AFTER the disastrous Super ShowDown in Saudi Arabia, WWE is now geared towards its next major pay-per-view event – Stomping Grounds on June 23.
With that show less than two weeks away, here are five big talking points from last night’s edition of Raw:
STOMPING GROUNDS MYSTERY REFEREE
Raw opened with a promo from Seth Rollins and surprise announcement from Baron Corbin.
Because the referee had supposedly cost Corbin the Universal title at Super ShowDown, he will get another shot at Rollins’ title at Stomping Grounds – and this time Bazza can choose the referee.
Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens came out to defend Baron Corbin, which set up Rollins v KO for later in the show.
In the meantime, Sami Zayn negotiated with Shane McMahon to “audition” for the Stomping Grounds referee spot, by acting as a second referee in the Rollins v KO match.
Predictably, Sami kept getting involved in the action to help his buddy Owens. Eventually Rollins grabbed Sami by the shirt, so Sami disqualified Rollins and awarded the victory to KO.
After the match Corbin jumped Rollins and busted him open, but Rollins fought Corbin off and – to prove a point to Bazza – launched a steel chair-swinging assault on Sami Zayn.
But who will be the guest referee at Stomping Grounds? The smart money is on THE money, Shane McMahon.
LACEY BEATS BAYLEY
Raw women’s champ Becky Lynch and her Stomping Grounds opponent Lacey Evans traded insults in a tragically poor split-screen promo. After months of feuding these ladies have nothing new to say to each other.
But things got interesting later on the show when Becky teamed with SmackDown women’s champ Bayley to take on Lacey and Alexa Bliss.
Becky and Lacey have been involved in a string of dud matches in recent weeks, but the action here was much better.
There was a surprise ending when Lacey nailed Bayley with the Woman’s Right twice to get the win.
Bayley has been rebuilding momentum as SmackDown champ for several weeks, so Lacey’s victory felt significant for once – and it should soften up Bayley for challenger Alexa Bliss at Stomping Grounds.
RICOCHET FOR US TITLE
With Rey Mysterio out of action, US Champion Samoa Joe needs a new challenger – and he came face-to-face with five potentials last night.
Joe appeared on Miz TV, where he was asked to explain his attack on Rey last week. But Joe being his usual belligerent self squared up to Miz.
They were interrupted by Braun Strowman, then Bobby Lashley, Ricochet, and Cesaro, which turned into a brawl and then an impromptu six-man tag match – Miz, Braun, and Ricochet v Joe, Lashley and Cesaro.
Ricochet got the win with an awkwardly-landed 630 splash on Cesaro – the third pinfall Ricochet has scored over Cesaro in as many weeks.
That should guarantee Ricochet is the next man to step up and challenge Joe for the US title.
REVIVAL RECLAIM TAG BELTS
After weeks of humiliation at the hands of The Usos and the WWE creative team, The Revival have regained the Raw Tag Team Championship.
The win came in a triple treat match against The Usos and now-former champs Zack Ryder and Curt Hawkins.
The Revival had an extra incentive to win – Shane McMahon and Drew McIntyre held a party to celebrate Shane’s Super ShowDown win over Roman, and promised The Revival could join the fun if they won the titles.
The tag triple threat had quick paced action and ended when Jey hit Ryder with a top rope splash – but Scott Dawson sneakily tagged in and stole the pinfall for himself.
It’s no surprise that Ryder and Hawkins lost the titles – they haven’t been on TV for weeks and were decimated by the Viking Raiders (remember them?) last time they appeared on Raw.
In other tag champ news, The IIconics defeated jobber duo Lisa Lace and Mia Sweets.
That’s the first victory the women’s tag champs have had on TV since the week after WrestleMania.
LATEST WWE NEWS
LOVE IN AN ELEVATOR
The backstage chase for the 24/7 title saw champ R-Truth and Carmella get stuck in a lift with challengers Drake Maverick, EC3, Heath Slater, and Cedric Alexander.
Truth’s reference to his “48/7 Television European title” and mistaking Maverick for Hornswoggle was laugh-out-loud funny.
The rivals ended up bonding and giving Maverick advice about his upcoming wedding. They saw past their differences and declared they’re like a family – until the lift doors opened and they all started fighting again.
There was dark comedy elsewhere on the show when Bray Wyatt – wearing a red nose and clown eyes – smashed poor Ramblin’ Rabbit to death with a giant mallet.
These FireFly Fun House skits are so good it’s almost a shame Bray will have to return to the ring at some point. It’s hard to imagine how this character is going to translate to actual wrestling with the same success.
