan Page Interview – HIT: This sit down interview conducted by Mike Cole was my favorite part of Raw this week. Ethan Page is doing a great job as a cocky heel. I loved how he gave Cole the questions that he wanted him to ask. He is getting over well in the short time he’s been on Raw so far. His Intercontinental Championship match against Penta at SNME should be very good.

Femi – Lesnar – HIT: I’m giving this a Hit as it was a genuine surprise and worked well to set up the rematch between Oba Femi and Brock Lesnar at Clash in Italy. I knew that Lesnar wasn’t really retired, but I didn’t expect to see him back so soon. With the babyface reaction and performance in his “retirement” after losing to Femi at WrestleMania, and the rumors around his final match being against the Career Killer Gunther, I wasn’t expecting him to return as a heel. So, that played into the surprise factor which is a big part of this Hit. Also, this is presumably the end of the failed Femi Open Challenge which would be welcome However, I would have been perfectly fine not seeing Lesnar on WWE TV anymore. Given his problematic past, I was ok with him walking away even though I didn’t buy it.

Main Event – HIT: Austin Theory doesn’t scream “Raw Main Event” to me, or to anyone. But, he and Rollins had a good main event match with Logan Paul getting involved. They told a simple but good story of Theory focusing on Rollins’ foot to take away the stomp. Theory even hit a stomp of his own for a strong near fall. Rollins ultimately overcame the odds and the injury to get the win with a Pedigree instead which worked well. The attack afterwards with Bron Breakker and then the Street Profits worked too as discussed above.

(Jon Mezzera is PWTorch.com’s WWE Raw Hits & Misses Specialist, providing his point of view for Raw each week. Email him at jmezz_torch@yahoo.com. Follow him on BlueSky @jonmezzera.bsky.social)