Monday, April 2, 2018

RAW


Raw opens with The Coach introducing Stephanie and Triple H to the ring for the last face to face between them and Angle and Rousey before WrestleMania.
Ronda Rousey and Kurt Angle make their entrance to the ring.
Before Coach can ask a question Triple H starts to talk trash to Angle.
McMahon mocks how Rousey handled her losses in UFC. Rousey asks if she is a righty or lefty so she knows which arm to leaver her to sign checks when they are done. They do a UFC style photo op in the ring and Rousey gets in Stephanie's face. Triple H takes out Angle and Rousey grabs him by the arm. Stephanie picks up Ronda and slams her through a table.

Bayley vs. Sonya Deville
Bayley won
Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville attack’s Bayley after the match.
Banks indeed comes down to help Bayley drive them off, but then she tells Bayley to raise her hand in victory and The Hugger refuses. Sasha shoves her in the face and Bayley loses it. They start brawling until Absolution comes back in and takes advantage of the situation.

Seth Rollins vs. Finn Balor w/ The Miz on commentary
Seth Rollins won

After the break, WWE airs a video package highlighting Brock Lesnar's year-long title reign.

Angle is shown asking Heyman to make sure nothing happens tonight to jeopardize the main event of Mania. Heyman laughs at the idea of inciting Reigns being a danger to his client but he agrees to keep things calm.
The Bar is in the ring after the break. They say they don't care who Braun Strowman picks as his partner because they are going to win no matter what. 

Strowman comes out and says not only does he have a partner, but he isn't happy about what The Bar just said. Braun says his partner agrees to reveal himself if he can have a match with one of them right now. Sheamus agrees and Strowman says he is going to go get him. A few moments later, Braun's music hits and he comes out wearing glasses and a white shirt over his regular attire. He says his brother is Braun and he is Brains.

Sheamus and The Bar attack Brains right away. They get in some good offense, but Braun eventually overpowers them and sends them running for the hills. Cole reveals Strowman will actually have to get a real partner for Sunday.


Matt Hardy vs. Goldust 
Matt Hardy won


John Cena makes his way out after the break to make one last argument for why he should face The Undertaker at WrestleMania. 

Cena says he has done everything he can to get Undertaker to respond, but he is happy just to be going to WrestleMania as a fan. Cena says he has lost his last five PPV matches so it wouldn't be fair if he entered one of the other matches.
Cena says he has a lot of stuff going on outside of WWE right now, so maybe this WrestleMania is the perfect time for a change. He says he is proud to be attending WrestleMania as a fan to watch the most amazing WrestleMania card of all time.

Cena talks about all the matches he is excited to see at Mania and name drops guys like Bryan, Rusev, and Elias. Then he apologizes to The Undertaker for mocking him for the past few weeks in an attempt to get a response. Then he
realizes he hasn't tried to summon The Undertaker tonight.
Cena gets the crowd to chant The Undertaker's name as loud as it can, but he never shows up. Cena says Taker left his hat in the ring and his balls at home. He looks around waiting for a response and the crowd chants his name. His music plays and he lays the mic in the ring before leaving.

Elias vs. Heath Slater
Elias won

Braun is shown running into Curt Hawkins backstage wearing a shirt that says "Pick me Braun." He asks if he can be Strowman's partner and Braun asks what his win-loss record is. Hawkins says this could be his big break and Braun literally throws him through a wall. Michael Cole then throws to an interview with Nia Jax talking about her upcoming title match against Alexa Bliss.
Jax gets a little emotional as she talks about what Bliss said about her, but she vows to put it behind her and win the title at WrestleMania.


Alexa Bliss and Mickie James vs. Asuka and Dana Brooke
Asuka and Dana won
Bliss runs in and attacks her after the match is over. Brooke tries and fails to make the save, suffering a double DDT in the process. Jax's music hits and she runs to the ring. Bliss escapes while James tries to fight. Nia takes her down easily.


Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman make their way out after the break for their final confrontation with Reigns before
WrestleMania.
Angle sets up a wall of Superstars on the ramp even though Reigns came through the crowd last week. Heyman does his usual good job of both putting over and burying Roman at the same time.
Heyman says if Reigns wins, this is the last time he and Lesnar will ever appear on Raw. That is how confident he is, or it's just WWE preparing for Lesnar to leave when his contract is up. He says Lesnar doesn't think anyone in WWE can take his title.
As expected, Reigns makes his way out once he has heard enough. The Superstars on the ramp block his path and Lesnar waves at him while holding up the title. Roman asks why they are protecting Lesnar at all. They talk it over and clear a path for Reigns to go to the ring.
Lesnar tells Reigns to think about what he is about to do. The crowd chants "Let's go Roman" as he walks up the steps and stands on the apron. He steps through the ropes and Brock drops the belt. The two powerhouses circle each other, but Brock eventually rolls under the bottom rope and grabs his belt off the apron. He smiles as Reigns taunts him from the ring. Lesnar grabs a chair and gets back in the ring. Roman hits three Superman Punches in a row out of nowhere to knock The Beast down. He hits a fourth as Lesnar tries to get up.
The Big Dog sticks Lesnar with a fifth Superman Punch before grabbing the title and holding it above his head while looking at the WrestleMania sign. Brock pops up and hits a sudden F5. Brock leaves with his advocate while Reigns struggles to recover in the ring.
The show ends with Roman on the mat. I can’t wait to see Reigns get that Universal Championship away from Lesnar.


Rating 60/60

It could've been a better show considering this was the home show for RAW tell WrestleMania. The IC Title and Universal Title match build up are great. Of course, Asuka vs. Charlotte is nicely build up for WrestleMania and Nia Jax vs Alexa Bliss also looks to be great as well. I can't wait to see how SDLive leads us to WrestleMania.  I just hope we get something a bit better then RAW gave us this week.





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