WWE Raw – April 15, 2019 (Review)

Overall Rating (From best to worst: RawSome, Cor, AvRAWge, Poor and Rawful)

As surprising as this is to say on a night that was designed specifically to provide shock and surprises, last night’s Raw felt a little uneventful. Sure, we got a bunch of new faces. But hardly any of them were big names and none were given the chance to really shine. Instead, the night was filled with quick squashes, inexplicable character shifts and silly name changes.

It’s perhaps a little ironic that on a night of new draftees, Raw remained unable to sign the biggest free agents in all of WWE: continuity, cohesion and common sense. Perhaps we’ve set our expectations for the red brand too high, but it’s hard to escape the reality that Raw has disappointed two weeks in a row, on nights where it had an open goal in front of it.

The nature of the Superstar Shakeup should, in theory, all but guarantee an exciting night, packed with new faces, intriguing first-time feuds and budding stars. I’m not sure we got any of that, on an episode characterised not just by disappointment but also by debutants being potentially actively harmed.

Both Mysterio and The IIconics were squashed, the Viking Experience were immediately made to feel less impressive than they are on NXT and Alexa Bliss is just frustrating. On an underwhelming night, Raw deserves an underwhelming rating. Sadly, given the high expectations, last night’s show was Poor.

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• RAW
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