By This year’s WrestleMania featured returns, legends, title unifications, and surprise matches. The two-night event drew record viewers and attendance numbers. But what does that mean for the weekly shows post-Mania? Monday Night Raw, WWE’s flagship show has seen a decrease in viewership for a long time. Just this week’s past show brought in nearly 15% less than the year before’s date. Will that change? Is there hope for Monday Night Raw? Let’s look into a RAW reset.
New Faces of the Transformation
The early-April showcase of the immortals saw the return of the “American Nightmare” Cody Rhodes. The surprise (sort-of) debut of Rhodes set the tone for the future of the Unified WWE Universal Championship. His arrival to the red brand the following night led to matches against long time WWE Superstars Kevin Owens and The Miz. After defeating both of them, Rhodes has set his sights on a WrestleMania rematch with Seth “Freaking” Rollins at this month’s premium live event: WrestleMania Backlash. In addition to the return of the grandson of a plumber, Monday Night Raw saw the official debut of Veer Mahaan. The Indian wrestler and former professional baseball player has been tearing through the Mysterio family since debuting on the Raw after WrestleMania. It is yet to see what Vince McMahon’s plan for the new talent is. Finally, there is the transformed and repackaged Ezekiel. This is of course, NOT Elias. It is his younger brother. The former guitar-playing heel magnet picked up a debut win due to disqualification and looks to go into a feud with the members of the Alpha Academy. Hopefully his brother will come back to tag with him.
Two Awaited Raw Debuts
There is no doubt the return of Cody Rhodes to WWE will give the company a buzz for the foreseeable future. The other two recent debuts don’t quite bring that same energy. There are however two big name athletes who could debut on RAW in the near future. Olympic gold medalist Gable Steveson made his first appearance at WrestleMania, hinting towards a possible debut on the red brand in the near future. He was selected to Raw during last October’s edition of the WWE Draft. Another possible debut on USA is Logan Paul. The boxer and social media star made his in-ring debut at WrestleMania, picking up a win alongside The Miz. Following the match, Paul was betrayed by The Miz. This act sets up a potential match between the two down the line. Paul has said in interviews post-Mania how much he enjoyed his time in the squared circle. It is only a matter of time before he makes his presence known on Raw.
What This Means
The new members on Mondays should allow for a plethora of new matches for the next few months. This time last year, the brands looked completely differently. Smackdown was easily the better show and people were hoping for a unification of the brand split to save Raw. Roman Reigns unifying the main championships has allowed for the talent on Raw to get into a new main event picture. We all await for Cody Rhodes to take him down and bring the titles to Raw.
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