WWE Raw – April 20, 2020 (Review)

Raw was tasked with getting WWE back on track after a tumultuous week marred by a mixed bag of announcements. Last week kicked off with the devastating news of myriad releases – which has been broadly discussed and widely panned – and quickly transitioned to the reveal that Money in the Bank would be broadcast from WWE Headquarters.

Far from being the novel proposition it was presented as, some astute observers will no doubt appreciate the historical significance of Titan Towers to WWE television. The company’s headquarters have featured in opening stings and Super Bowl halftime commercials. It was the site of Steve Austin’s most dictatorial moment as CEO, invaded by D-Generation X and later even by Brock Lesnar. You would think they might’ve improved security by now.

So it’s safe to say that Money in the Bank has lofty precedents to meet. But before we could get too excited by the prospect of the event, we needed to determine the competitors in the respective matches. Think of it as the peas and broccoli before the ladders and tables.

And that was very much the focus of this week’s Raw. Multiple qualifiers took centre stage, with a ticket to Titan Towers (and an opportunity at a title shot) on the line. As if that wasn’t enough to whet the appetite, Drew McIntyre was set to confront Seth Rollins over the latter’s blindside attack last week. Let’s get to the review!

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The Best of Raw

A Family Affair

Aleister Black took on newcomer Austin Theory, with Zelina Vega injecting some much-needed energy into commentary.

Theory appears to be improving by the week. And the partnership with Vega, Angel Garza and Andrade should hopefully see him continue to excel. This week, however, he was simply outclassed by the surging Black. Despite a valiant effort drawing several near falls, Theory eventually ran into a particularly brutal Black Mass. (Which is still the best finishing move in wrestling.)

.@WWEAleister is headed to #MITB! #WWERaw pic.twitter.com/zef65uvAyE

— WWE (@WWE) April 21, 2020

So Aleister advances to the Money in the Bank match. During a post-bout interview, he told Byron Saxton that he intended turning every floor of Titan Tower into his opponent’s personal hell. So they’re just going to spend a lot of time in Accounting then?

A “Sick, Disgusting Act”

Indi Hartwell made her main roster debut on Raw. That’s the good news. The bad news was that she would be facing Shayna Baszler. Yikes!

Before the match, a replay showed Shayna stomping on Sarah Logan’s arm last week, supposedly breaking it. Intrepid reporter Charly Caruso asked Shayna whether she had gone too far… almost as if she wasn’t aware that Baszler did that move in EVERY SINGLE MATCH! The former NXT Women’s Champion rightfully laughed her off.

In reference to the arm stomp, Tom Phillips called the act “despicable”. Yep. In a week that saw Sarah Logan get needlessly fired during a global pandemic, a worked stomp she suffered is classified as “despicable”. Self-awareness much, WWE?

Thankfully we soon got to the good in this segment, as Shayna absorbed a few early shots before absolutely decimating poor Indi. After throwing her around for a bit, Shayna stomped on the elbow, causing the referee to immediately call for the bell. There was no confusion this week, as it was announced that Hartwell couldn’t continue, making Shayna the winner by default.

Unsatisfied, Baszler grabbed a ladder, wrapped her opponent’s arm in it and started stomping away. This was awesome! The announcers called Shayna vile and disgusting.

A Whirlwind Tag Match

The recently formed duo of Ricochet and Cedric Alexander squared off against Shane Thorne and Brendan Vink. This match moved at a mile-a-minute, leaving me with barely enough time to appreciate how truly amazing the former pairing is. They’re just so buttery smooth in the ring and – like many others – deserving of much better.

*RECORD SCRATCH*

Yep, that's me. You're probably wondering how I ended up in this situation…#WWERaw @KingRicochet pic.twitter.com/RQIxlDjHo5

— WWE Universe (@WWEUniverse) April 21, 2020

Although you wouldn’t know it listening to Tom Phillips, who waxed poetic about how Ricochet and Alexander were “on a roll”… completely oblivious to the fact that they lost last week. Good God man, just be better.

Regardless, he had a point here. Shane Thorne got caught with a Recoil and a Lumbar Check to take the pin.

The Messiah Rises to the Challenge

Seth delivered a promo from what appeared to be the living room of a Transylvanian Castle this week. He accepted McIntyre’s challenge – not out of respect, but out of necessity and duty. The WWE Universe needs a leader to get us through these tough times and Seth will be the one to make the sacrifice. This was another top-notch segment from the reinvigorated ‘Messiah’.

And then he presumably had to leave to drink the blood of some peasant farmers.

Bobby Flipping Tires

Throughout the night, we cut to Bobby Lashley in a unique private gym, enjoying some alone time with Lana. I say “unique”, because I can’t think of too many workout spaces that provide giant tires for you to flip over to impress your wife.

