{"id":96033,"date":"2020-04-13T13:01:51","date_gmt":"2020-04-13T18:01:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/?p=96033"},"modified":"2020-04-13T13:01:51","modified_gmt":"2020-04-13T18:01:51","slug":"wwe-raw-primer-4-13-continued-audience-free-show-home-of-champions-as-wwe-hypes-appearance-of-top-champs-drew-and-becky","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2020\/04\/13\/wwe-raw-primer-4-13-continued-audience-free-show-home-of-champions-as-wwe-hypes-appearance-of-top-champs-drew-and-becky\/","title":{"rendered":"WWE RAW PRIMER 4\/13: Continued Audience-Free Show, Home of Champions as WWE Hypes Appearance of Top Champs Drew and Becky"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-1280918293\" class=\"pwtor-before-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><hr \/><b>SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)... <\/b>\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?show_id=3076978&theme=light&playlist=false&playlist-continuous=false&autoplay=false&live-autoplay=false&chapters-image=true&episode_image_position=right&hide-logo=false&hide-likes=false&hide-comments=false&hide-sharing=false&hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"140px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\r\n<hr \/><\/div><h3>WWE MONDAY NIGHT RAW PRIMER<br \/>\nORLANDO, FLA. AT THE PERFORMANCE CENTER<br \/>\nAPRIL 13, 2020<br \/>\nAIRS ON USA NETWORK, 8:00 p.m. EDT<br \/>\nBY FRANK PETEANI (@FrankPeteani), PWTORCH SPECIALIST<\/h3>\n<p><em>Announcers: Tom Phillips, Jerry \u201cThe King\u201d Lawler, Byron Saxton<\/em><\/p>\n<h3>Top 10 Moments from Last Week\u2019s Show:<\/h3>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Top 10 Raw moments: WWE Top 10, April 6, 2020\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/NfdW-Bpcdw8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3>Arena, Perspective on Live Programming, and Items Advertised by WWE:<\/h3>\n<p>The trend of audience-free shows continues as Raw will emanate from the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Fla. Tonight\u2019s episode will be live as will Smackdown for the near future. In case you missed it, Wade Keller posted an in-depth article with analysis on the pros and cons of doing live programming as opposed to recording shows as they\u2019ve done recently:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"asLPpiDDAd\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2020\/04\/12\/wwe-plans-to-shift-to-weekly-live-tv-events-comments-to-espn-about-decision-while-pro-sports-leagues-consider-options-to-follow-in-wwe-and-aew-footsteps-resuming-games\/\">KELLER IN-DEPTH: WWE plans to shift to weekly live TV events, comments to ESPN about decision and positive coronavirus diagnosis, while pro sports leagues consider options to follow in WWE and AEW footsteps resuming games<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);\" title=\"&#8220;KELLER IN-DEPTH: WWE plans to shift to weekly live TV events, comments to ESPN about decision and positive coronavirus diagnosis, while pro sports leagues consider options to follow in WWE and AEW footsteps resuming games&#8221; &#8212; \" src=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2020\/04\/12\/wwe-plans-to-shift-to-weekly-live-tv-events-comments-to-espn-about-decision-while-pro-sports-leagues-consider-options-to-follow-in-wwe-and-aew-footsteps-resuming-games\/embed\/#?secret=r7RfOofyB9#?secret=asLPpiDDAd\" data-secret=\"asLPpiDDAd\" width=\"500\" height=\"282\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>According to multiple media outlets, WWE are giving exemption letters to their employees to show to the police if stopped as a result of the stay-at-home order issued by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. The letter indicates they are \u201cessential media\u201d personnel. We\u2019re going through that with the airlines as we\u2019re deemed essential to the operation, so we have to print them out or at least have them downloaded on our phones upon request.<\/p>\n<p><em>Frank&#8217;s Analysis: Do you believe this \u201cessential media\u201d nonsense? I don\u2019t believe for a second. WWE is doing this out of obligation to put live programming on as a result of their contracts with NBC Universal or Fox. Don\u2019t hand me that happy horsesh&#8211;. They can put safety first under the current circumstances and work it out with both companies where they record shows ahead of time as they\u2019ve been doing. Should Fox cancel their contract with MLB because they can\u2019t air games? NBC with the NHL? ESPN\/ABC with NBA? Why is AEW able to air pre-recorded programming with TNT?