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KELLER’S WWE RAW REPORT
APRIL 27, 2020
LIVE FROM ORLANDO, FLA. AT PERFORMANCE CENTER
AIRED ON USA NETWORK
Announcers: Tom Phillips, Byron Saxton, Samoa Joe
Tonight after WWE Raw, join me live with guest cohost Tom Stoup from “PWT Talks NXT” to break down the show with live callers and emails.
Note: This is a good opportunity to talk with us about how tonight’s Raw was filled with NXT alum, and compare how they’re doing now compared to expectations when they were first called up.
•STREAM LIVE HERE ABOUT 5 MINUTES AFTER RAW
•CALL: (347) 215-8558
•EMAIL COMMENTS/QUESTIONS: wadekellerpodcast@pwtorch.com
•IF YOU DON’T LISTEN LIVE, SEARCH “WADE KELLER” ON YOUR PODCAST APP TO SUBSCRIBE AND THEN DOWNLOAD OR STREAM THE FULL SHOW AN HOUR OR SO AFTER RAW
[HOUR ONE]
-They opened with a shot of the entrance stage as Phillips and Saxton introduced the show. Then they hyped the Drew McIntyre-Seth Rollins contract signing and a Shayna Baszler vs. Asuka vs. Nia Jax. They went to the announcers on camera. Phillips said Samoa Joe was back on the announce team “by popular demand.”
-MVP Lounge: He said his is the only nightclub in America that is still open. He said he had three guests who will be competing in the “most unique” Money in the Bank match in history. MVP describes the special rules at WWE HQs. (They continue to talk about fighting “from the ground floor to the roof,” leaving it open to interpretation that they’re either scaling the side of the building or fighting on the inside through staircases and elevators.) Phillips, in classic WWE speak, said in the men’s MITB, “five of the six opportunities have been determined.” MVP introduced Rey Mysterio first. He welcomed him to take a seat. Aleister Black came out next. Then Apollo Crews.
MVP talked to Rey first and said for him, winning adds to his already historic career. For Black, it would be an opportunity to catapult his star to an even higher stratosphere. He said Crews, it pains him to say, beat him to earn his spot in the match. He said everyone wants to know what it would mean to Crews to win, and does he have what it takes. Crews took the mic and began answer when he was interrupted by Zelina Vega, Austin Theory, Angel Garza, and Andrade. Zelina said, “Nobody in the WWE Universe” wants to hear what Crews has to say. She said the WWE Universe can’t get enough of her and her men. When the three wrestlers in the ring glared back at her, she said they’re no fun. They all walked to the ring, kicking over MVP’s velvet ropes at ringside. She said those three just need to do what’s right and show the WWE Universe they are willing to do what’s best for Raw and allow her three men to take their places in the MITB match.
MVP began to respond, but Rey snatched the mic from him. He asked if they ere really executing them to just give up their spots. He laughed at them. He said they are picking up a vibe that they came out to pick a fight, too. They charged at Vega’s men and brawled. The three babyfaces cleared the ring quickly. Rey’s music played and they cut to a break. [c]
(1) REY MYSTERIO & APOLLO CREWS & ALEISTER BLACK vs. ANDRADE & AUSTIN THEORY & ANGEL GARZA (w/Zelina Vega)
The match was in progress after the break. The action was paced like it was going be a long match. Saxton said he thinks Crews has “turned a corner in his career.” Saxton said the fact that Rey wants to win MITB with all he has already accomplished really conveys how important the MITB match is. About five minutes in, Rey went for a 619 on Andrade, but he bailed out to ringside. Then Black and Crews flip dove over the top rope onto the heels at ringside. They cut to a break. [c]
The match continued with Andrade working over Black in the corner, then tagging in Theory. Theory locked on a chinlock. Rey hot-tagged in eventually and rallied against Andrade. Andrade made a comeback and yanked off his pants. Phillips asked if Joe had seen that before. He said it was his first time. They cut to another break. [c]
Back from the break, Theory was working over Rey, pressing him and tossing him to the mat. A graphic noted the triple threat women’s match later. Still no reference to the next phase of the Triple H 25th Anniversary Celebration which was announced on WWE.com earlier in the day. Rey and Andrade both tagged out, and Crews and Theory entered. Crews went on a flurry of offense against Theory. He gave a spinebuster to an interfering Garza, then gave an overhead slam to Theory for a near fall, broken up by Andrade. Some chaos broke out next with a series of moves. When the dust settled, Andrade scored a near fall on Crews after an elbow strike. Crews countered a hammerlock DDT into a sitout powerbomb for a three count. They cut to Zelina looking on in shock, and gasping, “What?!” Crews was the center of attention afterward, with his music playing as the announcers talked about his big win over a reigning champion. He stood on the second rope and smiled.
