WWE Monday Night Raw results and observations (5/15/17): Extreme Rules is coming together

After an uneventful show in London last week, Raw got back to business by putting some of the initial pieces together for its next pay-per-view, Extreme Rules.

Despite all of the headlines coming out of the show, it was still a rather pedestrian effort from the red brand this week.

Sure, there were a couple of good matches, but those happen on nearly weekly basis on Raw. I expect there to be quality in-ring action on pretty much all of WWE's television shows at this point.

But besides the good matches, there was not a ton of things that made me yearn to see what was going to happen next. Some of that may be a product of WWE shifting plans due to Braun Strowman's injury, but that doesn't explain the lack of excitement that has infected the rest of program.

Before I delve any deeper into my analysis, here are the full match results from the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.:

- Jeff Hardy def. Sheamus

- Alicia Fox def. Sasha Banks

- WWE Intercontinental championship – The Miz def. Dean Ambrose via disqualification

- Neville & TJP def. Jack Gallagher & Austin Aries

- Roman Reigns def. Finn Balor

- Big Cass def. Titus O'Neil

- Seth Rollins def. Bray Wyatt via disqualification

Brock Lesnar's next opponent to be determined at Extreme Rules

After weeks of barely mentioning Lesnar or his Universal title, WWE finally got around to determining the No. 1 contender this week when Raw general manager Kurt Angle announced that there will be a fatal five-way at Extreme Rules.

Where the title match would take place was not announced Monday, but one would assume that it would happen Raw's July pay-per-view titled Great Balls of Fire. I wish I was making that up, but that is the real name and it is really, really awful.

However, what was announced Monday were the participants in the five-way extreme rules match, which are Rollins, Balor, Reigns, Wyatt and Samoa Joe.

Four of the five men faced each other in singles matches with Joe being the one left on the sidelines.

The most notable was between Balor and Reigns where the latter handed Balor his first singles defeat since being drafted to Raw last July. Obviously, Balor has only had a handful of matches since debuting on Raw almost a year ago, but that is still significant in my eyes.

On the surface, Balor is not going to be damaged by the loss, especially if he moves on to become the No. 1 contender anyway. Also, it is evening the score between Balor and Reigns, as Balor defeated Reigns last summer. By the way, I thought this match was miles better than the one they had last year.

However, the one thing that made me feel kind of weird about Reigns defeating Balor clean and in the middle of the ring was that Reigns was still selling the injuries he suffered at the hands of Strowman.

In reality, Reigns is 100 percent, but within the framework of the story Reigns is not. He still wears the bandages on his left arm and favors it even before the match begins.

Despite that, Reigns defeated Balor without any outside interference Monday night. I know that WWE's story is the valiant effort of Reigns, but I think it may also hurt Balor in the sense that he lost to Reigns when he was less than 100 percent.

I may be nitpicking, but I don't think that does any favors to Balor, who I think should be protected as much as possible.

Guys like Balor do not come along often, which means WWE should go out of its way to protect him. There is no shame in taking a loss, but taking a clean loss to guy who is visibly injured is not the greatest look in the world.

WWE stole a page out of Vince Russo's playbook

If there was one thing Russo was known for booking during his World Championship Wrestling days was putting something on a pole and having wrestlers fight for it.

Russo did not invent that style of match, but he surely put his stamp on it, so much so that people mostly associate it with him.

That explains why Russo's name was all over Twitter Monday night when WWE announced that Alexa Bliss would be defending her Raw Women's championship against Bayley at Extreme Rules in a Kendo Stick on a Pole match.

I guess it's better than a Judy Bagwell on a Pole match. As a matter of fact, anything is better than that hot garbage.

This came about after Bliss and Bayley engaged in a physical confrontation in the ring that resulted in Bliss hitting Bayley with a kendo stick.

The match could wind up stealing the show, but I have personally never been a fan of pole matches. I don't care whether it is a flag, a coal miner's glove or even Viagra, I could personally just do without them.

Maybe, just maybe, Bliss and Bayley could make this into something memorable. They are very talented and have shown that they have good chemistry in the ring together in the past, but as right now, this is just … ugh.

The Miz vs. Ambrose at Extreme Rules

I thought that since Ambrose was defending his Intercontinental championship against The Miz this week on Raw and not at Extreme Rules that this would be the conclusion to this seemingly never-ending feud.

I was wrong.

I was wrong because their match Monday night ended after the referee disqualified Ambrose for kicking The Miz in the family jewels. To Ambrose's defense, he thwarted The Miz from attempting a similar tactic moments earlier.

Regardless, we are getting yet another chapter in the saga between The Miz and Ambrose. It is the feud that apparently will keep on giving whether you want it to or not.

The golden age is over

It was a good run, but it is over.

Okay, it wasn't a good run, but it was a run nonetheless.

Okay, maybe it was more like a brisk walk. Whatever it was, Golden Truth is no more. The unsuccessful tag team saw its demise Monday night when Goldust attacked R-Truth before their scheduled match against Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows.

Instead of generating some sympathy for R-Truth or some heat for Goldust, some fans in Newark chanted, "Thank you, Goldust!" Yeah, that wasn't the desired reaction.

Reaction aside, I thought the angle was well done. It was nice to see Goldust with a bit of a mean streak and I thought R-Truth did a good job making it seem like he was genuinely shocked that his buddy would turn on him.

I'm just guessing here, but I could see a match between Goldust and R-Truth happening at Extreme Rules.

Braun Strowman is out for up to six months, according to WWE

As I alluded to earlier, one of the reasons Raw has felt kind of bland lately is because of Strowman's absence.

Unfortunately, he may be out a lot longer than anyone expected, as WWE announced Monday that Strowman underwent elbow surgery and that it could be up to six months before he steps back into the ring.

From a viewer standpoint, Strowman was one of the few reasons to watch Raw on a consistent basis as you had to see just what kind of destruction he was going to cause next.

From WWE's standpoint, it loses a guy that it had reportedly made some serious plans for moving forward.

The only benefit from this is that Strowman should come back as popular as he has ever been and the time off will prevent him from being overexposed, which is something that happens to every talent on WWE's roster, especially the ones on Raw.

Vaughn Johnson has a podcast with Nick Piccone called the Straight Shooters on WildfireRadio.com. Check it out here HERE.