<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>I don\u2019t know if I\u2019d be watching WWE programming if I weren&#8217;t doing the primers here at PWTorch. I can\u2019t write previews for a show I don\u2019t watch, right? Then again I continue to watch AEW. They\u2019ve done a better job, and at least they\u2019ve been smart to record programming ahead of time and not risk exposing people as much as you would in a live environment. I want to stay with the product too, so that plays into my decision. <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>I\u2019ll say this one more time: Wrestling should be shut down for now. Contrary to what WWE says, it\u2019s not woven into the fabric of our lives any more than baseball, football, basketball, and hockey. Getting together with our families and friends, going out to eat and to the movie theater, and taking our kids to shows and concerts is just as woven into our community and all of that is shut down. I love wrestling and have for nearly 35 years. I enjoy covering wrestling in my role here at PWTorch as I have for the last two years. That said, if it were shut down temporarily, my life would move forward just fine. The problem is wrestling is VINCE MCMAHON\u2019S ENTIRE LIFE. He has nothing else but WWE. HE needs it to go forward live, not the networks. Even people that cover wrestling for a living think it needs a break!<\/em><\/p>\n<p>WWE is advertising tonight\u2019s show as the \u201chome to champions.\u201d Raw Women\u2019s Champion Becky Lynch and WWE Champion Drew McIntyre will be on hand:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Raw home to champions on Monday Night\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/JUaP9hoTnhE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3>WWE Champion Drew McIntyre<\/h3>\n<p>Last week WWE acknowledged Drew McIntyre\u2019s big win at WrestleMania over Brock Lesnar to capture his first WWE Championship. It\u2019s technically Drew\u2019s second \u201cworld championship\u201d as he had a run as NXT Champion back in 2017 before succumbing to Andrade \u201cCien\u201d Almas (before Vince got a hold of his name and shortened it). They said at the end of the show they would show \u201cshocking footage\u201d of what happened after Drew\u2019s win.<\/p><div id=\"pwtor-3714048275\" class=\"pwtor-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>The footage turned out to be Drew\u2019s post-match interview where he talked about winning the WWE Championship and what it meant to him. He was interrupted by the Big Show, who last appeared on WWE programming back in January as a babyface teaming with Samoa Joe and Kevin Owens against Seth Rollins and his crew. Here, he appeared as a heel (marking his 4,386th turn?) challenging Drew to a championship match. Drew said there\u2019d be nothing Show could say to goad him into the match. Show then slapped him in the face, and Drew accepted. They went about seven minutes, and Drew retained after hitting his Claymore Kick to score the pin. This marked the second time at a WrestleMania where the new WWE Champion immediately defended the title after winning it in the main event. Yokozuna defended and lost the title (then the WWF Championship) to Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania 9 in 1993 after defeating Bret \u201cHit Man\u201d Hart.<\/p>\n<p>Drew appears tonight as his title run takes shape. We likely find out whom will be his next challenger, or how it will be determined. Here\u2019s Drew on The Bump, where they pipe in his old 3MB partner Heath Slater. It turned out to be a real enjoyable conversation:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Drew McIntyre and Heath Slater reunite: WWE\u2019s The Bump, April 8, 2020\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/4q4tKPUTXEQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><em>Frank\u2019s Analysis: Even though he lost his match at WrestleMania, I can see Seth Rollins being lined up for Drew as they have some history, and he is the top heel on the show now. If they\u2019re going to do that, it\u2019s fine. At least come up with a way for Rollins to earn the right to challenge for the championship. There\u2019ve been too many random title matches handed out recently with no rhyme or reason. I understand we\u2019re dealing with the pandemic, but they can still handle this a little better.<\/em><\/p>\n<h3>Raw Women\u2019s Champion Becky Lynch<\/h3>\n<p>Last week, Becky Lynch was coming off retaining her Raw Women\u2019s Championship over Shayna Baszler at WrestleMania. She talked to Charly Caruso and gave her credit, but also said Baszler underestimated her heading into the match. They acknowledged they were one day away from her being champion for a year, as she won the Raw and Smackdown Women\u2019s Championship at last year\u2019s WrestleMania (remember when they made her Becky Two Belts for a month?). Becky left the door open for Baszler to challenge her again. Baszler responded in a very creepy video where she said Becky would suffer the \u201cagony of her defeat.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Tonight, we continue the run of Becky. Perhaps the feud continues with Baszler or they go to something else before going back to the feud later. Here\u2019s some Twitter trash talk:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">This is so much more than just the title now. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/AeR3SoSGWC\">https:\/\/t.co\/AeR3SoSGWC<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Shayna Baszler (@QoSBaszler) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/QoSBaszler\/status\/1247298013552353280?