Monday Night Raw Review - April 11, 2022

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

The Miz Hosted Miz TV with Cody Rhodes

​Rhodes vs. Miz for this show was advertised out of nowhere last week on SmackDown, so I'm happy they had a chance to exchange words before their match a little later in the show. Miz is excellent in his current role and Rhodes was beloved by the crowd. Both men had some great lines and they left me looking forward to their matchup. This was a successful segment all around and was the best way to start the show.

Veer Mahaan def. Dominik Mysterio

Veer was scheduled to collide with Rey Mysterio on the show, so at some point in the last week, plans changed. Not only that, but Rey was nowhere to be seen on this show, so that was weird. Dominik was probably a better choice for Veer to squash in his debut because now they can build to Veer against Rey and it will mean more because Veer (seemingly) just put his son on the shelf. This was exactly what it needed to be and it gets Veer off to a solid start. I'd love if this was designed to write Dominik off TV so he can be moved over to the NXT roster.

AJ Styles vs. Damian Priest Ended in a No Contest

I liked the last two matches these two had a few months ago and this was equally enjoyable for as long as it lasted. I wish it got more time, but hopefully they get a chance to go all out eventually. Unfortunately, it ended randomly with Styles getting knocked off the apron while Priest posed like a vampire in the ring with the lights turning purple. Edge's alliance with Priest intrigues me and I'm into the idea of them forming a stable, but that was stupid. To not even finish the match properly was lame, too.

Cody Rhodes def. The Miz

I can't believe there were actually people online complaining coming into this contest about Miz being Rhodes' first opponent on Raw in six years. Miz was the perfect person to face Rhodes on this show considering he's a notable name but not big enough to where this should have been saved for pay-per-view. It wasn't a mat classic by any means, but they worked well together and had quality chemistry. Above all else, the crowd was into it. I maintain what I've been saying for the past week about how Rhodes should be the one to ultimately dethrone Roman Reigns as Undisputed WWE Universal Champion, preferably at SummerSlam. I'm down for Seth Rollins vs. Rhodes II and hope they save it for WrestleMania Backlash.

WWE Women's Tag Team Champion Naomi def. Liv Morgan

Much like Veer was supposed to face Rey earlier in the evening, a WWE Women's Tag Team Championship match was announced for this show a week ago, but it was changed to Morgan taking on Naomi one-on-one. Rhea Ripley was nowhere to be seen, so perhaps the change was made because she was unable to appear since it's being advertised for next week now. This was a fine little match but too short to be anything out of the ordinary. Morgan beating Sasha Banks clean only to lose to Naomi three days later was certainly a strange call.

Bobby Lashley Exchanged Words with MVP on The VIP Lounge

I don't know that I would've done two talk shows in one night, but at least this served a purpose like Miz TV did. Lashley technically served as MVP's guest, but MVP and Omos never stepped in the ring with Lashley. I liked that because Lashley wants to get his hands on MVP and it made sense to keep them apart. Lashley and MVP did an excellent job with their promos and Omos staying silent was the right move. This actually managed to get me interested in a rematch between Lashley and Omos.

Raw Women's Champion Bianca Belair def. Queen Zelina (Non-Title)

Despite turning on Carmella last week, Zelina is still no threat to Belair. Thus, I had zero issue with Belair beating her in a matter of minutes. It was short and sweet as it should have been with Belair winning decisively. Why does Zelina get to keep her queen gimmick while Xavier Woods has to move on from being King Woods already? Nonetheless, the post-match angle with Sonya Deville attacking Belair and revealing herself as Belair's next challenger was well done.

Raw Tag Team Champions RK-Bro def. Alpha Academy (Non-Title)

I thought we had seen the last of this feud at WrestleMania 38, but apparently not. Don't get me wrong, they always have top-notch matches and this was no exception, but with Alpha Academy once again losing decisively, this should mark the definitive end of RK-Bro vs. Alpha Academy. Where Alpha Academy go from here, who knows, but this was solid stuff. RK-Bro's post-match interaction with The Usos and The Street Profits led nicely into what turned out to be the main event.

SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Usos def. The Street Profits (Non-Title)

As much as I like Street Profits, we've seen enough Triple Threat tag team title matches lately, so I'm glad Usos won here so the eventual championship unification match will be kept exclusively to them and RK-Bro. Usos and Street Profits have always had really fun matches and this was no exception. This didn't feel like it was worthy of the main event slot when it first started, but they ended up closing the show on a high note.

Overall Show

I was among those that actually enjoyed last week's post-WrestleMania edition of Raw and I was worried Raw would return to its usual subpar quality now that WrestleMania season is over. This episode was missing the star quality of Edge, Rey Mysterio, Becky Lynch, Rhea Ripley, Roman Reigns and others (not to mention that two advertised matches didn't come to fruition for various reasons), yet it was still an above-average show (by recent Raw standards, anyway) that held my interest with several storylines progressing heading into WrestleMania Backlash and some good wrestling. Tommaso Ciampa making his official debut as a member of the Raw roster in a backstage segment was cool to see as well. I just hope the show is able to maintain this momentum in the weeks ahead.

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