It’s My Yard Now – A Raw Recap for April 3rd, 2017

So it’s a few days removed from the Raw at Amway the day after Wrestlemania.  The Dark Match was in Orlando, but not at Raw.  Wrestling fatigue is a real thing, you guys.  Talk to your doctor if you start exhibiting symptoms.  Thanks to a DVR in our AirBnB, we were able to catch up on a night where a beach ball is more over than anyone on the entire roster.

Greatest Roman Promo of All Time

Roman started to show.  And since this is the smarkiest crowd of the entire year, it was to a wall of solid boos.  And here’s where WWE actually showed some brilliance; they had Roman play into it, taunting them.  He raised the microphone to his lips, thought for a second, and lowered the microphone.  He repeated this for 8 minutes and 34 seconds!  Just think, the Raw after Wrestlemania and there was basically no promo for 8 minutes and 34 seconds.

Gone is Tater Tots Reigns, here’s something that everyone can get behind.  He’s not turning heel.  You’ve already made him reel without him having to do a damn thing.  They knew what that crowd would be like.  There’s no kids or hardcore Roman fans the day after Wrestlemania.  Any other week, there’d be a “Let’s Go Roman” chant to balance out the “Roman Sucks” chant.

Superstar Shakeup

Vince made a rare appearance to announce that next Monday’s Raw will have a superstar shakeup.  It won’t be a draft, per se, but more like some strategic trades.  Some of the call ups and returns this week might not really matter as some could literally be immediately traded to the other show.  We’ll cover it next week!

Call Ups and Returns

With the Hardy’s massive return on Sunday, Raw was a little light on the call ups and returns.  With the Hardy Boyz, you honestly didn’t need much.

Speaking of the Hardy’s, they soundly won their match against Gallows and Anderson to retain the Raw Tag Team Championship.

Let’s start with the Call Ups:

Say Yeah!

Now that The New Day are done with their Wrestlemania hosting duties, they are free to return to actually wrestle in the tag team scene.  We end up with a six man tag with The New Day vs. Titus and The Shining Stars. Just kidding, our favorite tag team specialists from The Revival show up on Raw to challenge the longest reining tag team in the WWE.  I think it might have been the best match of the night.

Emma Returns

Finally, Emma is back.  Emmalina is dead.  I have no idea what that was all about.  I’m glad they realized that gimmick was trash and had her go back to Evil Emma.  There’s a part of me that thinks that this trolling was part of the plan all along.  If it was, I think it did more harm than good.

She returned to work a tag match on a team with Charlotte and Nia Jax against Dana Brooke, Bayley, and Sasha Banks.  Personally, I would have liked to see her in a singles match, but she stood out in the match.  She’ll be an asset to the Women’s division.

It’s True.  It’s Damn True.

Yes, the rumors are true.  With Mick Foley gone and Stephanie recovering from going through a table, Vince McMahon has brought in Kurt Angle as the new General Manager.  I love this idea as Kurt can still go if the opportunity presents himself.  He can actually work a match, unlike Daniel Bryan.

He does look like he has a few screws lose.  Perhaps he’s always been that way or he’s turning it up to 11.  I’m excited to see him interact with Stephanie down the road.

Balor Club

After Jericho is ambushed by Samoa Joe and KO, the new GM has his first task: find a partner for Seth Rollins for the scheduled tag match that evening.  If you’re reading this site, it seems pretty obvious.  Yes, it was Balor.  It’s great to see him back and also great to see him work across from Samoa Joe once again.  I thought the match was great, but the crowd was disinterested once again.  It just sucks.

Everything Else

• Brock and Heyman came out to basically say that Roman is logically next in line to challenge for the Universal Championship since he’s the 2 in 23-2.  But Braun Strowman had other ideas.  This whole segment made no sense to me.  However, if the rumors are to be believed, this is the last we will see of Brock for over a month.
• Enzo and Cass Vs. Sheamus and Cesaro – Great match.  One of the only times the crowd was good.  The had a great chant that I won’t mind if it shows up at other shows.  Sheamus and Cesaro are your new #1 contenders!
• Mustafa Ali Vs. Neville – This match was incredible, but like I hinted in the opening, the crowd was absolutely garbage.