{"id":97971,"date":"2020-05-25T13:35:54","date_gmt":"2020-05-25T18:35:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/?p=97971"},"modified":"2020-06-01T13:30:59","modified_gmt":"2020-06-01T18:30:59","slug":"wwe-raw-primer-5-25-memorial-day-edition-crews-ing-towards-the-u-s-title-welcome-to-the-lounge-champ-triple-threat-to-determine-asukas-challenger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2020\/05\/25\/wwe-raw-primer-5-25-memorial-day-edition-crews-ing-towards-the-u-s-title-welcome-to-the-lounge-champ-triple-threat-to-determine-asukas-challenger\/","title":{"rendered":"WWE RAW PRIMER 5\/25: Memorial Day Edition, \u201cCrews\u201d-ing Towards the U.S. Title, Welcome to the Lounge Champ, Triple Threat to Determine Asuka\u2019s Challenger"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-2041360684\" class=\"pwtor-before-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><hr \/><b>SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)... <\/b>\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?show_id=3076978&theme=light&playlist=false&playlist-continuous=false&autoplay=false&live-autoplay=false&chapters-image=true&episode_image_position=right&hide-logo=false&hide-likes=false&hide-comments=false&hide-sharing=false&hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"140px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\r\n<hr \/><\/div><h3><strong>WWE MONDAY NIGHT RAW PRIMER<br \/>\n<\/strong><strong>ORLANDO, FLA. AT THE PERFORMANCE CENTER<br \/>\n<\/strong><strong>MAY 25, 2020<br \/>\n<\/strong><strong>AIRS ON USA NETWORK, 8:00 p.m. EDT<br \/>\n<\/strong><strong>BY FRANK PETEANI (@FrankPeteani), PWTORCH SPECIALIST <\/strong><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><em>Announcers: Tom Phillips, Byron Saxton, Samoa Joe <\/em><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Top 10 Moments from Last Week\u2019s Show:<\/strong><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Top 10 Raw moments: WWE Top 10, May 18, 2020\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ClkGb5Eblos?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>Overview and Items Advertised by WWE<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>We continue towards Backlash and know about four matches now.\u00a0 Edge takes on Randy Orton after he accepted his challenge last week.\u00a0 Drew McIntyre defends the WWE Championship against Bobby Lashley.\u00a0 Lashley, along with MVP, watched Drew defeat Smackdown\u2019s King Corbin in a non-title match in the main event last week.\u00a0 Asuka will defend the Raw Women\u2019s Championship against an opponent who will be determined tonight.\u00a0 From Smackdown, Braun Strowman defends the Universal Championship against Miz and John Morrison in a handicap match.\u00a0 Here\u2019s what\u2019s on tap for tonight thus far:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>United States Champion Andrade defends against Apollo Crews<\/li>\n<li>Drew McIntyre joins MVP on \u201cThe VIP Lounge\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Charlotte Flair, Nia Jax, and Natalya battle for the right to challenge Asuka at WWE Backlash<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>U.S. Championship: Andrade (champ) vs. Apollo Crews<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Last week, both Kevin Owens and Apollo Crews returned to Raw.\u00a0 Owens brought back the Kevin Owens show, and had to work with a set destroyed by Natalya who had just lost a submission match to Shayna Baszler.\u00a0 Owens\u2019 guests were Zelina Vega, U.S. Champion Andrade, Angel Garza, and Austin Theory.\u00a0 Owens later brought in his \u201cother guest,\u201d which happened to be Apollo Crews.\u00a0 We hadn\u2019t seen Apollo since he was injured in a U.S. Championship match against Andrade several weeks ago.\u00a0 That forced Apollo to miss Money in the Bank.\u00a0 Owens &amp; Apollo later defeated Garza &amp; Andrade in a short match.\u00a0 Following that, Andrade and Garza beat down Theory, extricating him their group.\u00a0 He would later align with Seth Rollins during a match between Aleister Black and Murphy.\u00a0 Rollins found Theory sitting ringside distraught after the beatdown, just like Murphy had done months ago when he joined Rollins.<\/p>\n<p>Later, Charly Caruso interviewed Apollo who said he didn\u2019t know what hurt more between missing Money in the Bank or the injury itself.\u00a0 He then challenged Andrade to a U.S. Championship match, and that takes place tonight.