Rob Gronkowski won the WWE 24/7 Championship on Raw.
Rob Gronkowski lost the WWE 24/7 Championship to R-Truth in an apparent sendoff as Gronk’s trainer reminded him he had a “new career” with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and had to “get serious” shortly after the loss.
Raw also featured Rey Mysterio responding to rumors of his retirement, with his son Dominik threatening to exact revenge on Seth Rollins.
WWE Raw continued to hover near record lows with just 1.735 million viewers for last week’s broadcast. As coronavirus fatigue continues to translate to weaker cable news ratings, pro wrestling viewership was up last week from Wednesday through the end of the week. Whether that trend continues with Raw’s struggling viewership is another story.
WWE Raw Viewership—Last Five Weeks
- May 25, 2020—1.735 million viewers
- May 18, 2020—1.757 million viewers
- May 11, 2020—1.919 million viewers
- May 4, 2020—1.686 million viewers
- April 27, 2020—1.817 million viewers
From the Forbes WWE Vault
WWE Friday Night SmackDown Key Competition
- Coronavirus (COVID-19) Mainstream News Coverage
WWE Total YouTube Viewership for WWE Raw
9,108,666 views (Up from 8,424,653)
- Most-Viewed: Drew McIntyre and Bobby Lashley Engage in Wild Bar (3,012,079 views)
- Least-Viewed: Liv Morgan on Living her Best Life (161,793 views)
- Median Viewership: 479,448
WWE Raw Results: Monday, June 1, 2020
Seth Rollins Hosts Rey Mysterio Retirement Ceremony
The first half of Rollins’ Rey Mysterio retirement video might end up being used in an actual Rey Mysterio retirement video package.
The Performance Center athletes definitely seem to be less energetic than last week, which is understandable given their arduous schedule.
Seth Rollins vs. Aleister Black
I spent this whole match convinced that Humberto Carrillo was going to turn on Aleister Black and become Seth Rollins’ newest disciple. At this point, it would be his only hope.
The best V-Trigger spot of 2020 came when Black met Seth Rollins with the maneuver off of a springboard.
Apollo Crews vs. Kevin Owens—United States Championship
It felt like an eternity between the last match and this one as WWE has once again switched up the formatting to show less live wrestling in response to bad ratings.
The longer it took Kevin Owens to accept Apollo Crews’ challenge, the less valuable that title seemed.
I feel like WWE is going to keep beating Kevin Owens as a message to Sami Zayn.
Apollo Crews and Kevin Owens vs. Angel Garza and Andrade
This had to be the quickest Angel Garza pulled his pants off to date.
Andrade has been one of the major disappointments of the pandemic era.
The Viking Raiders def. The Street Profits—Bowling
The Viking Raiders seemed like they actually knew what they were doing and didn’t need the edited strike.
These vignettes feel like the famed Best of Seven series between Chris Benoit and Booker T if one of them was too injured to wrestle.
Billie Kay vs. Nikki Cross
Tom Phillips reiterating The IIconics calling Alexa Bliss “the office’s favorite blonde” takes all the edge out of an otherwise edgy comment.
Rey Mysterio Responds to Retirement Rumors
Rey Mysterio was taken aback by how much negativity surrounds Seth Rollins as a Messiah, which proves Rey doesn’t fully grasp the concept of people who call themselves Messiahs.
WWE is building up Dominik Mysterio’s first match almost as well as it built up Killer Kross’.
Despite there being no chance of Rey Mysterio retiring, he still did an admirable job drawing viewers in to his official response.
R-Truth def. Rob Gronkowski for WWE 24/7 Championship
R-Truth defeating Gronk felt like his sendoff, especially when his trainer said “you’ve got a new career starting, come on—let’s go—you’re with The Bucs now.”
It's a low bar but Gronk is lightyears better at being a celebrity athlete than Mike Tyson.
Nia Jax def. Kairi Sane
WWE finally aired the errant stair step spot resulting in Kairi Sane’s cut, and Nia Jax doesn’t seem to be all-the-way absolved of any wrongdoing after enduring preemptive nerd rage for the spot.
Asuka vs. Charlotte Flair
The WWE Performance Center athletes are playing fans until Charlotte shows up, then it turns into a lecture of her pupils.
Nothing good happens for Asuka when she faces Charlotte.
Charlotte is on pace to win no fewer than 20 championships when all is said and done.
Drew McIntyre def. MVP
It’s far too early for MVP and Bobby Lashley (and Lana) to show cracks in their armor as a heel alliance.
MVP and Drew McIntyre got the most out of the three minutes they had plus the small overrun.
