The Raw after Wrestlemania is upon us and as history would have it, we are in for an amazing show!
We kicked off the night with the new WWE Universal Heavyweight Champion, Seth Freakin’ Rollins! Sunday night we saw Suplex City finally get burned to the ground as the bell rang & 3 Stomps later we had a new WWE Universal Champ. The “you deserve it” chants rained down on The Beastslayer. Rollins says “No, we deserve it!” – he runs down all of the things that happened in his match with Lesnar and a “Burn It Down” chants rings out.
Rollins breaks the news that Lesnar & Heyman went to Vegas after Wrestlemania for some meetings, basically referencing UFC negotiations with Dana White, and he goes to continue but then Ooooooooooooooooh Monday Night Raw!!!! Don’t you dare be sour! Clap for your world famous 5 time champs and NEW WWE Champion and FEEL THE POWAAAAAAH! Kofi, Big E & Woods – ya boys, the NEW DAYY! Are here on Raw! Rollins Says it’s not Tuesday so he’s confused, “Kofi” chants were so damn loud that I thought the bass in my TV speakers was about to blow my whole set up! But they had a really funny exchange with Rollins, they said this wasn’t the superstar shake-up because that’s happening next week, so that’s some more ace news revealed. Rollins was teaching New Day about the Raw crowds and they had fun at the expense of Heyman and Lesnar, imitating Heyman’s shtick and such and then E & Woods very proudly talked up Kofi and his win, Big E did the splits and then Kofi mentioned the “winner takes all” match Main Event and challenged Rollins to the same stipulation tonight and the two men stare each other down! The crowd went crazy, commentary went crazy & so did I! Especially when Rollins says he accepts! Absolutely fantastic start to RAW!
The Revival vs Curt Hawkins & Zack Ryder for the WWE RAW Tag Team Championships
A rematch from Wrestlemania that saw Hawkins end his 269 match losing streak to capture the titles in his hometown! It was great! But.. I thought automatic rematches weren’t a thing anymore? Who am I to complain though, this match was outstandingly played out. Hawkins and Ryder played The Revival like a fiddle with their Tag Team tactics and for the second night in a row they won! I think this could be the turning point for both men. It’s about bloody time too! I really was thinking it’ll be just like when Ryder won the IC Title at Wrestlemania and then was taken from him the very next night but I am thrilled to say I was wrong!
Baron Corbin promo
My boy, Baron Corbin, “Brooklyn’s favourite son” came out to thunderous boos and “asshole” chants and he says he takes that as a compliment, he said he’s sick of them complaining and they chant “Shut the f**k up!” at him instead, but he just laughs and says he expected nothing less from a bunch of “dirty New Yorkers” and says he wants a gold medal of his own – I love him. He’s just the best Heel. Kurt Angle comes out, shakes his hand and then drops Corbin with an Angle Slam and a locks in the Ankle Lock for good measure. Corbin taps and Angle looks strong. Until we hear the spine-chilling shriek and piano keys that begin the entrance theme of “The Freak” Lars Sullivan! He’s finally here!! He makes his way down to the ring and stares down Kurt Angle. “Holy Shit” & “NXT” chants broke out until he laid Angle out with a Freak Accident and a beautiful Diving Headbutt! He got “asshole” chants after that.. but Lars is finally here and he got over the mountain that is Anxiety and was able to return to where he belongs. Congratulation, Lars. You deserve it. I loved this whole segment! Still feel like Corbin could use some hired goons though. It’d add so much more to his villainous character I think and he wouldn’t have been punked out so easily if he had two big dudes to protect him.
Alexa Bliss vs Bayley
Little Miss Bliss has returned much to the delights of Sal Vulcano and Brian “Q” Quinn from Impractical Jokers in the front row. The match started like a firecracker! Wasnt long before the “HEY HEEEY BAYLEY! OOH AH! I WANNA KNOOOOW IF YOU’LL BE MY GIRL!” chants broke out, a few little slips here and there but Bliss got the win with her statistically devastating DDT. She looked mad after the match though.. like disappointed. No idea what that was about. Quick match, a few slips and a succesful return to the ring for Alexa Bliss. Was pretty good all in all.
Becky Lynch promo
The dual champion is on Raw! It’s amazing to see this finally culminate as it always should have. The chants just filled the arena as you can imagine and she cuts a great promo calling all challengers and said “remember, I’m the red head in leather with 2 belts ready to slap the heads off all’a ya!”. It was just a pleasant Babyface promo. Until Lacey Evans came out, did her little cat-walk and smacked Lynch in the face! She finally did something! Lacey and Becky went at it! Neither got the best of the other and when they got separated, it was clear this was the feud going forward. I dig it! They could have great back and forth on social media, on microphones and in-ring.
Ricochet & Aleister Black vs Roode and Gable
Roode & Gable are Heels now. This was confirmed in a promo cut before the match.
This match was good, it went about 12 minutes and it had a nice balance to it, but it was less high-flying than their usual matches. It ended with Ricochet hitting a Codebreaker (A not so subtle dig at Jericho and AEW potentially) and getting a win before Roode attacked him and got Gable out of the ring.
