WWE Raw Recap, Grades & Opinion: June 17, 2019

WWE Raw Recap: June 17, 2019

A.K.A. The One Where Every Heel Made Fun Of The Lakers

The first ever WWE Stomping Grounds is six days away. Lots of action is guaranteed for the go-home Raw. Baron Corbin will choose his special guest referee for his Universal Title match against Seth Rollins. Daniel Bryan is wild card-ing over to Raw to face Rollins. The most exciting match on the night? A fatal five way to determine the next challenger for the United States Championship. Ricochet, Cesaro, Bobby Lashley, Braun Strowman, or the Miz – it’s wide open, Maggle!

Results:

• Ricochet def. The Miz, Braun Strowman, Bobby Lashley, and Cesaro to become the #1 Contender for the United States Championship
• Viking Raiders def. Local Talents
• New Day def. Baron Corbin, Kevin Owens, & Sami Zayn 2-0 in a 2-out-of-3 Falls Match
• The Usos def. The Good Brothers
• The IIconics (c) def. Nikki Cross & Alexa Bliss to retain the Women’s Tag Team Championships
• Seth Rollins & Daniel Bryan match was restarted due to outside interference.
• Seth Rollins def. Daniel Bryan

Match of the Night: Ricochet def. The Miz, Braun Strowman, Bobby Lashley, and Cesaro to become the #1 Contender for the United States Championship, last eliminating The Miz.

What a great start to Monday Night Raw. Early on it was Strowman’s time to shine. He quickly eliminated both Cesaro and Lashley with running powerslams. Both men would end up interfering to get Strowman eliminated, even helping Ricochet get the pin with a pile-on. Ricochet and Miz then gave us a match with great chemistry, and a new challenger emerging in “The One and Only”. Joe-Ricochet has tons of potential, and a feud between the two would be a great first singles title feud on the main roster for Ricochet.

Three Thoughts:

Quick Out The Gate

WWE finally switched up the start of their shows. This Raw had a hot start with Elias serenading the Los Angeles crowd. He was made quick work of by Seth Rollins with a steel chair. This lead right into the Fatal Five-Way match for the United States Championship number one contendership. Within ten minutes, fans were treated to a quick promo and the beginning of an excellent match. A nice change of pace from the typical 20 minute opening promo.

Also this was the start of Rollins acting heelish all night. He hit anyone who even thought of taking the guest referee spot. This included Elias, EC3, Eric Young. Could a heel turn for Rollins be in the making?

Wild Card is Wildly Enforced

The brand split is pretty much gone now. By my rough count, there were nine SmackDown Live superstars on Raw tonight. They were: Daniel Bryan, Rowan, The New Day, Bayley, Kevin Owens, Elias, and Roman Reigns. The original rule was four superstars. This is a few weeks in a row now that WWE has gone well over that number. With pressure from the networks for more stars, it makes sense for WWE to want to use more of their stars. Sadly, the original hope was WWE could create more stars on either brand. That doesn’t seem to be the plan anymore.

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Using All The Crayons In The Box

That being said, lots of wrestlers who don’t usually get airtime found their way onto Raw tonight. Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson got a pep talk/dressing down from their former Club-mate A.J. Styles. Eric Young got to talk, even if it was just turning down the special guest referee job. EC3 had a spot as a Weekend at Bernies referee. The Women’s Tag Team Championships were also defended against actual talents.

With rumors swirling of WWE talents wanting out for AEW, it’s smart for WWE to feature as many folks as possible. Even in small roles, some TV is likely better than no TV.

Grade: A

This was one of the best episodes of Raw in a long time. It had threads that played out in the ring and through backstage segments. Rollins and his quest to destroy Corbin tied it all together. Lots of talent had a chance to shine on the show, and the Firefly Funhouse took a horrifically dark turn. A few weeks ago, we thought WWE would respond to AEW Double or Nothing with a knockout show. It took some time, but this was the quality of Raw that they need to continue with.

LET. HIM. IN.#RAW @WWEBrayWyatt pic.twitter.com/zF1FPMQaLc

— WWE (@WWE) June 18, 2019

One More Thing:

See if you can spot R-Truth and Carmella in their disguises this week. They were pretty well hidden.

Ummm…#Raw pic.twitter.com/DThdt4KZkb

— WrestlingINC.com (@WrestlingInc) June 18, 2019

– Evan Gomes is the Managing Editor of Pro Wrestling for Full Press Coverage. Like and follow on Follow @EvanGomes_ Follow @FPC_Wrestling and Facebook.