WINNER: Crews & Rey & Andrade in 25:00.
(Keller’s Analysis: This is the type of match you have to just settle in to watch and understand they’re trying to fill a lot of TV time and accept that the pace is going to be what it is. The action is solid, but it lacked urgency until the final minute or two. I suspect a big percentage of the Raw audience is looking for something more than 25 minutes of this to start the show, though.)
-Phillips talked about the Triple H 25th Anniversary Celebration starting last Friday on Smackdown. He said they’d be looking at top ten moments of his career during the show, beginning with no. 10. They aired a clip from March 1998 forming the DX Army with Chyna, X-Pac, Road Dogg, and Billy Gunn. [c]
-A commercial aired for a USA Network series called “Cannonball” hosted by Miz. He said, “This is why TV was invented.”
-Another Triple H moment aired. This was looking at the March 2015 match between Triple H and Sting with run-ins by DX and the NWO.
-Backstage Zelina and Andrade were yelling at each other. Charly Caruso asked what happened in the match. Andrade looked at Vega, then said his partners let him down. He said none of them could beat him one-on-one in a championship match. Crews then walked up to Caruso and said he couldn’t help but hear those sore losers complaining. He said he’d beat Andrade later to prove he could beat him two times in one night. He was laughing. Andrade walked up and shoved him. Caruso left. Andrade accepted his challenge. Crews slapped Andrade. Vega asked, “How dare you?” She asked if he think he’s a big shot after one lucky win. She said he can prove it in a title match tonight.
(Keller’s Analysis: They’re definitely working with a skeleton crew of wrestlers tonight if they’re recycling Andrade and Crews for later. This is fine, but it feels more like a WWE Main Event angle than worthy of Raw just based on Crews being around so long as a mid-carder at best who had been defined down for so long.)
-Back to the announcers, they reacted and then pivoted to talking about the Drew McIntyre-Seth Rollins match. A video aired with Drew talking about the importance of the WWE Title with clips of big names in the past holding the title. Then a clip aired of last week’s interview with Seth responding to Drew. Phillips then hyped the contract signing later in the show. Saxton hyped the triple threat match.
-Another Triple H moment aired from August 1999, the first Smackdown main event against The Rock with Shawn Michaels as the special referee. Michaels interfered against Rock with a superkick, going Triple H the win to retain his title. [c]
-Another Triple H career highlight aired from July 2000 of him showing Trish Stratus some holds, including instructing her to bed over in front of him. In walked Stephanie McMahon who chewed out Triple H and threw tings around the room and tossed aside a lamp as Triple H tried to explain himself.
-Asuka made her ring entrance. Phillips commented on a replay of Jax tossing Kairi Sane hard into the bottom turnbuckle last week and eventually beating her with a Samoan Drop. The announcers said this match is more personal for Asuka because of that. Asuka held the mic and yelled in Japanese for a while about Nia Jax. She tearfully said, “Poor, poor Kairi!” Jax made her entrance.
