Reviews

WWE Network Reviews: WWE Raw Talk for 5-31-21 by John Canton

By John Canton • Published 2nd June 2021

Hey yo. It’s time for WWE Raw Talk. This airs on Peacock/WWE Network on Monday night about five minutes after Raw finished.

Raw Talk is hosted by the usual team of Kevin Patrick and R-Truth. There was a talk about Kevin’s Irish accent with some friendly banter. They spoke about Drew McIntyre beating Kofi Kingston on Raw and Kevin liked the handshake after the match. Kofi said you have to have respect when you’re top guys like that. Truth liked the “respek” with a K – I think that’s an Ali G thing. Patrick said he’s an impartial journalist, so he’s not offering a prediction. They spoke about Shayna Baszler vs. Reginald with Reginald getting the win. Later in the show, Baszler beat up Reginald on Alexa’s Playground. Truth: “Come on Reggie, fight back, dog!” They also talked about Nikki Cross beating Charlotte Flair “via time limit expiration” as it said on the screen. It just meant that Cross survived two minutes.

There was a commercial about getting vaccinated. There was also a commercial for Smackdown this Friday.

The first guests were Raw Tag Team Champions AJ Styles and Omos, who was standing. Styles said that they felt fantastic after they won their match. Omos said he felt phenomenal and Styles said Omos is always hungry. Styles called Truth a “daywalker” since Truth looks the same for 20 years and probably likes going for a walk during the day. Truth said Styles looks the same for 20 years, Styles said no and Truth called him Allen, which is AJ’s real name. Omos put a stop to that, so Truth said it’s AJ Styles. Styles asked if Truth liked garlic, Truth said no, but everybody else on the set likes it. Truth said it makes his mouth hurt. Patrick said that they tried to get Omos a chair, but they fit him easier in the shot by having him stand. Styles said that every time Omos steps in the ring, everyone he touches, he destroys and he enjoys it. Omos said he loved it. Truth sucked up saying he loved it too. Omos said that AJ Styles is the greatest to ever do it. Omos said that this is a partnership. Patrick brought up other teams in the division. Styles wondered if New Day was still a team since they are having singles matches, so Omos said New Day doesn’t matter. Styles and Omos dismissed Mace & T-Bar as a threat of a tag team. Styles said that they would like competition from the Viking Raiders and they are ready for them. Patrick mentioned RK-Bro. Omos said he didn’t think that they had a chance because Styles is the legend of all legends and Styles said Omos is a colossus man. Truth mentioned some character from Monsters Inc. and talked about turtles for some reason, so Styles said he had no idea what Truth was saying but maybe he was spending time with Matt Riddle, which is a pot reference. Styles had a final message saying they are the Raw Tag Team Champions for a reason. Styles said that they won’t give in while noting that Rated RK-Bro has no chance. Omos said that nobody has knocked him down. Omos gave Patrick a pound for saying that Orton may have a tough time hitting the RKO on Omos. Styles mentioned “DW” aka daywalker again. They wrapped up the interview after that.

TJR Thoughts: There were some funny moments there between Styles and Truth sharing some jokes throughout the discussion. I like that they went over some of the other tag teams on Raw, which shows that there is a bit of tag team depth now. It’s fun hearing Omos talk more and show his personality a bit.

A video aired about WWE working with Hire Heroes USA. That was followed by a SummerSlam commercial.

The next guest was Nikki Cross, who did some dancing with R-Truth because she likes to have fun. Cross asked Truth to pinch her, so he did. Cross said she beat Rhea Ripley and then Charlotte Flair in back to back weeks. Cross said it felt so great to wipe the smirk off of Charlotte’s face. Patrick wondered if he can beat those women in matches that go longer than two minutes. Cross said last week she beat Ripley and Flair, who are the best and second-best on Raw right now. Cross said she is the “super best” woman on Raw. Cross said it doesn’t matter how long the match goes, she can do it in a 60-minute Ironwoman match and said you can’t keep her down. Cross said one day she will be Raw Women’s Champion. Cross said she is ready for this. Cross said she’s traveled all over the world training to be the best and she wants to be the Raw Women’s Champion. Cross said she’s been a Women’s Tag Team Champion twice, but she wants to be the Raw Women’s Champion. Cross said she’ll watch the match at Hell in a Cell and she has earned the right to face the champion after that match. Nikki said that Charlotte deserved that slap to the face. Nikki said that Charlotte said she couldn’t do it, but what happened? Nikki beat her. Cross tried to teach Truth the Scottish national anthem and then they sang the “If I Could Walk 500 Miles” song to end it. (I’ll post the song at the bottom of the review.)

TJR Thoughts: That’s a lot of celebrating about surviving a two minute match. I like Nikki Cross as a babyface performer a lot, but this story of Nikki surviving for two minutes against Rhea and Charlotte really isn’t good television. It has nothing to do with the performers. It has to do with the lack of creativity of the creative team. Anyway, Nikki was her usual energetic self here.

There were commercials for NXT and WWE going back on the road as well.

The final guest was a shirtless Drew McIntyre with only a few minutes left. Drew pointed out the shiner above his right eye. Drew said he’s known Kofi Kingston for a long time, they were in FCW together, they were battling over the IC Title ten years ago and Kofi is incredible. Drew said he feels like he has earned it. Kevin asked if this might be Drew’s last opportunity. Drew said he wanted one more match to prove he can beat Lashley one on one. Drew said he knows Lashley knows that Drew can beat him. Drew said he knows Lashley has been trying to avoid him and there’s no ducking Drew now. Drew told Lashley to drop the girls, get serious and Drew is going to take back the title. Drew dropped the microphone and left.

TJR Thoughts: It was a quick appearance from Drew this week. He made his point that all he wanted was one more singles match with Lashley and now he’s got it, so Drew is determined to get the title back. It’s that simple.

Truth and Kevin talked about how Drew is so focused. Truth said that Bobby is sleeping on Drew. Truth said there’s nothing wrong with Bobby enjoying everything he’s done. Truth said that Drew is here to fight. They wrapped up the show and that was it.

This episode ran 26:02 on WWE Network.

TJR Thoughts: The episode was decent. I liked Styles and Omos as the best guests this week with Omos showing his personality a bit while Styles was having a lot of fun with Truth as well.

That’s all from me. Thanks for reading. Now let’s all sing together.

John Canton

Email: mrjohncanton@gmail.com

Twitter: @johnreport