Monday Night Raw – April 4, 2016 (2017 Redo): Travel Packages
Since I’m ridiculously backed up due to being in Orlando, I needed something to fill in the space. Here’s a fresh version of last year’s post-Wrestlemania Raw to bridge the gap a bit.
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Night Raw
Date: April 4, 2016
Location: American Airlines Center, Dallas, Texas
Commentators: Michael Cole, Byron Saxton, John Bradshaw Layfield
Shane goes to leave but Vince says no one upstages him. Let the idiocy begin. Vince has often thought about how crazy it would be if Shane ran Monday Night Raw (I guess he forgot Shane running the show, albeit with Stephanie, back in 2008). The fans tell Vince to LET HIM RUN IT so the boss actually gives in, making EVERYTHING WITH THE UNDERTAKER COMPLETELY WORTHLESS.
Tag Team Titles: New Day vs. League of Nations
New Day is defending against Sheamus and Wade Barrett. The champs easily clean house to start (as you should against losers like the League) and Kofi is tossed onto Sheamus with an accompaniment on trombone. Sheamus eventually shoves Kofi off the top so Woods runs over with the cereal for comfort. Barrett gets in a good kick to the ribs and we take a break with Kofi fighting out of a chinlock and the fans doing the Wave.
Even Sheamus joins in on it so Woods grabs the mic and says if you do the Wave, you like Sheamus. And so much for the Wave. This was the second time Woods had to do something like that as he used the same method to cut off a WE WANT ROCKSTEADY chant during the break. The fans call themselves awesome as Kofi drops Barrett and gets over for the hot tag to Big E. That means a bunch of belly to belly suplexes and the Warrior Splash for no cover. The League is knocked off the apron and a quick Midnight Hour retains the titles at 8:44.
Vince leaves because he knows this is going to be a disaster.
Summer Rae vs. Sasha Banks
Apollo Crews vs. Tyler Breeze
Video of Roman Reigns and Charlotte on the Today Show.
We look back at Shane being put in charge of the show.
Shane makes AJ vs. Jericho vs. Owens vs. Zayn for the #1 contendership. Reigns approves.
Baron Corbin vs. Dolph Ziggler
Corbin beats Ziggler up even more and hits End of Days on the floor.
Stills of Lesnar vs. Ambrose from last night.
Intercontinental Title: Zack Ryder vs. The Miz
Ryder is defending. Miz can only get half of the Reality Check before Ryder gets in a dropkick. A middle rope dropkick is good for two and Ryder one ups himself with a middle rope hurricanrana. Back from a break with Ryder being sent to the floor for a big crash before Miz unloads with left hands. Ryder fights back with a middle rope dropkick (again) but gets caught with a short DDT for two.
A lot of gloating ensues.
The Vaudevillains are coming. On Smackdown!
Natalya is the only one left and goes into a speech about how Charlotte needs to learn respect. It was Natalya who gave Charlotte a great match at Roadblock and she has the heart of a champion. Charlotte laughs it off because the title proves that she has the better family. The fight is on and Sharpshootering ensues.
So at this point we had about ten women in the ring at once and somehow, WWE decided that we had enough for two divisions. On top of that though, NATALYA, the least interesting woman on the roster, gets the first shot at the new champ? That was a huge blow for the division and I think everyone knew it. The segment was good other than that but sweet goodness that was a bad ending. Oh and finally: can we PLEASE stop with the “my family is better than yours” stuff? It puts too much focus on the old guys, which defeats the purpose of the whole thing.
Usos vs. Dudley Boyz
Double powerbombs are countered into a double superkick (you can guess who did what), followed by double clotheslines off the barricade. The double Superfly Splashes through the tables miss and the bell rings, which is a bit premature. Bubba throws Jey through a table for the real win at 8:57.
Rating: D-. This was really boring and I have no idea why this even needed to happen. The Usos beat them clean at Wrestlemania so now they lose a gimmick match the next night on Raw? Nothing to see here and the match went on FAR longer than it really needed to. This could have been done on any other show and it really held things back here.
Sami Zayn is ready to prove everyone wrong and get to the main event when Owens comes in and powerbombs him through a table.
More Wrestlemania stills.
Zack Ryder gets his rematch on Smackdown.
Dr. Phil is guest host next week. The place went SILENT when that was announced, as it should.
AJ Styles vs. Kevin Owens vs. Chris Jericho vs. ???
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