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

Raw, Source: WWE.com

On Raw this week, the Superstar Shake-Up kicked off. Who’s coming to Monday nights, and who’s heading for SmackDown Live?

Previously on WWE Raw, it was the post-WrestleMania edition of the flagship WWE television program. You know what that means – the fans are crazy with a capital C, and they’re gonna boo who normally gets cheered because they love to have fun!

In important happenings last week, we had a bunch of returns and a debut. Emma is back, leaving Emmalina far behind in the rear view. And The Revival answered an open challenge from New Day. When that was over, the ice cream cart had been kicked over, and Kofi Kingston only had one working leg. I’d say that’s a pretty successful debut, wouldn’t you?

But the big return was Finn Balor. Seth Rollins needed a tag team partner after Chris Jericho was beaten into a Fozzy concert. So the Demon King returned, even though he was injured at the hands of the Kingslayer. Make sense? Of course not, it’s Raw!

This week kicks off the Superstar Shake-Up. It’s happening mainly because Vince McMahon is bored, if I had to guess. But SmackDown Live and Raw will be trading superstars over the next two nights. Who’s switching nights, and who’s staying put?

Must Read: 25 Greatest WrestleMania Moments in WWE History

Please continue reading for all the results and highlights from WWE Raw for April 10, 2017.

A Couple of Mizfits

Raw kicked off in promising fashion this week. The Miz (and Maryse) spent the better part of 2016 as the best part of SmackDown Live. That run of spectacular television continued all the way through to WrestleMania. Having them showing up on Raw as part of the Superstar Shake-Up is a delight.

Dean Ambrose coming over to Raw, though, is a bit more of a mixed bag for me. Don’t get me wrong, I like Ambrose just fine. But it seems like WWE is so hell-bent on “shaking things up” that almost no one is going to stay put. Continuity is important, too, and hopefully enough superstars stay put to keep things somewhat the same.

Either way, seeing Miz and Ambrose get some kind of chance to blow off their abruptly ended feud from a few months ago is a good thing. I have no problem whatsoever imagining that Dean really thought that was John Cena in the ring. That may not be what a “lunatic” is, but it certainly fits the Ambrose character.

Backstage, later on, The Miz interrupts Sami Zayn from interrupting Kurt Angle. Sami wants to know how different Raw is going to be right before he leaves for SmackDown. Miz and Maryse want respect. Angle makes a match between the two because he’s the fastest learning GM in wrestling history.

Here’s to Miz continuing to be the best thing on TV, just a day earlier. And here’s to Kevin Owens probably leaving because the US Title and Intercontinental Title won’t be on the same show.

Side note: if Aron Rex/Damien Sandow is done with TNA, can we get him back to WWE so he can play The Miz playing John Cena?

New Day (Big E & Xavier Woods) vs. The Revival (Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder)

Result: The Revival defeated New Day via pinfall

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

First off, let me get this out of the way early: Long Island, I am disappointed in you. Lousy chants, no reaction to some of the superstars coming out, and just being disinterested in everything? No wonder we lost the Islanders! I’m glad I skipped out on going to this Raw.

As for the match, if you weren’t on board the Revival train, you best hurry up before you get called bandwagoners. They call themselves Top Guys, and they show it yet again. Right off the bat, a “We Broke Kofi’s Ankle” shirt that’s the second best shirt on screen proves how good these guys are at pro wrestling in general.

It’s still kind of amazing to me that Dash and Dawson are so good at tag team wrestling. I think it’s a case of the sum of the parts being more valuable than any one individual parts. Scott Dawson hadn’t wowed anyone when he was teaming with Marcus Louis, you know? But put him with Dash Wilder and you have gold. They’re the chocolate and peanut butter of wrestling.

And you know what? Getting victories over the New Day two weeks in a row shows what the company thinks of them. This week’s match was solid, and shows the amazing teamwork of both sides. In all honesty, the only thing in that match that could have topped Xavier’s flying elbow was the super Shatter Machine. And Woods sold it like a champ.

Cruiserweight Drama

Oh boy, a TJP heel turn coming. Yippee!

Welcome to Raw, Curt Hawkins

I feel like if Zack Ryder wasn’t hurt, this would have been him. Big homecoming to Long Island, shook up from SmackDown Live to Raw, punched in the face by Big Show. Well, that’s how I would book Ryder. It always ends with “Ryder gets punched in the face.”

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.

Kingslayer’s Fate

Seth Rollins starts off his twenty-minute promo with ten minutes of content by recapping WrestleMania and the immediate aftermath. In fairness, it’s not so bad to hear him say what he said. The problem is that it’s a week too late! You couldn’t spare a couple of minutes on last week’s post-Mania show to address this? Maybe it got cut when Roman Reigns absolutely killed the opening segment.

Once the WrestleMania recap is done, Seth gets to the meat of his spiel. He wants to stay on Raw, because he’s got a bunch of unfinished business. Sure, because dealing with Stephanie McMahon and getting jumped by Samoa Joe is way more fun than being in the main event with AJ Styles.

