Monday Night Raw – April 7, 2014

Date: April 7, 2014

Location: Smoothie King
Center, New Orleans, Louisiana

Commentators: Michael
Cole, Jerry Lawler, John Bradshaw Layfield

Reviewed by Tommy Hall

It’s the night after
one of the best show in years and the big question is where do they
go from here? For the first time ever, Undertaker is coming off a
loss at Wrestlemania in what very well may be his last match. Other
than that we’ve got a new WWE World Heavyweight Champion in the form
of a goat man. Tonight is usually one of the most fun shows of the
year. Let’s get to it.

As you might have
heard, I was in the arena for the show so this is my second viewing.
It’s being written the Wednesday after so a lot of things have
changed.

We open with the
Monster video on Daniel Bryan’s career that aired at Wrestlemania.
The song fits so perfectly. The video eats up nearly five minutes
but it’s awesome.

The arena is filled
with the YES chant and here’s Daniel Bryan to drive it them even
harder. Bryan is wearing the World Heavyweight Championship and has
the WWE Championship in his hand. I wish they would just get rid of
one already. Even JBL admits that Daniel Bryan is an A+ player. The
music stops and the DANIEL BRYAN chant begins. They go on so long
that Bryan asks if the people ever get tired. The fans switch into
the NO chant and Bryan says be careful that you don’t hit the people
next to you.

The YES chant starts
again and Bryan joins in but says after this his shoulders need a
break. Daniel talks about starting the pose two years ago and now
everyone in the WWE Universe is united under one word. He’s cut off
again by a YOU DESERVE IT chant and you can see Daniel is getting
overwhelmed by the reaction. He says he deserves it a little bit but
the fans deserve the rest. The YES stuff isn’t about a movement or
anything else, but about the power the fans have to make a change.
It gave him the chance to stand up to the Authority and now he is the
WWE WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION.

The fans strike up the
band one more time but here are HHH and Stephanie (in a very nice
black dress) to interrupt. They stand on the apron and the fans
aren’t pleased with HHH. Cole: “It’s going to be one of those
nights.” HHH says he isn’t going to step into the ring because he
doesn’t want to do something he’s going to regret. Bryan: “You’re
not getting in the ring? Hang on a second.” Bryan gets right in
his face and starts another YES chant in a great bit. The boss says
enjoy this while you can, because tonight Bryan is defending against
HHH himself. HHH throws the mic down so hard the cube falls off and
we get a final chant.

After a break HHH and
Stephanie are in the back and talking about how great tonight is
going to be. Batista comes in and says he wants his rematch because
it’s HHH’s fault that Bryan was in the main event. He says he earned
a one on one shot at the title but Orton comes in and says he wants
his rematch tonight. HHH says he himself is getting the shot but the
other two will at some point. Stephanie gives them a Tag Team Title
shot as a consolation prize. HHH reminds them that when they work
together, things go their way.

The fans clap along to
the Wyatts’ song. The good guys come out after a break, during which
a video aired about WWE’s issues with cars over the years. Seeing
the Wyatts stand in the ring and watch was rather odd to see. Cena
is of course absolutely LOATHED by the smarky crowd but he smirks it
off. In something that is going to catch on fast, the fans chant
JOHN CENA SUCKS in time to his music. It’s a brawl to start until we
get down to Cena vs. Bray. A big right hand drops Cena and the fans
go NUTS. Cena comes back and you would think he lit Santa Claus on
fire.

Sheamus comes in off
the tag and stomps away in the corner to a slightly less hateful
reaction. The fans chant for Bryan before chanting for Erick Rowan
who comes in off the tag. A running forearm drops Erick into the
corner and he hammers away with right hands, only to be shoved down
to the mat. Sheamus fights back with a knee to the side of the head
and it’s off to Big E.

