WWE Monday Night Raw 4/19/2021

WWE Monday Night Raw 4/19/2021

Last week's show is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2021/04/wwe-monday-night-raw-4122021.html 

Drew McIntyre comes out to start the show. Drew talked about opportunity and said he grabbed the opportunity by winning the #1 Contender's match las week. He brought up being attacked by Mace and T-Bar last week. He said he knows MVP is behind it and wondered if they would take off their masks and put on suits now.

MVP came out. He said Drew has a history of not expecting things and said it was ridiculuous that Drew thought he was behind the attack. MVP said Lashley fired Shelton and Cedric, so why would he add more members to his crew in Mace and T-Bar? Drew then brought up Bobby asking the locker room to go after Drew prior to Mania. MVP said Mace and T-Bar are not with them and said maybe Drew challenging people to fights a few weeks ago in the locker room had something to do with it.

Drew approached MVP and Mace and T-Bar jumped him. Drew was then sitout double chokeslammed.

Mace and T-Bar were interviewed by Kevin Patrick. They started naming animals and said Drew would go extinct like the saber-tooth tiger. This sucked.

Drew went up to Pearce in the back. He said he wants Mace and T-Bar 1v2. Pearce said he can't face them alone. Drew said he can with a baseball bat. Pearce said he needs a partner and Drew said he doesn't.

The Viking Raiders vs Shelton Benjamin and Cedric Alexander

The VR's beat Shelton and Cedric last week. Shelton and Erik trade forearms to start and Erik is dropkicked by Cedric. Ivar side slams Cedric and takes a step up knee from Shelton. Ivar is beaten up in the corner and comes back with a standing butt drop on Shelton. Erik comes in and kicks Shelton then takes a neat looking suplex.

Cedrick hits a nice tornado ddt on Erik but Ivar breaks it up. Ivar crossbodies Shelton against the rails outside and Erik does a nice hammerlock type of suplex on Cedric. Erik then pops up Credric for an Ivar powerslam for the win. It was fine but Cedric and Shelton are not off to a good post-Hurt Business career here.

Kevin Patrick interviews Randy Orton. Orton says we will never see The Fiend again as long as he is around. He said he is coming after whoever wins the WWE title then Riddle rides his scooter around Orton, being annoying as usual. Riddle said they should team up as RK-Bro said neither have titles anymore. Riddle offers him a scooter and Orton walks out instead of decking him unfortunately. I hope they are trying to make Riddle a heel here because he is by far the biggest heel in the company right now.

Orton goes up to Pearce. He said he is sick of the disrespect around here and says he wants Riddle tonight, but doesn't know his name.

Charlotte Flair comes out to talk. She said she hasn't gotten much respect since she returned. She said she had a Mania match taken from her. She said she can beat Rhea and Asuka in the same night. She said she doesn't like Asuka and will prove it tonight in their match.

Asuka comes out and Rhea follows. Rhea says Asuka will beat Charlotte tonight. She talks slow for Asuka and tells Asuka to stop talking, but Asuka yells at her and says she will beat her tonight.

Riddle rides past Orton in the back.

Riddle vs Randy Orton

Orton takes control early and Riddle jumps on his back for a sleeper. Orton then pulls Riddle overhead. Riddle jumps on his back again. Orton falls back but Riddle puts it on again. Riddle tries to kick him from the apron but is swung to the apron and backdropped hard on the table.

We go to break and return with Orton stomping Riddle's ankle. Riddle comes back with chops and forearms then takes a powerslam. Riddle tries to fight back again with more chops but an eye poke takes him down. Riddle has another big chop and forearm flurry then is thrown chest first into the buckles.

Riddle moves and Orton spears the post. Riddle hits his escape kick on Orton then some running forearms. Riddle sentons Orton for 2. Orton superplexes Riddle and then is caught with a triangle choke over the ropes. Riddle is hung off the middle rope and ddt'd. Orton readies for the RKO and Riddle crucifixes him for the win. Big surprise win here for Riddle which is truly out of nowhere. Orton never really felt like he was in trouble here and didn't really sell Riddle's offense enough, but the match was decent.

Sheamus talks to Adam Pearce in the back. Pearce congratulates him on the US Title win and tells him to think of the past like when John Cena had weekly challenges for it. Sheamus says he isn't John Cena and doesn't care about him. He says it seems Pearce is goading him into an open challenge tonight for the US title. He said he will do an open challenge, but not for the title.

Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler vs Lana and Naomi

Naomi hits some strikes on Nia to start then Naomi and Lana hit an awful double team. Lana high kicks Nia who is on all fours from her knees. Nia double suplexes both opponents at once. Shayna stomps Lana's arm and then Dana and Mandy come out. They show clips of their feud with Nia and Nia chases after them. Lana and Naomi hit a bad double facebuster and win it. This was not good.

Nia realizes she screwed up after.

We see an interview with Damian Priest and Bad Bunny from Wrestlemania. Bunny said it was incredible and put over Priest. Bunny says he will remember it forever.

MizTV with Maryse

Morrison is not out here tonight. Miz and Maryse put over their TV show and Maryse says he is the greatest superstar of his generation. They kiss and fireworks go off all over the arena.

They toast to themselves and Damian Priest comes out. Priest says Miz is delusional and shows Miz cheating to win against him last week. Priest rips him and talks in Spanish so Maryse comes back and talks in French. She then accepts a match with Priest for Miz. Priest drinks some of their champagne and says it is trash then they throw the champagne in Prest's face.

