WWE Monday Night Raw Report Card

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There was a lot of intrigue going into this week's edition of Raw. With Lesnar being in the building, some thought that Braun Strowman could cash in his Money In The Bank Briefcase and throw the WWE Universal Championship picture into disarray.

In the end, there were no changes to the card and nothing new announced after the smoke cleared on what was a pretty mediocre edition of Monday Night Raw. It's just odd how the combination of SmackDown Live and 205 Live doesn't seem like three hours; while Raw seems to go on for much longer.

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Raw had a good 10-minute match with Seth Rollins and Drew McIntyre, a decent 20-minute match with Baron Corbin and Finn Balor, some interesting backstage segments with Brock Lesnar, and that was it for the highlights.

As always with my report card articles, the best grade a segment or match can earn is an A+, but the lowest grade that one can earn is an F. The final slide is where I will also give my overall grade for Monday Night Raw this week.

Without further ado, let's lead things off with the #1 contender to the WWE Universal Championship...

#5 The Big Dog calls out The Beast

Roman gets another shot at The Beast at SummerSlam...

Roman Reigns kicked off Raw this week by giving props to Bobby Lashley for their match last week, and though he has respect for "Bob", he has zero respect for Brock Lesnar. Right on cue, Paul Heyman comes out to spill his usual rhetoric about Lesnar being a two-sport world champion.

Heyman told Reigns that Lesnar will come out to the ring "when he feels like it" tonight; which didn't sit well with the #1 contender. Reigns ended the promo with saying that he's going to send Brock back to the UFC not as The Beast, but as Roman's b****; which drew a nice pop from the WWE Universe since you don't hear that word being thrown around every week.

This opening segment was okay, but nothing to write home about, it was just there.

GRADE: C

#4 Finn Balor and Baron Corbin have a lengthy match

Corbin nails Balor with a clothesline...

The feud between Finn Balor and the Constable of Raw, Baron Corbin, continued this week as the pair had another match. In their last match-up, Balor defeated Corbin at WWE Extreme Rules.

Many felt the Extreme Rules match may have been the best that Corbin has ever looked in the ring, and this match on Raw was on par. They were given 20 minutes to tell their story, and I especially loved the finish with Corbin escaping the Coup de Grace attempt right into the End of Days.

GRADE: B

#3 Drew McIntyre and Seth Rollins deliver again

McIntyre trying to find a way to get another win against Rollins...

Earlier in the month, Drew McIntyre and Seth Rollins had a tremendous main event on Raw where if McIntyre won, he could be at ringside for the Extreme Rules WWE Intercontinental Championship Match. Drew won that match and was a key factor in the Ironman Match.

They re-matched this week on Raw and it was a tremendous 10-minute match before Dolph Ziggler caused the DQ after Rollins hit The Stomp. McIntyre and Rollins are definitely up there for Wrestler of the Year in 2018, and this match solidified that.

GRADE: B+

#2 Grades for other Monday Night Raw segments and matches

rOU — Rousey supporting her friend Nattie before her match...

Alicia Fox d. Natalya

With Mickie James out with an injury, this was a great moment for the veteran Fox to step up and get some television time. I thought the match was good but too short to grade highly. After the match, Fox unleashed an attack on Rousey to further make Ronda mad. GRADE: C+

Elias and Bobby Lashley

Elias came out to a very warm reception from the WWE Universe in Miami. They really could pull the trigger on a full babyface turn at any time right now. He challenged Lashley, one of the guys who interrupted him last week for his album release, but this segment was a step back for both men. GRADE: C-

The Revival d. The Deleters of Worlds

While matches involving Strowman v. Mahal and Crews v. Akam were way too short to even grade, The Revival had an impromptu match against the former tag champs that would go for about five minutes and did a good job of re-

establishing some importance for arguably the best tag team in the WWE. GRADE: C

Sasha Banks & Bayley d. Liv Morgan & Sarah Logan

Further evidence of women's tag titles potentially coming in time for WWE Evolution in October was shown here as Sasha Banks and Bayley have matching gear and a team now, "Boss and Hug Connection". This was a decent 10-minute match as Logan and Morgan have stepped up in Ruby Riott's absence. GRADE: B-

#1 The Beast finally emerges / overall grade

There were several backstage segments throughout Raw where Paul Heyman was begging Brock Lesnar to come to the ring so Heyman would lose his job. They were the most interesting things that Lesnar had done in some time as I found them to be pretty entertaining.

GRADE FOR THE BACKSTAGE SEGMENTS: B

The end of Raw saw General Manager Kurt Angle and Constable Baron Corbin come to the ring to call out Paul Heyman to deliver The Beast or get fired. Heyman did a great job of groveling when it appeared that he was going to be shown the door.

Just before Angle was going to say those famous two words, Lesnar's music hit. It's hard to tell if Heyman knew all along that Brock was coming or just was relieved to see him.

Lesnar asked if Angle has a problem with him before hitting him with an F5. He stared down Corbin, who smartly bailed. He would then proceed to choke out Paul Heyman; which may have severed that long-standing relationship.

I think this may be the start of a long build towards Angle and Lesnar at WrestleMania next year. This was the best the WWE has done with Lesnar in some time.

GRADE: B