Seth Rollins with the World Heavyweight Championship.WWE Welcome to ProfessionalPK's live recap and coverage of WWE Raw on May 29 from Albany, New York.
Saturday's Night of Champions pay-per-view featured some big moments, including the crowning of a new champion, another title changing hands and some significant storyline developments.
Seth Rollins defeated AJ Styles to win the new World Heavyweight Championship, Bianca Belair was dethroned by Asuka after a monumental reign as Raw women's champion, and The Bloodline seemingly imploded when Jimmy Uso turned on Roman Reigns.
This week's Raw dealt with all of the fallout from the weekend's events as well as laying the groundwork for Money in the Bank on July 1.
Let's take a look at what went down during Monday's show.
The New Champ Is Here
1 OF 8
Raw opened with Samantha Irvin introducing the new world heavyweight champion, Seth Rollins. He came out through the crowd like his old Shield days, but he still used his regular music. The crowd continued to sing his song long after it stopped playing.
He said a lot, but it boiled down to him being proud to be champion and being ready for a fight. That's when AJ Styles came out. He congratulated The Visionary and said he earned the right to hold that title.
The Judgment Day came out to brag about their recent accomplishments. That was it. There was no fighting and the announcers started running down the card for the night, before Ricochet made his way to the ring.
As far as opening segments go, this was a little on the boring side because it didn't really accomplish anything. We will probably see some kind of match come out of this segment, but it felt like they used the first 15 minutes of the show poorly.
Grade: C-
Notable Moments and Observations
- It took until seven minutes into the show for Rollins to say his first words.
- Draft? What draft? What brand split?
The Miz vs. Ricochet
2 OF 8
The Miz has been a bit of a laughing stock for months, so he was looking to get himself back on the right track by qualifying for the men's Money in the Bank match. However, Ricochet was standing in his way.
They started off with a quick exchange of counters and takedown attempts. The A-Lister was the first to land a strike with a knee to the gut, but Ricochet fired back with a kick to the head that sent his rival out of the ring.
The Miz regained the upper hand and had Ricochet on the mat when the show cut to a break. We returned to see The A-Lister hit a springboard crossbody for a two-count.
It's easy to forget sometimes how versatile The Miz can be because he hides a lot of his skills while playing the heel. Occasionally, he pulls out a few tricks when he is facing someone like Ricochet. It's always fun to be reminded that he was a WWE champion for a reason.
This was a surprisingly fun contest that went harder than anyone expected. After making a comeback, Ricochet hit a shooting star press for the win.
Winner: Ricochet
Grade: B+
Notable Moments and Observations
- Ricochet's moonsault from the apron looked perfect.
- The Miz hitting a hurricanrana out of nowhere was pretty surprising. It might not have looked perfect, but it was kind of cool.
- We also saw him hit a springboard crossbody that looked pretty good.
Indus Sher vs. Two Jobbers
3 OF 8
Trish Stratus came out to give a promo about beating Becky Lynch at Night of Champions. She brought out the woman who helped her secure the win: Zoey Stark.
Lynch came out and challenged Stratus to a fight. She took out Stark in the aisle before going after the veteran in the ring and beating her down until Stark recovered and made the save. They ended the segment by beating The Man down and putting a "Thank you Trish" shirt on her.
After a break, Jinder Mahal brought out Veer and Sanga for a tag team match against two jobbers. They didn't even wait for the bell to beat them down.
Once the ref got the match started, Indus Sher obliterated them to get the win. This was a standard squash. There's nothing else to say about it.
Winners: Indus Sher
Grade: Incomplete
Notable Moments and Observations
- One of the jobbers looked like he was cosplaying as Matt Hardy from 1999.
Alpha Academy vs. Imperium
4 OF 8
Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens were out after the break to talk about beating Roman Reigns and Solo Sikoa at Night of Champions. They were eventually interrupted by Imperium.
After some jokes, Alpha Academy came out to face Ludwig Kaiser and Giovanni Vinci. Chad Gable and Owens had a hilarious exchange before the match got started.
Kaiser and Gable started the match with a technical exchange. For some reason, Valhalla appeared at ringside and tried to attack Maxxine. She ran away from the viking as Kaiser beat down Gable due to the distraction.
Otis got the hot tag but had some trouble hitting the Caterpillar. Once Imperium took out the big man, it was only a matter of time before they pinned Gable for the win.
The pre-match segment was entertaining and the tag bout was decent if a little overbooked for how long it was. But there was a lot to laugh about, and that's never a bad thing.
Winners: Imperium
Grade: B
Notable Moments and Observations
- Owens was on another level Monday night. Everything he did was hilarious.
- It looks like Alpha Academy and Maxxine Dupri will remain together for now, which makes one wonder where the Maximum Male Models are in all of this.