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 6, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/twitter.com\/BeckyLynchWWE\/status\/1247567522716700678?s=20<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>Frank\u2019s Analysis: If it\u2019s me I have somebody else challenge Becky for a while, and let Baszler pile up some wins before going back to the feud. Done right, Becky-Baszler can last for a while. They\u2019ve already done Becky vs. Asuka. Maybe they build up Becky vs. Kairi Sane? Ruby Riott? There are enough babyfaces like Natalya and Liv Morgan where Baszler can build up her resume over time and get back to her feuding with Becky if that\u2019s the plan.<\/em><\/p>\n<h3>Other Match Results and News Items from Last Week<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Asuka defeated Liv Morgan.<\/li>\n<li>The Street Profits defeated Angel Garza &amp; Austin Theory (with Zelina Vega) via DQ to retain the Raw Tag Team Championship. Bianca Belair appeared, said \u201cshe goes here now,\u201d and wrestled Zelina to a no-contest. The Street Profits and Belair then defeated Garza &amp; Theory &amp; Zelina in a mixed six-person tag team match. (Phew)<\/li>\n<li>In a backstage interview with Charly Caruso, Bobby Lashley acknowledged it may be time for new management or a new wife after losing to Aleister Black at WrestleMania. Lana appeared and questioned Caruso what she did to her husband.<\/li>\n<li>Aleister Black defeated Apollo Crews, who made his return to Raw via an \u201cexpiring draft pick.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Ricochet &amp; Cedric Alexander defeated 205Live &amp; NXT\u2019s Oney Lorcan &amp; Danny Burch. They acknowledged Ricochet &amp; Alexander as an \u201cexciting new team.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Kevin Owens talked about his long battle with Seth Rollins and getting his WrestleMania moment. He said it may be time to go back to being a \u201cprize fighter,\u201d as he was once regarded.<\/li>\n<li>Seth Rollins defeated Denzel Dejournette from NXT.<\/li>\n<li>Nia Jax returned to Raw after a yearlong absence and defeated Deonna Purrazzo from NXT.<\/li>\n<li>Humberto Carrillo defeated NXT\u2019s Brendan Vink.<\/li>\n<li>Charly Caruso interview new NXT Champion Charlotte Flair and congratulated her on her WrestleMania win over Rhea Ripley.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Final Thoughts<\/h3>\n<p>I look forward to Drew\u2019s title reign unfolding. It\u2019s all about the opponents. Outside of Rollins and maybe Randy Orton, I don\u2019t know that there are a lot of options. You\u2019re looking at Murphy, Bobby Lashley (unless they\u2019re turning him), Andrade, Angel Garza, and Austin Theory. Andrade I suppose could be an option. There\u2019s always A.J. Styles, but who knows where he\u2019s headed after the feud with the Undertaker. I\u2019m interested too in Becky\u2019s future. There are some options for her moving forward, and we should have an idea tonight as to where we may be headed.<\/p><div id=\"pwtor-150933824\" class=\"pwtor-content-1 pwtor-entity-placement\"><!-- Tag ID: pwtorchcom_test_300x600 -->\r\n<div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __300x600\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p><em>Follow Frank on Twitter @FrankPeteani. Questions and discussion are welcome! Thank you for reading.<\/em><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>RECOMMENDED:\u00a0<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2020\/04\/06\/heydorns-wwe-raw-report-4-6-alt-perspective-coverage-of-the-live-show-in-a-crowd-free-environment-including-wrestlemania-fallout-mcintyres-first-night-as-champion-and-more\/\">HEYDORN\u2019S WWE RAW REPORT 4\/6: Alt Perspective coverage of the live show in a crowd free environment including WrestleMania fallout, McIntyre\u2019s first night as champion, and more<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"pwtor-end-article-groups pwtor-entity-placement\" id=\"pwtor-2431405678\"><div id=\"pwtor-3387031429\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\nTHANK YOU FOR VISITING<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>WWE MONDAY NIGHT RAW PRIMER ORLANDO, FLA. AT THE PERFORMANCE CENTER APRIL 13, 2020 AIRS ON USA NETWORK, 8:00 p.m. EDT BY FRANK PETEANI (@FrankPeteani), PWTORCH SPECIALIST Announcers: Tom Phillips, Jerry \u201cThe King\u201d Lawler, Byron <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2020\/04\/13\/wwe-raw-primer-4-13-continued-audience-free-show-home-of-champions-as-wwe-hypes-appearance-of-top-champs-drew-and-becky\/\" title=\"WWE RAW PRIMER 4\/13: Continued Audience-Free Show, Home of Champions as WWE Hypes Appearance of Top Champs Drew and Becky\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":95712,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,52,4354,27,5893,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-96033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-prowrestlingnews","category-opnionandanalysis","category-raw-primer","category-specialists","category-tvprimers","category-news_wwe"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2020\/04\/Screen-Shot-2020-04-06-at-3.02.24-PM.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96033","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96033"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96033\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":96040,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96033\/revisions\/96040"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/95712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}