Monday Night Raw Review - April 20, 2026

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Oba Femi Addressed the Audience

This was short, sweet and straight to the point. It reminded me of when Roman Reigns cut that quick promo on the Raw after WrestleMania in 2017, except this had the exact opposite reaction. Femi came across like such a star despite saying barely anything. I don't know what you do with him in the meantime, but there's no doubt in my mind he should be wearing world title gold by SummerSlam at the latest.

RHIYO def. The Kabuki Warriors

This was the third match these teams have had dating back to Crown Jewel in October, and RHIYO have won all of them. They couldn't have bothered to have Kabuki Warriors beat them just once? Nonetheless, this was the usual entertaining affair from these two teams. There was no official announcement, but I assume we'll finally get Asuka vs. IYO SKY at Backlash.

Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes Confronted CM Punk

I know Punk low-blowed Roman Reigns in their WrestleMania match, but I was still shocked he got as many boos here as he did. That was weird. At any rate, this was a strong segment. It didn't give us any answers in terms of what's next for Punk or Rhodes, but it did plant the seeds for a future bout between them, presumably at WrestleMania 43. We'll see if they'll wait that long, but that was the vibe I got from watching their exchange.

Ethan Page def. Je'Von Evans

Page's NXT run completely exceeded my expectations and I hope he can find similar success on Raw. He already fits right into the midcard, specifically in the Intercontinental Championship picture. Him and Evans have history from NXT, too. They had a quality contest and Page winning was the correct outcome. It's nice to see Rusev sticking around in the title mix as he laid out Penta afterward.

Sol Ruca Confronted Women's World Champion Liv Morgan; Morgan def. Ruca (Non-Title)

The rest of The Judgment Day was in the ring with Morgan, but she was the only one who spoke before Ruca came out. Ruca's been ready for a main roster call-up for some time now and is an excellent addition to the division on Raw. The impromptu match was a pleasant surprise, as was Zaria showing up to cost Ruca the win ahead of their Last Woman Standing match on Tuesday's NXT. Ruca vs. Morgan was good and they can always revisit that match down the road.

The Street Profits Attacked The Vision; Bron Breakker Attacked Seth Rollins

Paul Heyman spent some time talking about Brock Lesnar and they even played a video package highlighting his career. For the record, I'm still not convinced he's actually retired, at least not yet. As for the rest of the segment, I'm happy the Profits are back after a long layoff (reportedly, they just had nothing going on creatively) while Breakker and Rollins furthered their feud effectively.

Finn Balor def. JD McDonagh

This was the match I was looking forward to a few weeks ago before it didn't get underway. I'm glad we got it because it was fun. They're obviously capable of better, and they didn't get much time at all, but I enjoyed it for as long as it lasted. Dominik Mysterio went after Balor afterward, so apparently the feud is continuing. I imagine the story will be that The Demon, not Balor, beat Mysterio and Mysterio will want to run it back.

Jacob Fatu Confronted World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns and The Usos

To be honest, Reigns being back alongside The Usos doesn't overly intrigue me. It feels like The Bloodline is being recycled with The Usos in the same spot they were before. What does intrigue me, though, is Fatu stepping up to challenge Reigns. That's a singles match I've wanted to see since Fatu joined WWE and it appears we're going to get it at Backlash. Sign me up. This was a hell of a hook to end the night on.

Overall Show

Although this wasn't as hot of a post-WrestleMania Raw as last year's, it was still above average with a bunch of stuff going on. Certain storylines are continuing, but we're also getting some new feuds going forward as well as a handful of fresh faces (that includes Joe Hendry, who will be formally debuting next week with a concert according to a graphic). This episode was never boring and left me excited what could be another stacked Backlash card this year.

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