WWE Raw: Recap, Reaction, Results (April 2, 2018)

By: Jamie Henry –

The last WWE RAW before Wrestlemania 34, takes place at the Phillips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia, and begins with Jonathan Coachman introducing Stephanie McMahon, Triple H, Kurt Angle and Ronda Rousey. The two teams smack talk one another, before Triple H attacks Angle from behind, and when Rousey tries to grab him, McMahon throws her threw a table.

Bayley vs Sonya Deville is up next, with Absolution in Deville’s corner. The match’s flow is good, with Bayley using a Corkscrew on Deville’s arm quite a few times while Deville manages a few knees to the throat and chest of Bayley.  Deville manages to kick out of a Running Knee and distracts Bayley outside of the ring with Absolution before Bayley pins Deville with a Roll Up.

Finn Balor vs Seth Rollins is next with The Miz on commentary. The match is good, beginning with Balor holding Rollins with a Wristlock, however Rollins scores the pin on Balor with the Curbstomp.

Backstage, Paul Heyman is on the phone and Kurt Angle approaches him and mentions that he wants the Wrestlemania main event to be kept intact, where Reigns doesn’t get incited to hurt Lesnar. Heyman, laughs, before agreeing.

RAW Tag Team Champions Sheamus and Cesaro come out next and say that they don’t care who Braun Strowman’s partner is, because eventually, he’ll need to tag said person in and Strowman can’t do that. Once they finish, Strowman comes out, saying WWE management has made it clear that he needs a partner to go after the tag titles, and that Strowman has a partner. Sheamus says if his partner has such a problem with them, to tell them to their faces and Strowman says he will, as long as a match occurs with one of them, in which Sheamus agrees and Strowman announces he’ll go retrieve his partner with some parting words “I’m going to warn you, he’s a lot like me”. A few minutes later, Braun comes out dressed in a white shirt and glasses, calling himself ‘Brains’ as the WWE expects us to go along with it. The Bar attacks Strowman, but only minimal damage is done.

Next is the random, and odd pairing of Goldust and Matt Hardy. Goldust nearly pins Hardy with a Powerslam, with the crowd surprisingly into the match as Hardy pins Goldust with the Twist of Fate.

The increasingly desparate John Cena enters the ring, and has a passionate speech about how he’s damn proud about going to Wrestlemania as a fan. He goes on to apologize to The Undertaker for attempting to summon the Phenom the way he did, listing off the cities they visited recently where he tried before mentioning Atlanta, and coming to the realization that he never tried in Atlanta, before attempting to with the crowd cheering: “You hear that, Undertaker? That is four weeks straight, of an entire audience, people around the world pouring their hearts out for you and you don’t have the common decency to do a damn thing…You can ignore me all the hell you want but Undertaker, the second you ignore all of these people, you are a dead man walking.”  He finishes before walking away. There is no Undertaker, and one can’t help but wonder if Cena is truly going to watch as a ‘fan’ this year.

Roman Reigns is seen backstage, where Angle asks him to stay calm tonight, and that he’s already lost one match with Undertaker vs Cena and he doesn’t want to lose a second. Reigns says that because he respects Angle, he’ll hear Heyman out, but the moment he says something he doesn’t agree with, he’s going down there to do something about it, adding that Angle can take his peace treaty back to the pawn shop where he got it from when he pawned his Olympic gold medals.

Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman come out with other WWE superstars forming a barricade of sorts on the ramp in case Reigns come out. Heyman latches onto that immediately, stating that Angle has no control, no matter how much he tries to control Reigns. Reigns finally comes out after Heyman calls him Lesnar’s ‘bitch’, looking at the barricade as they block him off “All y’all full-time talent gonna stand around here and protect that part-time bastard? Think about it boys,” Reigns says as the crowd parts to let Reigns through, to chants of ‘let him through’. When he makes it to the ring, the crowd begins to chant ‘lets go roman’ as Lesnar tells him to think about it, taking a step back when Reigns enters the ring and the two stare-off.  Lesnar retreats, the crowd boos, before he grabs a steel chair and enters the ring. Reigns lands five Superman Punches to Lesnar before lifting the WWE Universal Championship into the air. Unfortunately, Lesnar manages to give Reigns an F5 and once more, Reigns is left appearing weak, with Lesnar being the one left standing.