Reviews

WWE Network Reviews: WWE Raw Talk for 06-14-21

By John Canton • Published 15th June 2021

Hey yo. It’s time for another edition WWE Raw Talk. Raw Talk airs on Peacock/WWE Network on Monday night about five minutes after Raw finished and is available on demand. I want to thank Aneil Komal for reviewing the show for the last few months. He is not writing at the site anymore, which is his choice. Life gets too busy sometimes and he just doesn’t have time for it. That’s cool. It happens. I’ll take over the weekly reviews of Raw Talk and Talking Smack.

Raw Talk is hosted by the usual team of Kevin Patrick and R-Truth. They talked about the Hell in a Cell card with Truth saying Patrick should tell him where the 24/7 Title is. Patrick said Akira Tozawa still has it. They spoke about the end of Raw when Drew McIntyre hit the Claymore Kick on Bobby Lashley to win the six-man tag team match main event. Patrick said he thinks Bobby Lashley will win at Hell in a Cell. Truth said he’ll tell Drew when he gets there later on the show. They spoke about Riddle/Orton beating New Day with the usual silliness from Truth. There was also a wild discussion about Charlotte Flair and Rhea Ripley getting into a brawl on Raw. Charlotte is on the show later.

There were commercials for SummerSlam on August 21 and Roman Reigns vs. Rey Mysterio in a Hell in a Cell match on Sunday.

The first guest was Charlotte Flair, who faces Rhea Ripley for the Raw Women’s Title at Hell in a Cell on Sunday. Charlotte said that she is teaching Ripley what it means to be a champion in Charlotte’s division. Charlotte: “I am women’s wrestling.” Charlotte said she will be the 14-time Women’s Champion on Sunday, which means she’s almost a 16-time Women’s Champion (tying Ric Flair’s 16 World Titles). Charlotte said that Ripley is not going to come here and have the title. Charlotte said that Ripley has to earn it to keep it. Patrick warned her that she can’t get disqualified and win the title, so Charlotte said: “Do you need the title to be Charlotte Flair?” Charlotte dropped the microphone. Truth and Patrick talked about it with Truth saying that Rhea Ripley has to prove it by beating Charlotte Flair. Patrick wondered if Ripley lived in Charlotte’s head and Truth said that was a good point.

TJR Thoughts: A strong interview by Charlotte talking about how confident she is against Rhea Ripley while making the point that Ripley has to beat her and Charlotte is confident that Rhea can’t do it. I thought their brawling segment on Raw was effective in terms of building up anticipation for the Ripley/Flair match.

There were commercials for COVID-19 vaccines and for Smackdown this Friday.

The next guest was the “lovely” Alexa Blisswith her black lipstick, pigtails and more. Bliss said that she used to like Reginald and so did Lilly, but not anymore. Bliss said that Lilly was in timeout because she did something wrong. Bliss said you can’t really hurt Lilly. Bliss said that Lilly loved Reginald because he was from Cirque de Soleil, but Lilly didn’t liek Shayna. Bliss said she wanted Truth to come on Alexa’s Playground sometime because Lilly likes Truth. Truth said people are saying Bliss is a whackjob, then Bliss laughed about it and said she’s not a whackjob. Bliss said if you thought what happened to Shayna last week was bad, wait until Hell in a Cell. Bliss left. Truth: “Do not bring her back.” Truth said “Creepy Lexy” and then Patrick wondered why Truth called that to her face. The lights were flickering on the set with Truth saying they should not bring her back. The hosts argued about it a bit and went to a break.

TJR Thoughts: Bliss does a nice job as this unique character. I just don’t have much interest in the storyline she’s involved in. From an acting standpoint, Bliss is doing well. Is it really that interesting on a wrestling show? No. Not to me. I’m sure some people might like it, though. More power to them. Truth was funny after Bliss left and he said they shouldn’t bring her back.

There were commercials for WWE going on the road again in July and Hell in a Cell on Sunday. There was also a commercial for NXT tonight.

The final guest was the “Scottish Warrior” Drew McIntyre, who was shirtless in his wrestling gear. Drew is on this show every other week it seems. Drew said he’s been telling WWE Champion Bobby Lashley that when Drew connects with the Claymore Kick, it’s going to be 1, 2, 3 and Drew showed him how it feels. Drew said he knows how prepared you have to be inside of a Hell in a Cell structure. Drew spoke about a Mike Tyson documentary while Mike had a promoter that took all his money, then Tyson was distracted by the girls outside the ring and Tyson got his ass knocked out by Buster Douglas. Drew said on Sunday, Lashley is going to get his ass knocked out by Drew McIntyre. Truth mentioned that Patrick was picking Bobby Lashley at Hell in a Cell. Drew said that if he loses then he gets no more title matches as long as Lashley is the champion. Drew said realistically if he can’t beat Lashley, who’s going to beat him? Drew mentioned that he’s worried nobody else will be able to take Lashley down. Drew said that he tried to prepare for Hell in a Cell last year, but you can’t really prepare for it. Drew said he ended up on top of the cell and had the worst fall of his career when he went through the table. Drew said he lost that match, but he learned from that match. Drew said he’ll do whatever it takes to take back the WWE Title. Patrick asked how the WWE Title match will end. Drew said that it will end with a Claymore Kick. There were post show comments from Patrick and Truth ending the show for this week.

TJR Thoughts: A confident Drew McIntyre as usual. Drew spoke about how he got the win over Lashley and because of his experience in Hell in a Cell, he thinks he’s got the advantage going into Sunday’s match. I liked it for the most part.

This episode had a runtime of 25:21 on WWE Network.

That’s all from me. Thanks for reading.

John Canton

Email: mrjohncanton@gmail.com

Twitter: @johnreport