The Ten Count: Monday Night Raw, April 3
- Apr 5, 2017
- 6 min read
Every member of this addition of Raw rated 1-10 based off their performance.
As we all know in wrestling there is no off season, and the day after Wrestlemania is not a time to rest, but instead for one of the hottest crowds of the year. Did the performers themselves live up to the crowd? Let's find out as I rate every single member of the show from 1-10. This is the ten count.
Roman Reigns - 9
Ok so just to be clear, my rating is off the assumption that Roman is going to run with this heel angle now, I mean how can he not. He's just ended one of the greatest careers in wrestling history and in turn has become one of the most hated wrestlers of all time. He only needed to stand there to draw some of the strongest heat I have heard in a long time, and he only needed 5 words to make the Amway Centre explode. Brilliant.
The Hardy Boyz - 8
In the ring The Hardy Boyz have not lost a beat and were absolutely fantastic in their first defence of their Raw Tag Team Championships against the former champions The Club. The only thing that is a slight adjustment is that it seems that the 'broken' gimmick has been left to the indies.
The Club - 8
This is the no nonsense Club we like to see who worked incredibly well with The Hardy Boyz on Raw, a perfect opponent for the newly revitalised Matt & Jeff, put on a great match that the crowd loved and was fit for the Hardy's return to Monday night television.
Neville - 8
A great promo by the Geordie will be forgotten by many due to a beach ball yet again finding it's way onto another Raw after Mania. Distractions aside, Neville put on a genuinely good match with Mustapha Ali, which had it not been for that damn beach ball could have helped guide the Cruiserweight division back on the right path.
Mustapha Ali - 7
Like Neville, the Chicago native Ali put on a competitive, highly exciting performance for the crowd who were otherwise occupied. The only reason he gets a lower rating than the 'King of the Cruiserweights' is because he didn't put a great promo over before the match and he was slightly hindered by many of the fans being unfamiliar with his name.
Vince McMahon - 9
This is my favourite Vince appearance in a long time. The chairman was great on Monday as he pulled up in a limo looking full of purpose, and that's exactly what he was. The boss announced a 'superstar shakeup' to the pleasure of the Orlando crowd. Vince's timing was impeccable knowing when to speak and when not to, and knowing exactly what to do to make the crowd pop. Trying to draw sympathy for Stephanie McMahon before shooting down Theodore Long (7) in a comical cameo. There was time for one more bit of magical television though as Mr. McMahon announced who would take over as Raw GM from predecessor, Mick Foley.
Kurt Angle - 10
That man was Kurt Angle who came back with a red, white & blue bang on Raw. Whilst his in ring promo work with Vince was short- it was sweet. We then saw him bring out his more humorous side in a fantastic backstage segment with Enzo & Big Cass (8) who seemed to have good chemistry with the Olympic gold medalist. He used logic and reason when booking matches between Enzo & Cass and Sheamus & Cesaro, then later Jinder Mahal and Sami Zayn. Kurt came across as a calm, decisive & genuinely funny character, it will be interesting to see how he will deal with larger rivalries in the future but for now, this is the perfect start.
The New Day - 7
The New Day came out and 'your boys' did their usual shtick, might just be me but I'm getting a bit bored of it now, a shakeup would be nice, possibly a 'superstar shakeup' for one member? However they did make the valid point that being the hosts of WrestleMania they had no match, and they wanted one tonight, so one open challenge later and we had a new team on the WWE scene, now whilst this was all about The Revival, New Day were typically entertaining in the squared circle and did a good job of putting the #TopGuys on the map.
The Revival - 8
A great debut helped by a highly intense crowd sparse in casual fans. The crowd can only help The Revival get over, but Dash Wilder & Scott Dawson did their absolute best to get themselves over too which was, in my opinion, successful.
Bayley - 6
Now this was messy... a 6 woman tag team match full of components left this match feeling disconnected. Bayley was fine; there was nothing wrong with her performance but the woman's champion came out being the least impressionable member of this match.
Dana Brooke - 5
Dana looked out of place, she still doesn't connect as a face to me and I'm disappointed with the little action she had in this match, maybe this was due to trying to protect her limited in ring skills but WWE missed out on a chance to tell a bigger story with Dana & Charlotte, as well as Dana & Emma.
Sasha Banks - 7
Sasha got a submission victory over Charlotte Flair on Raw. It counts for something. Getting her team the victory made her at least look strong no matter all the mediocrity in this match.
Charlotte Flair - 7
A good performance by the second generation superstar, rising above the poor booking of this match to make herself look strong despite tapping to Sasha. Flair did a good job of being a true heel after the match pushing around Emma and Nia Jax before Nia put an end to Flair's ranting.
Nia Jax - 8
It wasn't the actual match that gets the high rating here, it's the post match events that I appreciated. Nia looked human, and looked like she had a purpose. Rather than just being an obstacle in the way of Sasha or Bayley, was this a face turn or hinting towards one? Whatever it was, it was an interesting difference for Nia's stale character.
Emma - 7
I don't get it. The whole Emma to Emmalina to Emma story, and it's not really been well explained. However once Emma was back in the flesh she at least seemed to have a place to grow and looked good in the ring. The crowd loved her so that counts for something, 7. A solid 7.
Paul Heyman - 8
As Brock (7) stood there typically menacingly Paul E. cut a strong promo about how his beast conquered Goldberg. We also got an idea of who might be next for the beast. Roman Reigns. The fans were not best pleased about that, as they made it clear that they would much prefer to see Brock vs Balor. An idea I agree with.
Braun Strowman - 7
We also got a good idea of what we may see at Payback in 4 weeks time. Roman Reigns vs Braun Strowman in a #1 contenders match. Braun told Brock dominantly that he's aware of Brock and Brock should be aware of him. A nice appearance from the monster which will keep him in the mix.
Cesaro & Sheamus - 8
The aforementioned Enzo & Cass got halted on their quest for the Raw Tag Team Championship as new #1 contenders crowned, the Celtic Warrior and the Swiss Superman were on fire, which the hot crowd detected, which made for a fun fast paced match.
Sami Zayn - 7
The other match set up by new GM Kurt Angle was won by Sami Zayn who looked good in his win over jacked up Jinder but may find himself on the blue brand soon.
Jinder Mahal - 6
Jinder Mahal has a great look. He isn't a bad heel character either, and after becoming runner up in the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal the powers that be clearly want to do something with Mahal. But losing every week is not going to do anything for him and although the match wasn't bad it was another bad week of TV for Jinder Mahal.
Finn Balor - 10
A backstage segment resulting in the injury of Chris Jericho (7) presented a spot in the main event of Raw to tag with Seth Rollins (8) against playground bullies Kevin Owens (8) & Samoa Joe (7). Thanks to Kurt Angle we get the return of the Demon King. His injury looks not to have hindered him as he stole the main event and claimed Monday Night Raw back as his own. The other competitors in the match did good but got lost in the shuffle to the Irish superstar as he looked driven and focused on getting back to the top of the mountain.
Well that's that, a great episode of Raw which I can have almost no complaints about. Now the question is can they capitalise of this or will they sink into mediocre programming? And what is the blue brands response going to be? I'll catch you back here with all the answers.
Commentary:
Michael Cole - 8
Corey Graves - 8
Byron Saxton - 7
Crowd - 9
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