Monday Night RAW 4/6: WWE Dusts Off Little Used Talent for a Strong Wrestling Show

The Monday Night RAW 4/6 episode was supposed to be the infamous “Raw after Wrestlemania.” This show, outside of last year really, is a wild show where crowds often hijack the show, where angles and sometimes careers come to an end, and where superstars make their debut (The Revival comes to mind).

While, obviously, there was no beachballs or crowds going into business for themselves, this definitely was a showcase not new talent necessarily, but returning, and hopefully repackaged talent.

And let’s be honest, WWE has well over 200 in-ring talents signed to contracts, and there’s not enough television time to get everyone on, let alone get everyone over. However, given the current world situation, WWE can not have all their main roster talent on the show every week — whether due to travel restriction, illness, or injury. So, this is when that deep bench really gets to shine.

There is no better example of this from Monday Night RAW 4/6 than Aleister Black and Apollo Crews going nearly 30 minutes and across at least three commercial breaks. This type of length and multi-segment treatment is usually reserved for main event players, but I applaud WWE for letting these two get the time to tear the house down. Black hasn’t had an opportunity like this to go long on WWE main roster TV, and let’s face it Apollo Crews has never, ever ever ever been used right in WWE. Tonight, Apollo looked as amazing as those of us who saw him on the indies (as Uhaa Nation) knew he was. Crews should be a star for WWE, and maybe this opportunity will allow for it. Go find this match, as it’s definitely worth your time.

Ricochet and Cedric Alexander, both of whom were red hot at one point and have seemingly fallen out of favor with WWE, have emerged as a tag team. GOOD. These two guys are amazing and did not deserve to disappear from the face of the planet. If being a team gets them back on WWE television, and we see this lead to a Street Profits/Cedricochet (credit to our friend Dave at The Adventures in Collecting podcast for the name) match — I’m here for it. Unfortunately their opponents Danny Burch and Oney Lorcan were the cannon fodder, and outside of a few Burch moves, didn’t do a hell of a lot. Those are two guys who WWE needs to figure out what do with.

Speaking of people WWE needs to bet behind — Liv Morgan lost to Asuka in a very competitive match. I honestly would love to see Liv and Asuka tangle again, with Liv trying her hardest to defeat The Empress of Tomorrow. WWE needs to get a firm idea of who’s next in the Women’s Division. Two of NXT’s top women were dispatched at Wrestlemania, and who knows what plans they have for them in the future. Internally, no one else is really “there” to become a contender. Well, there is one potentially and more on her in a moment. I think WWE has something special with Morgan who has improved at a rate I cannot even process. All they have to do is hone in her persona, and I think we’ve got a really good perennial top women’s star here.

Oh that woman I referred to a few sentences ago? That’d be the EST of (formerly?) NXT, Bianca Belair. She showed up and showed out in the singles match against Zelina Vega and in the six person tag involving The Street Profits, Angel Garza, Vega and Austin Theory. The matches were fun and did their job of filling a lot of time, but Bianca is the crown jewel here. She’s a legit bona fide star with presence and persona combined with unbelievable in-ring skill. I wait for the day when her and Montez are atop the mountain as the new power couple in WWE.

Whether you’re a fan of hers or not, Nia Jax returned and the depth in the women’s division was definitely bolstered the depth of the women’s division. She looked like she was in midseason form, and made quick work of Deonna Purrazzo. Man, remember when WWE snatched her from being at All In and proceeded to make her a glorified enhancement talent. Deonna definitely deserves better.

Seth Rollins made quick work of Denzel Dejournette and Humberto Carrillo did the same to Brendan Vink. Good use of young NXT talent — gets them TV time, and work with the bigger names

Finally, WWE did a smart thing by having Drew McIntyre, “fresh off winning the title” come from behind to defeat Big Show. At this point in his career this is how you use Big Show — sparingly and to make others look good. Big Show should be an attraction and distance makes us forget the heel/face turns and how many times he’s lost (for a minute), and that adds credibility to Drew’s winn.

The Monday Night RAW 4/6 episode is now streaming on Hulu.