\u00a0 Apparently, this is Apollo\u2019s last shot according to Andrade:<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/twitter.com\/AndradeCienWWE\/status\/1262889875709276160?s=20<\/p>\n<p>WWE put up a video of Apollo talking about his WWE journey:<\/p><div id=\"pwtor-1422571228\" class=\"pwtor-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Apollo Crews is ready to silence the doubters\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/e9wQmQ4C7DY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><em>Frank\u2019s Analysis:\u00a0 I\u2019m for journeys to winning championships, and I loved the tone of the video, although we\u2019ve seen this sort of thing before.\u00a0 Hopefully, they don\u2019t hold off too long and give him a run either starting tonight or soon (Backlash).\u00a0 Apollo is a different type of talent than we\u2019re used to in WWE.\u00a0 Not everyone has to have a glowing personality or gimmick.<\/em><\/p>\n<h3><strong>MVP Lounge: Guest WWE Champion Drew McIntyre<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>WWE Champion Drew McIntyre defeated King Corbin in a non-title match with Bobby Lashley and his apparent manager MVP watching.\u00a0 At Backlash, Drew defends the title against Lashley.\u00a0 They have history working together along with King Corbin going back to late 2018 and scattered throughout 2019.\u00a0 They mostly feuded with the Shield and Braun Strowman.<\/p>\n<p>MVP and Drew\u2019s history goes back a little further, as they were both members of WWE upon Drew\u2019s arrival in 2007.\u00a0 MVP left the company three years later but returned at the Royal Rumble earlier this year.\u00a0 He offered Drew his services on a previous episode of the MVP Lounge prior to his challenging Brock Lesnar for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania but was rejected.\u00a0 Now, MVP has offered his expertise to Lashley.\u00a0 MVP initially said he and Lashley wouldn\u2019t do business because of his preoccupation with his wife Lana and R-Truth.\u00a0 Seeing how Lashley manhandled R-Truth, MVP had a change of heart.\u00a0 MVP welcomes his client\u2019s target, Drew, into the MVP Lounge once again tonight.\u00a0 Here\u2019s Drew after beating King Corbin last week:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Drew McIntyre revels in win over King Corbin: Raw Exclusive, May 18, 2020\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/yJkhMgyDAzI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3><em>Frank\u2019s Analysis:\u00a0 This is straight-forward and a step towards the match at Backlash.\u00a0 Drew and MVP should have some good dialogue.\u00a0 I\u2019m much happier with the way Lashley has been presented these days as opposed to what they\u2019ve done since he returned a little over two years ago.<\/em><\/h3>\n<h3><strong>Triple Threat Match: Winner Faces Asuka for the Raw Women\u2019s Championship at Backlash<\/strong><\/h3>\n<h3><strong>NXT Women\u2019s Champion Charlotte Flair vs. Nia Jax vs. Natalya <\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Last week, Asuka celebrated becoming Raw Women\u2019s Champion along with her Kabuki Warrior partner Kairi Sane.\u00a0 Nia Jax interrupted the proceedings and was none too pleased saying she was handed the title.\u00a0 Asuka knocked Nia out of the ring.\u00a0 Later, Nia went after Kairi followed by Asuka going after Nia.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, NXT Women\u2019s Champion defeated Ruby Riott in a non-title match.\u00a0 As I mentioned earlier, Shayna Baszler defeated Natalya in a submission match.\u00a0 Natalya threw a fit after the match.\u00a0 Tonight, Natalya, Charlotte, and Nia go at it in a triple threat match to determine whom will face Asuka at Backlash for the Raw Women\u2019s Championship.<\/p>\n<p>To paint some history, Nia and Asuka had matches back in early 2018 including one at Elimination Chamber.\u00a0 Natalya and Asuka had matches late last year and earlier in the year when Asuka and Kairi were WWE Women\u2019s Tag Team Champions.\u00a0 In fact, in a bit of irony, Charlotte and Natalya teamed to face Asuka and Kairi in a non-title match back in early November.\u00a0 Charlotte and Asuka have a long history.\u00a0 Asuka won the first women\u2019s Royal Rumble in 2018 and challenged Charlotte for the Smackdown Women\u2019s Championship at WrestleMania.\u00a0 She came up short, and her undefeated streak was ended.\u00a0 Charlotte took the same title from Asuka in the run-up to WrestleMania last year.\u00a0 Here\u2019s Charlotte after beating Ruby last week:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Charlotte Flair ready to conquer all kingdoms: Raw Exclusive, May 18, 2020\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/4i-xl9zzWBo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><em>Frank\u2019s Analysis:\u00a0 Why does Natalya get a chance to wrestle for the title if she\u2019s lost to Shayna two weeks in a row?\u00a0 I get she\u2019s probably there to eat the pin, but she\u2019s still being rewarded after losing several matches.\u00a0 I could live with Charlotte being involved, although why not give Liv Morgan a shot?