Dean Ambrose vs Bobby Lashley w/ Lio Rush
Booked and advertised as “Dean’s last match with WWE”, this would be a decent send off for Ambrose.
Before this match, we had a vignette featuring ominous music, some smoke and a cardboard box that had an umbrella on it.. then a really creepy looking lizard turkey thing popped it’s head out and started laughing like Bray Wyatt laughs.. Is he gonna get a Puppetmaster gimmick!? Is that what they’ve been cooking up? Because I would effin’ eat that up! It was genuinely disturbing.
Lashley and Rush came out and cut a promo on Ambrose who was in the ring, he told Ambrose not to worry, because he’s take care of his wife for him after he’s gone. Dean started beating the holy crap out of him all over the outside! Lio and Lashley double up on him and put him through the announce desk. Renee comes to check on him and get help. “Thank you, Ambrose” breaks out in the Barclays Centre as the segment ends.
Backstage
Sami Zayn is seen walking to the ring & gets a massive pop!
Sami Zayn returns
Sami got a hero’s welcome from the crowd. He got all the chants, “ole!”, his theme song sang back to him, he said he wanted a match and he got it – in the form the NEW WWE Intercontinental Champion!
Finn Balor vs Sami Zayn for the WWE Intercontinental Championship
Oh, now do I really need to tell you just how magical this was? Well, that is my job so I guess I do.. Balor told the Referee that it was for the title and so it was..
Sami hasn’t missed a step! He was all over Balor and even did that Feint Asai Moonsault and had a little dance afterwards! Balor got a second wind and ended up lighting up Zayn with Chops and exchanges and a Pele Kick! This was a really strong back and forth showing from these two masters of the mat! Sami’s Blue Thunder Bomb failed, Finn’s Coup De Gras missed, as did the Helluva Kick which cost Zayn as Balor got up to land the Coup De Gras! I loved this match. It was really cool to see Zayn return to Raw this week, but that could all change next week with the shakeup. Zayn got a standing ovation after the match, he said that he genuinely feels like we missed him but from the bottom of his heart, he didn’t miss us or this, he said WWE is a toxic place because of us, he said we only like it to be critics because it gives us a sense of importance and he says none of us have the balls to look inside ourselves because we are ugly, he said we are “bloody dillusional” and that he won’t return to save WWE, he’s returning to hold us all accountable for being the evil overlords of WWE every week because “no one else will”. – personally, Sami, I really like being a critic. Great match & great promo.
Dana Brooke backstage
Dana stakes her claim to the title picture, she was very humble about her placement in line, good Baby face promo.
Elias Segment
He said the fans got robbed of his great performance when Cena interfered and rapped, he said Cena is just riding the coat tails of Elias’ popularity! Elias rapped a few bars, which rhymed “Fan” with “Deadman”.. GONG!… GONG! – I was not expecting The Deadman to be at Raw! Elias went to get out, but hesitated and got back in, slowly.. then he removed his kimono and the fans started the “Holy Shit!” Chants! We’re we about to get Elias vs The Undertaker!? Elias ran into a boot, got Chokeslammed to Hell and then Taker took his trench coat off, revealing the weight loss & his new jacked physique! Honestly looked as good as he did in 2010! He Tombstones Elias and pins him as the crowd counts to 3. Awesome moment and Elias got his 2 wishes. Had a Wrestlemania moment with Cena and shared a ring with Undertaker! That’s pretty cool!
Seth Rollins vs Kofi Kingston WWE Championship vs Universal Championship – Winner Take All
What a main event here! This was a crazy stipulation with two of the very best the WWE has to offer going head to head!
I don’t think I can recall these two ever having a one on one match, but they didn’t bill this as a ‘first-time-ever’ match so they must have. But they work so damn well together!
As soon as it gets going The Bar attack Kofi, why? I have no effing clue. But this got turned into a tag team match, which turned the chants from “This is Awesome” to “This is Bullshit” and I couldn’t agree more. After this, the fans totally disconnected and started messing around with chants and Mexican waves and stuff, it seemed people were getting ejected and making fools of themselves, it was madness! A “All Elite! All All Elite” chant broke out too! I suspected a swerve, but that didn’t happen. Wow. They really dropped the ball at the final hurdle. I’m stunned at how terrible the ending was. They waited all night and built the Main Event up to have it changed to a bloody tag match? Almost to trick people into staying tuned at home it seems. Rollins won it for the team.
Conclusion
8.5/10🌟
Well that was an incredible show to say the least, in good ways and bad. We saw New Day on Raw, said goodbye to Dean Ambrose, Lars Sullivan debuted, Lacey Evans and Becky Lynch start something, Sami Zayn returned, Alexa Bliss returned to the ring, The Undertaker, Elias rapped (sort of), and they destroyed the Main Event. Teddy Long & Road Dogg are to blame I bet!
I hope you all had a great Wrestlemania Weekend! Sorry it ended so poorly here, but SmackDown usually makes up for a shoddy finish to RAW.