[HOUR TWO]
-Shayna Baszler came out third at the start of the second hour. She yanked Asuka out of the ring and attacked her at ringside. Jax attacked Baszler. Baszler threw Jax into the barricade, then took Asuka down. She set up a ladder against the ringside steps. Asuka recovered and reversed Baszler into the ladder, then stomped on her. Asuka threw Baszler into the ring. Jax charged at Asuka and knocked her down hard at ringside, then threw her into the ring. Jax picked up the ladder and tossed it over the top rope into the ring. She charged at Asuka and Baszler with a ladder. Her music played as they recovered on the floor. Joe said a “clear message” was sent by Jax to her MITB opponents. Phillips said the match never started because of the physicality of Jax at ringside.
(Keller’s Analysis: So they advertise a triple threat, then lazily just call off the match arbitrarily because Jax beat up Baszler and Asuka at ringside. Since when do pre-match brawls lead to matches being called off?)
-Phillips said “The All Mighty” Bobby Lashley was in action next. [c]
-Lashley told Lana backstage that he knows she wants to help him, but it’d be better if she wasn’t at ringside during his match because she’s a distraction. Lana was upset. Lashley explained that when he sees how gorgeous she is, he can’t concentrate. She was flattered and said she understood.
(2) BOBBY LASHLEY vs. DENZEL DEJOURNETTE
Phillips said Denzel has “popped up on Raw and Smackdown lately.” He didn’t say he was “from NXT,” which is good. Lashley overhead tossed Denzel in the opening seconds, then slapped him. Denzel came back with leapfrog and then a slap of his own. It wasn’t the hardest slap. Saxton called it “quite the receipt.” Lashley got mad and beat up Denzel for another minute before finishing him with a spear.
WINNER: Lashley in 2:00.
-The announcers on camera reacted to the Lashley win, then commented on clips of the Liv Morgan-Ruby Riott rivalry. They hyped that they’d wrestle next. [c]
-They showed the Performance Center briefly as Phillips said they had breaking news from earlier in the day. He said WWE2K Battleground is “an over-the-top arcade style game” and is a brawl without limits.
(3) LIV MORGAN vs. RUBY RIOTT
As she entered the ring, Saxton said Liv has a bright future ahead of her. Ruby came out second. Riott landed a Riott Kick a couple minutes in and reacted with shock when Morgan kicked out. Phillips said not many have kicked out of that before. Liv caught Riott with her Oblivion finisher for an upset win.
WINNER: Morgan in 3:00.
-Saxton interviewed Morgan mid-ring and asked if it’s a new start for her. She said she feels like she’s had so many chapters, and now she feels like a lot of people her age – she’s still trying to figure out who she is what that means, but she’ll figure it out. She said she is confident she will figure it out. She smiled.
(Keller’s Analysis: I don’t have faith this is going to pay off, but I’m intrigued by the idea that they’re taking her on a journey to find her identity that could go some wild places. It also might just be a phoned-in scripted promo going through the motions on her back story.) [c]
-Triple H career moment no. 6 featured June 1997 King of the Ring Tournament Finals against Mankind (Mick Foley). He pinned him with a Pedigree.
Announcement: Mick Foley is joining me tomorrow on the Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Podcast “Interview Tuesday” episode.
He will reflect on the Triple H “King of the Ring” match and catching up with him in general. If you have topics or question you’d like me to ask Foley, send them before noon on Tuesday to wadekellerpodacst@pwtorch.com
-They went to the announcers. Joe called it a big turning point for Triple H’s career and it’s one of his personal favorite moments. Phillips shifted to hyping the Money in the Bank PPV one week from Sunday. They hyped Drew defending against Seth, Braun Strowman defending against Bray Wyatt, Bayley defending against Nia Jax, plus the Money in the Bank matches. They showed the five wrestler involved in the men’s MITB match and the five in the women’s MITB match.
