Rate Raw 4/25/2016

[Jacob Fox]

Vote and post your thoughts on how Raw you thought Raw was.

Spoiler: Results

1. The show opens with a graphic memorializing Chyna.

2. Shane opens the show, only to be approached by Stephanie who informs him that during Payback, Vince McMahon will decide who runs Raw. Shane then has security remove Stephanie from the ring. Stephanie fights back but they remove her.

3. AJ Styles defeated Sheamus after hitting a Phenomenal Forearm and then pinning him.

4. After the AJ match, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson came down to the ring and they applauded AJ, who just looked confused. Roman Reigns then came down to the ring to massive boos and was joined by the Usos who told him they had his back. The Usos then leave.

5. The New day came to the ring giving a typical New Day promo. The Vaudevillains came out to interupt him. In turn, they were interupted by Enzo and cass. The segment ended with the crowd doing the "New Day Rocks" chant.

6. Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson defeated the Usos after hitting the Magic Killer. Gallows and Anderson then beat down on the Usos but Roman Reigns came down to the ring to save them. He beat both Gallows and Anderson away.

7. Renee interviewed AJ and was interupted by Gallows and Anderson. AJ told them that they can't stay out of trouble but Gallows and Anderson blamed everything on Roman Reigns. All three guys hugged after Anderson and Gallows confirmed they had AJ's back.

8. Sami Zayn defeated Rusev with a roll up.

9. Apollo Crews defeated Stardust by pinfall after hitting the spin out power bomb.

10. Dean Ambrose came to the ring and said he was supposed to do the Ambrose Asylum but wasn't in the mood. He was interupted by Chris Jericho, who demanded an apology from Ambrose. After giving a very sarcastic apology, Ambrose attacked Jericho. Ambrose got a few good shots in until Jericho reversed a move on the announce table, causing Ambrose's head to bounce off a monitor. Jericho then locked in the Walls of Jericho on the table.

11. Natalya defeated Emma by tap out to the Sharpshooter. Charlotte and Ric Flair were at ringside. Natalya confronted Charlotte after the match, but the Flairs just dismissed her.

12. WWE presented a video package with many tweets to memorialize Chyna.

13. Cole announced that Baron Corbin vs Dolph Ziggler was added to Payback.

14. Ziggler attacked Corbin on the way to his match with Damien Sandow, and the match never happened.

15. Maryse and Miz give a promo and they are interupted by Cesaro. The two trade movie quotes. Cesaro drops Miz and holds the IC belt for a while before giving it to Maryse and leaving the ring.

16 Roman Reigns defeated Alberto Del Rio after hitting the spear. Before the match was over, Gallows and Anderson came to the ring to distract Reigns, but it didn't work. After the match, they attacked Reigns and AJ came to the ring to stop the fight. When AJ pushed Gallows and Anderson off of Reigns, Reigns then hit AJ with a superman punch. AJ then hit Reigns with a phenomenal forearm.

17. The show ended with Gallows and Anderson laughing as both Roman and AJ laid in the ring.

 

[Roadster]

Solid show. Good matches and action. The entirety of the show was used to build Payback, so there's some props and BC in-ring debut was cool.

 

[C.M. Shaddix]

Good Show 7/10
Once again good build to Payback matches like the tag match, Ziggler vs. Corbin, Jericho vs. Ambrose, and the IC title. Great build with the WWEWHC, you gotta wonder if Finn will come up Sunday and reveal himself as the man with Gallows and Anderson. Both matches Styles and Reigns had were good too, I just wish the League had heat or character. One thing that seemed off was that Make a Wish thing for Reigns, it's not a good way to get him over like that. It likes WWE is now just flat out using the John Cena way on Reigns and gave up on the crowd.

 

[Prince Bálor]

The go-home show for Payback was good! That's four good episodes in a row! Awesome! 7/10

Keep it up, WWE. Please and thank you.

Positives:
- Stephanie being escorted out of the ring/building was the absolute best part in the opening segment. I mean, the opening segment was fine. It was a hook for a talking segment at Payback with the McMahons. I just hope this whole McMahon mess is resolved for good on Sunday and it isn't brought up again the following night on RAW.

- AJ Styles vs Sheamus was a good show opener.

- The New Day/Enzo & Cass/The Vaudevillains segment. Loved Enzo and Aiden singing, in particular.

- Gallows & Anderson vs The Usos was solid. It was a bit sloppy in places and it went on a bit long for their debut match, but overall, it was solid and got the job done.

- That video package featuring Zayn and KO was great. We need things like this more often.

- Zayn vs Rusev was rock solid. The right man wins and I liked the finish. Are they actually trying to salvage Rusev?! Hopefully The LoN break up soon and they rebuild all of 'em, especially Rusev. The dude's really grown on me. Also, is it just me or did Sami flip off Lana post-match?

- Apollo Crews vs Stardust was okay. It was exactly what it needed to be and perfectly fine given the time constraint. All they need to do now is get Crews into a program following Payback.

- The Ambrose/Y2J segment was good. Heel Jericho's been on fire and Ambrose got to be serious, and they hyped the match at Payback well.

- The Miz/Cesaro segment was some solid stuff. Segments featuring these two have been enjoyable and this helped build the Payback match nicely.

- The closing segment was good. It continues to play off of what they've been building so far and I'm looking forward to the ME at Payback.

Negatives:
- Nattie vs Emma. Weren't they building to Becky/Emma squaring off at Payback? Why did Emma lose here? Couldn't Naomi, Alicia or Tamina do the job?

- Another whacky video package for Primo and Epico. Puerto Rico's cool. They are not.

- Reigns vs ADR was meh, boring. Shame, I like 'em both, but it seems like they didn't give a shit. Oh, well. At least the post-match angle was good.

Overall, I liked the majority of the show, the third hour could've been better, but what ya gonna do. The Payback PPV was set up nicely and I'm looking forward to it.

 

[Prince Bálor]

I guess I'll put this here.

What Does 'GB' On Luke Gallows And Karl Anderson's WWE Gear Stand For?

As seen on last night's WWE RAW, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson had "#GB 4 Life" written on the jackets they wore to the ring. These jackets were very similar to the jackets they wore at WrestleKingdom 10 but those said "#BC 4 Life" for The Bullet Club, as seen below.

Social media was full of fans speculating on what the letters meant last night but Gallows' wife Amber Gallows confirmed on Twitter that the "GB" stands for Good Brothers.

Source

 

[Prince Bálor]

FYI, WWE's recently started uploading the shows to their YT channel, which is awesome.

 

[RVD_86]

7/10

Thought the matches were of high quality and spiced up the show. The only problem is that the crowd was completely dead for the most part and spoiled things a bit. Fans should be getting behind this new generation of talent that has stepped up.

In particular the Jericho and Ambrose promo was first class. Showed everyone how it should be done, just oozed class and easily the most interesting match going into payback as they've built up their feud like pros. Then you go from this high to smackdown where Reigns and Miz cut one of the worst pointless promos I've ever seen. Real shame WWE can't get this right more often