Monday Night Raw Review - April 13, 2026

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Brock Lesnar Addressed Oba Femi

We haven't heard from Lesnar and Femi much at all during the buildup to their bout at WrestleMania 42, so although I was disappointed we didn't see them interact here and get physical, I didn't mind hearing from Lesnar and Paul Heyman briefly instead. They kept it short and sweet, so the segment was exactly what it needed to be. I didn't mind Triple H getting in between Femi and Lesnar a week or two ago, but he definitely didn't need to be out there for this.

Lyra Valkyria def. Charlotte Flair

Bayley losing to Alexa Bliss on last week's SmackDown (in Bayley's hometown, no less) was a puzzling move, but I was happy Valkyria beat Flair here, especially since I wasn't expecting it. I appreciated getting a first-time-ever encounter, and although they're capable of better, what we got was good. The Bella Twins were once again absent from ringside, putting Nikki Bella's status for WrestleMania 42 further into question.

Liv Morgan Crashed Cathy Kelley's Interview with Women's World Champion Stephanie Vaquer

This has gradually turned into one of the better builds going into WrestleMania. Vaquer didn't speak for very long before Morgan showed up and shoved Vaquer into Kelley (Kelley's first bump in WWE, if I'm not mistaken). Morgan started screaming like a maniac, which was an appropriate reaction after what Vaquer did to her backstage the week prior. This was another simple segment, but it was effective.

LA Knight and The Usos def. The MFTs (Tonga Loa, JC Mateo and Solo Sikoa)

The stuff with The MFTs has been bad enough as of late on SmackDown that I have no idea why they had to be on Raw this week as well, but it was clear that their sole purpose on this show was to lose to Knight and The Usos before the babyfaces face The Vision and IShowSpeed at WrestleMania. There was nothing out of the ordinary about this, but it accomplished what it needed to.

Seth Rollins and Gunther Brawled

They only started setting up their WrestleMania match two weeks ago and already it's one of my most anticipated matches of the entire event. They've made the most of the brief build with two strong segments and I loved the intensity they brought to this exchange. We still don't know why Gunther targeted Rollins, but hopefully they get back to that eventually as well as Paul Heyman's "favor" for Gunther.

Kairi Sane def. IYO SKY

I don't think Sane has had any singles matches on WWE TV since facing SKY on Raw many months ago. That's an insane stat. It was the well-wrestled match you'd expect from them. Based on this happening on the go-home edition of Raw before WrestleMania, you'd think SKY vs. Asuka would've been announced for the event, but no such luck. That makes no sense.

Oba Femi Addressed Brock Lesnar

Was this Femi's first in-ring promo since debuting on the main roster? He came across like an absolute star, both during his entrance and while he was cutting his promo. His mic work was great and left me more excited for his match with Lesnar than I already was. Femi beating Lesnar at 'Mania is a must, but we'll see if WWE actually follows through and does the right thing.

Dragon Lee and Je'Von Evans def. JD McDonagh and Rusev

Much like last week's six-man tag team match, this was a fun preview of the Intercontinental Championship Ladder match at WrestleMania. Lee and Evans worked wonderfully together and McDonagh and Rusev had solid showings. Rusev laying out everyone afterward was necessary in establishing him as a threat going into 'Mania, but obviously no one honestly believes he'll win.

World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk and Roman Reigns Went Face-to-Face

I've loved a lot of the segments these two have had dating back to their first one right after the Royal Rumble, but this wasn't their best effort. It was weird that Punk went from being so fiery last week to essentially apologizing to Reigns this week. I understood what they were going for here and it was a quality exchange on the whole, but it didn't quite hit the way it should have.

Overall Show

Compared to SmackDown, the WrestleMania hype on the Raw side of things has been well done. All in all, this was a thumbs-up go-home show. It had a nice flow and a majority of the matches on the card got last-minute build. Everything existed for a reason, even though I'm still bothered that Asuka vs. SKY hasn't been added. Perhaps it still will, but it's not looking likely.

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