Kofi Beats Bobby Lashley Again, Drew McIntyre Gets Mahal, More WWE Raw Fallout

Credit: WWE.com

On the road to July 18's Money in the Bank and live crowds returning, Monday's edition of Monday Night Raw focused on building forward. Several matches ended with inconclusive finishes that may be building larger rivalries.

The New Day won in dominant fashion, though, in spite of the overall night's theme. Kofi Kingston pinned MVP, technically adding another win over Bobby Lashley. This feud is building momentum to something, but it may not be Kofi's big moment redux.

Drew McIntyre finally got his hands on Jinder Mahal, a longtime friend who has been looking to fight. An inconclusive finish promises that this rivalry is just beginning.

The women's division is in trouble as WWE continues to struggle with depth issues. The company needs to make changes to let the talent thrive. The same is true of the tag team division that cannot get going, even with AJ Styles in its ranks.

This night was not a showstopper, but it did leave new ideas to ponder. WWE is about to return to the road, and these events are crucial in setting the stage.

Once again, Kofi Kingston got a win over Bobby Lashley, but it was not the momentum-builder that signals he will dethrone the WWE champion. The point has been to build him as a challenger, but he is likely not being built as the future champion.

While The All Mighty has been a good champion, he has not had a chance yet to become a great one. The ideal situation would be that Lashley gets multiple reigns over the next few years to solidify his legacy. However, nothing is certain.

Kofi defeating Lashley would not mean The All Mighty is out of the title scene. It could even be a quick title change back to The All Mighty come SummerSlam. The point is that Kofi deserves to not look like a one-hit wonder.

He has been doing some great work in the ring and on the mic since getting this second chance. He and Xavier Woods are hardly needed in the tag team division, as they would only take away from the spotlight of lesser-used talent.

It is time to give Kofi his big moment because it will not come again. It is just hard to believe WWE agrees.

WWE continues to struggle with booking the women outside of the pay-per-view singles matches. This week's eight-woman tag was a complete mess that made everyone look bad.

It would make more sense to build the women's match like the men's. Build individual rivalries with clear singles matches. John Morrison and Ricochet got over 10 minutes on back-to-back weeks. Why not Naomi vs. Nikki A.S.H. or Asuka vs. Alexa Bliss?

If the point is to keep heels involved, give the women time to shine in more important matches. Naomi and Nikki both could use more wins and time, and it shouldn't be hard to achieve on a three-hour show. Why not A.S.H. vs. Nia Jax or Shayna Baszler? Naomi still has a win to get back from Doudrop.

Raw is struggling to use time effectively. Let the women wrestle. Multi-woman matches every week serve no true purpose. It just makes the women's match seem less interesting.

Especially given Raw and SmackDown's depth issues, it is the right time to build talent up.

Drew McIntyre has long declared his desire to work with his long-time friend Jinder Mahal. Both are veterans with long histories in WWE. Both got a chance at a surprising moment to become WWE champion.

While The Scottish Warrior is working a different level to The Modern Day Maharaja, iIf McIntyre truly wants this, he will work with his friend to tell the best story possible in the ring.

The first match between these two was a dud, but that was mostly due to the predictable non-finish. The point was to give them more time to tell this story. McIntyre wants the WWE Championship, but he's now got a thorn in his side to overcome.

He and Mahal should keep at this no matter what the perception of the story from the fans, as long as they know they can deliver at the end of the day. Mahal is not well liked and has few good matches to his name. That can change if this goes well.

The right situation with the right opponent can do wonders for changing the way anyone is perceived. Riddle right now is thriving because he found the right ally in Randy Orton and right opponents like McIntyre to push him to a higher plane.

AJ Styles was not a Grand Slam champion, so it was inevitable he would get his tag title run. He is a multiple-time world champion and can work with anyone. If WWE was going to put him in the division, he should be there to elevate talent.

Instead, The Phenomenal One continues to fall short. Unless Omos is protecting him, he cannot get the job done. When his big man is distracted, Styles can fall to anyone. It's like WWE has forgotten he is a former world champion.

While losing at the right time is appropriate to elevate stars, Styles won't build anyone up if he is instead just falling down the card.

This seems indicative of the entire Raw tag team division. No one is being elevated. Mace and T-Bar seemed to have a chance to build momentum, but they lost to Lucha House Party this week. Viking Raiders have not done much of anything since earning a title shot.

Riddle and Randy Orton are the most well built tag team in the division, yet they are not its stalwarts. This feels like a temporary alliance at best, even if the two win gold.