‘Raw’ Takeaways: Post-Mania Debuts, Returns and Feuds (April 9, 2018)

The post-‘WrestleMania 34‘ ‘Raw’ had a lot of attention on it following the ending of the Universal Championship match between Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns at the event. Did it deliver? What happened? Who debuted and who returned?

There may be segments out of order or missing. If they aren’t mentioned, it is likely that they were seen as filler and not additional parts of a longer storyline of some sort.

• The show opened with Stephanie McMahon and Ronda Rousey appearing to reconcile over their differences, as McMahon asks Rousey to join her cause. Rousey doesn’t accept this and proceeds to damage the already-slung arm of McMahon even further. This is likely a way to continue building Rousey as a babyface hot off her impressive debut.
• An interesting segment between Nia Jax, Mickie James, and Alexa Bliss evolved into the debut of the now-former NXT Women’s Champion Ember Moon. Her debut makes sense here, in that Moon herself was aiding the NXT Superstars with their fight against a bully in Shayna Baszler. Now Moon has come to help Jax against a new type of bully.
• Roman Reigns came out to a chorus of boos following his loss to Brock Lesnar at ‘WrestleMania.’ The storyline here appears to be that Vince McMahon has been neglecting to talk to Reigns, as he found out through the internet he was scheduled to face Lesnar again at the ‘Greatest Royal Rumble.’
• Samoa Joe returned to ‘Raw’ to interrupt Reigns, declaring that he would face the former United States Champion regardless of the result of the ‘Greatest Royal Rumble’ match at Backlash. More on that here.
• Braun Strowman and Nicholas had to vacate the Raw Tag Team Championships as Nicholas has to return to the fourth grade. Kurt Angle begins a tournament where four teams will compete, with the winner facing Sheamus & Cesaro at the ‘Greatest Royal Rumble’ show.
• The Revival defeated The Club and ‘Woken’ Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt defeated Titus Worldwide in the first round matches.
• The Authors of Pain with Paul Ellering would debut on ‘Raw,’ taking out Heath Slater & Rhyno. The popular tag team walked away from Ellering after defeating their opponents. This is likely due to Ellering not wanting to travel given his older age.
• Elias tried to get back up from his ‘WrestleMania’ concert the previous day. He managed to get the crowd to curse themselves. However, Bobby Lashley wanted none of it. He returned to ‘Raw’ and laid Elias out.
• No Way Jose debuted, defeating independent star John Skyler in a very quick match. He has an Adam Rose-esque train following him.

No Way Jose makes his Raw debut against John Skyler: Raw, April 9, 2018

• Sasha Banks was defeated by Absolution member Mandy Rose following an accidental attack by Bayley. It is worth noting, in this editor’s opinion, that Bayley seems to be playing an antagonist.
• After that match, in news that has been reported but not confirmed for some time now, Paige retired from in-ring competition in the same place she had debuted on the main roster at after ‘WrestleMania 30.’

Paige gives an emotional retirement speech: Raw, April 9, 2018

• It was confirmed during an early segment in the show that Miz would have his rematch clause against Seth Rollins for the Intercontinental Championship at ‘Backlash.’ More on that here.
• Finn Balor, Seth Rollins, and a returning Jeff Hardy defeated The Miz and The Miztourage in the main event of the show. For more details on what they did after ‘Raw’ ended, find that here.

Next week, it has been confirmed that The Revival will face ‘Woken’ Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt and Sasha Banks and Bayley can finally vent their frustrations against one another in the ring as they face off.

Which segment was your favorite of the night? What surprised you the most?

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