-Backstage Nia was unwrapping her wrists. Caruso walked up to her. Jax ignored her. Caruso said a lot of people are talking about her actions earlier. Jax interrupted and asked Caruso what she can do about her actions. “Nothing,” she said. She talked down at her from about ten inches away for nearly a minute, repeating in various ways that nobody can do anything about her actions. She then screeched, “Nothing!” (Droplets flew there.)
-The Viking Raiders were back to standing in red light with fog blowing around them. They said the Street Profits have followed in their footsteps, winning the NXT Tag Titles and Raw Tag Team Titles after them. They said every single time they get in the ring with them, though, they lose. They said the Profits might be in possession of the tag titles and the world might call them champions, but the truth is that as long as they are around, they’ll only ever be second best. They dared the Profits to prove them wrong because they ant the smoke. The smiled at each other as they said that.
-Clips of Jinder Mahal were shown. Phillips said he’s in action next.
(Keller’s Analysis: Call you friends, text your family, post on every social media account you have! Jinder is back!!) [c]
-Triple H career moment no. 5 went back to November 2019 with Triple H and Shawn Michaels talking to Daniel Bryan as NXT wrestlers invaded Raw.
(Keller’s Analysis: That was definitely not a top ten career moment for Triple H.)
(4) JINDER MAHAL vs. AKIRA TOZAWA
Phillips said Tozawa, who was standing in the ring as his music played, is “ready for a fight.” Phillips talked about the surprise WWE Title reign of Mahal that led to him holding the title for six months. Phillips marveled at the shape Jinder is in. He tossed Tozawa to ringside and then hard into the barricade. He won with the Khallas.
WINNER: Mahal in 2:00.
(Keller’s Analysis: If you were hoping for a summer WWE PPV main event of former Three Man Band members Drew defending against Jinder, your odds just went up.)
-Caruso asked Zelina and Andrade another question. Zelina told Caruso to only address questions for Andrade through her. Garza walked up to her and said she has been very professional. He presented her with a rose and asked if they could get better acquainted on a personal level. She was smitten and accepted his offer. [c]
-Triple H career moment no. 4 went back to June 2006 of Triple H walking out, imitating Vince McMahon in a parody followed by Shawn Michaels coming out imitating Shane McMahon.
(5) ANDRADE (w/Zelina Vega) vs. APOLLO CREWS – U.S. Title match
Saxton wondered if Andrade was in the right state of mind. Joe said winning a non-title match is one thing, but beating a champ with the title on the line is a whole other thing. Formal ring introductions took place. Boy that silence after Crews was announced was awkward. Probably a good idea not to milk that moment under these circumstances. They fought for several minutes. Crews went for a flip off the ring apron, but Andrade moved. Crews sold tweaking his knee. Andrade clotheslined him and they cut to a break. [c]
[HOUR THREE]
Back from the break at the very start of the third hour, Andrade was concentrating on Crew’ss knee. Saxton said whatever chance Crews had seems to be fading away. Andrade charged in the corner with double-knees, but Crews moved. He managed to give Andrade an Olympic Slam, but then grabbed his knee in pain afterward. Andrade came back by sending Crews into the corner with a drop toe hold, then landed double knees in the corner for a near fall. Zelina threw a fit as Saxton said, “Apollo Crews is still in it!” Crews went for a gorilla press, but Andrade countered with a DDT. They were slow to get up. Andrade sunset flipped Crews for a two count. Crews popped up and hit an enzuigiri and then a powerslam for a two count. Joe said he can tell Crews really wants to become U.S. Champion tonight. Andrade caught Crews on the top rope. They exchanged punches. Crews blocked a superplex and knocked Andrade to the mat. He leaped off the top rope, but Andrade moved. Crews again sold that his knee buckled. The ref pulled Andrade away so he could check on whether Crews could continue. Joe said the heart might be willing, but the body can’t. The ref called off the match, ruling he couldn’t continue.
WINNER: Andrade via ref stoppage in 17:00 to retain the U.S Title.