The champ picks up
Rowan for three straight backbreakers, drawing the ONLY face pop of
the match for his team. Off to Harper, who accidentally runs into
Rowan to knock him off the apron. Cena comes back in for a quick
Protobomb and the Shuffle (minus the run). An AA doesn’t work so
Harper slams him face first into the mat for two. Bray gets the tag
and we take a break.

Back with Cena fighting
out of a Harper chinlock as the fans chant for the Family. He still
can’t get the AA though and Harper drops him with a DDT for two.
Rowan comes back in for a legdrop as the fans sing He’s Got The Whole
World In His Hands. Wyatt stomps a mudhole until John fights up with
a hard clothesline. You can actually hear a TINY Let’s Go Cena chant
but the singing drowns it out again.

Bray headbutts him down
and it’s back to Harper for some uppercuts. Cena fights up and makes
the tag off to Sheamus to clean house. The rolling fireman’s carry
puts Harper onto Rowan but a Wyatt distraction breaks up the Brogue.
Back to Big E. as everything breaks down. Big E. loads up the Big
Ending on Bray but Harper breaks it up with a nice looking superkick.
Harper hits a suicide dive to take out Sheamus and the place goes
NUTS. Bray spider walks out of the corner (Lawler: “CALL YOUR
LOCAL EXORCIST!”) and gets a Wyatt’s Gonna Kill You chant, setting
up Sister Abigail on Big E. for the pin at 10:30 shown at 13:14.

Rating:
C+. This would fall into the
category of fun rather than good and there’s nothing wrong with that.
The crowd was awesome here because of one major reason: they chanted
about stuff going on in the ring. Not the announcers, not wrestlers
that haven’t been on the show in years, not Justin Roberts. They
were chanting about the Wyatts and John Cena and the match felt like
a much bigger deal as a result. The Wyatts looked great here too.

Slam
City ad.

Bo
Dallas vignette, with Dallas playing something like a motivational
speaker. “It’s not pronounced impossible, but I’M POSSIBLE.”
The fans liked the idea of this, even though it took awhile to get to
the reveal of who it was.

Summer
looks great in blue. The guys get things going with a quick dance
off but Fandango quickly runs from the Cobra. Off to the girls and
Summer is quickly caught in the Dilemma followed by the Emmamite
Sandwich (zero need to change the name) and the Emma Lock (bridging
Indian Deathlock) for the submission at 1:30. This was just a way to
showcase Emma.

Here are Lesnar and
Heyman for the ultimate bragging session. Heyman bows down to Brock
to just drive the crowd even crazier. JBL brings up the comparison
to Bruno losing the title to Koloff and that’s really the only thing
you can compare the Streak to. Paul introduces himself and says he’s
glad to represent the conqueror of the Streak. Brock has a nasty
looking black eye.

Heyman talks about the
Streak lasting nearly a quarter of a century before being broken in
three seconds. The fans are LIVID which Heyman says is a lack of
intelligence. He hates to say we told you so, but WE TOLD YOU SO!
How could anyone doubt Heyman’s mind or Brock’s physical attributes?
Brock isn’t here to make people smile. Instead he’s here to shock
the WWE Universe and put tears in the eyes of children.

If that’s not great
enough, Heyman wants to shoot a bit. Five seconds after Undertaker
walked through the curtain, Undertaker collapsed (apparently a true
story). He was taken to the hospital and Vince McMahon went with him
instead of staying for the main event of Wrestlemania. Undertaker is
lucky that he was pinned so soon, because Brock wasn’t stopping until
the Streak was dead.

What really gets to
Heyman is that after the match was over, “John Bradshaw Layfield
and those other two things called announcers, plus 80,000 other
people in the Super Dome Hogan, not the Silver Dome, gave Undertaker
a standing ovation.” However they should have been chanting the
winner. That brings him to tonight. This is supposed to be the
wildest crowd of the year and every member of this audience is just
like the WWE locker room: they’re all wannabes.

