Reviews

WWE Network Reviews: WWE Raw Talk for 5-4-21

By Aneil Komal • Published 4th May 2021

Raw Talk kicks off with Talking Smack host Kayla Braxton and the 24/7 Champion R-Truth. Kayla is filling in for the regular host Kevin Patrick for the birth of his baby girl Maisie Rose Egan. After congratulating the Raw Talk host on his new baby girl, Kayla and Truth look back at the ending of Raw. Kayla asks Truth who will walk out as champion, the 24/7 champion says Drew was left walking tall but adds that Bobby and Braun destroyed each other in the main event. Kayla also mentions that announcement that next week on Raw, Drew McIntyre will face Bobby Lashley. Kayla says Drew has confidence and believes he will leave Wrestlemania Backlash as WWE Champion. The hosts would then talk about the recently formed tag team “RK-Bro” going 2-0. Truth says he likes the team and will support them with Kayla adding that she never thought this team would work but it has so far. Onto the Raw Tag Team Champions, AJ Styles and Omos would retain their titles against The New Day. When asked if Styles and Omos will have a short reign. Truth believes they will hold onto the titles for a while. Lastly, Kayla mentions Shayna Baszler and Nia Jax defeat Lana and Naomi to retain their Women’s Tag Team championships. While on the losing end on Raw, Truth believes Naomi & Lana is still the team to dethrone them once they are on the same page.

Aneil’s Take: First, congratulations to Kevin Patrick and his wife on the birth of their daughter. While I do not have children (yet), I can only imagine the feeling of having your first child. Best wishes to them! As for Raw, the focus point is still on the triple threat match for the WWE Championship. While Braun lost due to a distraction finish, still surprising to see him get pinned. On the “RK-Bro” team, I was not sure what to expect from these two. Their characters are almost polarizing while I guess is good because it makes them unpredictable. With The New Day losing, I wonder if this will lead to RK-Bro getting a push that will lead them to tag team silver. Also, for the Women’s Tag Team Champions, I think WWE needs to build a team that is credible enough to beat the current champions. Looking at the current women’s tag team division especially the babyfaces (Mandy/Dana, Naomi/Lana), I cannot see any of them as potential threats to dethrone the current champions.

The first guest is the Raw Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley. On the subject of Charlotte Flair being added to the Raw Women’s Championship match, Rhea says she does not know how to describe how she feels other than being mad about it. She says Charlotte finds her way in every opportunity she is in and does not realize there is a new era of female wrestlers coming up. She believes Charlotte has to move over which will upset the Queen because she is not getting what she wants. Kayla asks if Sonya has been reckless with her decision-making which Rhea says is the perfect word to describe it. Rhea explains being angered to see Charlotte reinstated after what she did to the referee. The Raw Women’s Champion believes Charlotte is trying to steal her championship but she will not let that happen. Kayla believes Charlotte views Rhea as a threat which the champion agrees. Rhea says she is going in as champion and will leave with her championship. Kayla would bring up Rhea not beating Charlotte, which the champ says ‘yet’. As for Rhea losing her championship without being pinned, The Nightmare says Charlotte has lost her title multiple times in that situation and believes The Queen thinks Asuka is an easy way to win.

Aneil’s Take: Good interview with the champion, especially talking about the situation with Charlotte Flair. However, from a storyline perspective, I am not sure if Rhea is a heel or babyface since she tagged with Nia and Shayna last week. I guess these days it does not matter. Anyway, I would have liked Asuka to be mentioned more in this conversation. Most of the narrative in this interview was based on Ripley’s history with Flair which I understand but I feel like they forgot about Asuka. Let’s not forget, Asuka held the championship for 231 days before losing it at Wrestlemania.

The next guest is Damian Priest. Kayla says Priest has been on a roll, beating The Miz and then John Morrison on Raw. Priest says since joining the Raw brand, The Miz has been a thorn and is trying the wrong person. When asked for advice on The Miz, Truth tells Priest to keep doing what he is doing now. Priest says he heard The Miz talking about his accolades which he agrees that he does not get enough credit for what he is has accomplished. However, Priest says while he respects The Miz’s accomplishment, he does not like how The A-Lister treats his friends. When asked what is the next for him after The Miz and Morrison, Priest says his goals are to have a special moment like the one at Wrestlemania. Also at some point, the former NXT North American Champion wants to win a championship on the main roster. The interview ends with Kayla bringing up Priest’s episode of WWE Chronicles which airs this Sunday. Priest says he is not someone who wears his emotion on his sleeves but this allows those to see who he is and hopefully inspire someone watching it.

Aneil’s Take: Simple interview with Priest talking about his current feud with The Miz and Morrison. While I was not a big fan of Priest in NXT, he has grown on me since debuting on Raw. Hopefully, after his feud with The Miz is over, he can challenge for the United States Championship against Sheamus. I think those two can have a smash-mouth type match with their hard-hitting styles. I also cannot wait to check out his WWE Chronicles episode.

The last guest is Drew McIntyre. Truth asks if McIntyre claymored Lashley and Strowman on purpose, The Scottish Warrior says he was minding his business when he tripped and claymored their faces. On chasing after the WWE Championship, McIntyre says he lost his moment at Wrestlemania after allowing himself to get distracted. However, this time he will not lose his attention and will get back his championship again. On his match against Lashley next week, McIntyre says he cannot be angry at Lashley because of the WWE Champion’s competitive nature. However, McIntyre is annoyed at MVP whom he called a “puppet master” and will not allow The Hurt Business leader to distract him next week. When asked to assess Lashley, McIntyre says the WWE Champion has worked hard to call himself the champion and cannot say anything bad about him. McIntyre’s issue is mostly towards MVP whom he calls a “distraction”. For McIntyre, he does not care how many people he has to go through, he will claymore them all to get his championship back. As for who is more of a threat, McIntyre says both Lashley and Strowman are equally of a threat. McIntyre believes it will come down to who can take the most punishment and who has the most heart to be left standing. Lastly, McIntyre speaks about his new book, A Chosen Destiny that is out now at bookstores and online. McIntyre explains how the book came about and hopes he can help people out there and give inspiration which is what is all about. Kayla thanks Drew for being a guest and wishes him the best in his match at Wrestlemania Backlash before Raw Talk ends.

Aneil’s Take: First, congratulations to Drew on his book “A Chosen Destiny”. While I have not purchased the book yet, I am sure it has some cool stories throughout his career and even of his personal life. As for Raw, honestly, I think after this triple threat match at Wrestlemania Backlash, I would like to see McIntyre take a step back from the championship picture. Having seen him in the WWE Championship picture since last year’s Royal Rumble, I think his babyface run has to expand beyond the championship. The only issue is, looking at the Raw roster, there is not too many top or decent heels for him to feud with. Other than that, it will be interesting to see how these three big men with Strowman, Lashley, and McIntrye perform in the triple threat match. One thing that kind of bugged me was not having T-Bar/Mace being mentioned or involved in the main event.

Raw Talk was decent with their guest,s especially with Kayla hosting. As for Raw, I really want to see guys like Ali and Ricochet being used on Raw. There’s a lot of talent that can be doing so much more.