WWE Raw Results: Highlights, Analysis, and Grades for April 17

Curt Hawkins vs. Finn Balor

Result: Finn Balor defeated Curt Hawkins via pinfall

Rating: 2.0 out of 5 stars

Kudos to Curt Hawkins for playing his role so good. The guy has a fairly successful training academy on Long Island, he really doesn’t need to be back in WWE. But here he is, week in and week out, putting guys over left and right.

Kudos also go to Balor, for having the stereotypical thick Irish skull necessary to come back from a concussion so quickly. Remember, I wrote in my review last week that it would be amazing if he wasn’t concussed. Sure enough, the Jinder Mahal elbow knocked him loopy.

But apparently, tests were passed, and Finn is A-OK to face the facts. And clearly, he didn’t miss a step en route to a fairly easy victory.

Chris Jericho and Tom Phillips

I think Chris Jericho is the only superstar who could get away with a Velocity reference in 2017. That’s A+ quality, there.

And is The Drifter literally going to drift every week? How on earth did it take until he made it to Raw for that to happen? That was the biggest knock on Samson in NXT – he wasn’t really a drifter. But now that he’s on The List (saving MikeTom in the process), will he stick around in one place for a bit?