Monday Night Raw Review - April 3, 2017

​By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Roman Reigns Addressed His Defeat of The undertaker

​This could very well go down as one of the best opening segments in Raw history. I know that might be a bit of an exaggeration, but this was seriously great. WWE obviously knew the fans in attendance were going to boo Reigns with every fiber of their being, so going from the "Thank you, 'Taker chants" to the crowd chanting obscenities at Reigns was brilliant. What was even better was Reigns milking it out for several minutes before simply saying, "This is my yard now." It's a shame WWE won't go full-throttle with a Reigns heel turn because this was just a small taste of what he'd be capable of in that role.

Raw Tag Team Champions The Hardy Boyz def. The Club

To those upset Matt Hardy isn't doing the "broken" character in WWE, he still looks like Broken Matt and has been dropping references to the character in interviews and during their matches. I assume the lawsuit with Impact Wrestling and Anthem is ongoing, so maybe once it's over, he can go back to being broken? Either way, the crowd was hot for The Hardyz here and they had a good match with The Club. WWE rushing through the rematch makes me think The Club might be SmackDown bound in next week's Superstar Shakeup.

WWE Cruiserweight Champion Neville def. Mustafa Ali (Non-title)

I felt bad for these two because similar to on 205 Live from a few weeks ago, Neville and Ali produced a pretty well-wrestled match, but the crowd was too busy attempting to entertain themselves. WWE might be to blame after they glorified the beach ball in the latest "WrestleMania Monday" WWE 24 special that aired last week. Could "Beach Ball Mania" be this year's most popular post-WrestleMania Raw chant? Meanwhile, Neville going for the Red Arrow only to put away Ali with his signature submission instead was wonderful heel work.

Mr. McMahon Named Kurt Angle the New Raw General Manager

Rumors have run rampant for months that Angle was slotted for the Raw general manager spot considering Mick Foley was never long for the job. He was just too damn nice, which caused him to be completely emasculated by Stephanie McMahon week after week. Here's hoping Angle doesn't suffer the same fate as Foley when Stephanie inevitably returns to TV. Angle can thrive in the role as both a babyface and a heel and he could be serious as well as comedic, so this was a wise decision. This segment also served as a platform for McMahon to announce the Superstar Shakeup for next week's show, and the one-off appearance from Teddy Long was a funny little bit.

The Revival def. The New Day

SAY YEAHHHHH! The Revival have long deserved a main roster call-up, so them answering New Day's open challenge was a cool moment. They really came into their own on NXT and quickly became one of the best and most well-rounded teams I've seen in years. I just hope they can experience similar experience on the main roster, and this was a solid start. The match was a good showcase for them and having them win in clean fashion was absolutely the right call.

Raw Women's Champion Bayley, Sasha Banks and Dana Brooke def. Charlotte Flair, Nia Jax and Emma

I couldn't tell you the last time we saw a six-woman tag team match on Raw because the division didn't seemingly have enough talent to warrant holding one. This was a fine follow-up to the title match from WrestleMania in wrapping up the Bayley/Banks/Charlotte/Jax rivalry and an overdue reintroduction of Emma. Everyone shined at one point or another and Charlotte taking the loss for her team might indicate she, too, is headed to SmackDown Live next week. Bayley and Banks are slowly teasing tension, so I hope they wait until SummerSlam at the earliest to have them face off, and in the meantime Emma can chase the championship.

Braun Strowman Confronted Universal Champion Brock Lesnar

Needless to say, this segment was designed to set up a few future title defenses for Lesnar whenever he comes back, including Reigns for down the line. It was initially reported that was the early plan for the WrestleMania 34 main event, but there's no way they wait until then, right? I feared Lesnar would lay out Strowman here and make him look even weaker than he has in recent weeks, but thankfully that didn't happen. I'm intrigued by a future match between them, though I must admit it would have meant more had Reigns not conquered Strowman so soon.

Cesaro and Sheamus def. Enzo Amore and Big Cass in a Raw Tag Team Championship No. 1 Contender's Match

In a match pitting two babyface tandems against each other, I was curious who the crowd would root for, and although they liked Enzo and Cass, Cesaro and Sheamus were the clear favorites here. Those damn European fans! In all seriousness, this started out slightly shaky, but they redeemed themselves in the second half and had an enjoyable outing. Cesaro and Sheamus vs. The Hardy Boyz has plenty of potential to be fantastic.

Sami Zayn def. Jinder Mahal

For all intents and purposes, this match was a total waste of time, but if nothing else, it got Zayn on the post-WrestleMania Raw and it would have been a crime if he didn't appear in some capacity. I bet the crowd likely would have hijacked this match as well (how does Mahal still have a job?) had it not been for how over Zayn and his catchy entrance music are. Please, please, please send him to SmackDown in next week's Superstar Shakeup where he belongs.

Finn Balor and Seth Rollins def. United States Champion Kevin Owens and Samoa Joe

Balor being brought out as Rollins' "mystery" partner was pretty predictable once Chris Jericho got ambushed backstage by the heel duo, but that didn't make the moment any less awesome. In fact, the reaction he received was huge. He has been cleared to compete for weeks, and this was the perfect time for him to return. The crowd went into business for themselves for some strange reason and did the wave at one point, but the match was a treat on the whole and it furthered a few feuds in the process.

Overall Show

As always, the post-WrestleMania edition of Raw delivered big time with multiple historic happenings including returns, retirements, a title match, an announcement and more. In regards to the retirement, Goldberg cut a phenomenal promo from the heart after the show went off the air on Raw Talk, so check that out when you get a chance. This was a really entertaining episode from start to finish with very little to nitpick, and with the Superstar Shakeup going down next week, there will be more to look forward to and it doesn't feel as if we'll be getting that same WrestleMania hangover we have in years past.