Welcome to the most highly-anticipated episode of Monday Night Raw of the entire year. It’s the Raw after WrestleMania, the show with the loudest crowd and the most unpredictable booking. With WrestleMania considered something of a ‘season finale’ for WWE’s storylines, this show tends to serve as the one on which new things happen.
This episode of Raw acted as the ‘season premiere’ of sorts for the upcoming months leading up to next year’s WrestleMania. We saw some shocking main roster debuts, at least one excellent return, and an announcement that’ll make the next week far more enjoyable than normal.
But even a show like this one isn’t without its flaws. Even on a show that could’ve easily written itself, the writers had to mess something up by going back to their usual bag of tricks, which prevented the show from being so much better.
And with that, let the rant begin.
Vince McMahon is an evil genius.
Usually, I try and avoid giving the man credit when it comes to decisions of his that anger fans; but boy, did he ever show off his intelligence on this show.
The show began with the longest ‘UN-DER-TA-KER’ chant I have ever seen. The passion these fans were showing for the Undertaker was unrelenting because most, if not all, were convinced that the Undertaker is indeed retiring. This is something nobody wants to admit, especially considering whom exactly it was that ended ‘Taker’s career. To that end, the fans chanted his name for a good three minutes straight.
Then Roman Reigns came out.
I haven’t heard a crowd this vicious towards a supposed babyface since John Cena at ECW One Night Stand 2006. It was at this point that Reigns really got to listen to what the fans thought of his character and the decision to have him defeat the Undertaker.
For ten long minutes, Reigns did not say one word as the fans bombarded him with insulting chants and expletives that, oddly, did not get censored. And when he spoke that one, stinging line (“This is MY yard now!”), the fans booed him harder than anyone I’ve ever heard. This was unrelenting hatred towards a character that people have been rejecting for almost three years.
In booking this to take place, Vince showed his incredible business smarts. He’s still of the mind that any reaction is a good reaction because it gets people talking. And on this night, Roman Reigns got the mother of all negative reactions.
While this momentary hatred might become a notable occurrence in itself, it actually helps Reigns and WWE long-term. Fans will now tune in even more in the hopes of seeing Reigns lose. And when he wins, they’ll boo as they always do, but they’ll keep tuning in because they hate him so much.
Triple H was right when he discussed being a wrestler in the internet age. It doesn’t matter if Reigns is a classic babyface or heel by traditional alignment; these days, those alignments are subjective, with some people simply choosing to reject the typical alignment for the sake of doing so.
Roman Reigns doesn’t need to change anything; he’s getting nuclear heat at this point, and Vince is lapping it up because it’s becoming a kind of phenomenon of its own. Yes, vocal fans and wrestling critics will continue to lambast the Reigns character for his booking and notable flaws.
But as long as they/we do so, it will still translate into more attention towards Reigns, which means more money in his and Vince’s pockets.
But wait, there’s more.
Later on, in the show, Vince himself made an appearance on Raw to announce the new Raw General Manager. Now, considering how much criticism is regularly levelled at this man, you’d think there’d be loud boos for him.
After all, so many people criticise him for his treatment of certain stars and his questionable booking decisions throughout the year. And yet, he got a standing ovation when he appeared, with many loud fans singing his entrance music long after it ended.
While they did indeed boo Reigns as Vince began his promo, he shook it off with complete indifference. That right there tells you that, a) he doesn’t care what the so-called ‘non-traditional fans in attendance’ (boy is that a condescending description) think, and b) he still knows what’s best for his product, and apparently that means pushing Reigns despite the backlash.
Important talking segments:
Vince McMahon announced that Stephanie was ‘out of commission’ due to her going through a table. I’m not sure he was expecting this, but the audience roared with approval and rightfully so. This is a good sign because her character has been detrimental.
After months of ranting on a weekly basis, it seems that WWE has finally realised what is necessary and written her off TV. Evidently, I am not the only person that feels this way.
This was the opposite of X-PAC heat; fans were just as happy that the individual was gone as they were glad the character was gone. Stephanie has become so annoying and unlikeable that people have been begging for her to get her comeuppance. That happened at WrestleMania and made this Raw one of the best automatically.
Also read: 5 Botches, slip ups, and outrageous moments from WWE Raw April 3rd, 2017
Kurt Angle had several segments in which he showed his great promo abilities and sense of comedic timing. He actually did well in a segment with Enzo & Cass, whose shtick might go over some people’s heads at times.
But Angle’s expressions and delivery were perfect, and he managed to get a pretty good reaction out of the audience with a simple one-liner. I predict good things for him in the position of general manager down the road, just as long as he doesn’t become as much of a central figure as Foley and Stephanie were during their time in the position of authority on Raw.
Lesnar and Heyman had a great segment, but Strowman ruined it by talking tough then walking away. What was the harm in having them fight? Strowman needed a big moment to make up for his surprising loss in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, and a short brawl with Lesnar would’ve done that.
I understand that WWE loves to build up to PPV matches by teasing a confrontation, only for one challenger to back down. But that approach should not be a ‘one-size-fits-all’ idea for all the heels to use. Some of the antagonists on the show can be cowardly and still succeed. Others need to look strong as heels, and Strowman is one of them.
He should never be backing down from anyone, even if it’s Brock Lesnar. if they’re trying to present him as a real monster among men, he shouldn’t be afraid of anyone. For him to walk away like this did him far more harm than good.
