On the first Monday Night Raw back to live shows and what will be the beginning of a new phase for WWE now that they've been deemed an "essential service", the red brand gave fans a series of pay-per-view qualifying bouts for Money in the Bank, spent time building Zelina Vega's new stable and introduced a very intriguing angle focused around Ronda Rousey's recent comments.
The show opened with Drew McIntyre issuing an open challenge and finished with him standing tall, until he was attacked by Seth Rollins.
Here are the winners and losers on the April 13, 2020 episode of Raw:
Winner: Drew McIntyre
As the new WWE Champion was issuing his open challenge, it didn't take long for someone to accept. United States Champion Andrade and his advocate Zelina Vega came out and reminded the champ what happened the last time Andrade fought McIntyre for a title. It was in NXT when Andrade became the champion and McIntyre was put on the shelf for six months with a biceps injury. Focusing on this throughout the night immediately gave the match a believable background story.
The two wound up being the main event and McIntyre was pushed as the man who would likely have to face off with three men. This is the second straight week McIntyre was booked like an unstoppable new force. Even better is that he's got a new challenger and wasn't leaving the show completely unscathed.
Winner: Asuka
Asuka opened the series of Monday's qualifying matches against Ruby Riott. Riott had a strong showing and even pulled out an attempt at a modified coffin drop but this match was meant for Asuka and her push towards a singles run in WWE. It seems clear the company sees something bigger for Asuka which is why she moved on and Kairi Sane did not.
Asuka might be an early favorite for the Money in the Bank Ladder Match. She was one the one female competitor that got a promo in the ring after the match was over. Even WWE personalities watching at home noticed Asuka is standing out. Renee Young tweeted right after the match, "Man, @WWEAsuka is so damn cool." That's likely a shared opinion in WWE behind the scenes right now.
Winner: MVP And First-Time Ever Qualifiers For Next Week
It was fun to see MVP back and even cooler to see him announce his return to a WWE ring for next week's Raw. That said, this isn't anything more than a short-term play to put over Apollo Crews in their qualifying match next week.
Outside of seeing MVP again, he announced two other qualifying matches for next week's Raw that includes Rey Mysterio vs Murphy and Aleister Black vs. Austin Theory. This was a winner and those matches next week could be excellent.
Loser: Becky Lynch Promo
This promo seemed more calculated than others The Man has done in the past and it's an interesting idea to have the champion come out and pre-challenge the winner of the Money in the Bank Ladder Match, but the promo itself was too slow and too dry which is all too reminiscent of Lynch's promos lately.
WWE needs to do something to make Lynch interesting to fans that really want to watch her at the top of her game again. Right now, it just feels like there is little to no fire behind anything she's doing. And, unless what happened with Baszler later in the night is somehow leading to all that, it's hard to see what that something will be.
Winner/Loser: Announcer Screw Up After MMA Style Match
Before Shayna Baszler came out for her match against Sarah Logan, Baszler was asked to comment on Ronda Rousey's recent and controversial comments. She refused to do so and then went out and destroyed Logan in what was meant to look like a shoot-style match in which Baszler decided to break Logan's arm. Logan was announced as the winner but WWE came back from commercial to say the announcer got it wrong.
Everything about this angle was well done but the announcement being wrong took away from it. Was Baszler mad because of the announcer's mess up? Or was she mad at something else? This lends to the idea that Rousey is coming back, but is Baszler standing up for her friend or upset by the things she said about WWE being fake? Is she showing her how "fake" WWE really is?
Winner: Zelina Vega's New Stable
A good portion of tonight's Raw was dedicated to a new stable being put together by Zelina Vega. The group consists of Andrade, Angel Garza, and Austin Theory. This trio's dominance might have been built up to make Drew McIntyre look more powerful when he took out all three to end the night but we'll see what the future is for these three Raw competitors.
It wound up that the new stable was in cahoots with Seth Rollins who came out and attacked McIntyre to close the show, setting up what appears to the new champion's next challenge.