WWE Raw Recap (April 10th 2017)


We kick off with the Miz & Maryse who are now on Raw. They do their Cena & Nikki thing before Dean Ambrose interrupts. He is on Raw too. He cuts a promo as if Miz & Maryse are actually Cena & Nikki. He then hits Miz with the Dirty Deeds. It's a decent enough start to the show. I have no problem with either of these moves. The Miz has been on fire for a year and maybe a switch will stoke that fire further. Ambrose has sort of been milling about on Smackdown so he might as well move. It could well telegraph Owens switching as he is the US champ.

Next up we get a backstage skit with Angle doing some business on the phone before being interrupted by Sami Zayn. Apparently Smackdown are very interested in Zayn, as well they should be. Miz turns up and tells Zayn to do one. Angle sets up a match for later tonight.

New Day are out with a blow up doll of Kofi and they challenge the Revival to a rematch. They have a good TV match with the Revival coming out on top with a nasty looking Shatter Machine. Top guys out.

Neville is backstage doing an interview about his greatness only to be interrupted by by TJ Perkins. Perkins gets booed due to being a charisma vacuum. Neville drops some truth on him and Aries turns up to to tell Perkins not to listen to Neville.

Curt Hawkins is in the ring. For some reason he has been moved to Raw rather than the unemployment line. He then gets murdered by Big Show.

Neville is on commentary for Austin Aries vs TJ Perkins. The match is going solidly enough when Neville distracts Aries, allowing Perkins to pick up the surprise roll up victory. After the match Perkins cheap shots Aries and beats him down to turn heel. They may as well go this route because face Perkins was a useless character.

Seth Rollins is out to tell everyone that he wants to stay on Raw. He has scores to settle and a Universal Title to win. He shows the video of Steph going through the table at WrestleMania. He says that Steph will have to bring an army to get him to leave Raw. Angle comes out to tell Rollins he admires his efforts at WrestleMania and that he has a home on Raw. Samoa Joe comes out to attack Rollins from behind. He gets run off though. I am looking forward to Rollins vs Joe.

Kevin Owens is being interviewed backstage. He says that Jericho is injured, he is the main champion on Raw and he doesn't give a shit about Dean Ambrose.

Charlotte is on her way to the ring for a match with Nia Jax. The crowd isn't really in to this until Charlotte does a moonsault to the outside and lands knees first on Nia's head. Nia picks up the win in am below par match. I suspect that this loss may be due to Charlotte moving to Smackdown.

We get a Finn Balor video package. We return from the break with the vascular specimen that is Jinder Mahal. He is taking on Balor. Jinder gets some offense in but it doesn't last long and Balor picks up the quick win. As Balor celebrates we get Bray Wyatt on the Titantron. He says that Raw is his new home. He will still have his House of Horrors match with Randy Orton but he has an eye on Finn Balor. I like this move because the further away from Orton that Wyatt is the better. Their feud has been dumb.

We get a recap of superstars that aren't important enough for TV that have moved to Raw. They are Apollo Crews, Kalisto, Heath Slater & Rhyno.

It's time for the Miz vs Sami Zayn. The crowd is reasonably into this but the match isn't really that good. Zayn picks up the win. I personally think that Miz should have won here and Zayn should be going to Smackdown. Maybe he will.

Roman Reigns is doing a sit down interview with Michael Cole. He is acting face again, which is slightly infuriating after last week. Strowman interrupts and attempts some straight up homicide on Reigns. He chucks him into a wall, lobs him through a table, slams him on a crate and crushes him with an equipment case. The crowd is chanting 'You deserve it', which is funny. Reigns get put on a stretcher but Braun isn't done. He takes the stretcher, with Reigns on it, and throws it off the loading bay. He's still not done. He beats him down while he is in an ambulance and then he flips over said ambulance. I'll say that again. He flips over an ambulance. The whole thing is spectacularly daft and wildly entertaining. If the plan was to garner sympathy for Reigns it did not work. 

We have 8-man tag action with the Hardy Boyz, Cesaro & Sheamus vs Anderson, Gallows & the Shining Stars. For some reason Elias Sampson is drifting about by the announce table. This pisses off Corey Graves no end. This is a fine match but it's obvious that the Shining Stars are going to be taking the loss.

Dana Brooke is reading a book backstage when Emma walks in and tells her to come with her. Dana says that's not how she rolls anymore.

Sasha comes out, to introduce Bayley apparently. Bayley comes out to thank the fans for her WrestleMania moment but is stopped in her tracks by Alexa Bliss, who is now on Raw. She tells Sasha and Bayley that she is the star now. Mickie James's music hits and she is on Raw too. Her introduction doesn't last long though as Nia Jax destroys everyone except bliss. I like these moves as the women's divisions could do with a shake up. I'm not really up for Nia Jax title matches though.

It's main event time. It's Dean Ambrose vs Kevin Owens but neither title is on the line. This further suggests to me that Owens may be on his way to Smackdown. The match is nowhere near as good as it could have been but it's fine. Ambrose picks up a slightly surprising win with the most protected finisher in WWE, the Dirty Deeds. Following the match Jericho comes down and gives a codebreaker to Owens to close out the show. It's a slightly disappointing finish. 

Thoughts

Overall it was a perfectly watchable show but the only really memorable moments were the Reigns and Strowman madness and the appearance of Bray Wyatt to get in Balor's business. I have no issues with any of the moves that were made as they were either worthwhile or of such little significance that they can't result in a worse situation than the wrestler was already in. Perhaps the best news from the show though is that AJ Styles did not change shows. He can do more good on Smackdown.

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