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WWE RAW 18/5/20 | A Late Coherent Review.


A RAW review on a Friday!? Really? I missed my usual Monday RAW review because I had to take care of some personal issues. 

This review is also fitting given that I used to post a RAW review the day before the Smackdown review when Smackdown aired on Tuesdays. 

This is not going to be a typical Monday Night RAW review where I talk about everything that happened but rather mention some notable moments that happened on this week's episode. 

I'm dedicating this review to one of the best to ever write about pro wrestling, Larry Csonka. Rest in peace. 

Aleister Black Has A Messiah To Deal With. 

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Black is two weeks fresh off of his "death-defying" moment at this year's Money In The Bank and now, the striking man from Amsterdam has a psycho cult leader and his maniacs to deal with (and yes, that last line compared to the title above, had different verbiage but with the same meaning, you know like synonyms). 

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Seth Rollins in a promo, said that Rollins wasn't the same since he lost the match against Drew for the WWE championship and his actions on Rey Mysterio last week was "unfortunate but necessary because it's a blessing in disguise". 

Later in the night, Aleister Black was attacked by Seth Rollins, Murphy and his new disciple, Austin Theory? Theory was abandoned by his partners in Angel Garza and Andrade and they layed waste to him assuming because they thought that he was the weak link of the group. 

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That happened after Apollo Crews made his return and quickly attacked the man that put Crews out of action costing him the Money In The Bank ladder match spot, Andrade. 

Austin is a young guy so he's got long ways to go to be on his own and given that one half of AOP, Rezar is injured, I think having Austin in the group is actually quite neat. 

As far as Aleister Black's concern, when the match happens between Black and Seth Rollins (assuming in Backlash), Rollins has been taking a lot of big Ls since Wrestlemania and this upcoming encounter will be no exception (No sh*t, Omar). 

Asuka's First Challenger As Women's Champion. 

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That person is the Irresistible Force herself, Nia Jax. Their matches through the years have been surprisingly decent and Asuka other than Ronda Rousey, is the best opponent for Jax in terms of match quality. 

Will see what the feud brings because it's kinda too early to tell how good or bad the story is at this very moment. Oh, and the Asuka celebration segment before Jax showed up was awesome mainly because of Kairi Sane's skills as a musician. 

Drew McIntyre And Bobby Lashley Face Off For The Championship Plus King Corbin's First Match On RAW In Months. 

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Speaking of new challengers (no, not the car you rednecks), let's get this one out of the way. The main event of this past week's episode was decent. I particularly liked how Corbin reversed Drew's Claymore kick and turned it into a deep six. What a counter. 

McIntyre and Lashley battled each other for the TNA world title and almost 4 years later, they now face each other for the WWE world championship. 

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This is the second match that is officially announced for Backlash and to be honest, I'm looking forward to it simply because of their awesome matches with each other so they're gonna deliver match quality-wise. So far, Backlash at least on the RAW side, is shaping up to be quite intriguing of a PPV. 

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I could go on and on about the episode like the opening segment that had Edge accept the greatest wrestling match of all time, The goofy yet non-offensive segment with The Viking Raiders and The Street Profits doing Viking things, Kevin Owens and Apollo Crews' return. 

So. Many. Things. Happened. On. This. Show and this is the episode that should've aired after Money In The Bank because that was a good 3 hours of television that immediately built into a PPV 3 weeks from today. However, I want to keep my articles as brief and to the point as possible so here's the recap below. 

Like: Edge and Randy Orton segment, Apollo Crews returning, Austin Theory as the new disciple. 

Didn't like: Ruby Riott taking Ls, The IIconics break up in a division with little teams. 


What do you guys think about this episode of RAW? Sound off in the comments below. Follow me on the tweets @omartheplayaguy and follow this very blog for honest pro wrestling opinions. Anyway, stay safe smarks.

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