\u00a0 She\u2019s been winning lately and hung in there against Charlotte a few weeks ago.\u00a0 In fact, she even beat Natalya at WrestleMania.\u00a0 Nia has been built up strong recently, so she belongs for sure.\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Other Match Results and News Items from Last Week <\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Murphy defeated Humberto Carrillo.<\/li>\n<li>Liv Morgan said she was just like mother, who didn\u2019t have much of a savings account or resume, but rather determination.\u00a0 She will be Raw Women\u2019s Champion one day.<\/li>\n<li>Alexa Bliss &amp; Nikki Cross defeated the IIconics (Peyton Royce &amp; Billie Kay) via DQ to retain the Women\u2019s Tag Team Championship.<\/li>\n<li>Raw Tag Team Champions the Street Profits (Montez Ford &amp; Angelo Dawkins) and the Viking Raiders (Erik &amp; Ivar) continued their comedic ways and faced off in an axe throwing contest.\u00a0 Personally, I would like to take this opportunity to thank creator of the DVR and fast forward button.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>Final Thoughts<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>I don\u2019t think Charlotte Flair on multiple shows is what the doctor ordered.\u00a0 You can call it what you want, I call it overexposure.\u00a0 I\u2019m looking forward to the program between Drew McIntyre and Bobby Lashley, especially with MVP\u2019s involvement.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t necessarily like how they got there, but Austin Theory aligned with Seth Rollins is a good direction.\u00a0 I have no use for what\u2019s going on between the Street Profits and the Viking Raiders.\u00a0 I don\u2019t even know what\u2019s going on, so there\u2019s nothing for which to have use!\u00a0 Watch what they do with Shayna Baszler.\u00a0 Her lack of involvement in the triple threat match tonight is not an issue, but it\u2019s a curiosity.\u00a0 We continue towards Backlash, and week two of the brand to brand invitational era.<\/p><div id=\"pwtor-416528370\" class=\"pwtor-content-1 pwtor-entity-placement\"><!-- Tag ID: pwtorchcom_test_300x600 -->\r\n<div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __300x600\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<hr \/>\n<p><em>Follow Frank on Twitter @FrankPeteani.\u00a0 Questions and discussion are welcome!\u00a0 Thank you for reading.<\/em><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>CATCH UP&#8230;<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2020\/05\/18\/heydorns-wwe-raw-report-5-18-alt-perspective-coverage-of-the-live-show-in-a-crowd-free-environment-including-mcintyre-vs-corbin-iiconics-vs-bliss-and-cross-for-the-womens-tag-team-titles-an-a\/\">HEYDORN\u2019S WWE RAW REPORT 5\/18: Alt Perspective coverage of the live show in a crowd free environment including McIntyre vs. Corbin, IIconics vs. Bliss and Cross for the women\u2019s tag team titles, an axe throwing contest, and more<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"pwtor-end-article-groups pwtor-entity-placement\" id=\"pwtor-1036083578\"><div id=\"pwtor-3999342626\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\nTHANK YOU FOR VISITING<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>WWE MONDAY NIGHT RAW PRIMER ORLANDO, FLA. AT THE PERFORMANCE CENTER MAY 25, 2020 AIRS ON USA NETWORK, 8:00 p.m. EDT BY FRANK PETEANI (@FrankPeteani), PWTORCH SPECIALIST \u00a0 Announcers: Tom Phillips, Byron Saxton, Samoa Joe <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2020\/05\/25\/wwe-raw-primer-5-25-memorial-day-edition-crews-ing-towards-the-u-s-title-welcome-to-the-lounge-champ-triple-threat-to-determine-asukas-challenger\/\" title=\"WWE RAW PRIMER 5\/25: Memorial Day Edition, \u201cCrews\u201d-ing Towards the U.S. Title, Welcome to the Lounge Champ, Triple Threat to Determine Asuka\u2019s Challenger\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":97977,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,52,4354,27,5893,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-97971","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-prowrestlingnews","category-opnionandanalysis","category-raw-primer","category-specialists","category-tvprimers","category-news_wwe"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2020\/05\/Screen-Shot-2020-05-25-at-1.32.43-PM.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97971","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97971"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97971\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":97978,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97971\/revisions\/97978"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97977"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97971"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}