The 04/25/16 edition of WWE Monday Night Raw reviewed in about 4 minutes – featuring AJ Styles potential heel turn, Gallows and Anderson’s first match in WWE, a tribute to Chyna and…not much else to be honest.
Shane McMahon and The Authority
The rumours about The Authority’s return seem to be true. In her first post-dominatrix at Wrestlemania 32 appearance, Stephanie McMahon interrupted Shane McMahon’s now standard ‘here’s what’s coming up tonight folks!’ opening promo. I love Shane, but his patchy mic-work is getting more exposed every week.
Steph revealed at Payback, Vince will finally decide who is running Raw.
Vince, I’ve got it. Shane should have a Hell in a Cell match with the Undertaker for control of Monday Night-oh wait, that’s called Wrestlemania 32.
AJ Styles beat Sheamus
AJ Styles beat Sheamus in what looked like a very stiff match. Sheamus was minus-League of Nations lads, because just like the real life version from after World War I, they turned out to be a bit useless. This began Raw’s theme for the night: if you’ve got a match at Payback, you’re probably going to beat an ex-League of Nations member.
Gallows and Anderson came out to clap AJ Styles’ win afterwards. This ain’t my first wrestling rodeo, guys. I know that when a questionable wrestler is being overly friendly, they’re usually about to hit you in the face with a chair.
Gallows and Anderson beat The Usos
Speaking of GallAnderson – that’s my new name for Gallows and Anderson, by the way – they wrestled their first match in WWE against The Usos.
I would’ve preferred them to take a more Outsiders type role – as soon as they start having sanctified matches, they lose some of that renegade coolness.
That said, GallAnderson absolutely destroyed the Usos, working over Jay’s injured shoulder for practically the entire match. I really liked how dominate they came across.
What I didn’t like is how JBL kept calling The Usos “two-time Slammy Award Winners”. They’re two-time Tag Team Champions, too, JBL. It’s like trying to make Jennifer Lawrence sound like a good actress by saying she won Best Kiss at the MTV Movie Awards.
Here’s the other stuff that happened…
Tag Team Confrontation
Enzo and Cass had a promo battle with their tag team title no.1 contender contenders The Vaudevillians. Enzo was great as always, but Aidan English held his own.
Apollo Crewes vs Stardust
Apollo Crewes beat Stardust in the same match you’ve seen for the last four weeks: he flips, he wins, he doesn’t stop smiling.
Natalya beat Emma
Charlotte was on commentary to keep her feud with Natalya in everyone’s minds. They aired a really classy video package for Chyna’s passing right after. Seeing Eddie and her together was emotional.
Dean Ambrose/Y2J promo
Dean Ambrose did his best being serious about a feud over a plotted plant. So he made it about Chris Jericho’s expensive boots and scarf instead.
Both Ambrose and Jericho are doing good work here, but there’s nothing at the heart of it. The feud feels empty. So what do you do? You beat someone up on the Spanish announce table.
Baron Corbin vs Damien Sandow
It’s Damien Sandow! He’s alive! He’s playing to the crowd! He’s ready to have a match with Baron Corbin! He’s…not really going to have anything to do, is he?
His match never got started because Dolph Ziggler attacked Corbin on the entrance ramp. Sandow was more over than both of them.
Miz vs Cesaro promo
Miz is really good in this film quoting heel role. To keep in the movie theme, WWE should do a casting couch segment with Maryse. I’m just spitballing ideas here.
Sami Zayn beat Rusev
Before Sami Zayn took on Rusev, we got an excellent video package telling the story behind his and Kevin Owens’ feud. It covered their relationship in NXT, that Sami was there when KO’s son was born, and that Kevin Owens used to be a giant human thumb.
This is the Payback match I’m most looking forward to. Zayn told a nice story in the ring of his speed and athleticism against Rusev’s brute strength, eventually scraping the win – causing Lana to throw her shoes at him. I love Barefoot Lana.
Kevin Owens had a cheap shot on Sami right at the end just to remind everyone they really don’t like each other.
And now, the main event…
Roman Reigns vs Alberto del Rio
Before this match, we got a short video of Roman doing some charity stuff. The crowd hated Reigns so much, I think I heard them boo’ing a Make a Wish kid. This clip, and Roman fist-bumping the child at ringside, convinces me they’re not turning him heel this Sunday.
GallAnderson beat down Roman after he won, but AJ Styles ran in to stop them. Reigns hits AJ in the confusion, so AJ Styles lays out Reigns. The show closes with AJ Styles’ true intentions still a mystery.
So that was this week’s Raw in about four minutes. Here’s the usual ratings recap, from top to bottom – In Awe, Cor, AVERAWGE, Poor and Bore.
This week’s Raw is ‘Poor’. Although there were a few good matches and the promo time was admirably spread around, everything was so predictable. Everyone in a match at Payback won their respective bouts on this episode of Raw – and, in stark contrast to the last three weeks, none of them meant anything besides momentum.
But what did you all think? Let us know in the comments down below.