Kofi and Woods talk in the back then Riddle comes in. They celebrate Riddle's win. Woods has a big case and Riddle tells him to put birds and silver dollars in there, then they yell "silver dollar pancakes". Okay...

Elias comes out with Jaxson Ryker. The New Day interrupts his performance again and the match starts. Woods has a guitar this time.

Kofi Kingston with Xavier Woods vs Elias with Jackson Ryker

Elias hits a flying knee to start then he twister suplexes Kofi for 2. Elias gets distracted and is jumped on and stomps by Kofi. Elias barely gets Kofi up and drops him on his throat on the top rope. Elias delay vertical suplexes Kofi then gets his own stomps in. Elias lifts him overhead with one arm and suplexes him in a very unique move.

Kofi frogsplashes a standing Elias for 2 and they botch an SOS. Elias goes up top and Kofi tries to hurricanrana him off but is blocked. Elias hits a top rope elbow drop and wins it surprisingly. This wasn't their best stuff as they botched a couple of things and felt like they were a little rushed.

Alexa's Playground

Alexa's Doll is Lilly. We see pics of Lilly photoshopped into child photos of her. Alexa tells a story about how she pushed a kid off the swing for not giving her the ice cream cone she had. She said it was fun and said she told her teachers "Lilly made me do it". Bliss says Lilly didn't like The Fiend and doesn't like any of the women on the Raw roster. This was bad.

Dana and Mandy were interviewed. They were asked if their behavior was appropriate early and they said they aren't the bullies. Nia then comes after them and Shayna follows. Shayna tells her to get her head back in the game because she cost her the match. Shayna then threatens her to start paying attention. Angel Garza asks Nia what she sees in Reginald, who was missing here tonight.

Drew McIntyre vs Mace and T-Bar

Drew jumps on T to start and suplexes him. MVP is seen watching in the back. Mace hits some strikes on Drew then a back elbow for 2. Drew gets double suplexed. Mace and T-Bar hit stereo knees to the gut and Mace backdrops Drew.

Drew gets some shots in on T and spinebusters him. T comes off the top but gets a headbutt. MAce tries to stop a claymnore kick but is nailed off the apron. T-Bar hits some of the world's slowest worst clubs and the bell is rung seemingly for a DQ for not getting out before the 5 count. Braun then comes out to help Drew and we go to break.

This was slow and long and didn't do anyone any favors.

Drew McIntyre and Braun Strowman vs Mace and T-Bar

Drew challenged Braun to fight him a few weeks ago  and beat Braun last week, but they are friends now somehow. Maybe Braun really is stupid.

Braun pushes Mace off to start. Braun runs through Mace with a shoulder. Braun's forehead got cut somehow and hte ref lets him know without saying it. Drew starts pounding on Mace and Braun gets in to hit a big boot on T. Braun clubs on T in the corner and throws him to the other side of the ring.

Mace distracts Braun and T chopblocks Braun. T takes over and takes a messy back body drop from Braun. Drew gets in and hits some lariats on Mace then belly to belly suplxes him. Drew kips up and rips off Mace's mask, which should be a DQ.

Mace slaps Drew then Drew backhands him and beats him with the mask for the DQ. T belly to back suplexes Drew, then Braun knocks T down and takes off his mask. Braun then slaps him with the mask in his hand. This wasn't too good and the DQ's and lackthereof just didn't make much sense.

The Miz with Maryse vs Damian Priest

Miz goes outside to kiss Maryse and Priest suplexes him in. DP pounds on him in the corner Maryse grabs DP's leg and Miz takes the advantage off of it. Dp is thrown into the rails. Miz pounds on DP then boots him in the head.

Miz continues to keep control here and Miz kicks him in the back multiple times. DP comes back with bad kicks and flapjacks him. DP springboard flips on Miz inside. Maryse gets on the apron for another distraction and holds Miz's feet on the ropes for a pin attempt. DP then hits a cross rhodes for the win. this really wasn't too good and DP took way too much offense from the Miz, who just weeks ago couldn't touch Lashley.

Sheamus comes out and brags about being the US champ. He talks about possibly being a fighting champ who defends all the time and issues an open challenge. Humberto Carillo comes out.

Sheamus vs Humberto Carillo

Humberto gets jumped from behind and thrown out hard outside. Sheamus throws him into the rails and the post. He then chest clubs him. He rams Humberto's back into the post then brogue kicks him. Sheamus grabs him by the head and says he isn't in his league and leaves him laying.

Charlotte Flair vs Asuka

Rhea Ripley joins the ocmmentary booth as they start. Asuka tries to hip attack her but gets caught in the ropes and kicked. Asuka neckbreakers her on the apron but both land poorly.

We go to break and return with Asuka dropkicked her off the 2nd rope. Asuka hits a german suplex and a sliding kick. Asuka hits a rolling triangle but Charlotte pounds out of it. They botch a running codebreaker.

They traded shots on their knees and Charlotte speared Asuka for 2. Charlotte tries to do a chopblock but is caught with a grounded chickenwing. Charlotte puts the figure eight on Asuka but Rhea breaks it up. Charlotte and Rhea pull at each other and Asuka crucifixes her for the win in a lame finish to what wasn't a real great match.

Charlotte hiptosses the ref after then stomps him and pounds on him.

Overall thoughts: I wasn't a huge fan of this one. The Bliss/Fiend stuff continues to suck, Charlotte beating up on men isn't something I'm interested in seeing and the handicap match stuff wasn't very good.