WWE Raw Results: Highlights, Analysis, and Grades for April 10

Austin Aries vs. TJ Perkins

Result: TJ Perkins defeated Austin Aries via pinfall

Rating: 2.0 out of 5 stars

How do you make a dead crowd more dead? Apparently, a sloppy cruiserweight match is all it takes.

Neither guy is bad, per se. But forget about not being on the same page – Perkins and Aries weren’t even in the same book at points. Nothing seemed to be fluid, nothing seemed to gel. It was just kind of a bad night for both guys.

And when the crowd is disinterested to begin with, a sloppy match is going to drive them further away. The best part of the match was Neville on commentary – standing, because he’s a boss – and they couldn’t hear that.

To make it even better, we get the patented “distraction rollup” finish, just with the small package variant. Number one contenders aren’t champions, so it narrowly avoids the “[BLANK] has pinned the [BLANK] champion!” double shot.

Not for nothing, though, I figured the Perkins heel turn would be dragged out for weeks. I had no idea that they would pull the trigger on it the same night it was teased. Heck, it was one segment later! I guess the cruiserweights do everything faster than the heavyweights, huh? Maybe it’ll be the shot in the arm TJ needs to connect with the audience better – although the “You still suck” chants aren’t the most ringing endorsement.