RAW After Mania: What Went Down

Hello everyone and welcome back to Talk Wrestling World, I hope you are all well and good and have had a great start to the week. For all my fellow British WWE fans I understand the struggle, I too am walking around like a zombie! The past few days have been jam-packed full of strong wrestling and crazy surprises that have left us all literally speechless. Now, I have a lot of content coming up this week focusing on Wrestlemania weekend as you would have already seen but it does mean there has been a slight change once again in my uploads. On Friday I will be taking a look back at NXT Takeover: New Orleans which I know is going up much later than I would have liked but I'm happy with the new upload day. There have also been changes to this week's RAW and Smackdown LIVE highlights. Instead of combing the two posts like I always do for this week things have gone back to how they used to be and I have decided to split them up and write individual reviews for this week only. The RAW after Wrestlemania is always a big one and I wanted to dedicate today's blog post to focus on the highlights of that show because there really were so many! Tomorrow I will be uploading my Smackdown LIVE highlights where hopefully we will have just as much to talk about! Now, as always, any recent blog posts will be linked below including part one of my Wrestlemania reviews and finally, you can get involved and tell me what your favorite moment from Wrestlemania weeks has been by leaving a comment below or by tweeting me over at @TezangiVictoria.

Ronda Rousey makes the WWE her Home

While we all had our doubts about Ronda Rousey and her signing with the WWE she proved critiques wrong once again this past Sunday in her debut match at Wrestlemania where she competed in what was hands down one of the best matches of the night. She proved herself massively and impressed in the ring way more than many were expecting. On last nights episode of Monday night, RAW Rousey once again stole the spotlight when she took out Stephanie McMahon once again further injuring the arm of the RAW commissioner. Everything about this segment was very well done. For the first time since arriving in the WWE Rousey looked comfortable and confident and showed more character than ever. The Smile on her face, the attitude, the shrug of the shoulders when she let go, feeding off the crowd reaction, and the timing, Rousey knew exactly what she was doing and she made a damn good impact and a solid start to the night. It felt as though the WWE is her new home and I know I can personally say that I'm very excited about Ronda Rousey and her WWE future.

Paige Officially Retires

The most heartbreaking moment of the night, of course, came from Paige's retirement segment. While we have all been aware of Paige's neck injury and what that injury means for her career, seeing the former Divas Champion stand in the middle of the ring in tears officially announcing her retirement from in-ring action truly was heartbreaking. While we will always have hope as we did for Daniel Bryan it was a sad moment but let's not forget the amazing things Paige has done for women's wrestling. A leading face in the women's evolution I strongly believe the division would not be where it is right now without her and I hope that we get to see her in a new role with the WWE at a later date.

NXT Stars Make Their way to Monday night RAW

Of course, the RAW after Wrestlemania means it's time to introduce some new names to the roster and last nights show saw four new names join the RAW roster all of which making an impact and picking up a strong reaction from the live crowd. First up we had Ember Moon who was announced as Nia Jax's tag team partner for the night taking on the team of Alexa Bliss and Mickie James. I wasn't surprised at all to see the former NXT Women's champion come up to the main roster. After losing her title to Shayna Baszler this past Saturday it was clear there really was nothing left for her down in developmental and Moon has clearly been ready for the jump for several months now. As I mentioned on Twitter last night, I do feel as though it is the blue brand that is in desperate need of new faces in its women's division, however, this was a fun way to introduce Ember and I am excited to see where the WWE go with her in the coming months.

Up next was No Way Jose which again came as no surprise. Its been a while since we last saw him compete in NXT and just like Ember Moon he has been ready for the call up for quite some time. Now, it isn't going to be an easy ride for No Way Jose and he is going to fall into the jobber/mid card section of the roster but right now he's a fun new face who has the crowd up on their feet and I do believe he can fit in a few good moments over the next year.

And finally, the debut I was most excited about, The Authors of Pain. Just writing that sentence gives me chills. These guys are WWE bread talent. Young up and comers who have won over the fans massively over the past year and a half and have earned the right to be named one of the best and most dominant tag teams in the WWE today. They had a strong showing on last nights show, however, out of every NXT star that debuted last night it was Akatm and Rezar who had some story. Looking as though they had decided to break away from Paul Ellering the WWE are clearly working on something that could be a brilliant move or a big big mistake. More than anything, I don't want to see the WWE mess up and ruin these two and moving them away from Ellering could be a big mistake. I love the idea of the two believing they are better than that, that they don't need Ellering anymore and being a little cocky but this is something the WWE needs to take their time with and really develop over the course of at least month instead of straight away sending them off on their own.

Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn Feel the Struggle

After losing to Daniel Bryan and Shane McMahon this past Sunday at Wrestlemania, Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn came to Monday night RAW looking for a new job but things were not going to be simply handed to them and RAW general Manager pitted the two against one another with the winner set to join Monday night RAW howwever, with neither superstar getting the victory it means the pair contiue to look for a place in the WWE and to be honest I am loving the storyline way more than I expected and with next weeks Superstar shake up taking place things are about to get very interesting.

Returns Leave Fans Speechless

Another RAW After Mania tradition is, of course, Returns and last night fans were treated to three massive returns that left us all rather speechless. The first came from Jeff Hardy who surprised fans when his music hit during a segment between the Miz and the Miztourage along with Finn Balor and Seth Rollins. Evening out the numbers, Hardy completed a dream team that leaves fans on the edge of their seat with happy tears streaming down their faces (wait, is that just me?). Rumors had been surfacing as to when Hardy would be making his return and what exactly he will be doing when he does return. Last nights show saw him return to what looks to be a new start away from Matt Hardy and the woken gimmick/brother Nero which to be honest I like the idea of. I do believe it's time for Jeff to have his singles push and possibly make the big move to Smackdown LIVE next week!

Samoa Joe was another injured star who made an appearance last night confronting Roman Reigns. Now, this again was done so so well. There is unfinished business between Joe, Roman Reigns, and the Universal Championship and it was a true standout moment when his music hit, the crowd blew up and the feud between the two talents continued on. This is going to be one to really watch and pay attention to and should be pretty interesting!

And finally, what was my personal favorite moment of the night, the return of Bobby Lashley. I tweeted out a few hours before the show that the one thing I wanted to see on this weeks episode of Monday Night RAW was the return of Bobby Lashley. It, of course, if not come as a surprise to see

him make his return last night simply because of how heavily rumored it was, however, it did not stop me from marking out and being the happiest women on the planet. There are some seriously exciting moments ahead with Lashley sure to collide with Brock Lesnar at some point in the near future. The WWE didn't do anything major with his return last night but the coming months are going to be huge for the newly returned Bobby freaking Lashley.

And that was the RAW After Mania Show. So much happened last night as expected and we had plenty to get through but we did it! The superstar shakeup is sure to be a huge highlight next week and on Sunday and Monday, I will be uploading blog posts listing names of talents who I believe need to switch brands. For now, as always, any recent blog posts will be linked below including part one of my Wrestlemania reviews and finally, you can get involved and tell me what your favorite moment from Wrestlemania weeks has been by leaving a comment below or by tweeting me over at @TezangiVictoria.

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