SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
WWE MONDAY NIGHT RAW PRIMER
APRIL 8, 2019
BROOKLYN, N.Y. AT THE BARCLAYS CENTER
AIRS ON USA NETWORK, 8:00PM EST
BY FRANK PETEANI (@FrankPeteani), PWTORCH SPECIALIST
Announcers: Michael Cole, Corey Graves, Renee Young
Arena, WrestleMania results pertinent to Raw, and Items Advertised by WWE
If you can believe it, WrestleMania is now behind us and we get ready for the ever-so famous “Raw after ‘Mania” as WWE pulls back into the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. after another amazing Takeover this past Friday night and the WWE Hall of Fame ceremony on Saturday. Raw’s last appearance in the Barclays Center was the night after SummerSlam this past August.
Here are the results of WrestleMania pertinent to Raw:
- Braun Strowman won the Andre the Giant Battle Royal, which took place on the kickoff show.
- Curt Hawkins & Zack Ryder defeated The Revival to win the Raw Tag Team Championship, also on the kickoff show.
- Seth Rollins defeated Brock Lesnar to win the WWE Universal Championship.
- The IIconics defeated Bayley & Sasha Banks, Nia Jax & Tamina, and Natalya & Beth Phoenix to win the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship
- Roman Reigns defeated Drew McIntyre
- Triple H defeated Batista in a No Holds Barred match
- Baron Corbin defeated Kurt Angle in Kurt’s retirement match
- “The Demon” Finn Balor defeated Bobby Lashley to regain the Intercontinental Championship
- Becky Lynch defeated Ronda Rousey and Charlotte Flair to win the Raw and Smackdown Women’s Championships
Tonight, I’m sure we will be told by the announcers that the crowd will normally “cheer whom they normally boo and boo whom they normally cheer.” “It’s an unpredictable crowd,” and “anything and everything can happen” are a few others that come to mind. If the Raw after ‘Mania in 2013 in the now defunct Izod Center in East Rutherford, N.J. is any indication of how the Brooklyn, N.Y. crowd will be tonight, it will likely be quite the wild scene. This is the first time we get a Raw after ‘Mania in the Barclays Center, which opened in 2012. Here’s what’s advertised for tonight’s show:
Matches & Segments:
The Man brings the Raw and Smackdown Women’s Titles to Raw
Storyline Follow-Up:
- Rollins slays The Beast
- The Big Dog reclaims his yard
- Second Intercontinental Title is “too sweet” for Balor
- The (Defeated) Streak ends for Curt Hawkins
ADVERTISED MATCHES AND SEGMENTS
“The Man” Becky Lynch Comes to Raw as Raw & Smackdown Women’s Champion
In a result that was expected by most, “The Man” Becky Lynch captured the Raw & Smackdown Women’s Championships in the Winner Takes All triple threat match last night at WrestleMania by defeating now-former Raw Women’s Champion Ronda Rousey and Smackdown Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair.
The match of course was the historic first-ever women’s main event at a WrestleMania. It went about 25 minutes and featured Becky and Charlotte working together at times, Charlotte & Ronda going one-on-one, and of course what most wanted to see in Becky vs. Ronda. At one point a table was brought into the match to which Ronda said, “tables are for bitches.” In the end, Becky pinned Ronda by countering Piper’s Pit. There was controversy as Ronda’s shoulders were not down at the one-count; however, they were down for two and three. Ronda protested to no avail, and the WrestleMania crowd celebrated as Becky held up both titles. Here’s Becky on Twitter and in a WWE.com exclusive following the match:
Unthinkable to think what was once unthinkable. Those 3 seconds last night were a lifetime in the making. Thank you to all of you who have been on this crazy whirlwind journey with me. We’re only getting started. #becky2belts pic.twitter.com/OHDYTxsYQd
— The Man (@BeckyLynchWWE) April 8, 2019
Both Charlotte and Ronda were quiet on social media. Most expect Ronda to take a leave from WWE, and there are indications she hurt her hand during the match. Nothing is confirmed though, and thus we’ll standby on those fronts. As far as the finish to the match there are mixed theories as to whether or not it was a work, or it was a botch. Tonight, Becky arrives on Raw with both championships.
Frank’s Analysis: I have to admit I had Charlotte winning this, especially given the fact she was shoehorned into this match and won the Smackdown Women’s Championship not two weeks ago. I questioned the purpose of Charlotte being in the match, but I suppose at this point it was to move the Smackdown Title to Becky. As far as the finish, it’s out there that the botch was Ronda’s shoulder coming up, and the plan was for Becky to pin Ronda clean. That’s odd because why did Ronda act surprised? The announcers didn’t necessarily act shocked either. A second replay did not show Ronda’s shoulders being up. Who knows the real story, but the bottom line is, they’ve pulled the trigger on Becky and it will be interesting to see if she remains as popular going forward. Sometimes when the “chase” is over, the character loses a bit of steam. It’ll also be interesting to see how Ronda reacts after losing considering how baby-like she reacted to her two MMA loses prior to arriving in WWE. At some point, you wonder if we get the one-on-one match between Ronda and Becky that everyone truly wanted at this event.
STORYLINE FOLLOW-UP
New WWE Universal Champion Seth Rollins
In a somewhat unexpected turn of events, the WWE Universal Championship match between Seth Rollins and Brock Lesnar was the opening match of WrestleMania. Following the opening segment where host Alexa Bliss introduced WWE Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan, Lesnar’s advocate Paul Heyman made his way out. He said since Lesnar wasn’t going on last, let’s get this over with so they could jet to Las Vegas.
(Was their airplane and crew standing by in Teterboro or Newark airport? My guess is Teterboro. Does he have a Gulfstream, a Learjet, a Citation? Does he have his own plane, or did he charter that bad boy from NetJets? Hey, I used to fly corporate before I went to the airlines. I care about these things.)