Everyone back there
wants to be Brock Lesnar but Brock doesn’t like anyone. “He barely
tolerates me!” Brock isn’t going to suck up to a bunch of people
that fly in once a year for Raw after Wrestlemania. A lot of people
say they could have broken the Streak, but BROCK did it. A lot of
people wanted to fight in the Octagon and be the UFC Champion but
BROCK did it. A lot of people wanted to be the NCAA Heavyweight
Champion but BROCK did it. Everyone else is a wannabe because BROCK
LESNAR is the one.

A lot of people came up
to Heyman last night and said they could have broken the Streak.
“Yeah? Well why didn’t you?” BROCK did, and he’s the 1 in 21-1.
Heyman hears a WHTA chant so he slows down and repeats the 1 in 21-1
line. There are legends, Superstars and Hall of Famers. All of them
are plural though, and there’s just one BROCK LESNAR. This was one
of the best promos ever and Heyman just owned the audience and the
locker room. I kept waiting for someone to come out and confront
him, but I’m glad no one did. This needed to be all about Brock for
the night, not setting up anything else just yet.

Adam Rose and his party
bus are coming. The fans ate this up with a spoon. It’s another
example of a character that is different and the fans responded to it
faster than another version of “cocky heel that is better than you”
or “plucky face that just wants to compete.” It’s a character
rather than a gimmick and that’s always going to work.

The twins are
defending. Something that took a little getting used to this
weekend: seeing the Usos just standing there during the previous
entrance. I knew they were there due to how the entrances worked but
it looks odd in person. Batista draws the YOU TAPPED OUT chants but
easily takes Jimmy into the corner for a tag off to Randy. Jimmy
fires back with some right hands but Orton headbutts him back. The
fans are already bored and start a Y2J chant, followed by one for CM
Punk, Justin Roberts and JBL. The Usos are sent to the floor and
destroyed until it’s a double countout at 2:15.

Orton hits an Elevated
DDT on the floor to Jimmy and Batista nails a LOUD Batista Bomb to
Jey on the steps. They were smart to keep this one short before the
fans took things over again. I would have preferred it wasn’t
against the champions though.

Van Dam got a nice
reaction but it wasn’t deafening. A quick kick sends Sandow outside
but he comes back in with some forearms to the back and shoulders in
the corner. Another kick to the face puts Sandow on the apron and a
third sends him to the floor. Sandow is draped over the barricade
for the spinning kick to the back and the fans think Rob still has
it. Back in and Rolling Thunder sets up the Five Star for the pin at
2:49. Just a return squash.

Barrett gets one of the
loudest pops of the night for his first match since late last year.
The fans chant for Barrett right after the bell and he grabs the mic
for the catchphrase, only to get nailed by some forearms, making Rey
a heel for the night. A headscissors sends Barrett to the floor and
Rey hits the sliding splash under the bottom rope. Back in and
Barrett counters a headscissors and kicks Rey in the stomach to take
over.

An OLE chant starts and
Barrett gets two off the Winds of Change. Barrett nails him with a
running knee in the corner but Rey breaks up a superplex attempt. A
headscissors doesn’t work for Rey but he nails a spinning DDT for
two, followed by the 619. Rey goes up but gets crotched down,
setting up the Bull Hammer for the pin at 3:50.

Rating:
C-. The match was nothing but
hopefully the company realizes they’ve got something here with
Barrett. He looked good in the ring and the fans were WAY into him.
See what happens when you have a talented guy wrestle instead of just
making stupid jokes that no one remembers?

Video on Alexander
Rusev.

Another Adam Rose
video, taking him inside his bus. “This is my current
ex-girlfriend, and this is my future ex-girlfriend.” He also says
you need little people to have a big party and that he loves bunnies
because they hop. This is going to get over in a hurry.

Lana is officially
named the Ravishing Russian. That won’t last but she looks good in
the short skirts. This is exactly what you would expect (plus a nice
jumping kick to the face) and ends in 1:19 after the Accolade (Camel
clutch) with Ryder tapping very quickly.