But I digress. Rollins knows that Stephanie wants him gone, and he says he’s gonna fight to stay on Raw. This brings out new GM Kurt Angle to announce that he’s going against Stephanie and keeping Rollins on Monday nights. Angle respects that Rollins did the impossible – he was the one-legged man who won an ass-kicking contest.

And hey, mention Samoa Joe, and the dude shows up like he’s Beetlejuice. I can’t believe Sami Zayn didn’t give Seth the heads-up about that. The best part of the pull-apart brawl with no pulling apart? That Kurt Angle looked like he desperately wanted to jump in and fight both guys, but he’s under orders to not get physical yet. One day, Kurt, one day.

Kevin Owens Speaks

Poor KO. I don’t think anyone told him The Kevin Owens Show is getting a new Tuesday time slot.

Charlotte Flair vs. Nia Jax

Result: Nia Jax defeated Charlotte Flair via pinfall

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

Is it just me, or did everything up to and including this match seem like it was in slow motion tonight? Aries and Perkins seemed like it was taking place in a vat of molasses. Even The Revival looked like they were slowing things down to let Big E and Xavier Woods keep up with them.

But I felt like this match really highlighted how slow things looked. WrestleMania hangover, perhaps? Everyone went full bore in the lead-up to the big one, and now they’re sucking wind because of it?

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I know Nia Jax isn’t exactly defined by her speed, but even Charlotte seemed off tonight. With the women’s division segment later in the show, it seemed especially strange to see Charlotte kind of relegated to a single match without being heard from again. More on that later.

It seems pretty clear that Nia Jax is going to be the next Raw Women’s Champion. A squeaky clean victory over Charlotte is going to do wonders for her. And she definitely has improved over the past several months. Between a unique look and a level of strength not shared with any of the other women competitors (and possibly a few of the men), Jax is going to take that next step towards a title. How soon it actually happens is still unknown, though.

Jinder Mahal vs. Finn Balor

Result: Finn Balor defeated Jinder Mahal via pinfall

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

This match confirms my long-standing suspicion that Jinder Mahal is just literally taking Rusev’s place for the time being. While the Bulgarian Brute is recovering from his injury, Mahal is the “evil foreigner” that get’s trotted out whenever someone else needs to look strong. It was Roman Reigns a few weeks ago, Balor tonight – if Jinder gets drafted to SmackDown he’ll be Nakamura’s first opponent.

On the plus side, it looks like Finn and Jinder brought the energy tonight. Rest holds aside, this was about three minutes of high energy. Stiff, too. I don’t know how Balor didn’t get a concussion from that forearm smash to the neck, especially with the way he crumpled to the mat afterward.

The match is quick, but that’s all it needed. Balor is making his comeback from injury, and aside from a tag match last week, the WWE Universe needs a short refresher on him. So he hits his big moves and picks up a relatively easy victory.

The big story is the post-match. As Balor stood in the ring, a BLEARP signals the arrival of Bray Wyatt to Raw. And I don’t know about you, but Wyatt vs. Balor is a license to print money if it’s done right. I don’t like the whole “Wyatt is still facing Orton at a Raw-exclusive pay-per-view,” but all that means is WWE decided last minute who’s changing shows. It also opens up an opportunity for the WWE Championship to head to Raw if Wyatt wins.

Superstar Shake-Up Update

It took an hour and forty-three minutes before WWE reported on air about Apollo Crews being the first one to move over to Raw. Over half the show. What a joke.

Counterpoint: Heath Slater is on Raw now, and I want to see him confront Jinder Mahal about the breakup of 3MB.

The Miz (w/ Maryse) vs. Sami Zayn

Result: Sami Zayn defeated The Miz via pinfall

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Minus five points for Michael Cole and company at the broadcast table. Not a one mentioned that this is a rematch from Survivor Series. Remember, when brand bragging rights were on the line, and Sami had a chance to bring the Intercontinental Title to Raw? And even though Team Raw lost the big elimination match, Sami was the only one who got punished for losing his one on one match?

Anyway, it’s just like WWE to book everything 50/50, because Sami – who never wins matches – gets his win back. Poor Miz can’t catch a break!

(I’m obviously kidding.)

If you can watch WWE programming and not think The Miz is one of the greatest performers not only of today, but of the past ten years or so, you’re insane. This is a guy who understands better than most people exactly what you need to do to get a reaction. But more importantly, he knows how to do it, too.

Take taunting an opponent. Most guys would just do it half-heartedly and move on. Not Miz. He stands on the turnbuckle and chants “Ole!” as loud as he possibly can right in Sami’s face. It’s brilliant.

Roman Reigns Catches a Beating

Did no one tell Braun Strowman that the New Coliseum literally opened less than a week ago? They just built the darn thing, why are you trying to destroy it?

But, wow, if someone ever asks me, “Who is your favorite wrestler?” it’s getting harder to not say Braun Strowman. It’s absurd that he is turning into such a complete competitor so quickly.

Credit where it’s due: Roman Reigns handled the little bit of speaking he needed to pull off perfectly. No one is going to remember it, but he was both humble and proud at the same time. You couldn’t ask for a better promo.