Anyway, the match went just under three minutes and saw Brock gain the early advantage on Rollins. Rollins shoved Lesnar into the referee and gave him a low blow as he did on the previous Monday Night Raw. Three curb stomps later, Rollins pinned Lesnar to become Universal Champion.
Rollins was involved in the first Universal Championship match at SummerSlam in 2016. His first WrestleMania was in 2013, where ironically the last time the event was in MetLife Stadium and his match opened the show. That night the Shield (Rollins, Roman Reigns, and Dean Ambrose) defeated Randy Orton & Sheamus & Big Show. Here he is in a WWE.com exclusive following the match:
Frank’s Analysis: I’m disappointed Rollins had to resort to a low blow to lead to winning the match. Again, I won’t act naïve and pretend like I don’t know what WWE did here. I just wish their philosophy was different in this regard. I had similar issues with “Macho Man” Randy Savage when Hogan hit Ted DiBiase with a chair to help him win the title the first time, and Savage held the tights on Ric Flair to start his second reign. It’s cheap, and not a way a babyface should win a championship. At the end of the day, the title is off Lesnar which is what desperately needed to happen at this point. The match was properly placed as the opener.
Next Up for Roman Reigns
In his first singles match since returning from leukemia treatment, Roman Reigns defeated Drew McIntyre last night in around nine minutes.
The match featured Drew dominating for the most part, and at one point he yelled “You should have said no!” as he had Roman in a corner. It was a slap to the face that got Roman motivated. Drew avoided a Superman punch, but Roman eventually landed one and hit his spear for the win.
The crowd was flat and while it was hard to tell on TV, the response did not feel at all positive for Roman. Nonetheless, he gets the win in his first singles match back, but one cannot expect this to be over. Here’s clip from the match, which includes Drew yelling “This one’s for Ambrose!”
Frank’s Analysis: This was the result I feared. It was disappointing to see Drew getting pinned off one spear and Superman punch. Just when you think WWE is going to push him to the next level, he gets brought down. I’ve been concerned about Drew’s push since he lost to Finn Balor at TLC in December, and I maintain that concern. We’ve had our hearts broken before when Drew was here the first time from 2009-’14. I’ll hold out hope as perhaps they wanted to get Roman a WrestleMania win considering all he’s been through and even losing last year, but that doesn’t mean he should win a match that hurts his opponents’ position.
Finn Balor Begins His Second Intercontinental Championship Reign
As expected, last night Finn Balor portraying his alter-ego “The Demon” defeated Bobby Lashley to earn his second Intercontinental Championship. The match went around four minutes and featured Balor countering Lashley’s powerbomb with one of his own following by hitting his signature Coup de Grace for the win.
Balor begins his second reign as Intercontinental Champion after previously defeated Lashley and his manager Lio Rush in a handicap match at Elimination Chamber. Balor pinned rush in that match and lost the title back to Lashley a few weeks later when Rush interrupted the match by ringing the bell.
Frank’s Analysis: This reign would mean more if Balor didn’t win the title in February in odd fashion and lose it in an even worse way weeks later. The reign accomplished nothing, other than making Balor look bad and not doing any favors for Lashley. What’s done is done, and let’s hope his second run is better than what we got recently.
Hawkins & Ryder Being Their Raw Tag Team Championship Reign
In a WWE.com exclusive last week, Curt Hawkins & Zack Ryder told the Revival they wanted a Raw Tag Team Championship match at WrestleMania considering it was in MetLife Stadium near their hometown of Long Island (hey I can’t blame them being from Long Island myself).
While the match was originally planned for the main show, it was moved to the kickoff show. In surprising fashion, Hawkins rolled up Scott Dawson for a pin as he and Ryder capture their first tag team championship in WWE since 2008 when they defeated John Morrison & The Miz, Jesse & Festus, and Finlay & Hornswoggle at that year’s Great American Bash. At the time they were a member of the stable La Familia headed by Edge & Vickie Guerrero. Here they are in a WWE.com exclusive following the match:
Frank’s Analysis: This may be more punishment for Dash Wilder who punched the Bret Hart attacker at the Hall of Fame rather than giving Hawkins & Ryder a surprising win in their hometown. Vince McMahon has not shown a propensity for doing that number one and number two, say what you want but the Revival’s reign was defined down by several loses. You can’t expect a long reign from Hawkins and Ryder.
Other Possible Items for Tonight
Usually WWE keeps things close to the vest when it comes to the night after WrestleMania, so it’s hard to say who may or may not show up. Given they’ve called up several NXT talents but haven’t placed them on specific shows, you wonder if people get placed tonight or they wait until the superstar shakeup next week.
Speaking of NXT callups you wonder if any of the women involved in the fatal four-way at NXT: Takeover could be headed up. Shayna Baszler retained the NXT Women’s title. Bianca Belair could be ticketed for the main roster.
With the IIconics winning the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship, we can expect them on the show to brag and perhaps defend in a straight tag match.
Look for nuclear heat on Baron Corbin after defeating Kurt Angle in his retirement match last night. Regardless how you feel about Corbin he has a chance to go to that next level, but that’s on him and WWE creative.
I think we can be spared horrible segments with the SNL guys now that Braun Strowman won the Andre the Giant memorial battle royal.
Start Time & Matches Advertised on the Arena Website
The Barclays Center’s website advertises a start time of 7:30 p.m. local. They advertise no matches nor any specific wrestlers appearing, but they do acknowledge that it’s the Raw after WrestleMania.
Follow Frank on Twitter @FrankPeteani or e-mail fpeteani@gmail.com. Questions and discussion are welcome. Thank you for reading!
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