Hall of Fame video.

And now for the part
that is hard to watch. The Ultimate Warrior comes to the ring with a
rather red face. He certainly looks to be in good spirits though.
Warrior puts on a coat like he used to wear back in the day and does
the rope shake a few times but already looks blown up. He says it’s
been hard for him to find the words to say this evening so he pulls
out a Warrior mask to get into old form.

Warrior tells Warrior
(yes that’s right) to shut up and let him do the talking. He talks
about no one becoming a legend on their own because everyone’s heart
beats their last beat and they breathe their last breath. However,
no one’s memory is ever forgotten because the storytellers will carry
their spirit on forever. The fans are the legend makers of the
Ultimate Warrior. He sees some in the back with the Warrior Spirit
and they can make those people legends as well. The spirit of the
Warrior will run forever. That’s absolutely chilling as he would be
gone less than 24 hours later.

We get a cool video on
all of the work and equipment that it takes to broadcast Raw.
However, none of it would be possible without the fans. This drew a
WE ARE AWESOME chant in the arena.

Here are AJ and Tamina
with something to say. AJ talks about being the Divas Champion for
295 days, which is the longest reign ever. Several months back she
tore the Divas a new one and no one has been able to prove them
wrong. Last night she showed why she’s the hero of this story
because it was AJ Lee vs. the world and she overcame the odds again.
She was a poor girl in New Jersey to being the best Diva in the
world.

AJ has to pause for a
CM Punk chant before saying she is the Divas division…..and here’s
the debuting Paige. The fans absolutely love her but AJ wants to
know why she’s here. Paige says she’s here to do what no one else
would: congratulate her for her win. AJ says every Diva should be
doing that but she doesn’t need the congratulations. Paige needs to
go running back to NXT because AJ doesn’t need to hear this. AJ
calls her sweet and offers her a match right now. Paige says she
isn’t ready and gets slapped in the face for her efforts. AJ says
ring the bell and let’s make it a title match for fun.

AJ jumps her to start
and hammers away before parading around the ring. Paige powers out
of the Black Widow (despite slapping AJ’s leg which looked a lot like
tapping) and mostly botches the Paige Turner (kind of a snap reverse
Angle Slam) but gets the pin and the title at 1:18. The place went
NUTS at the pinfall and AJ has no idea what to do.

Another Bo Dallas
vignette.

Here’s Hulk Hogan for
the Andre trophy presentation. He gets the building name right to an
approving reaction and talks about what a great Wrestlemania moment
the battle royal was. Hogan knew Andre was smiling when Cesaro won
and says the battle royal will keep going every year. Apparently
there were 31 men in the battle royal last night and here’s the one
that survived.

Cesaro comes out in a
shiny jacket with Zeb Colter by his side. Hogan shakes his hand,
congratulates Cesaro and actually leaves without saying anything
else. Zeb takes the mic and says a real American should do the
talking. He promises to give the mic back to Cesaro in a minute so
Cesaro can “say what kind of a guy he really is.” Cesaro is a
guy who was invited into the Real Americans fold ten months ago. He
made Cesaro a Zeb Colter Guy but Cesaro takes the mic. “I’m sorry
Zeb. I’m a Zeb Colter Guy. I’m a Paul Heyman Guy.” The fans take
a second to realize what they heard and start up the YES chant.

Heyman comes out with a
big smile on his face and says he’s now the advocate for the King of
Swing, Cesaro. Colter is livid as Heyman shakes Cesaro’s hand.
Heyman calls Zeb grandpa and says this is a shocking week for Paul
Heyman Guys. Paul heads outside to tell the announcers (including
another JBL and those other guys comment) how to address the King of
Swing. The fans chant the new nickname as Swagger hits the ring to
attack Cesaro and BREAK THE TROPHY. Cesaro goes after him and we go
to a break.

