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WWE Raw Preview (04/04/22) – Raw After WrestleMania

Raw after WrestleMania - Roman Reigns Appearing Graphic

WrestleMania has come and gone. As they call it, “The Most Stupendous Two Night Extravaganza”, is now behind us. After many a great moment and matches, we now set our sites to new ventures with many changes abound for the Red Brand. We return to the American Airlines Center for the last time this week for that mostly magical WWE Raw After WrestleMania. Lets preview what’s likely to happen and what is slated.

2022 Raw after WrestleMania Lineup

‘The Undisputed WWE Universal Champion’

A phrase that has been used by Paul Heyman many times, but wasn’t an official name to a World Championship in the WWE since September 2002, when the Undisputed WWE Championship was, in fact, disputed via the introduction of the World Heavyweight Championship. It was not used when they were unified at the end of 2013.

Coming out of Wrestlemania Sunday, ‘The Head Of The Table’ Roman Reigns isn’t just the WWE Universal Champion. He now holds the classic WWE Championship. The same title he won from Triple H the last time Wrestlemania came to Dallas. The same title held by the likes of Bruno Sammartino, Pedro Morales, Bob Backlund, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Hulk Hogan, Bret Hart, The Rock, Eddie Guerrero and so many more. Originally, the stipulation going into what WWE branded “The Biggest Match In The History Of WrestleMania”, was that both the WWE & Universal Championships would be unified. However, due to the current nature of WWE’s brand split, as well as the TV deals for both of their main programs, most people don’t believe said ‘unification’ will stick. Will there truly be some sort of cop-out angle? Will it be right away or some months down the line?

One thing is for certain and that’s for tonight’s episode of WWE Raw, “The Undisputed WWE Universal Champion” Roman Reigns, as WWE.com bills him, will be present alongside his -mostly- loyal “Wiseman” by his side, Paul Heyman. What will he say? Would he dismiss Raw? Dismiss the WWE Championship like he did at the Royal Rumble? We’ll see.

He Is The American Nightmare

It felt like some sort of dream, but no. It’s actually a nightmare. An American Nightmare. Cody Rhodes was Vince McMahon’s handpicked opponent for Seth Rollings. And Cody was almost literally copied and pasted off of AEW into WWE. Minus the booing for his bizarre “I don’t wanna turn heel” antics. Even the neck tattoo made the trip. But no Brandi or Pharaoh.

Following his victory over Seth Rollins at WrestleMania Saturday, ‘The Grandson Of A Plumber’ tonight will address the WWE Universe as he makes his return to Raw. An interesting place to return as Cody’s last Wrestlemania was in fact, WrestleMania 32 in Dallas as part of a Ladder Match for the Intercontinental Championship under the Stardust character.

But the man left WWE in May of 2016 and would go on to a major run in the independent scene, have a short run in TNA/Impact Wrestling, conquer Ring Of Honor where he would become World Champion, make it to New Japan Pro Wrestling where he would win the IWGP United States Champion, made a bet with Dave Meltzer to sell a 10,000 independent event thus creating ALL IN and with that, All Elite Wrestling would be born. The mix of Cody’s determination, the movement created by the Young Bucks, and the aura built by Kenny Omega’s stint as Bullet Club leader, all brought under Tony Khan. Three TNT Championship reigns later, Cody Rhodes returns to the WWE.

What will the future hold for him? Can WWE truly capitalize on the aura created by his return and truly take advantage of this main event talent AEW basically handed them?

VEER HAS COME!!

186 days have passed since Veer Mahaan was separated from Jinder Mahal & ‘Slim’ Shanky and we were first told: “Veer Is Coming”. Cody Rhodes left AEW for WWE, WWE released nearly 50 wrestlers, part of those already debuting in AEW or NJPW among them Jeff Hardy, Shane Strickland & Keith Lee. ROH announced its hiatus and release of its talents, had Final Battle and was bought by Tony Khan followed by Supercard Of Honor, Kairi Sane returned to Stardom. ALL of that and Veer had yet to come.

But tonight, that changes. As announced two weeks ago on Raw, today Veer comes. Brace yourselves.

All kidding aside, real name Rinku Singh, is no stranger to fame. As his likeness was used as the basis for the Disney movie, Million Dollar Arm. Based on his true story. Not knowing what baseball is, but entering a contest of who in India could throw the best pitch and winning a million dollars before being drafted into the Pittsburgh Pirates (same team as our local hero Roberto Clemente!).

He would later sign with the WWE in 2016. Whose best idea for a man that was the basis of a Disney movie was renaming him and having him take a very long time to come. You know, to arrive at a location.

Edge & Damian Priest Look On From The Mountain Of Omnipotence

Edge & Damian Priest’s heel turns were odd to say the least. However, we now see where this is all going. A new creative idea from the Hall of Fame mind of the once ‘Rated R Superstar’. At WrestleMania, Damian Priest appeared and aided Edge in defeating AJ Styles. As many sites reported, these plans were in the works for a bit. And tonight, it’s expected that a third member will be added to the group. Many are speculating it will be Tommaso Ciampa. We’re also pending a name for the group.

Bianca Ended The Streak

No, not The Undertaker streak. Or Happy Corbin’s streak. But Becky Lynch’s streak. Bianca Belair, the “EST of WWE” handed good ol’ Big Time Becks, Becky Lynch her first one-on-one defeat since Money In The Bank 2019 where Charlotte Flair pinned her for the SmackDown Women’s Championship with help from Lacey Evans.

It was arguably the best match of either WrestleMania night, only rivaled by Seth Rollins vs Cody Rhodes right after. But Bianca was able to finally redeem herself after the embarrassing 27-second loss to the now-former Man, Becky Lynch after her surprise return from maternity leave at SummerSlam.  Can we finally say Bianca Belair has broken through to stand alongside the very woman she defeated and Charlotte Flair as WWE’s top female stars? We certainly hope so.

All that and more tonight when Raw comes to us live at 8pm ET on the USA Network.

Stay tuned to the Last Word on Pro Wrestling for more on this and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world, as well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world. You can check out an almost unlimited array of WWE content on the WWE Network and Peacock.

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