Raw is the Tag Team division
This episode of Raw featured three high-profile tag team matches, all of which had significant consequences (so, thumbs up for no throwaway tag team matches). The first was the newly-crowned RAW Tag Team Champions the Hardyz (still cannot believe they’re back) vs. former champions Gallows & Anderson (who simply cannot catch a break). After a competitive and highly entertaining match, the new champions retained, to the delight of the audience (who would not stop chanting ‘Delete’ throughout the match).
The second important tag team match was Sheamus & Cesaro (who now have the coolest tag team entrance on Raw) facing Enzo & Cass to determine the new #1 contenders to the Raw Tag Team Titles.
The audience was firmly behind Cesaro and Sheamus (the latter of whom is not getting any boos at all anymore, which proves that sometimes people can get over by themselves), even singing a random song that Cesaro apparently danced to during the commercial break.
These two guys are easily one of the most popular tag teams on RAW; hopefully, they’ll be able to bounce back from yet another loss.
The third tag team match pitted the New Day against the newest tag team on the Raw brand, the Revival. The NXT stand-outs received a roaring ovation when they appeared and managed to make relatively short work of the former tag champions.
The Revival are indeed one of the best tag teams in WWE right now, exemplifying the classic tag team style of the 1980s and 1990s. That ‘throwback’ element makes them unique and actually worth watching, as their matches over the past few years have been among the best and most exciting in all of WWE.
I for one have high hopes for this team, as long as their smaller stature doesn’t become a problem. This is a team whose success is centred on their in-ring work, not their stature. If Vince pulls the old ‘they’re too small’ shtick, which might be problematic in the future. But for now, let’s all just enjoy the fact that these epic wrestlers are now on the RAW roster.
The fourth and final tag team match of the night pitted Kevin Owens and Samoa Joe (and some people think that anyone that isn’t a chiseled musclehead will never main event WWE programming) against Seth Rollins and the returning Finn Balor (who had replaced Chris Jericho, who’d been attacked by Joe and Kevin prior to the match starting).
It was a fun and exciting match with the right team winning at the end (welcome back Finn Balor). However, I was hoping they would’ve booked a major angle to close the show. You see, it was Seth that had injured Finn in the first WWE Universal Championship match, which ended up putting Finn on the shelf for months.
Now that Balor’s back, he should, at least in theory, want revenge for Seth robbing him of his chance at glory. Instead, he’s teaming with the man that hurt him? That doesn’t make any sense if you think about it.
Finn Balor’s a character that could work as either a face or a heel. I understand they want to book him as a good guy for now, but that shouldn’t come at the expense of telling a logical, compelling, and believable storyline.
A Finn vs. Seth storyline centred on revenge for past wrongs would’ve made much more sense in the long run and would’ve definitely added a lot to what ended up being an exciting throwaway match on Raw.
Everything else:
Neville came out to cut another promo about his victory at WrestleMania, only to be interrupted by Mustafa Ali. The in-ring action here was great, as both Mustafa Ali did a great job keeping pace with Neville. But the audience barely cared, reacting only to the stuff that happened at the end.
This was due to them being distracted by a series of beach balls that were being thrown about during the match. I, for one, don’t think it’s a good idea for it to become a tradition for fans to crap on a match by entertaining themselves at the wrestlers’ expense.
It was (extremely) funny back in 2013 when the fans started chanting random names and one-liners during a match between Sheamus and Randy Orton. It isn’t anywhere near as funny now when they do it during the cruiserweight match, which is one of the key components of Raw.
The women had a six-person match that, unfortunately, didn’t lead to anything truly spectacular. It was nice to see the original Emma return after months of being inactive and teasing people with the gimmick that never was, Emmalina. Now that that garbage is over, we can have another proper heel on the Raw women’s roster.
Unfortunately, this was the only item of substance in the match. For the second night in a row, the women’s segments lacked shock, intrigue or character development. Rumours had been circulating for quite some time that Sasha would be turning heel, but this never happened. What we got instead was Nia Jax hitting an Elbow Drop on Charlotte, which wasn’t anywhere near as big as the rumoured turn.
Even after all he’s been through, it seems Zayn cannot catch a break when it comes to proper storyline development. He keeps winning stipulation matches, but he’s not going anywhere. He keeps jumping through hoops, but there’s no reward at the end of it.
Zayn’s been in stipulation matches since Survivor Series, and none of it has had any payoff. Last week, he even risked his career to be in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal (the only person to have to qualify for said match), only to be eliminated without any storyline explanation. Why should this man care about Raw anymore?
He should be salivating at the prospect of moving to SmackDown, where the smaller roster will give him more opportunities to shine, and the authority figures there are more level-headed.
In closing:
This was a fun Raw. It wasn’t the bedlam-filled supershow that had become the norm in years past, especially since WWE’s new approach is to treat the audience on this show as ‘non-traditional’ fans (which, I’ll say again, is a derogatory term. You’re calling your most loyal fans, people that spend thousands of dollars to come to WrestleMania week, ‘non-traditional’, all because they don’t adhere to your pre-determined storyline ideas…yeah, that’s an excellent way to treat hardcore loyalists).
As for the biggest talking point of the past twenty-four hours, there hasn’t been any confirmation of any sort that the Undertaker has retired formally. WWE has fueled more ‘speculation’ on the matter, but at this point, it’s a foregone conclusion. The Undertaker is never wrestling again.
The only question that remains now is, how will he have his actual farewell ceremony. Will he break character entirely and ride off into the sunset as an ordinary man, or was the final segment of WrestleMania 33 the last we’ll ever see of him? Only time will tell.
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