Monday Night Raw Review - April 26, 2021

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Braun Strowman def. T-Bar and Mace in a 2-on-1 Handicap Match by Disqualification; T-Bar and Mace def. Strowman and Drew McIntyre by Count-Out

It was supposed to be a tag team match originally, but Strowman and McIntyre argued beforehand, so it turned into a Handicap match with Strowman fending for himself. It wasn't long before T-Bar and Mace got themselves disqualified, which brought out McIntyre for some reason and turned it into a tag team matchup. That wasn't very good either and the heels won that by count-out. In other words, this was almost an exact repeat of what happened last week, except with the roles reversed in some cases. Also in other words, this entire segment was a waste of 20 minutes, especially since it didn't leave me looking forward to McIntyre vs. Strowman later in the night.

Damian Priest and The New Day Crashed Miz TV with The Miz, John Morrison, Elias and Jaxson Ryker; Priest and New Day (Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods) def. Elias, Ryker and Miz

The Miz TV segment was total trash. The heels weren't funny, and the babyfaces throwing tomatoes at them was awful television. How they think this is appealing to anyone, I have no idea. The subsequent six-man tag team match was fine but a little longer than it needed to be considering nothing of what they did was overly interesting. New Day vs. Elias and Ryker is pure filler and Priest isn't gaining anything from continuing to work with Miz and Morrison. By the way, what was the point Woods pinning Ryker with an inside cradle? Why bother protecting him?

Sonya Deville Reinstated Charlotte Flair

I thought Deville's power only applied to SmackDown, but apparently not. They've never established that she's been anything more than an assistant to Pearce on SmackDown only, so it was strange seeing her on Raw. By the way, if Pearce has more authority than Deville, why wouldn't he simply have overruled her decision? The segment was fine, but it rendered Flair's "suspension" pointless because she was brought back so quickly.

Humberto Carrillo Attacked United States Champion Sheamus

I imagine most viewers probably rolled their eyes when Carrillo came out again, but I liked it because Carrillo should want revenge for what Sheamus did to him last week. He's barely been featured this last year, so I'm glad he's getting another shot. He sent Sheamus flying over the commentary table before walking off, so I'm sure those two are headed for a match (possibly for the title) next week on Raw.

WWE Champion Bobby Lashley and MVP Addressed McIntyre and Strowman

It's been a month and I still don't understand what the purpose was of breaking up The Hurt Business. At any rate, you could have had Lashley and MVP cut these same promos in the back and it wouldn't have made a difference, but it was solid and did its job of hyping up McIntyre vs. Strowman. Although I enjoyed this segment while it lasted, having this be the third straight segment without any actual wrestling was a poor choice.

Riddle and Randy Orton def. Cedric Alexander and Shelton Benjamin

I was surprised how funny the backstage segment was with Riddle and Orton beforehand, just because most of the material WWE has done with Riddle so far has been brutal. They have chemistry together, and while makeshift tag teams are done to death in this company, Riddle and Orton (a.k.a. RKBro) has potential. This was a fun match with an awesome-looking mid-air RKO to Alexander. We'll see how long this lasts before Orton inevitably turns on Riddle.

Raw Women's Champion Rhea Ripley and WWE Women's Tag Team Champion Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler def. Lana, Naomi and Asuka

It pained me to see Ripley team up with Jax and Baszler. I know she's a heel on the main roster, but she and Baszler have history as rivals and Jax is, well, Nia Jax. There wasn't anything wrong with the wrestling for the most part, but it didn't do much other than further the feuds involved. At least it kept Ripley looking strong, so there was that. The mid-match crap with Jax slipping on the water at ringside was beyond dumb.

Charlotte Flair def. Mandy Rose

It's astounding how devalued Rose has been in the last year. That face-to-face backstage with Rose and Deville should have meant a lot more than it did. It was a perfectly fine match, but it was way too short to be anything out of the ordinary. I expected Jax and Baszler to get involved, but apparently they didn't care enough to even bother. Flair didn't cross paths with Ripley or Asuka on this show, so I'm curious if she's still in the title hunt or not. Either way, for as much talent as the Raw women's division has, very few of the ladies matter and that's because of the bad booking. I will say that Deville picking Rose to be Flair's opponent was a nice touch given that she wanted to punish her former friend.

Braun Strowman def. Drew McIntyre to Be Added to the WWE Championship Match at WrestleMania Backlash

McIntyre vs. Strowman hasn't happened that many times to where I'm bored by it, but the prospect of Strowman being added to the WWE Championship match wasn't very intriguing to me. You had to know there would be interference with Lashley and MVP on commentary and that was exactly what went down. T-Bar and Mace went after McIntyre, which led to Strowman securing the victory. They made the most of the time they had, but the WWE Championship match at WrestleMania Backlash becoming a Triple Threat is a downgrade in my opinion. Maybe the change was made so Lashley can pin Strowman to retain the title, but seeing is believing.​

Overall Show

This was the usual abysmal edition of Raw where it felt like little was accomplished, but that first hour was especially rough. They could have made McIntyre vs. Strowman official for the main event without going through all of that other crap. The two six-person tag team matches weren't particularly exciting, either. Some stuff progressed throughout the night, but there's isn't a lot on Raw right now that's doing it for me. The three hours are more of a chore to sit through than ever before and it couldn't be any more apparent that the red brand is in need of a major overhaul. The worst part is that I don't see that overhaul coming any time soon. The fact I struggle to find things I thoroughly enjoy about this program is a serious problem, and I know I'm not the only one.