WWE Raw Results: Winners, Live Grades, Reaction and Highlights From April 22
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Credit: WWE.com
The Liv Morgan Revenge Tour claimed its first victim in former women's world champion Rhea Ripley last week, and the instigator had an opportunity to take the title for herself in a Battle Royal to crown a new champion on Monday's WWE Raw.
Did Morgan complete her comeback with a championship victory or did she face another setback to provide her with a new target to focus her attention on?
Find out with this recap of an April 22 episode that included a big World Tag Team Championship match featuring Awesome Truth and the return of former intercontinental champion Gunther.
Match Card
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- Battle Royal to crown a new women's world champion
- World Tag Team Championship match: Awesome Truth (The Miz and R-Truth) vs. DIY (Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa)
- Ricochet and Andrade vs. Dominik Mysterio and JD McDonagh
- The return of Gunther
Announced in advance of Monday's show were:
Damian Priest Interrupts Jey Uso
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- "I know I paid the bill because you were on that Bloodline good stuff," Priest said while retelling a story of one of their previous battles. "I took an Uber," Uso responded.
- "You're just the first on a list of people the machine is going to feed me so this looks good on me," Priest said.
- "The only reason you're the leader of The Judgment Day is because Mami got hurt," Uso dinged the champion.
WWE/Getty Images
Michael Cole and Pat McAfee started the show in the ring, setting the table for the rest of the night's broadcast. From there, they threw to a video package setting up the Battle Royal for the Women's World Championship.
Jey Uso hit the ring for a promo but quickly found himself interrupted by world heavyweight champion Damian Priest.
The two waxed poetically about a previous battle between them in which The Archer of Infamy earned respect for his Backlash opponent before engaging in a decidedly more aggressive exchange of words.
JD McDonagh attempted a sneak attack but accidentally leveled Priest, further teasing dissension within The Judgment Day. The segment ended with Uso departing to an ovation from the fans at the Schottenstein Center in Columbus, Ohio.
Priest still needs to find authority on the mic, but that will come with more opportunities. Uso is as charismatic as anyone on the Raw roster and could win the world title tomorrow and be believable in the role.
Beating Uso at Backlash on May 4 will enhance Priest's credibility, which is exactly what the matchup is intended to do.
Grade
B
Top Moments and Takeaways
World Tag Team Championship: Awesome Truth vs. DIY
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- DIY worked as the aggressor, including a jumping knee strike to Truth from Ciampa that cut off the Five Knuckle Shuffle.
- The OG boss may be gone but the trend of smashing two names together remains. Case in point: the Truth Crushing Finale. Ugh.
- Backstage, Dominik Mysterio revealed he was injured and unable to compete Monday night, so he recruited Santos Escobar to team with McDonagh against Ricochet and Andrade, something Priest was not happy about.
Credit: WWE.com
Frustration set in after Monday's tag title match, with Tommaso Ciampa refusing to shake hands with R-Truth and The Miz moments after he and Johnny Gargano failed to dethrone them.
A fun, action-packed match saw Miz deposit Ciampa in the front row and then join his partner for the Truth Crushing Finale, putting Gargano down and scoring the hard-fought victory.
The post-match altercation was the clear takeaway here, with Ciampa's reluctance to show respect hinting at a heel turn for him at least, with DIY potentially making the switch.
Considering Candice LeRae and Indi Hartwell have already made the turn, could this be leading to the reformation of The Way, as was teased last year?
Result
Awesome Truth defeated DIY to retain
Grade
B
Top Moments and Takeaways
Return of The Ring General; The New Day vs. Imperium
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- "For 666 days, I elevated the Intercontinental Championship to levels it had never seen before and in the process, became the greatest champion in its illustrious history," Gunther said.
- "Now, I'm not a target anymore. I've gone from being the hunted to the hunter. I can do whatever I want," he said, thanking Zayn for alleviating the pressure on his shoulders.
- Woods interrupting to set up yet another match with Imperium at least makes sense in that he is the defending King of the Ring, a crown The Ring General has officially expressed his desire to challenge for in Saudi Arabia.
- "No! No! We fought them so much already," Woods said when presented with another match against Kaiser and Vinci.
Credit: WWE.com
Gunther made his return to Raw and, after graciously accepting his defeat by Sami Zayn at WrestleMania 40, vowed to hunt any title he pleases, beginning with the King of the Ring.
Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston interrupted proceedings, with the former reminding The Ring General of who the reigning king is before seemingly entering himself into the tournament as well.
The back and forth gave way to a match between The New Day and the tandem of Giovanni Vinci and Ludwig Kaiser...a matchup we've seen countless times over the last six months.
This time, the contest saw Woods put Vinci away to score the win and infuriate Gunther, who walked out on his Imperium teammates.
After the match, Kaiser laid out Vinci, sending him crashing into the LED boards around the ring. He punished his longtime partner for the loss and essentially set in motion the wheels for a singles push as Gunther's right-hand man.
Despite the repetition of the match, this was a segment that heated up the conversation surrounding the King of the Ring tournament and saw the breakup of Imperium as we know it.
A great segment, concluding with Kaiser confronting Gunther and receiving his nod of approval for the beatdown, propelled the once-dominant faction forward.
