RAW Review and Reactions

Hello everyone and welcome back to Talk Wrestling World, I hope you are all well! Last night saw the night after Wrestlemania and what is by far the best RAW of the year and last night's show really did live up to that. With the fallout of Wrestlemania taking over the show, we got a busy three hours and a heck of a lot went down. With an awesome live crowd (as usual with the RAW after Wrestlemania crowds) and everyone pumped at home and still high on Mania it was all round a great night last night. But did we see an NXT debut? Did any titles change hands? And what was the biggest announcement of the night? Well in today's blog post I'm going to be taking you through every single thing that went down during last night's episode of RAW, what I thought, and how it will all contribute to what happens in the next couple of months in the WWE and in NXT. Before we get into this morning's blog post I have a thew little reminders for you. First up, is about TNA. I mentioned yesterday that starting in April I will be uploading my TNA Review and reactions post either every Sunday or every Monday, do let me know what day you prefer. I would also really  like to know what you guys would like to see in May. With Wrestlemania season over with I need a new monthly topic so do lave a comment bellow letting me know what you would like to see May dedicated too, it could be NXT month again or something completely different. I will leave the links bellow to all my recent post, including my Wrestlemania Review and Reactions and my RAW predictions from this week. Remember this will all my posts will go back to normal, so that includes the return of my Main event, Superstars, NXT, and Smackdown Review and reactions posts. Finally, you can let me know what you thought of Wrestlemania thirty one and last night's RAW by leaving a comment bellow or by tweeting me at @TezangiVictoria. 

Kicking off the RAW after Wrestlemania was former WWE World Heavyweight champion, Brock Lesnar and he's advocate the one and only, Paul Heyman. I will admit, I was not expecting this at all. I was predicting that Lesnar was going to stay off TV for a while and have some time to get over what had happened last night, but hey, I'm all for him appearing on the show and I loved it. Opening the show was of course another killer promo from Paul Heyman who introduced Lesnar in the best way possible and reminded everyone what had happened last night, making sure to point out that that he's client had yet another seriously dominating performance. Heyman's little recap of the closing match and moments of Wrestlemania thirty on was just perfect and let's be honest, who the hell doesn't like to hear Paul Heyman cut a promo. The awnser, no one. Last night, Lesnar was dressed and ready to fight and Heyman made it clear in the promo that Lesnar was going to have he's rematch "right here, right now". The news raised the attention of Stephanie McMahon who made her first appearance of the night and injected some reality. Stephanie's words were a little harsh (as usual) and her attempt at taking over the segment was a fair try but no one and I mean no one is a match for Heyman. In the end, Stephanie announced that when Rollins arrives at RAW, he will take on Lesnar and defend he's WWE World Heavyweight championship for the first time and Lesnar will be wrestling on RAW for the first time in over a decade.

The first match of the night was for the Intercontinental championship as the new champ, Daniel Bryan, was set to take on Dolph Ziggler. Personally, I wasn't too excited for this match. I'm not the biggest Ziggler fan in the world and it all just felt way too repetitive but hey, the booking made everyone happy and it made sense considering they were made the top stars of the match. At commentary for this match was Bad News Barrett witch made be much happier. The match did feel a little messy at the start but it was as predicted a very back and fourth match and for me, there was no true stand out of the two. Ziggler came across very heel like. From how he executed moves to he's all round attitude it was very heel like and I liked that, I've wanted Ziggler to officially turn heel for a long time now and it does look like maybe it could be in the works. Bryan did dominate a good chunk of the match and had some amazing amazing spots. I also want to mention how awesome Barrett did last night on commentary during this match and I actually think that when the he's in ring career is over he could easily turn to commentating. The match last night was so well put together, they both got their moment to shin and both had some outstanding moments, in the end Bryan retained the title. After the match, Barrett went on the attack but we got a surprise return from Sheamus. Now, where do I begin. Debuting a new image, Sheamus had the ultimate heel turn and attacked both Ziggler and Bryan in the best way possible making it clear, he was back. Hated the new image, loved the attack.

We then had a eight man tag team match witch saw the Ascension team up with the current Tag team champions Cesaro and Tyson Kidd to take on The New day and a debuting Sin Cara and Kalisto. This match made me seriously so so happy.  I've been waiting for the Lucha Dragons to debut on RAW for ages now and they did so so well last night. Kalisto was the main attraction in this match and he did amazing on in he's first night. The arena was filled with NXT chants and the former NXT talents took control of this match one hundred per cent! I could not have been more proud. The match itself was a well put together match, really fast paced, full of action and really well booked. It's not

often I of all people compliment a main roster tag team match. Kalisto in the end got the win witch of course was going to happen. Well timed and another great match.

After the add break, Rollins had arrived and with Lesnar in the ring it was time for Rollins to defend the championship for the first time. I had a lot of predictions for this match but it did not go ahead at and Rollins decided to choose the wrong time to run he's mouth. Rollins refusal to compete and put he's title on the line left Lesnar seeing red and went straight on the attack on the new champion but after Seth managed to escape Lesnar took all he's anger out on an innocent camera man and Michael Cole. Simply the best beat down/attack I have seen on RAW in a very very long time. Brock's behaviour left Stephanie McMahon no choice but to suspend him. It was so well done and so well put together and so convincing. I freaking loved this part of the show, one of the best moments of the night! This was a perfect example as to what I mean when I say Brock Lesnar is the most convincing, none PG, Dangerous superstars of all time.