- KO and Zayn were so funny on commentary that it almost distracted from the match in the ring.
- Dupri has gotten so much better in this role. Even the way she ran away from Valhalla was hilarious.
- Slamming someone so their legs hit the ropes on the way down always makes a bodyslam look more brutal.
Women's Tag Title Fatal 4-Way
5 OF 8
Four duos competed in a Fatal 4-Way match this week to crown new women's tag team champions. Raquel Rodriguez and Shotzi, Ronda Rousey and Shayna Baslzer, Bayley and Iyo Sky, and Sonya Deville and Chelsea Green made up the field.
Green decided against starting the match with Rodriguez, so she tagged in Bayley right away. The powerhouse found herself in Damage CTRL's corner and took a beating before long.
For a match with eight competitors involved, this was surprisingly tame until the second half. It took a long time before everyone started trying to take each other out without worrying about who was legal and who wasn't.
Most of what we saw in this match looked alright, but it never really felt like anyone had the urgency they should have had with the titles being up for grabs until close to the end.
Shotzi attempted a senton from the top, but Rousey caught her in an armbar and made her tap out to win the titles.
Winners: Shayna Baszler and Ronda Rousey
Grade: C+
Notable Moments and Observations
- Deville and Green had matching gear made, which always makes a duo feel more like a tag team.
- Shotzi's suicide dive through Rodriguez's legs always looks cool.
- The way Baszler stomps on elbows will always make people cringe, especially since she has actually broken somebody's arm that way.
- Bayley's elbow drop to Rousey was perfectly timed.
JD McDonagh vs. Dolph Ziggler
6 OF 8
JD McDonagh and Dolph Ziggler had unfinished business after the former beat up the latter following his elimination from a Battle Royal two weeks ago, so they met this week for a match.
The Showoff rushed his opponent as soon as the bell rang, but McDonagh snapped the top rope back into his face and then hit him with a suplex.
They took the fight out of the ring and got counted out while the Irishman continued attacking Ziggler using the steel steps.
This might have been somewhat effective at making McDonagh appear dangerous, but that doesn't mean it was actually a good match. It was short and had no real winner. That is never an ideal way to end a bout.
Result: Double count-out
Grade: D
Notable Moments and Observations
- McDonagh needs to ditch that ring jacket. It looks three sizes too big for him.
- Snapping a ring rope into somebody is such an underused defensive manuever.
Bronson Reed vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
7 OF 8
Cody Rhodes came out with his arm in a sling to talk about losing to Brock Lesnar at Night of Champions. He said he didn't tap out because that's not the man he wants to be.
It was a pretty standard Rhodes promo about overcoming adversity. He challenged The Beast Incarnate to one more match and said if he doesn't accept, it just proves he is afraid of The American Nightmare.
The next match was a men's MITB qualifying bout between Shinsuke Nakamura and Bronson Reed. As soon as the bell rang, Reed was all over his rival.
They fought through a commercial break. When we returned, Reed was bulldozing over The Artist to score a two-count.
These two have good chemistry. It would be great to get an extended feud between them at some point because this contest only scratched the surface of what both can do.
Nakamura scored the victory to earn a spot in the men's Money in the Bank match.
Winner: Shinsuke Nakamura
Grade: B
Notable Moments and Observations
- Matt Riddle declared it's Hot Bro Summer during a backstage interview. We will not be using that term.
- The speed at which Reed moves seems almost impossible sometimes. If you were standing across the ring and he started barreling at you, most people would run.
The Judgment Day vs. AJ Styles and Seth Rollins
8 OF 8
The main event of the evening was the tag team match set up earlier in the show. Styles and Rollins teamed up to take on Damian Priest and Finn Bálor. As usual, Rhea Ripley was by Dominik Mysterio's side.
Bálor used Dom as a distraction to get an early advantage over Rollins, but The Visionary slid out of the ring and posed with Ripley before she realized it was him.
They had plenty of time to work, so all four guys had their own time to shine. With four top-tier wrestlers like Styles, Rollins, Bálor and Priest, they barely even had to try for this to be a good match.
Dom and Ripley had a small impact on the match, but they weren't interfering as often as they do sometimes, so most of the focus stayed in the ring.
Rollins was able to pick up the win for his team with a Stomp. He and Styles posed after the match was over as the crowd sang The Visionary's music.
Winners: Styles and Rollins
Grade: B+
Notable Moments and Observations
- The way Rollins tricked Ripley into posing with him was hilarious.
- It will always be impressive when someone jumps right up to the top rope.
- How has Bálor not broken his ankles on a missed Coup de Grace yet? He always lands with so much impact.
- It felt like we might get a heel turn from Styles here, but it never happened.