A feat of strength that can only be described as ALL MIGHTY! #WWERAW pic.twitter.com/QCv88lZB7L

— Bobby Lashley (@fightbobby) April 21, 2020

As overtly ludicrous as this entire setup was, I couldn’t help but laugh at some of the awful dialogue. Lana was frequently gushing over her sexy husband, in awe of his freakish strength. When Lashley mentioned that he was getting a bit warm, Lana jumped in with a quick correction – he was “hot”, she chimed. I chuckled, head in hands.

There were many more of these skits, featuring Lashley performing increasingly impressive feats of strength while Lana cooed. It’s so in line with WWE’s tendencies to restart a long dormant storyline, only to break up the people involved soon thereafter. But if we can get a few more weeks of this silliness, I’m all for it.

Final Raw MITB entrant

To end the show’s second hour, Rey Mysterio battled Murphy with the brand’s final spot in the Money in the Bank ladder match on the line. I can’t remember the last time we saw Murphy, but this marked a welcome return to Monday nights for the Aussie.

Rey hurt his hand early on, leading a relentless Murphy to target the appendage. He trod on it, twisted the fingers and even slammed it onto the ring steps.

.@reymysterio takes down @WWE_Murphy to secure his position in the Men's #MITB Ladder Match! pic.twitter.com/K2Q4LNnpr1

— WWE (@WWE) April 21, 2020

But Rey turned the tide and planted Murphy with a DDT in the middle of the ring. Murphy, though, recovered to hit an Ushigoroshi, knee strike, brainbuster sequence for a near fall. With both men exhausted, the match moved into its last phase. A Canadian Destroyer left Murphy draped across the middle rope, perfectly placed for a 619 and Splash.

So Mysterio advances to Titan Towers in three weeks time.

Another Debutant Takes on a Champion

Charlotte had an unannounced match against other debutant in the form of Kayden Carter, which was only ever going to go one way. Flair flattened the newbie with a big boot before the bell rang, before arrogantly toying with Carter.

Lesson learned. 👸#TheQueen @MsCharlotteWWE picks up the win on #WWERaw. pic.twitter.com/le6KJPeM2Z

— WWE (@WWE) April 21, 2020

This overconfidence gave the newbie a spark of hope. She almost caught the NXT Women’s Champion in a crucifix bomb, which she neatly transitioned into an Octopus Stretch. But Charlotte battled out, hit a Spear and won the match with the Figure-8. This was all perfectly fine, albeit unexceptional.

Drew McIntyre Dominates the Main Event

This match contained all of the ingredients for a solid end to Raw. Drew McIntyre – check. Angel Garza – check. A whole truck load of Claymores – check.

😮😮😮😮😮#WWERaw @DMcIntyreWWE @Zelina_VegaWWE pic.twitter.com/NCZKWYPHYU

— WWE (@WWE) April 21, 2020

McIntyre effectively laid out Andrade and Austin Theory with a spectacular dive to the outside, then cracked Angel Garza right in the jaw for the pin. After some peacocking, he delivered another Claymore to Garza. Austin Theory made the ill-advised decision to slide into the ring and he caught a Claymore for his troubles too.

This – not the smiling promos – made McIntyre look absolutely awesome. Although it is a shame that it came at the expense of such talented upstarts as Garza and Theory. It’s hard to see Zelina Vega’s menagerie of great, young talent as anything more than jobbers to main event stars at present.

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The Worst of Raw

The Contented Scotsman

I’m not sure whether I’ve just become increasingly cynical with age, or whether WWE have simply lost the ability to create compelling babyfaces. I’m leaning towards the latter.

Raw kicked off in predictable fashion with Drew McIntyre coming out to address last week’s events. He just seems to have lost so much lustre during this transition from ruthless heel to beaming, cheery babyface.

.@DMcIntyreWWE throws down the challenge to @WWERollins for a #WWETitle Match at #MITB! #WWERaw pic.twitter.com/MrOPOce7Oq

— WWE (@WWE) April 21, 2020

Anyway, far from being outraged about the beatdown he suffered at the foot of Seth Rollins, he instead mused about Raw being the highlight of his week and ran through Rollins’ resumé. This very average opening monologue eventually reached its obvious conclusion. Drew challenged Seth to a match at Money in the Bank.

Then, for very little reason other than they fought last week, Andrade attempted to ambush McIntyre but was instead booted over the top rope. Literally the only person who seemed at all interested by this was Zelina Vega, who was distraught on the ramp.

25 Years of ‘The Game’

A pulsating commercial reminded us that the 25th Anniversary Celebration of ‘The Game’ gets STARTED this Friday! As in, this is likely going to be a weeklong event.