(Keller’s Analysis: Solid match. I didn’t mind the storyline of Crews putting up a really good fight and wanting to push through a knee injury, but ultimately the ref making the call. It preserves a rematch being relevant for Crews. Of course, without a crowd, it’s just tough for Crews to get that validation that his push is catching on, so WWE and Crews are flying blind here. I’m curious if some wrestlers benefit from not having live fans being quiet during their matches because it gives them more time to get a push on TV and maybe ultimately prove they deserve fan respect.) [c]
-Triple H career moment no. 3 went back to February 2003 as Triple H walked out with Ric Flair, Randy Orton, and Batista with Jim Ross saying, “You might be looking at the future of WWE.”
-They went to the announcers on camera who recapped what happened with Crews vs. Andrade, and the Crews knee injury being the story of the match.
-They went backstage to The Street Profits. They ripped on The Viking Raiders doing car pool karaoke chewing on a turkey leg. Angelo Dawkins told them to get on Spotify. Montez Ford asked when Dawkins is free so they can prove them wrong. Dawkins said next week works for him. Ford told them to bring their war paint because if it’s smoke they want, that’s what they’re going to get.
(Keller’s Analysis: Hey, a Street Profits interview that didn’t irritate me.)
-A snippet aired of the “Becky Lynch: The Man” special on WWE Network. They edited Becky pinning Ronda Rousey in a way that hid Rousey’s shoulders being up for part of the pin. It closed with Becky asking, “What do you do when all your dreams come true? Make new ones. Luckily I have a large imagination.”
-Saxton hyped the Drew-Seth contract signing. [c]
(6) RICOCHET & CEDRIC ALEXANDER vs. EVER RISE (Matt Martel & Chase Parker)
Phillips said they gained experience in NXT and trained at the P.C. (That sounds better to say they gained experienced in NXT rather than framing them as NXT wrestlers who are about to lose.) Joe and Saxton really touted Ricochet and Cedric. Fast-paced action from the start. Parker rolled up Ricochet with a yank of the tights a couple minutes in. Ricochet kicked him and then tagged in Cedric. Ricochet leaped off the top rope and dropkicked Parker into a power Flatliner by Cedric.
WINNERS: Ricochet & Cedric in 3:00.
-After the match, MVP appeared on the big screen and said the NFL draft got him thinking who better to reintroduce Shane Thorne & Brandon Vink to Raw than him. He said Cedric & Ricochet beating them was a fluke, but a rematch next week could be special. Ricochet and Cedric said if that’s what they want, they got it. [c]
-Triple H career moment no. 2 featured the DX invasion of WCW Nitro.
-Crews was on crutches backstage, wincing in pain with his left knee wrapped in ice. Caruso approached him and said she’s so sorry to see him like that. She said he appeared well on his way to winning the U.S. Title “and this has to hinder your progress.” Crews was crying and walked away.
-Another video feature aired on Drew and Seth. [c]
Tonight after WWE Raw, join me live with guest cohost Tom Stoup from “PWT Talks NXT” to break down the show with live callers and emails.
Note: This is a good opportunity to talk with us about how tonight’s Raw was filled with NXT alum, and compare how they’re doing now compared to expectations when they were first called up.
•STREAM LIVE HERE ABOUT 5 MINUTES AFTER RAW
•CALL: (347) 215-8558
•EMAIL COMMENTS/QUESTIONS: wadekellerpodcast@pwtorch.com
•IF YOU DON’T LISTEN LIVE, SEARCH “WADE KELLER” ON YOUR PODCAST APP TO SUBSCRIBE AND THEN DOWNLOAD OR STREAM THE FULL SHOW AN HOUR OR SO AFTER RAW
Is it not strange that for weeks WWE has shown those Mania highlights with Rousey’s shoulders CLEARLY off the mat, but now they edit that out after Ronda started popping off on social media?