WWE Raw 4/12/21 Recap – Raw After Mania

Live Coverage, Top Story

Two nights of WM are over and now it’s time for what is normally the biggest Raw of the year. Lashley shows up in a bright orange suit and has fans greet him before Riddle shows up and bugs the shit out of him. Riddle quotes Lashley’s promos about anyone getting a shot that wanted it and offers him a match tonight – after cheap-shotting him. Corey is back on Raw with Byron bringing in Adnan Virk, who announces Rhea vs. Asuka in a rematch and the Firefly Funhouse is back tonight. Lashley kicks his ass all around ringside and then the bell rings and he kicks his ass some more. Adnan calls a front facelock a headlock and a suplex is “that move”. Lashley throws him into the virtual WWE universe for an ad break. 

During the break, Riddle gets his ass kicked more before we go back live to more ass-kicking. They bring up Riddle facing Lashley when Lashley was US Champion – which to WWE’s credit, feels a lot longer than “a month ago”. Flash knee to Lashley leads to a floating bro, but Lashley moves and the Hurt Lock ends it. Wow – Lashley actually got a dominant win and didn’t just lose by distraction cradle. Tremendous! Ripley-Asuka recap from WM. 

Cedric and Shelton get a jobber intro as the Viking Raiders return. Ivar has a new shoulder tattoo and after several plodding minutes with Erik, Ivar tags in and slugs away before hitting a basement crossbody. Viking Experience ends it – so I guess they’ll get a tag title shot at Backlash. Adnan hypes up “the Viking Express!” Asuka says that Rhea beat her, and now it’s her turn to win it. Charlotte returns in the Thunderdome in a bright, shiny black and silver dress. Charlotte complains about not being at Mania – IT’S HER STAGE! It’s not her fault Lacey got pregnant, or that Asuka needed a partner, or whatever. Karma is a bitch and she’s that bitch. She complains about every other woman at Mania and says no one compares to her. “No more humble Charlotte!” – THIS PAST YEAR HAS BEEN HER BEING HUMBLE!?

Bunch of nothing early on before an ad break. Asuka gets a missile dropkick. Asuka AVOIDS A BIG STOMP, but the inverted cloverleaf is on – but Asuka escapes. Rhea throws her down for a basement dropkick, but Asuka rolls away early and Rhea still drops down. Samoan drop by Rhea goes a bit wonky in a way and both hit hard. Rolling armbar into an Asuka lock and a jaw jacker hits. Apron fighting leads to a posted hip attack and an apron DDT. Charlotte runs in for a DQ. She beats up Asuka and then Rhea – who SHE BEAT A YEAR AGO. 

Miz meets with Maryse and Morrison, who wonders why she’s here and Miz says she’s their guest and the Miz leaves him behind. Cool – a breakup of Miz and Morrison is teased. IT’S LITERALLY RAW IN 2010. Nia and Shayna replay Mandy falling at WM and Mandy says she can at least laugh at herself before she and Dana jump Nia from..in front. Alexa exposits about being lost, but was rescued by the darkness. It protected her – and then she realized that she didn’t need it anymore and she could do it all on her own. Now she has her own puppet named Lily and their fun is just getting started. 

Miz chats about WM and then they bury Morrison for wanting to have his own spin-off of Miz and Mrs. and they say that MMM doesn’t work. They say they have an award-winning commercial and Miz takes credit for Bad Bunny looking good. BUT FIRST THE ARCHER OF INAMY is out. Miz and Morrison argue about facing Priest and Maryse says they can both fight him. The heels fight in street clothes and get their asses kicked before Priest hits Miz with a sitout chokeslam – maybe don’t do that with a bad back. Morrison eats the Cross Rhodes, but Priest avoids the Finale. Miz gets hits feet on the ropes and beats Priest in his skivies. 

Shayna and Nia get a recap of their beating from earlier. Nia fake-slips into Shayna for some “comedy” with Mandy and Dana. Crushing elbows from Nia and Nia “slips” on the apron and the faces…take a loss via countout because sure. MVP puts over Lashley being a world-beater and a man that uses his Hurt Lock to TAKE OUT EVERYONE. Drew had to PASS OUT and NO ONE ABSOLUTELY NO ONE can take it. Cue Drew! The redone Thunderdome with fans on both sides of the tron helps it feel so much more like a real arena now. 

Drew says he passed out at Mania and he wants MVP to hype Lashley up even more so that when he beats him, the win is even sweeter before Braun comes out and calls Drew a loser because HE WON. Orton says the Fiend and Alexa are in his rear view mirror and now he can focus on what he’s the best at – being the legend killer. Pierce makes a three-way with the top contenders tonight and the winner faces Lashley at Backlash. So what was THE MAIN EVENT OF THE BIGGEST RAW OF THE YEAR going to be if these guys hadn’t come out? Ryker and Elias face New Day next. 

Drew and Braun bitch and moan to each other. We get wacky “comedy” during the Elias song with the trombone replacing Elias’ guitar strumming. New Day mocks them for getting beaten up by one guy before they do the same since Omos beat them up. New Day runs wild and hits stereo dives to the heels for an ad break. Woods eats a series of forearm drops from Ryker before Elias gets a picture-in-picture chinlock. Elias suplex onto the knee of Ryker gets 2. Kofi hits a one-foot Cave In on Elias for 2. Demo Footstomp ends it and the New Day wins after way way way too long. Randy cuts the same promo he cut in the ring – only now it’s backstage. 

The Funhouse returns and Abby calls Lexi a bitch. Bray says witches be wildin and we get a Southern preacher promo from Bray about…things. Adnan says that he talked to Drew earlier and how being in Tampa was like losing at his second home since he’s been there for 15 years. Now that’s an easy story they could have told at WM. It took TWO SECONDS TO TELL IT. We get some brawling before the break, more brawling after it. Braun charges at both guys in the corner. Randy needs to BE A STAR and stop slamming Drew’s forearms into the table COWL like that. Steps to the head of Orton and Drew by Braun. RKO to Braun but a basement claymore to Orton ends it. I dig the sliding Claymore. A HORRIBLE “Drew Drew Drew” chant hits. MVP’s TNA theme hits and T-Bar and Mace attack Drew while they ponder if MVP has anything to do with it. Possibly…