By CJ Blaze

The show begins with a recap from last week of what will lead to tonight’s main event: Seth Rollins vs. Corey Graves in a Lumberjack match.


Justin Gabriel vs. Leo Kruger

Good match-up. I personally thought the pace should’ve been faster to make it more interesting, but it was decent. I was surprised to see it was not a squash match. Kruger possesses that look and attitude that could lead to him being a very devious and successful heel on the main roster.

Winner: Leo Kruger by submission


Baylee vs. Emma

This was actually a really good match! I’m pretty sure this was Baylee’s first television match. Emma has a lot of qualities that could lead her to success, as she pulled off two spectacular submissions during the match. The only complaint I have about Emma is her weird dancing tactics. Baylee had good offense and defense, as well.

Winner: Emma by submission

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Standard Handicap match with Garrett Bischoff and Wes Brisco defeating Kurt Angle. Bischoff and Brisco aren't the best in-ring workers, but Angle carried them to a decent match. The interference from Aces and Eights was pretty predictable, but it was still nice to see Bischoff and Brisco score the victory. Furthermore, it was nice to see a match kick off the show for once, which was a refreshing change of pace.

Nice Triple Threat match with Kenny King defeating Zema Ion and Petey Williams to successfully retain his X-Division Championship. The pace was significantly slower than past X-Division matches, which was a disappointment. The finishers were executed early on and left no real suspense for the remainder of the bout. I have no problem with retaining the title, but the Triple Threat gimmick could grow tiresome quickly if this contest was any indication.

By Rick Velazquez

On the night after WrestleMania, RAW was to be one of the most chaotic shows in a very long time. Many things made this show great, and one of those things was Ryback hitting the Shellshock on John Cena. This left the internet wondering whether or not this was a full heel turn, or just a hungry challenger seeking gold.

A week removed from this event, the answers are beginning to become apparent. On the April 15th episode of RAW, Ryback cut a pre-recorded promo that was played on the titantron. This promo was in similar style to those of the late 80s and early 90s. Ryback explained his actions thoroughly without uttering his infamous “Feed Me More” catchphrase. The segment shed some new light on the former Nexus member and brought a new perspective to the way many see Ryback.

A more serious approach showed that Ryback means business and will continue to be a top star in the company. He stated that he’s watched Cena’s back on six separate occasions and went as far as to say he is the biggest threat Cena and his championship reign have ever experienced. The ‘big match’ is definitely in place for a match at Extreme Rules and people will be curious as to see whether or not Ryback will de-throne the WWE Champion. Could this be the rise of Ryback as one of the top heels in the company? We will just have to wait and see. 

Standard Handicap match with Randy Orton and Sheamus defeating Big Show. It was basically the same thing we witnessed on SmackDown three days prior, so I don't understand what purpose it served. Sure, Big Show took the clean pin-fall loss this time around, but that did nothing to get me invested in this feud whatsoever. If nothing else, it was nice to see some in-ring action kick off Raw, which is a rare occurrence nowadays.

Excellent segment with Brock Lesnar decimating 3MB and challenging Triple H to a Steel Cage rematch at Extreme Rules. Regardless of whether 3MB are gradually turning face or not, they sold Lesnar's offense like champs, so bonus points go to them for their strong selling of the attack. Heyman made the challenge to HHH seems much more exciting than it actually was, but you should never expect anything less from him. I'm not fond of yet another rematch between the two at Extreme Rules, but if it means Lesnar getting his win back over The Game, then I'm completely content with it.

Good match with Kofi Kingston defeating Antonio Cesaro to win the United States Championship. Aside from their match last week on SmackDown, the fans were given little to no reason to care about this match or the title being at stake. Nonetheless, the live crowd came alive down the stretch for the suspenseful near-falls and the exciting exchanges between the two. Kingston winning yet another mid-card title does nothing for me, as we've seen it happen so many times that it has lost its luster by this point. WWE had Cesaro job out on a regular basis while champion, so the title change hardly means anything. However, I assume this means we'll be seeing Fandango challenge for the star-spangled prize sooner rather than later.

Typical match between WWE Tag Team Champions Team Hell No and the Prime Time Players. I lost track of how many times we've seen these two teams clash in recent months, so I couldn't have cared less for this contest. The action rendered irrelevant due to the fact that the Prime Time Players haven't meant anything in ages and the outcome was never in doubt. Extreme Rules couldn't come any quicker, which is where I expect Team Hell No to drop the straps to The Shield.

Fine match between Intercontinental Champion Wade Barrett and R-Truth. While the match wasn't necessarily bad, it didn't last long enough for it to feel memorable. Although it seemed like Barrett was starting to get aggressively pushed again, he was back to his losing ways this week for no apparent reason, which is a shame. What's the point of the number one contender's battle royal on this week's WWE Main Event if we know Truth is going to emerge victorious?

Meaningless match with Team Rhodes Scholars defeating Santino Marella and The Great Khali. The tag team division is in a rut as it is, so adding the tandem of Marella and Khali into the mix might not help matters. While I'm happy Team Rhodes Scholars scored the victory here, what does this win do for them? I'd much rather see them in singles competition at this point if they're going to be underutilized as a tag team.

By CJ Blaze

In part 2 of the American Dragon's story, we take a look at his days in Ring of Honor.
 
Part 2- Ring of Honor
 
In 2002, Danielson joined Ring of Honor. He soon earned the name “Founding Father” because he was a prized-possession to the company in it’s early days. Danielson had outstanding matches in Ring of Honor with the likes of Low-Ki, Christopher Daniels, Homicide, and even an eighty-minute match with Austin Aries! On September 15, 2005, he defeated James Gibson to win his first ROH World Championship.
 
Danielson continued defending the world title for almost a year against rivals such as Chris Hero (Kassius Ohno) and Samoa Joe. He even went on to defeat Nigel McGuinness in a unification match for the ROH World title and the ROH Pure title. Bryan’s fifteen month reign as champion ended when Homicide defeated him at Final Battle 2006.