Welcome to Bleacher Report's coverage and recap of WWE Raw on April 4.
As the post-WrestleMania episode, this week's show is considered by many to be the equivalent of a season premiere. This is when WWE usually resets and begins several new storylines.
After months of video packages, Veer Mahaan finally came to Raw. This wasn't his main roster debut since he spent a short time as one of Jinder Mahal's enforcers, but WWE is hoping it has been long enough to repackage him as a solo act and a badass.
Following his return during Saturday's half of WrestleMania, Cody Rhodes appeared on Raw to address his future with the company.
We also heard from Roman Reigns after he defeated Brock Lesnar to win the WWE Championship and retain the universal title at the same time.
Let's take a look at all the action from Monday's show.
After the obligatory WrestleMania 38 highlight reel, Cody Rhodes arrived on the stage as the crowd chanted his name to kick off the show. As he stood in the ring, chants of "Welcome back" echoed throughout the arena.
The American Nightmare looked a bit choked up at the reception and played to the crowd a bit to hype himself up again. He asked what everybody wanted to talk about before addressing why he returned to WWE. He said it was not a difficult decision, but rather a simple one.
Cody got a little emotional talking about Dusty Rhodes and how he looked at his dad as a hero. He showed a photo of Dusty holding an old version of the WWE Championship that he said was on his parents' mantle for many years.
He told a story about Dusty telling him how he never actually won the title because he was screwed out of it. He almost began crying as he said he never got to win the WWE title while his father was alive, but he could certainly still win it.
Seth Rollins came to the ring, and Cody immediately offered him a handshake. The Visionary looked a little confused but shook his hand anyway. It seems like that might have been them saying their match was one-and-done.
Regardless of whether their feud continues, this was a fantastic promo and an awesome way to open the post-Mania edition of Raw. Cody said exactly what he needed to say, and the crowd ate up every second of it.
Grade: A
Notable Moments and Observations
WWE's version of the Codyvator is not quite as well-hidden as it was in AEW, but it still made for a cool visual to re-debut him on Raw.
Cody being genuinely emotional was such a cool moment to witness.
Calling himself "The star that left them in the dust" was hilarious.
Cody's promo was one of the most genuine and emotional speeches we have seen in a WWE ring in years. Pro wrestling can be pretty great sometimes.
The first match of the night was a Championship Contenders' bout with the new women's tag team champions, Naomi and Sasha Banks, taking on Rhea Ripley and Liv Morgan.
Ripley and Naomi started for their teams. Each competitor had a few good spots before The Boss tagged in for a double-team combo. They brought the fight out of the ring. All four women took bumps in one way or another.
This was a decent match that allowed all four Superstars to get in some of their signature moves, but there was a strange pacing issue at one point. The biggest strength of this bout was how both duos used some creative double-team moves.
As good as Naomi and Ripley were together, Banks and Morgan stood out for having the best chemistry as opponents. This match wasn't over-the-top or exceedingly memorable, but it delivered some fun to get the action going.
Grade: C+
Notable Moments and Observations
Morgan and Ripley have been setting social media on fire lately with their wrestling attires.
Ripley held Naomi up in a vertical suplex for almost 30 seconds.
There was an awkward moment before the commercial break when everything seemed to come to a halt out of nowhere.
It looks like Ripley is already tired of being Morgan's partner. She walked off after they lost looking pretty upset.
Kevin Owens came out to deliver a promo about his match with Steve Austin. He said Stone Cold is still great, but he also blamed a back injury for his loss.
Someone's music hit and the Titantron said the name Ezekiel. This was actually Elias, but he looked almost nothing like we remember. He had shaved, cut his hair and was wearing trunks. He claimed to be Elias' younger brother. The segment ended with KO just walking away.
This was a strange way to re-debut Elias, but the company seemed to be having some fun with the fact that he has been repackaged, so it was kind of entertaining in that regard. The next match saw The Miz take on Dominik Mysterio with Rey in his corner.
The Miz ended up winning with the Skull-Crushing Finale in less than a minute. As Rey was tending to his son, Veer finally appeared. He walked down the ramp as the three men in the ring looked on. The Miz made a quick exit, leaving the Mysterios to suffer the wrath of Veer.
Grade: B (KO Promo), D- (Match), C (Veer)
Notable Moments and Observations
Ezekiel is legitimately unrecognizable without the beard and long hair. His voice was the only thing familiar about him.
The match between Dom and The Miz was basically a squash. It buried Dom a bit, and Veer finished the job by destroying the father and son.
Veer's debut marks the death of so many running jokes on social media.
Bianca Belair was out after the break to give a promo about winning the Raw Women's Championship back from Becky Lynch. She said the people deserve a better champion than Becky, so she got better and beat her.
The promo was uninterrupted and allowed Bianca to talk for a couple of minutes without having to worry about a storyline. It was a nice speech. The next match was Bron Breakker vs. Dolph Ziggler for the NXT Championship.
Ziggler won their bout at NXT Stand & Deliver on Saturday, so the son of Rick Steiner was looking to make sure this one had a different result.
As expected, Ziggler and Breakker put on another fun encounter. Their match from this weekend had the benefit of being commercial-free, so it's tough to say which one was better from start to finish.
After the same dirty tactics Ziggler used to retain on Saturday failed him in this bout, Breakker drilled him with a spear and hit a big powerslam to get the pin and win the NXT title back.