During the break, Brad
Maddox came out and said clean up the mess so we can have a match.
The crew came in to clean things up and a guy with a broom swept out
the ring. The fans gave him a “Let’s go sweeper!” chant and he
even gave a fist pump when he was done. It was a little thing but
gave us a nice moment nonetheless.

Back with Cesaro
fighting up and hitting a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker for two. Heyman
is holding the Andre statue, minus its right leg. Swagger tries to
leave but gets kicked in the ribs and thrown back into the ring.
Cesaro goes up top but Jack runs the corner and suplexes him down to
take over.

Jack cranks on both
arms for a bit but gets caught by some European uppercuts. A
powerslam gets two on Cesaro but the Vader Bomb hits feet (Swagger
landed one during the break). Cesaro nails the superplex from the
apron and some running uppercuts in the corner. He loads up the
Swing but Jack runs away for the countout at 5:15.

We recap the opening
segment.

Stephanie is in the
back with Shield and Kane. Her orders for the night are to make sure
HHH leaves with the WWE Title because this was an injustice. Rollins
says that’s fine but wants to know where the Outlaws are. Ambrose
thinks they’re gone for good but Kane isn’t pleased. He goes on a
rant about how expendable Shield is before running his mouth too
much, revealing that HHH ordered the attack on them a few weeks ago.
Stephanie goes back to the injustice line and says what HHH wants, he
gets.

The title now has YES
plates. Instead of HHH, here are Batista and Orton. They surround
the ring and beat Bryan down with both guys hitting their finishers.
Kane comes out to add a chokeslam and here’s HHH. He demands the
bell ring but like any villain, he takes his time and the Shield is
here for the save. Why HHH didn’t cover Bryan while they were
heading to the ring is anyone’s guess. The “match” officially
started but we’ll call it a no contest at about eight seconds.

Shield gets on one side
of the ring while Orton/Kane/Batista are on the other. The fans
chant HOUNDS OF JUSTICE while HHH says don’t do it. He says this
isn’t going to be a war but walks into the spear and it’s on.
Rollins and Ambrose lay out Orton and Batista with dives (Ambrose’s
mostly missed) and HHH is all alone. Bryan is getting up and with
the YES chant going through the roof, it’s a running knee to the boss
to end the show.

The post show scene was
excellent as well with Shield all saying the Believe line and Bryan
giving a very emotional speech about how he’s living his dream
because of all the fans. WWE played a video that was made by people
you’ll never see in front of a camera, but he thanked the crowd
personally, nearly breaking down in tears.

Overall
Rating: A. Oh
yeah this worked. First and foremost, they kept the crowd from
getting too out of hand. Yeah they booed Cena but there’s really no
way around that. This show was very fun and a great way to introduce
several new characters (or return some that we haven’t seen in action
in awhile). The matches were just there as a backdrop for all of the
action and for a show like this, that’s the best decision possible.

Bryan
vs. HHH is amping up and there are a few options for Extreme Rules.
You could go with Bryan vs. HHH II in a gimmick match with Shield
taking on the other three, or you could do an eight man war with the
title on the line. The key
thing though is there are options. We’ve been building to matches
we’ve known for months now and a change of pace is very nice. WWE is
white hot right now and they’re reloading for Extreme Rules. This
was an incredible weekend and if they even keep up most
of this momentum things are looking great for the next few months.

Wyatt Family b. John
Cena/Sheamus/Big E. – Sister Abigail to Big E.

Emma/Santino Marella b.
Fandango/Summer Rae – Emma Lock to Summer

Usos vs. Randy
Orton/Batista went to a double countout

Rob Van Dam b. Damien
Sandow – Five Star Frog Splash

Bad News Barrett b. Rey
Mysterio – Bull Hammer

Alexander Rusev b. Zack
Ryder – Accolade

Paige b. AJ Lee –
Paige Turner

Cesaro b. Jack Swagger
via countout