As Always, The RAW/SmackDown After WrestleMania Delivered Big Time

Year after year, in the fallout of WrestleMania, the WWE goes above and beyond to make sure the party don’t stop on Sunday. They’re well aware that the most die-hard of die-hards stay in town to invade RAW and SmackDown, so the shows are booked to be chock-full of surprise returns, debuts, farewells, and fantastic matches. The past two days have been no different, if you couldn’t tell already from the video above, so let’s take a look at what went down!

Obviously to start, we have to discuss Carmella SUCCESSFULLY cashing-in her Money in the Bank briefcase last night, something many people believed would never happen. Riding high off of her historic win over Asuka at WrestleMania, Charlotte Flair took to the ring to thank her opponent and address the WWE Universe before being interrupted by a certain iconic duo…

Yep, that’s right…the Iconic Duo. Peyton Royce and Billie Kay made their long-deserved, long-awaited main roster debut, and made their presence known quickly by taking out the SmackDown Women’s Champ. As Charlotte was left writhing in pain following their assault, Ms Money in the Bank took advantage of an ultimate opportunity. One superkick later and the Queen’s 147-day reign was over. SmackDown’s Champ is now F-A-B-U-L-O-U-S…

I really enjoyed this angle. The cash-in didn’t end Asuka’s streak, which I was dreading, the briefcase didn’t go wasted, which I was hoping wouldn’t happen, and it even set up a perfect long-road back to the title for Charlotte.

Peyton and Billie were the reason Carmella was able to cash-in, so she’s gotta settle the score with them first (whether you take that one-on-one or in tags with Becky Lynch, the latter of which I’d prefer), then she can shift her focus back towards the title. From there, you could set up Charlotte vs Becky at SummerSlam in a “Mega Powers colliding” type build where Charlotte thanks Becky for all of her help, and Becky lets her know that as deep as their friendship runs, her desire to once again be champion runs deeper, so she’d like to be the first to challenge her for the strap. That’s a story I’d like to see.

I’ll also never get tired of referees acting like they don’t know what they’re supposed to do in the scenario of a briefcase holder cashing-in.

Priceless.

Over on RAW, we were dealt with a somber announcement that some of us knew was coming for a long time: Paige unfortunately announced her retire from in-ring action at just 25 years old due to a neck injury she sustained back in December. From what I understand, it’s extremely similar to the injury that Edge and “Stone Cold” Steve Austin retired from, but it’s a bit extra unfortunate for Paige being how young she is and how wrestling is all she’s ever known. Before I could even hope the company would find another role for her, Shane McMahon kicked off SmackDown with an important announcement…

Daniel Bryan respectfully resigned as General Manager of SmackDown Live to become a full-time member of the competitive roster just as we all hoped he would, and Paige will now fill the void he left. Another decision where it took me about two seconds to realize, “I dig this!”. It’s a really unique choice for the role, somebody so young and contrasting to Shane McMahon, and she handled herself well on the mic in her first segment. When Paige teased an opponent for Daniel Bryan and the audience chanted “RUSEV DAY!”, she paused, seemed to ponder while letting them get it out of their system, and led them to his actual opponent, AJ Styles, for a huge pop. Really well done.

With a new hole in the RAW women’s roster, a call-up from NXT was inevitable, and they couldn’t have made a better choice as to who that should be…

EMBER MOON, the former NXT Women’s Champion, and innovator of the Eclipse, one of the most unique finishers you’ll ever see.

She wasn’t the only person to receive a call-up from “developmental”, however…

The Authors of Pain (managed by Paul Ellering, former manager of the Legion of Doom) and No Way Jose are all now superstars on the Monday Night RAW roster. I’m optimistic about Akam and Rezar, as they’re huge, have the look, are good in-ring, and have Ellering as a mouthpiece, but worried for Jose, as his gimmick is awfully close to Adam Rose’s, who didn’t pan out when pulled from Full Sail. We’ll see though, maybe Jose has the key to making his dance-party schtick work.

On SmackDown, The Usos and The New Day battled to become #1 contenders for the Bludgeon Brothers’ newfound Tag Team Championships, and it felt like these guys went all-out for a reason. If I had to guess as to what that reason was, I’d say somebody’s being traded to RAW in the Superstar Shakeup and this was the last time they’ll meet in the ring for a while. It was exceptional.

Returns weren’t sparse, either. Jeff Hardy is back from a long layoff after tearing his rotator cuff in September, Samoa Joe is back from a foot injury he sustained in January, and a certain Dominator stepped foot into a WWE ring for the first time in over a decade…

BOBBY LASHLEY FOLKS, BOBBY LASHLEY! Donald Trump’s hand-picked representative circa-2007 is back in the WWE, dare I say where he belongs. I was a massive Lashley fan back in the day, and over the past few years he’s had a huge career resurgence in TNA that put him back on everyone’s radar. I can’t wait to see some of the matchups possible now that he’s with the fed’.

Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn fought to a no-contest with a Monday Night RAW roster spot on the line, so I’m not sure where they’re headed with those two but I think it’s safe to assume they’ll wind up on RAW at some point soon.

ANNNNND finally, Daniel Bryan and AJ Styles main evented SmackDown Live in what could’ve been a five-star classic dream match…if not for that god damn bastard Shinsuke Nakamura.

I’ve already decided that heel Shinsuke that just dick-shots everyone is the best. I knew he’d ruin this match, because it’d never be given away on free television with no build, but there was still a part of me REEEEAAAALLY hoping he wouldn’t, and I was pissed when he did, so it’s working!

Oh, and when I realized Bryan/AJ/Shinsuke might actually be the next program on SmackDown Live…

Hallelujah.

It’s crazy how the return of Daniel Bryan has cranked my interest in wrestling up to eleven at the drop of a dime, but hell, I ain’t complaining. God bless the graps.