Monday Night Raw Review - April 27, 2026

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Seth Rollins and Bron Breakker Went Face-to-Face

Where the hell was this verbal exchange a year ago when The Vision first formed?! This was the explanation I was looking for as far as why Rollins recruited Breakker into The Vision, including acknowledging that championship clash they had in NXT in 2023. I appreciated the intensity from both men and thought Breakker more than held his own on the mic. I didn't think we'd get the match as early as Backlash, but I'm not complaining, especially since I assume there will be more matches after that.

Intercontinental Champion Penta def. Rusev (Non-Title)

WWE has attempted to make Rusev more of a threat in the last few weeks, so I was surprised he got beat straight-up here instead of going with some sort of a non-finish. I realize Penta won with a roll-up, so it wasn't completely decisive, but there's no real reason to go back to this bout after this. The match was good, though, and I like both Je'Von Evans and Ethan Page still being in the Intercontinental Championship mix.

Women's Intercontinental Champion Becky Lynch def. IYO SKY

This was an open challenge from Lynch. Hopefully it was just a one-off as we have someone else on the Raw roster issuing open challenges now, too (as we found out later in the show). At any rate, this was a great match as you'd expect from the two seasoned stars. Asuka costing SKY the win was logical to further their feud and to set up their own matchup for Backlash. For what it's worth, there were noticeable "We Want Kairi" chants from the crowd at the end of hte angle.

The Street Profits Saved Joe Hendry from World Tag Team Champions The Vision

With this being Hendry's first-ever concert on Raw, I'd say it was a smashing success considering how over he was with this crowd. He didn't go for too long, but they sang along and were clearly digging it before The Vision showed up. We'll see where this goes, but Hendry working with The Vision from the get-go makes a lot of sense in terms of getting him over with the audience. Plus, we have the Profits challenging The Vision for the World Tag Team Championship at some point, but who else is left to fight for the titles beyond them?

Rey Mysterio def. El Grande Americano

It's wild how drastic the difference is in how Americano is received on Raw compared to in AAA. Over there, he's a massive babyface, whereas the gimmick ran its course a long time ago on Raw. From an in-ring standpoint, though, Kaiser can obviously go and thus I enjoyed this outing. The post-match brawl between the two Americanos wasn't nearly as hot as the one they had in Mexico a few weeks ago.

Oba Femi def. Grayson Waller

Seeing Waller in singles action nowadays is rare. I hope this means he'll get more chances to showcase his skills on his own going forward, but it's not like this was a competitive contest by any means, nor should it have been. Femi destroyed the dude in roughly one minute. Post-match, he declared that he'll be holding open challenges going forward, which I have no issue with if they keep him busy until he ideally wins King of the Ring at the end of June.

The Judgment Day (Roxanne Perez and Raquel Rodriguez) def. Bayley and Lyra Valkyria

Perez was super over in front of this Laredo crowd. Granted, it was her hometown, but it was an encouraging sign for her future. The match was well-worked and Perez pinning Bayley for the victory was a nice touch. I'm all for Perez teasing tension with Morgan and breaking out as a babyface eventually, but I don't want it to take 10 years like it did with Finn Balor.

Jacob Fatu Attacked World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns

Fatu came across like an equal to Reigns in last week's segment and that was once again the case here. Interestingly, The Usos were absent here, whereas they were there last week when Fatu didn't get physical with Reigns. It might mean something, it might mean nothing (I'm going with the latter). Either way, this was more solid stuff from Fatu and Reigns and it left me excited for their upcoming match at Backlash.

Overall Show

The overall vibe among WWE fans right now (at least online) is not the best, and understandably so in light of the recent releases. However, to give credit where it's due, I think Raw has been entertaining on the whole the last two weeks, and Backlash has the potential to be an excellent event per usual based on what's been announced. There was enough going on with this episode to keep me invested throughout. Props to Laredo for being a lively crowd as well.

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