WWE Raw Results, Highlights, and Grades for April 1, 2019
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Batista returns to WWE Raw in his hometown
We saw Batista arriving at the arena and being dropped off in his car, and it was clear this could be our final time to see The Animal on Raw. He made his way to the ring to a raucous reaction, his hometown clearly loving to see Batista back. “Welcome back” chants, among others, rang out.
Batista simply pointed to the screen without a word, prompting a video package of the many times Batista has defeated Triple H with the repeated words “the only thing this man hasn’t done is beat me” being uttered by Batista. He followed it with four simple words: “Hunter, kiss my ass.” With that, Batista exited the ring, said farewell to the crowd, and left without incident.
Grade: A, This match already has enough build, and it didn’t need much more. It felt like Batista would be attacked during his departure, but things were simply left like that, really building hype to see Batista and Triple H finally go toe to toe one more time at WrestleMania 35.
Apollo Crews vs. Jinder Mahal
Next up on WWE Raw, we saw a preview of the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal as Jinder Mahal squared off with Apollo Crews. Both men will compete in the battle royal on Sunday, and had a short but fun match. Mahal got some offense in early, but Crews got some momentum and picked up the win with a frog splash.
After the match, Crews posed with the trophy, but was shoved out of the way by The B-Team. We then saw a string of battle royal participants try to pose, leading to a brawl in the ring between them. After some chaos, we saw Crews send Mahal flying out of the ring and stand tall once again, making him look like a definite favorite for this Sunday.
Grade: A, This has continued a really consistent push of Apollo Crews, and hopefully he’ll keep that rolling by picking up the win on Sunday. The brawl was also a good reminder of some of the match’s participants.