Winners, News And Notes On May 16, 2022

WWE Raw advertised a big Steel Cage match pitting Bobby Lashley against Omos. This is the rubber match after the two faced off at WrestleMania 38 and WrestleMania Backlash. Ticket sales were strong for tonight’s Raw, with only one match being promoted, as they sold out with less than two tickets available by bell time.

Raw also featured a “Cody Rhodes countdown” clock, following the success of advertising the top star’s appearance at 7 pm PST last week. Rhodes again appeared at the top of the 7 pm hour, challenging Seth Rollins to a Hell in a Cell match. Rollins accepted.

WWE Raw originally advertised a Six-Pack Challenge to become No. 1 Contender for the WWE Raw Women’s Championship. The match was was to feature Sasha Banks, Naomi, Doudrop, Nikki A.S.H., Asuka and Becky Lynch. The women’s Six-Pack Challenge was scrapped, however, after WWE Women’s tag team champions Sasha Banks and Naomi reportedly walked out of the building.

WWE Raw last week garnered an average viewership of 1.652 million.

• May 9, 2022 | 1.652 million
• May 2, 2022 | 1.581 million
• April 25, 2022 | 1.614 million
• April 18, 2022 | 1.648 million
• April 11, 2022 | 1.803 million

• WWE Raw Venue: Scope Arena (Norfolk, Va.)
• WWE Raw Tickets Distributed: 7,283
• WWE Raw Tickets Available: 2

WWE Raw Total YouTube Viewership Last Monday—11,018,600 (Up from 9,811,585)

• Most-Viewed: Veer Mahan vs. Frank Lowman (2,288,130 views)
• Least-Viewed: R-Truth Serves Reggie and Tozawa (292,979 views)
• Median Viewership: 741,480 views

WWE Raw Results| Monday, May 16, 2022

Bobby Lashley def. Omos—Steel Cage Match

Interesting choice to kick off WWE Raw with the Steel Cage match, especially with no competition from the NBA Playoffs.

The finish made Omos look like a fool and was kind of a heel finish with Bobby Lashley flying through the cage wall and walking out. Omos should have sprinted after Lashley and not allowed Lashley to collect himself and walk out of the cage. Lashley, as a valiant babyface, could have had a great moment by refusing to win under this technicality, and run back into the cage to fight the giant.

The winning ring announcement started with the phrase “due to the unique way that this has happened…”

Veer Mahaan def. Mustafa Ali (Miz as Special Guest Referee)

Veer Mahaan’s match last week against Frank Lowman was the most-viewed WWE Raw clip on WWE’s YouTube channel.

As special guest referee, The Miz conveniently stood in front of Mustafa Ali to perform a 10 count while Ali was trying a dive.

This was Veer Mahaan’s first competitive opponent in WWE, which means he had to sell. He did all of his selling while on his feet as Mustafa Ali failed to knock him down.

Veer Mahaan was all too happy to pose for a selfie while he had Ali trapped in his finishing hold.

Mustafa Ali was thankfully saved by the Mysterios, but Ali was nowhere to be found by the time they hit the ring. Not a good sign for Ali.

Riddle def. Jimmy Uso

The trend of Riddle taking on the Usos in singles competition continued as Randy Orton somehow has managed to avoid these matches. Orton wasn’t even cornering Riddle for this one.

The Usos’ promo from Friday helped me realize that if the Usos win the title unification match this Friday on SmackDown, everybody in the Bloodline will have two belts.

Riddle had a great counter to an uppercut in the corner when he used a triangle hold to flip Jimmy over the top rope.

There was a “countdown to Cody Rhodes” graphic during this match after advertising Cody Rhodes at 10 pm led to a bump in viewership last week.

After all the wins Riddle has had over the Usos of late, there’s no way him and Orton are retaining this Friday—assuming that match (and finish) happens.

Finn Balor and AJ Styles def. Los Lotharios

There was a (long) Judgment Day promo prior to this match.

Los Lotharios continue to dress like Harlem Heat. The still photo of Los Lotharios kiss cam was hilarious.

In addition to their kisses, Los Lotharios actually have some pretty impressive double-team moves, including their team-up Boston Crab.

Humberto Carrillo took an awesome bump after eating a Finn Balor boot mid-moonsault.

Finn Balor and AJ Styles could make a great full-time tag team, especially if RK-Bro is going to continue long-term, which I think they should.

Alexa Bliss def. Sonya Deville

Alexa Bliss has a new song that would have been fine for anybody except Bliss, who had one of the best themes in all of WWE.

Bliss and Sonya Deville are basically doing the Seth Rollins-Cody Rhodes storyline in one week as Deville complained about being unprepared for a surprise opponent.

Alexa Bliss won back-to-back matches against Sonya Deville, though Deville did get a visual pinfall in this match.

Cody Rhodes Challenges Seth Rollins to Hell in a Cell

Cody Rhodes appeared ahead of schedule, but then WWE threw to commercial so the countdown to Cody could be accurate.

Cody Rhodes admitted to being one of the jealous boys on the back during The Shield’s run.

When Cody Rhodes said “my story is a little different,” I thought an AEW reference couldn’t be too far behind.

Cody Rhodes discussed “the difference between a revolutionary interview and actual revolutionary actions…” I took that as Cody Rhodes subtweeting CM Punk.

Rhodes made sure to look directly into the camera before announcing “Hell in a Cell.”

Seth Rollins became the first WWE Superstar in history to accept a Hell in a Cell match while wearing a fishnet t-shirt.

Ezekiel vs. Chad Gable

Kevin Owens has really ramped up his annoyance with Ezekiel, and it’s getting really over the top.

WWE featured a viral photo between Elias and Ezekiel.

Results for Owens’ DNA test for Ezekiel came back inconclusive.

Kevin Owens continued to build is case by saying he met Elias’ parents and they never brought up Ezekiel.

Ezekiel screamed out a word that rhymes with “shoooosh” and starts with a D.

While on commentary, Kevin Owens demanded for the graphic to be shown again, and it once again displayed Ezekiel’s name instead of Elias.

Lacey Evans Appears Live

Fans were asked to stand and applaud “mother, wife, daughter and United States Marine” Lacey Evans. Evans spent most of her promo thanking the armed forces. Evans told fans to “get off their butts” and applaud the veterans in the crowd. Evans said she would help the WWE Universe break the cycle. She definitely seems to be trending heel.

Asuka def. Becky Lynch

This week, it was Bianca Belair seated ringside on commentary, suggesting she would interfere to pay Becky back, and Asuka, Lynch and Belair may face off in a Triple Threat match.

This is the second consecutive week that a women’s WWE Raw main event started with less than 10 minutes left in the show. What’s worse is there was still a commercial break.

I thought for sure there would be another schmoz finish, but Asuka won, albeit with help from the green mist. Good on them.