Winners, News And Notes On April 12, 2021

WWE Raw After Mania, featuring fallout from WrestleMania 37, opened with Bobby Lashley destroying Riddle and advertised a Raw Women’s Championship rematch between new champion Rhea Ripley and Asuka.

WWE Raw garnered a 2021-low of 1.701 million viewers up against stiff competition in the form of the NCAA men’s basketball championship.

• April 5, 2021—1.701 million
• March 29, 2021—1.701 million
• March 22, 2021—1.816 million
• March 15, 2021—1.843 million
• March 8, 2021—1.900 million

WWE Raw After Mania—Key Competition

Pro Wrestling Bits—Michael Cole’s Botched Call and the 5 Biggest Blunders of WrestleMania 37

WWE Raw Total YouTube Viewership Last Week—7,627,589 views (Down from 12,493,532)

• Most-Viewed: Drew McIntyre vs. King Corbin (1,046,945 views) 
• Least-Viewed: The New Day is Left Craving Cookies (142,699 views)
• Median Viewership: 491,070

WWE Raw After Mania Results—Monday, April 12, 2021

Bobby Lashley def. Riddle

Adnan Virk was a little jittery, but does show promise and wit on commentary.

Riddle is dressed like Evel Knievel because calling out Bobby Lashley is a more ballsy move than Knievel ever pulled off in his life.

The Viking Raiders def. Shelton Benjamin and Cedric Alexander

With so much time passed since we last saw them, Raw After Mania was the perfect chance to repackage The Viking Raiders as War Machine.

Poor Shelton and Cedric had to wear their pre-Hurt Business gear, which is the same colors but without the words “Hurt Business.”

The Viking Raiders sold so much more than you’d think they would in their return match.

Charlotte Flair Returns

Adnan Virk was in absolute awe of Charlotte Flair and during her entrance you would think he had never seen pyro before.

Charlotte Flair cutting a promo about not being on WrestleMania is the most sympathetic she’s been in months, yet she still managed to cut a heel promo.

Had this been in a full arena, this would be the spot where Becky Lynch interrupted Charlotte Flair.

Rhea Ripley and Asuka Battle to a No Contest—WWE Raw Women’s Championship

Rhea Ripley’s new corporate catchphrase is “Brutality World Order.”

This match could only be described as Bowling Shoe Ugly. Asuka and Rhea Ripley appeared to be on two entirely different pages throughout, and words like “car crash” and “exhaustion” were used to make up for multiple miscues.

Alexa Bliss’ Playground

As an update to the worst storyline of 2021, Alexa Bliss did, in fact turn on The Fiend as was speculated.

Alexa Bliss saying the fun was just beginning was the single-most depressing line of this show.

MizTV Featuring Maryse

John Morrison was positioned as the third wheel in this segment and he better hope Maryse is only here temporarily.

I’m beginning to realize that the only person who got over in this feud featuring Bad Bunny is Bad Bunny.

The Miz brought up some salient points about Damian Priest being an afterthought in their match Saturday night.

The Miz and Morrison def. Damian Priest

The fact that you can so easily challenge WWE Superstars while in their street clothes makes Riddle look even more foolish for allowing Bobby Lashley to get changed out of his suit earlier tonight.

The night after getting overshadowed by Bad Bunny, Damian Priest lost to The Miz while Miz was in his underwear.

Nobody gets over in this company unless you have a world tour coming up.

Nia Jax def. Mandy Rose via Countout

This match saw the babyfaces walk out because Nia Jax was furious after slipping. Garbage.

When R-Truth and Titus O’Neil made honest mistakes on WWE programming, they were each saddled with “dumb guy” gimmicks that they have to portray to this day. When Mandy slipped and fell, WWE divorced her from the moment immediately and gave the slip-and-fall gimmick to Nia Jax.

Drew McIntyre, Randy Orton and Braun Strowman Want a WWE Title Shot

At least WWE is rewarding people for winning their WrestleMania matches instead of just randomly announcing a No. 1 Contender.

Similar to last night’s Triple Threat, tonight’s main event could go a number of ways. unfortunately, tonight’s main event doesn’t have a chance at sniffing last night’s match.

The New Day def. Jaxson Ryker and Elias

The New Day showed precision irony by making fun of Jaxson Ryker and Elias for getting mauled by a giant two-on-one.

This match was built as a battle of two professional tag teams who each couldn’t match up to one man. Don’t touch that dial!

The New Day had a dope tribute to DMX during their promo.

This match was a bit of a struggle but they got through it and it was a far from the worst match on the show.

The Firefly Fun House Returns

Bray Wyatt promised that “he” will return as Wyatt prepared for yet another reboot. I’m beginning to suspect that Bray Wyatt and WWE just does this character as a meticulous troll job against viewers who invest their time in it.

Is WWE building up to Bray Wyatt vs. Alexa Bliss at WrestleMania 38?

Drew McIntyre def. Braun Strowman and Randy Orton

Corey Graves was a very busy man tonight correcting Adnan Virk’s rookie mistakes.

WWE did not play the sound effect for Braun Strowman’s run around the ring, so it should have come as no surprise that Drew McIntyre countered it with steel stairs.

On a night filled with botches for everybody, Drew McIntyre barely connected on an awkward neckbreaker, assisted by Braun Strowman’s beard.

“Drew McIntyre is going to WrestleMania Backlash,” just doesn’t have the same ring to it, but I admire the attempt.