The biggest winners and losers on last night's Raw (April 2nd)

Last night's Raw was quite possibly the worst go-home show to a minor PPV, let alone WrestleMania, that I've ever seen. Feeling more like a random episode in December than six days before the biggest show of the year, very little of what we saw wound up delivering. As far as doing its job and making fans more excited about the pay-per-view, it was abysmal.

Nonetheless, some winners were to be found on hand. Who were they?

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Loser: Ronda Rousey

Ronda Rousey continues to be unimpressive in her performances. While she got a decent response from the hot Atlanta crowd, her troubles were on display in full-force. Triple H and Stephanie nearly broke kayfabe in their attempts to get her crowd support. Nonetheless, she still sucked energy away from the opening segment whenever she opened her mouth, botching a key line.

As far as in-ring performances go, she didn't look much better. She even failed to sell the pain that comes with getting put through a table. There is serious cause for concern about her future in the company and that of everyone who interacts with her.

Winners: Sasha Banks and Bayley

It's a damning indictment of this build to WrestleMania that the best women's angle doesn't involve the Royal Rumble winner or one of the two titles.

With the build to Asuka vs Charlotte nearly nonexistent and its Raw counterpart between Nia Jax and Alexa Bliss already displaying its glaring weaknesses, Bayley and Sasha banks continue to be the highlight of the women's division in WWE. The angle has been very well done, but their feud is only set to be showcased in a battle royal on the pre-show.

Something is wrong here.

Winners: Finn Balor and Seth Rollins

By far the best part of last night's Raw, Finn Balor and Seth Rollins definitely got fans more excited about their upcoming triple threat match with The Miz at WrestleMania for the Intercontinental Championship. Already regarded as a possible show-stealer, Balor and Rollins only added to that anticipation last night with one of the best matches on Raw in 2018 so far.

Both are on hot streaks heading into New Orleans and there's no reason why the program can't continue afterwards.

Winner: Braun Strowman

Braun Strowman is a naturally funny guy and WWE has thus far trodden the fine line between a monster and a comedy character with him.

Coming out as "Brains Strowman," the segment built up some more anticipation about who his partner will be in New Orleans. The comedy didn't hurt Braun in any way, as he drove off both of his opponents by himself thereafter.

Loser: Matt Hardy

Matt Hardy took on Goldust in a meaningless match to build to a meaningless battle royal this Sunday. No word on what's happened with Bray Wyatt yet, or even a hint. Not even giving us a hint of what might be on his horizon, the match was only filler to run down the three hours.

It wasn't exactly the best use of the Woken Matt character after the success of the Ultimate Deletion.

Losers: John Cena and The Undertaker

The first promo in the build was great. They've dragged thereafter. Cena continued to show his talents on the mic, but ultimately this was a big waste of time with no payoff. If the match was going to be this heavily teased, we should have at least seen an official acceptance of the challenge last night by The Undertaker, even if only by way of a vignette.

Instead, we got a well-delivered, but meandering promo that leaves one less excited, not more, for The Undertaker vs John Cena match at WrestleMania.

It was the night's nadir.

Loser: Nia Jax

Sure, she still doesn't look like it, but the interview as pretty awkward and while the crowd cheered for the run-in later, Nia Jax's weaknesses were still on display.

It doesn't give one much confidence in her upcoming reign as Raw Women's Champion. Without Alexa Bliss to contrast with, it could well be abysmal, since her weaknesses will be fully exposed.

Winner: Asuka

I only use this term loosely. Asuka teaming with Dana Brooke of all people in a random tag team match was a terrible way to use the first women's Royal Rumble winner ahead of her "dream match" with Charlotte Flair on Sunday.

But, the crowd was more invested in Asuka here, and we at least got to see shades of her killer instinct when she dispatched Mickie James in a couple of minutes. As far as building her strength for WrestleMania, it's a start, but one that comes too late.

Losers: Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar

From Paul Heyman's repetitive promo to Brock Lesnar's comical overselling of the Superman Punch, this segment just didn't click as well as the previous ones have. Sure, the crowd was cheering for Roman, which is a big development, but this could have gone much better. Brock Lesnar suddenly rising to deliver an F5 didn't make him look as monstrous as in the past.

It might have been better just to prevent them from coming to blows altogether or for Roman Reigns to just ambush the Beast.

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