Result
The New Day defeated Imperium
Grade
A
Top Moments and Takeaways
Drew McIntyre Promo; Sheamus vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
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- McIntyre mocked Sheamus' "banger after banger" shtick with a "burger after burger" knock, a weak line. Maybe mentioning that he won the Intercontinental Championship in his first shot at it while The Celtic Warrior has waited 15 years to win would have been more effective.
- Backstage, Bronson Reed assaulted Sami Zayn, potentially setting him up as a challenger to the Intercontinental Championship amid The Ultimate Underdog's budding rivalry with Chad Gable.
WWE/Getty Images
After kicking a television off its stand a week ago, Drew McIntyre returned to the squared circle to address the WWE Universe.
Sheamus interrupted and The Scottish Warrior poked fun of the Irishman's weight.
Shinsuke Nakamura then made his way to the ring to set up the next match.
A grueling, physical match saw Sheamus overcome a concentrated attack to his head and neck to rock Nakamura with the Brogue Kick from out of nowhere and score the victory while McIntyre watched from ringside.
Sheamus vs. McIntyre appears to be the next direction. While the matches will be great, it feels like a direction we have already visited and far from the hottest feud for either man at this point.
That is, unless it is a placeholder ahead of next week's draft.
Grade
B for the match, C+ for the entire ordeal
Top Moments and Takeaways
Chad Gable Promo
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- Backstage, Dominik Mysterio talked trash on Ricochet, who returned fire. From there, Dom had a tense staredown with Liv Morgan.
Chad Gable and Alpha Academy hit the ring before the group leader addressed his actions from a week ago, when he attacked Sami Zayn in front of his wife and friends in Montreal.
Gable berated Maxxine Dupri and Akira Tozawa before labeling Otis the biggest disappointment of all of them. Despite his brutal verbal attacks on all of them, they pledged allegiance to the Olympian.
Gable is going to be a monster heel if he is allowed to explore that side of himself while tearing it up in the squared circle.
This could be the start of something excellent, as long as the Olympian can sustain momentum after this week's draft.
Grade
A
Top Moments and Takeaways
Ricochet and Andrade vs. JD McDonagh and Santos Escobar
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- Escobar delivered a picture-perfect hurricanrana to Ricochet on the floor ahead of the commercial break.
- Escobar delivered another hurricanara, this time sending The One and Only into a leg drop on McDonagh.
Credit: WWE.com
The Judgment Day's bad night continued in the penultimate match of the night as Ricochet and Andrade defeated JD McDonagh and Santos Escobar, who filled in for an injured Dominik Mysterio.
With the talent involved, it was a predictably fun and energetic match, with creative spots and a big win for the babyfaces earned by Andrade with the Shadow to McDonagh.
Afterward, frustrated world champion Damian Priest attacked the babyfaces and stood tall to close out the segment after issued a warning to Mysterio who had vowed to "take care of it" but failed.
Result
Ricochet and Andrade defeated McDonagh and Escobar
Grade
B
Top Moments and Takeaways
Battle Royal for Women's World Championship
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- Dupri eliminated LeRae and Hartwell, a nice conclusion to that particular story arc if that is what it was intended to be.
- Jax eliminated Dupri, garnering some of the biggest heat of the entire match.
- Niven attacked Lynch after her elimination, delivering a running senton to The Man and into the ring steps. Jax delivered a uranage and a Samoan Drop onto The Man, but the announce table did not break. Jax finally got it to collapse by driving Lynch into it with a powerbomb during the commercial break.
- The referee missed Green's elimination, so she slid back into the ring in a fun spot.
Credit: WWE.com
Participants: Candice LeRae, Indi Hartwell, Maxxine Dupri, Ivy Nile, Kayden Carter, Katana Chance, Chelsea Green, Piper Niven, Shayna Baszler, Zoey Stark, Nia Jax, Natalya, Liv Morgan, Becky Lynch
It appeared Nia Jax may dominate Monday's main event en route to the Women's World Championship.
Late in the contest, she built momentum and confidence, but Lynch and Morgan recovered and dumped The Irresistible Force out of the ring, ensuring it would come down to the two of them for the top prize women's wrestling.
A battle between them ensued on the ring apron, with The Man getting the better of her opponent and driving her down and out with the Manhandle Slam for the win and her seventh title.
Lynch celebrated with the fans to close out the show.
This was a fun Battle Royal with stories across the board and some fun individual turns, including those by Dupri, Green, Jax and Niven. It was the perfect highlight reel for the depth of the division that Lynch now rules over.
A feud with Jax and/or Morgan should be expected in the wake of Ripley's injury.
Result
Lynch won the title
Grade
A
Top Moments and Takeaways
Overall Grade
9 of 9
This was the first episode of Raw in which things felt like they were in a holding pattern more than anything, especially with the WWE draft starting on Friday.
We saw the latest developments from Chad Gable and a new champion crowned in Lynch, but the majority of the show felt like one that happened for the sake of happening ahead of a draft that will allow Triple H and the creative team to work with two new rosters.
That doesn't mean it was a bad show, though, as most of what we saw was a lot of fun and advanced several characters.
Grade: B-