Grade: B (Promo), B+ (Match)
Notable Moments and Observations
Bianca's black eye was nasty. Her eye was almost swollen shut by the look of it.
The crowd loves Bianca. She is naturally over with a lot of fans. It will be hard for WWE to turn her heel without some people wanting to keep cheering for her.
Breakker has the kind of explosive speed and power you just can't teach. Brock Lesnar has something similar.
Ziggler's dropkick has to be among the top five in pro wrestling history. It always looks like he nails his opponent right in the face as hard as he can.
Breakker hitting a dive over the top rope to take out Robert Roode was a cool spot.
MVP was in the ring after a commercial break to introduce Bobby Lashley and kick off a new era of The All Mighty. Lashley got a nice little pop from the crowd when he arrived on the stage. He took a moment to bump fists with some fans on his way to the ring.
Lashley spoke about beating Omos for a minute before the big man came out to respond. He demanded a rematch, and as Lashley prepared to respond, MVP attacked The All Mighty from behind.
MVP being the one to turn on Lashley was the right move because it helps solidify Lashley's face turn. Omos needs a mouthpiece, so pairing him with MVP makes a lot of sense. This segment was telegraphed a bit, but it still worked in the end.
The next match was going to feature the other two teams in the women's tag title Fatal 4-way when Carmella and Queen Zelina took on Natalya and Shayna Baszler, but the match never happened.
Zelina and Carmella ended up fighting before their opponents even came to the ring. After Zelina left, Corey Graves and Mella made out. This was all to service the breakup of a tag team, but it could have been accomplished in a backstage segment.
Grade: B- (MVP), D (Carmella and Zelina)
Notable Moments and Observations
The way Lashley has transitioned from heel to babyface has been interesting to watch. It wasn't the usual turn that was done with one segment. It has been a slow burn that finally seems to have taken hold.
MVP really clocked Lashley in the back. It looked great on camera.
During a backstage segment, Ripley revealed to Morgan that they were still going to get a title shot despite losing their Championship Contenders' match. How does this make sense?
Everyone in WWE is making out lately. Somebody in charge really likes romance storylines apparently.
The Usos teamed up with Austin Theory to take on Riddle, Randy Orton and Finn Balor in a six-man tag match. When they were backstage, The Usos made fun of Theory for losing to Pat McAfee, so their team was not exactly built on a foundation of respect.
Now that Theory has finished up his feud with McAfee, it looks like he will be pursuing the intercontinental title held by Balor. They have teased this feud for weeks, and it looks like it's finally moving forward.
All six of these guys use different styles, but they all know how to work against those styles, so these teams meshed well to put on a solid match. It had some good high spots, decent mat work and some fun double-team moments.
Theory ended up getting the win for his team with a pin on Balor, so he will likely use this to request a title shot in the future.
Grade: B
Notable Moments and Observations
The Usos making fun of Theory kind of made them feel like babyfaces again. When The Usos aren't playing second fiddle to Reigns, they are outstanding on the mic.
The spot when Theory tripped Riddle on the middle rope to send him crashing to the floor looked great.
A lot of wrestlers have used the cutter as a signature move, but nobody hits it the way Orton does. His RKO always looks incredible.
Edge came to the ring to talk about beating AJ Styles at WrestleMania and forming an alliance with Damian Priest. The Archer of Infamy said he was lost before WrestleMania. The crowd chanted "We don't care," and Priest said he didn't care about them anymore.
Styles came down to get some revenge, but Priest and Edge used their numbers advantage to make sure he did not get what he wanted. The Rated-R Superstar hit a Spear.
Several officials prevented Edge from hitting Styles with a steel chair. This was a decent promo, but it didn't really accomplish anything of note or set up anything new.
The Street Profits took on Alpha Academy in the next match of the night. Otis and Chad Gable got an early start by attacking Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins before the bell. Adam Pearce came out and turned this into a Texas Tornado Tag Team match.
We have seen these two teams fight several times, but the stipulation helped keep this from feeling like the exact same match we just saw a few weeks ago. The bout had some entertaining spots, but it never reached the level of craziness you expect from a Tornado tag match.
We did get to see Ford put Gable through a table with a massive frog splash to score the win, so that helped make the finish more exciting than the rest of the match.
Grade: C+ (Promo), B- (Match)
Notable Moments and Observations
Edge made a reference to Priest being a punishment for someone, which was a very blatant reference to Priest's old ring name, Punishment Martinez.
The fans chanting "We are losers" after Edge called them losers was hilarious.
Priest and Edge were supposed to hit a Spear and leg sweep at the same time, but it was mistimed and Priest's leg never even came close to hitting Styles.
We are running out of ways to say Ford can defy gravity. He keeps producing memorable moments.
Raw ended with Roman Reigns coming out to celebrate becoming the undisputed WWE and universal champion. He was flanked by The Usos and Paul Heyman, who was holding both of Reigns' belts.
Reigns and Heyman spent a few minutes talking just to reveal that they will tell us their next step Friday. This was not a good way to use Reigns the day after he unified the two biggest titles in WWE. It felt like a waste.
Grade: C-
Notable Moments and Observations
WWE waited until it had 10 minutes left and then still had Reigns do his full entrance to take up four of those minutes.
When Reigns lifted the belts above his head, it looked like he was in a little bit of pain. It's possible he suffered a minor injury Sunday.
