Top 2 things that went right on the April 18 episode of WWE Raw

These episodes of WWE Raw sure are an adventure, aren’t they? At this point, assigning this show labels such as “good” or “bad” feels like a pointless exercise (mainly because it’s hard to consistently produce a “good” top-to-bottom episode of Raw in this three-hour incarnation), as it makes more sense to accept that this show will always have a mix of good and bad.

Of course, that’s true of just about every form of entertainment, but for a product that’s as flawed as WWE’s often is, it’s important to keep that perspective to get through their weekly shows. In that respect, let’s talk about the things that stood out on this telecast in a positive way.

These are the top two things that went right on the April 19 episode of WWE Raw.

The polygraph test with Ezekiel, Kevin Owens, and Chad Gable

We are now three weeks into this Ezekiel/Elias gag and while this has a short shelf life, Ezekiel’s commitment to the bit combined with Kevin Owens fitting in like a glove as his foil has made this program more entertaining than it has any right to be.

The storyline continued to punch above its weight this week when Owens forced Elias’ “brother” to take a polygraph test. Making this segment even better: Owens got Chad Gable to administer the test, which further ensured that this segment would have some good banter.

On that front, these three didn’t disappoint. It wasn’t the greatest segment of all time or anything, but we got fun moments like Owens pointing out that Ezekiel lied only for Gable to calmly respond that he asked Ezekiel to lie to establish a baseline for the test or Owens saying that he wasn’t going to pay Gable for his time after the test “proved” Zeke’s honesty.

(Of course, Owens can handwave the test away next week by correctly pointing out how these tests are a debunked pseudoscience.)

Sure, these segments aren’t accomplishing the intended goal if the idea is to get fans excited for a potential Owens vs. Ezekiel match and we all know WWE will let this joke go long after it runs out of gas, but for now, it’s harmless fun.

Bianca Belair gets the best of Sonya Deville this week

When Sonya Deville announced herself as Raw Women’s Champion Bianca Belair’s next challenger, it was fair to question whether WWE would expend all the heel authority figure tropes to put heat on Deville. Thus far, WWE has thankfully avoided such a pratfall.

After learning that Deville would get her title shot in Belair’s hometown of Knoxville, Tenn., we saw Deville attempt to exert her administrative power over Belair, but instead of cowering to the heel GM, Belair used her physical power to hoist Deville into position for the K.O.D. before tossing her down after Deville threatened to strip her of the title.

Yes, Belair should’ve just hit her finisher — especially given how all of this ended — but it’s understandable if WWE wanted to save that for next week (hopefully, WWE doesn’t book any shenanigans). The comeuppance for Deville continued a little later when she demanded that Adam Pearce fine Belair for her actions and Pearce obliged…to the sum of one dollar.

Now, WWE could very well go for HEAT next week, but kudos to them for going against its usual tendencies this week.