But then business picked up, because Braun picked up Roman. It was, without hyperbole, the greatest beatdown segment in Raw history. Strowman was the living embodiment of the Peter Griffin vs. Ernie The Giant Chicken fight on Family Guy. Every time you thought he was done, whoops! Here he is again to do something even more ridiculous.

While I was busy marking out over seeing John Silver on Raw as one of the security guards/paramedics, here comes Braun to launch the stretcher over the ledge. Finally get Roman back on the stretcher, nope – here comes Braun again to beat him up in the ambulance. And to top it off, he flipped the ambulance over.

The only thing missing from this segment? Braun commandeering the van, or driving another car into it to stop it from leaving.

Luke Gallows, Karl Anderson, & The Shining Stars (Primo & Epico) vs. Cesaro, Sheamus, & The Hardy Boyz (Matt & Jeff)

Result: Cesaro, Sheamus, & The Hardy Boyz defeated Luke Gallows, Karl Anderson, & The Shining Stars via pinfall

Rating: 3.0 out of 5 stars

Did Gallows & Anderson accidentally kill Triple H’s goldfish or something? Two weeks ago they’re tag champs, now they’re teaming with The Shining Stars? One of the best tag teams in the history of New Japan, relegated to being the muscle for a couple of timeshare con artists.

The “twist” for this match is that Cesaro & Sheamus are the number one contenders for the Raw Tag Team Championships. And they were teaming with the current champs, the Refurbished Hardy Boyz.

I say “twist” in quotation marks because there was no dissension whatsoever between the teams. They worked together just fine, and even shook hands after the match. I guess there’s still three weeks until Payback, but right now there’s no heat for this match besides “hey the Hardy Boyz are back.”

It’s high time for Matt to get on a mic and show the WWE Universe just how Broken he is at the moment. It’s nice to get classic Hardy style for now, but there’s juuuuuust enough wonderful deleting going on to pique my interest.

Also: It took forever, but someone in WWE finally figured out what a drifter actually is. Much to the chagrin of Corey Graves, Elias Samson literally just wandered out onto the stage, like he was passing between towns. That‘s exactly what he should have been doing in NXT. It probably won’t go anywhere, but it’s still a good start.

Dana (Reads a) Book

Who would write a book titled How to Be Your Own Protege in the first place? But A+ shade from Dana for throwing out “if that’s your real name” at Emma. Boom, roasted.

Raw Women’s Division Gets Some New Faces

Leave it to the Raw creative team to craft a segment that debuts not one but two new faces, and have the star of the segment be someone we all know already.

I’m beginning to think Sasha Banks and her seemingly perpetual heel turn is like wrestling’s version of Schrodinger’s Cat. She’s both a heel and a face at any given time, and we won’t know which until we really look closely.

But Sasha is the boss of passive-aggressive conversation, as evidenced by her introduction of Bayley. The Raw Women’s Champ is way too trusting, especially after literally all of her “friends” turned on her in NXT.

Before Sasha can complete her transformation from Bayley’s best bud to her worst enemy, though, Alexa Bliss makes her Raw debut. Bliss is worlds better on the mic than either Bayley or Sasha, so it was a refreshing change of pace.

When Mickie James came out, it made me wonder who’s switching brands here. Obviously, Charlotte is a contender to jump to Tuesdays – otherwise she’d have been involved in this segment. Maybe Emma, and/or Dana Brooke? Is Summer Rae cleared yet?

And, of course, the segment ends with Nia Jax annihilating everyone but Alexa. The way she ran through Mickie on the outside reminded me of Braun destroying Roman Reigns a few weeks ago. As discussed above, it seems pretty clear that Nia is being thrust to a title reign in the very near future.

Kevin Owens vs. Dean Ambrose

Result: Dean Ambrose defeated Kevin Owens via pinfall

Rating: 3.0 out of 5 stars

Champion vs. Champion matches are always interesting in theory, but in practice all they can do it devalue one title. And that’s a best case scenario.

Here’s the deal: a champion is supposed to be the best of the best, right? If you have multiple championships, there should be some kind of separation between them – something that makes it unlikely for the champs to face off. If they do, there should be some kind of handicap involved – heavyweight champ vs. cruiserweight champ, for example.

What’s the difference between the US Title and the Intercontinental Title? Now, the US Title is more meaningless. A guy like Curt Hawkins could theoretically say he wants a match for the United States Championship because Owens just lost a big match. It won’t (and shouldn’t) happen, but that’s the kind of thing that happens when you do clean finishes in matches between champions.

It’s not like it was a bad match, either – it was one of the better matches of the night. But there was no good outcome from this one if it was a straight up wrestling match.

The appearance of Chris Jericho after the match was logical, but a little unexpected. I know the Fozzy tour doesn’t start right away, but usually bands do this thing called “rehearsal” before touring. So the fact he was on Raw tonight was a little surprising.

Three weeks out, and the card for Payback is already taking shape. A tag title match and US Title match are already set. And the WWE Championship will be on the line in a House of Horrors match, as a Raw superstar challenges a SmackDown superstar for the company’s top prize.

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What did you think of this week’s episode of Raw?