I can’t imagine a more conceited, self-indulgent masturbatory showcase. I mean, when Raw reached that particular landmark just over two years ago, all Vince McMahon got was a cheap plaque. Couldn’t we just chisel Triple H’s name onto it and given that to him?

Climbing the Corporate Ladder

The tagline for this year’s Money in the Bank was repeated ad nauseam on Raw. In typical fashion, it just spilled from the announcers’ mouths as if was part of the event’s name instead of a gross reminder that everything revolves around impressing Vince McMahon.

If I ever hear the phrase “climbing the corporate ladder” after May 10, it’ll be too soon.

She’s Just Like Most Monster Heels

Apparently WWE were so impressed by Nia Jax’s squash of Kairi Sane last week that they gave it to us again. Except this time it was 50% longer and involved 100% more botches. And yes, I’m referring to Nia almost decapitating Kairi by bouncing her head off the turnbuckle.

Which begs the question: what was the point to any of this? Every week I grow increasingly worried that we may be seeing the end of Sane’s tenure with company. This did nothing to ease that feeling.

Viking Raiders are DOA

The Viking Raiders were cast as two thirty-somethings, hopeless convinced that they were still cool enough to hang with college kids on spring break.

🚗🚗🚗🚗🍗🍗🍗

Carpool karaoke the #VikingRaiders way! #WWERaw@Erik_WWE @Ivar_WWE pic.twitter.com/6yCpGXKG9S

— WWE (@WWE) April 21, 2020

So the bearded bros were road tripping to an undisclosed location, beaming ear-to-ear, munching on turkey legs and punctuating every sentence with a chorus of “Viking Raiders!” It was perhaps the most ungodly thing I’ve ever seen on WWE TV… and I’ve seen Mae Young give birth to a hand!

This team – and it pains me to say this – is officially dead on Raw.

Crews-ing into Money in the Bank

MVP delivered a boring promo vowing to be in the Money in the Bank ladder match, had a boring match against Apollo Crews and suffered a boring loss. Not much more to say really.

The Continuing Disintegration of the Riott Squad

Charly Caruso was on the case once again, as she tracked down Ruby Riott backstage. Asking the questions on nobody’s mind, Charly wanted to know how the Riott Squad had disintegrated so quickly. Well, you fired one of its members, so there’s that.

Ruby said something about having been injured and that she would beat up Liv Morgan in their match. I literally replayed this segment and still couldn’t maintain focus long enough to listen to this exchange.

👀👀👀👀@YaOnlyLivvOnce takes down @RubyRiottWWE on #WWERaw!!! pic.twitter.com/otCdAnSi1l

— WWE (@WWE) April 21, 2020

After the break, Riott and Morgan had a perfectly acceptable bout. Despite Ruby taking the majority of the contest, Liv caught her with a Flatliner and snuck the win. Tom Phillips said this victory allowed Morgan to put her issues with Riott behind her, so hopefully this does in fact mark the end of the feud.

The US Champion in Impromptu Action

Andrade faced Akira Tozawa, in a match that fell squarely in Raw’s “dead zone”. It’s unfair on the participants but third-hour fatigue was really starting to set in by this point. So I struggled to care about a match with zero build and no explanation.

The two men battled back-and-forth, with Andrade eventually picking up the win after a draping Hammerlock DDT off the top rope.

The M-E-H of R-A-W

Continuing the pattern of marginally competitive squashes of debuting NXT talent, Bianca Belair made short work of Santana Garrett. Then she celebrated the rather meaningless outing with the Street Profits.

It's time for the #ESTofWWE on #WWERaw! @BiancaBelairWWE pic.twitter.com/ZqzQ74KRz6

— WWE (@WWE) April 21, 2020

For the record, Belair is an outstanding wrestler. It’s just that this isn’t the way to get her over with fans who are likely unfamiliar with her work on the developmental brand.

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Overall Rating for the Show (From best to worst: RAWsome, Cor, AvRAWge, Poor and RAWful)

This edition of Raw felt every second as long as its three-hour runtime suggests. As the clock ticked past 11pm, I found myself straining to get through the final hour with only the promise of a lacklustre main event to keep me engaged.

If Byron Saxton was still reciting his word of the week, the descriptor for this show would have been “debut”. We saw several NXT talents make their inaugural appearance on the main roster, invariably in squash matches which served little purpose (and certainly didn’t get the new faces over).

Now, more than ever. #havefaithinme pic.twitter.com/qu5EOJ6tZA

— Seth Rollins (@WWERollins) April 21, 2020

A few neat matches kept things ticking along adequately – in particular the Black / Austin Theory contest – but nothing really caught the eye. And by the end of the show, you were left with the feeling that not much had been advanced outside of the MITB qualifiers. For that reason, Raw this week was an optimistic AvRAWge.

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• April 20 2020
• review
• RAW
• wwe

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