When RAW came back to air after the commercial break we had Byron Saxton commentating and I can honestly say that this made me so unbelievably happy! I literally cannot explain how happy it made me! The match he first commentated for the night saw Stardust go one on one with a now solo, Mizdow who came to the ring still using the Miz's entrance track witch I didn't mind. The match between the two was short and simple and dominated by Damien witch put a huge smile on my face. After Sandow scored the win over Stardust, Miz made an appearance and attacked Sandow/Mizdow from behind. Last at Mania during the kick off show and Andre the giant memorial battle royal we finally saw Damien turn on the Miz and to be fair, I'm not against a feud between the two at all, as long as the right man ends up on top at the end. I really didn't like the fact Damien had that little beat down but he was majorly over with the crowd and got a nice little win, so I can't complain too much.
After that we got a mini promo from Curtis Axel ad the arrival of Adrian Neville who now just goes by the name Neville. Getting a huge pop from the crowd Neville scored a great win on he's debut and I'm so glad he on the main roster now. It's about time.

We then had a promo from John Cena and as announced earlier he set out an open challenge for the United States champion. First of all, the promo wasn't all that bad at all. The man who answered the challenge was the one and only, the lunatic fringe, Dean Ambrose. I did predict this in my RAW prediction post and I honestly could not be more happy this went ahead. Ambrose really needed to get back on track and back on the top spot, this was the right way to go about and the best way to have him get back on top of things. The crowd were one hundred percent behind Ambrose as where I. Putting Ambrose back in the United States championship picture is one of the best moves the WWE have made in a long time, I was actually predicting the man to take the challenge would end up being BO Dallas or Rusev.  What I found odd about this match was how heel like John Cena was working. Now, it's going to be a long long time if ever that we see Cena turn heel but last night the way he worked the crowd, executed he's moves, and moved around the ring and throughout the match, he could not get more heel like if he tried. I really did like this match and this was probably, for me, the second match of the night. This was on of the best one on one matches Ambrose has had in quite a while and it put him right back at the top of ladder allowing him time to really prove himself and prove why he is a top star in the WWE. Of course Cena retained the championship but after such an amazing match Ambrose has nothing to be ashamed of at all and I do think the next couple of months are gonna be good ones for the lunatic fringe. Great crowd reactions throughout the match and really solid, physical, packed match. I think Cena being the United States champion was probably the best move the WWE have made in a very very long time. Finally some credibility to the championship.

Divas action next and we got a six diva tag team match witch saw AJ Lee (who was sporting a Bayley shirt, witch I loved) team up with Naomi and Paige to take on the team of The Bella twins and Natalya. I would of liked to have seen a different match for the divas, it's all a little repetitive on the divas division roster but it was nice to see Natalya and Naomi in action, I'm always talking about how underutilized they are and how they are two of the strongest wrestlers in the divas divsion so that mad me happy. The two would kick start the match and while Naomi may have dominated early on it was Natalya who took control eventually and turn things around making it a one sided affair. When Brie made the tag things stayed on the side affair. The arrival of Paige in the match really changed the speed of it all and things started to look up for the baby faces when the action was taken out side of the ring.When the match returned from the ad break, we had Natalya and AJ in the ring with Nattie once again in control. Nikki who by the way is still the divas champion, didn't have the most time in the ring last night but she did have her moment and when she was in the ring she stayed in control and put on a great performance, showcasing her amazing strength. It was also really great seeing the crowd getting into a divas match and really showing the girls some respect and the match itself was just great, this is exactly what I wanted and what everyone wanted when we started give divas a chance. Great great match. What I really liked about this match was the ending, it was so great seeing a change in who won, and Naomi actually getting a win. This is two clean wins she has had over the divas champion.

There was also a little match between Rusev and Goldust and as a major, huge Goldust fan I was not happy to see him loose he's match last night but it made sense and was more than predicable.

Main event time, and we were set to have a six man tag team match with Seth Rollins teaming up with Kane and The Big show to take on Randy Orton, Ryback and of course, Roman Reigns. I will admit, I wasn't looking forward to this main event at all. Not a single part of me wanted this to go ahead. I thought it was just another typical RAW main event and nothing different at all. but to be fair the match wasn't too bad. The crowd were what kept me entertained, the NXT chants and all the other awesome chants and antics from the live crowd were just amazing and really kept me entertained to say the least. The crowd were extremely against Reigns, Big show, and Kane with Reigns getting another really bad reaction witch did make me feel a little sorry for him. Moment of  this match for me was when Ryback hit the shellshock on The Big show. I did feel like there were real tensions between Rollins and Reigns but it brought a whole new feel to the match witch I loved.

All round, this was an outstanding RAW, as all the other RAW after Wrestlemania's are. A disappointing main event but a great great show. Let me know what you thought of the show by leaving a comment bellow or by tweeting me at @TezangiVictoria. Remember by top 20 matches of the month and top 15 superstars of the month blog post will be up later this week.

Wrestlemania Review and Reactions