The WWE Raw Reaction for 5/11/20 by Kelly Dishnow

Welcome to the Raw Reaction, where I offer my take on this week’s show. As always, you can check out John’s full in-depth review here.

We open up with a Money in the Bank recap before the opening Raw video.

Becky Lynch is out to open the show with the Money in the Bank briefcase. Becky said she asked the decision-makers to raise the stakes for the Money in the Bank match and they did. Becky gives an emotional speech about how she started in the Performance Center in 2013 and through her career the fans were there for her. She wanted to be the one to tell the fans that she has to go away for a while. Out comes Miss Money in the Bank, Asuka. Becky unlocks the briefcase and opens it to reveal the Raw Woman’s Title inside. Asuka did not win a title match opportunity but won the actual title instead. Asuka celebrated with the title once it clicked she was the champion. Becky closed with Asuka can be the warrior and she (Becky) can be a mother. Asuka celebrated the pregnancy news with a hug and Becky chant. Asuka celebrated into the break while Becky took it all in. After the break, a recap of what just happened and Charly celebrating the news with the face Raw roster.

That was a definite shocker to open the show with. It presented the Money in the Bank match in a different way and the right person has the title. It is a little disappointing that we couldn’t get another Becky/Asuka title match cash in but I’m really happy for Becky. She is literally going out at the top of her game and the Becky Lynch saga comes full circle. It’s not quite the ending we wanted (thanks Seth), but still a fitting end to this chapter of Becky’s career.

Our opening contest is a No Disqualification Match between Bobby Lashley and Humberto Carrillo. The “Make Bobby Lashley Great Again” tour continued with a competitive match before Lashley traveled back in time to 2005 and busted out the Masterlock for the win. I guess we are building Lashley up for a WWE Title match with Drew down the road. But, what about Brock?

Charly Caruso got a few words from Asuka before Kairi Sane showed up to celebrate.

We see Zelina Vega and Andrade arguing with Angel Garza and Austin Theory over why they got called up from NXT and placed in a stable of losers. Garza has a match next with Akira Tozawa that he wins easily while still showing off to the rest of the loser group. Drew McIntyre comes down to settle the bickering in the ring with Claymores to Theory and Garza, who does a nice over the top rope to the floor bump. This left Andrade in the ring with Drew for another champion vs champion match.

We get the champion vs champion rematch from a few weeks ago that Drew had won. We get another great match from the two and Drew puts Andrade down again with the Claymore Kick. If Andrade and his crew are going to be the jobbers to the stars, can we at least get the US title off of him first?

Post-match, Drew praised Rollins for their match last night at Money in the Bank. Drew then goes on to announce that the Wild Card Rule is back (sigh) and the first Smackdown superstar to come over to Raw is King Corbin (yawn). Drew asks what should he do in their match next week and I’m hoping a Claymore Kick full of charisma in under three minutes.

The “Make Bobby Lashley Great Again” tour continues with MVP courting Lashley. Lana takes offense and realized that Rusev’s been released and she can’t go back to him.

A Moment of Bliss is up next and the Iiconics return. After some insults, we get a non-title tag match (Holla Holla) between Alexa Bliss/Nikki Cross and Billie Kay/Peyton Royce. The match was ok with the returning Iiconics picking up the win after a cheap shot. We can scratch the Kabuki Warriors from the Women’s tag division and add the Iiconics back in. Why can’t they just move this title to NXT where there is a sufficient roster to support the titles?

Rey Mysterio is interviewed by Charly Caruso on how he and Aleister Black survived being thrown off the roof by King Corbin. Rey left the part out about the conveniently placed crash pad that had been accidentally shown on camera. But at least they tried to explain something. Rollins showed up and Rey congratulated him on becoming a father. Rollins said nothing and Rey called him a dick. That’s not very PG Rey.

R-Truth did a spot about some new alter ego called Pretty Ricky before he teamed with Ricochet and Cedric Alexander to take on MVP and his new team of Brendan Vink and Shane Thorn. As per the rules of 50/50 booking, the face team picked up the win after R-Truth tried the Pretty Ricky gimmick in the ring, pinning MVP. Lashley came down afterwards and killed Truth so he and MVP could talk some business.

Our next match is Rey Mysterio and Aleister Black taking on Seth Rollins and Murphy. Rollins does the whole dad at 3 am thing while Murphy works the entire match by himself. We get a good match that ended in a weak DQ. Rollins “snaps” and attacks Rey’s eye. Backstage, Rollins and Murphy give a half-hearted apology that ends in an Aleister Black/Murphy fight. I guess we can pencil in a match between the two next week.

Up next is the Street Profits and Viking Raiders basketball game. The Street Profits win because the Viking Raiders let them. After the game, the Viking Raiders pull of NBA style moves to the shock of the Street Profits. Just a time filler segment.

Our final match of the night is Shayna Baszler taking on Natalya after a backstage confrontation. Shayna wins quickly and Nattie pulls a Christian in the ring with a temper tantrum of sorts.

Our main event is a face to face between Edge and Randy Orton hosted by Charly Caruso. This is probably the most we’ve ever seen of her on one show. Anyway, the whole point was for Randy to challenge Edge to a straight up wrestling match at Backlash. Edge did not provide a response as we went off the air.

Let’s look at tonight’s highs and lows:

The Highs

Can we please get an Oscar nomination for Askua? Her whole interaction at the beginning with Becky was simply amazing. Please let her have a long title reign.

Becky Lynch’s emotional opening speech shows just how much passion she has for what she does in that ring.

The Lows

The whole basketball game bit was just time filler. I suspect we can see more of this until the tag title match at Backlash.

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Stay safe and stay home.

That’s all I’ve got, until next time.