
WWE Raw Results: Winners, Grades, Reaction and Highlights from April 24
Welcome to Bleacher Report's coverage and recap of WWE Raw on April 24 in Chicago.
With Backlash in Puerto Rico coming up on May 6, WWE has less than two weeks to book the rest of the card and set up all of the major stories.
Before he serves as the host of the pay-per-view, Bad Bunny returned to Raw this week to address what has happened between him and Damian Priest.
Let's take a look at everything that went down on this week's episode of Raw.
Cody Rhodes Opens Raw
1 of 7Raw opened with Cody Rhodes coming out to a huge pop from the Allstate Arena crowd.
He got right to business and talked about Brock Lesnar. He showed some stills from when The Beast Incarnate attacked him on the post-WrestleMania edition of Raw.
Rhodes took off his shirt to show off his scar from the surgery on his torn pectoral muscle to prove how he has overcome bigger obstacles than Lesnar before.
Finn Bálor came out and said he knew The American Nightmare had Roman Reigns beat at 'Mania before he was screwed out of the title. He said Rhodes lost because nobody had his back. He offered him a spot in The Judgment Day.
Rhodes tried to respectfully decline and offered a handshake. Balor gave him a warning, and Rhodes responded by saying he is medically cleared and wants a match against the leader of the group. He didn't get an answer, but it looked like we had a showdown booked for later.
This was a decent opening segment. Nothing too special happened, but Rhodes and Bálor had the crowd eating out of the palms of their hands.
Grade: B-
Notable Moments and Observations
- Cody, don't ask Chicago what we want to talk about. The answer is usually either pizza, why one of our sports teams sucks, or why the weather is unpredictable.
- The scar on Rhodes' shoulder from his pec surgery is hard to see, but if you see it up close, it's pretty gnarly.
- Rhodes can control a crowd better than most.
- WWE sure does love to make references to Bullet Club without actually mentioning them.
The Bloodline vs. Latino World Order
2 of 7Solo Sikoa and The Usos faced Santos Escobar, Joaquin Wilde and Cruz Del Toro in a six-man tag team match to give us the first action of the night about 25 minutes into the show.
Wilde and Jey started for their teams with a quick exchange that ended with Wilde being cornered so The Usos could double-team him with some quick tags and strikes.
The LWO took control as the show went to a break, and we returned to see Sikoa wipe out Wilde with a massive clothesline.
This match was as fast-paced as it was physical. There isn't a slouch among these six men, so this bout had lots of energy and some great high-flying spots, including a nice phoenix splash from Del Toro.
Sikoa nailed Del Toro with a Samoan Spike in the middle of a dive to give The Usos the chance to hit the 1D for the win.
Winners: The Bloodline
Grade: B+
Notable Moments and Observations
- It looks like Legado del Fantasma are officially using the LWO name and gimmick now. New music was also used for the group this week.
- It's nuts that Wilde is the same guy who was DJ Zema Ion in TNA all those years ago. He has grown a lot in his career since then.
- The simultaneous dives from Wilde and Del Toro looked about as in sync as you can get.
- Putting Eddie Guerrero's voice in the LWO music was a nice touch.
The Street Profits vs. Cedric Alexander and Shelton Benjamin
3 of 7Shelton Benjamin and Cedric Alexander faced Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins in the second match of the night.
The Gold Standard knocked Dawkins off the apron so he and Alexander could double-team Ford without anyone else getting in the way.
The Profits were able to rebound and take control when Dawkins tagged back into the match. Ford ended up hitting a Frog Splash for the win after just a couple of minutes.
This was very quick, but the bit of action we got looked great. We just didn't get enough of it.
Winners: The Street Profits
Grade: C
Notable Moments and Observations
- Alexander and Benjamin need MVP by their side again.
- WWE could make a killing if they sold those Profits shirts that looks like Chicago Bulls jerseys.
Triple H Announcement; Damage CTRL vs. Belair, Rodriguez and Morgan
4 of 7Throughout the first hour of the show, the announcers were hyping a major announcement from Triple H. He came out at the top of the second hour to deliver on that promise.
The Game spoke about the privilege of performing in front of the WWE Universe for years, and now he has the privilege of revealing a brand-new World Heavyweight Championship. He also announced a new titleholder will be crowned at Night of Champions on May 27.
The new belt has a much more traditional look to it than the current titles.
This was a pretty basic segment, but the new title belt was worth it. This will be in addition to the Universal Championship, not a replacement. That is why Roman Reigns was not involved in this segment.
Grade: C+ (segment), A (title design)
Earlier in the show, Bayley challenged Bianca Belair to find two partners to face her, Iyo Sky and Dakota Kai in a six-woman tag match. The Raw women's champ picked the women's tag team champions to fight by her side.
The EST of WWE and The Genius of the Sky started for their teams. They kept countering each other until Belair hit a dropkick.
Damage CTRL took over when Morgan tagged in and the show went to a commercial. The heels still had the upper hand when we returned, but Morgan managed to tag in her partner after weathering the storm.
The powerhouse dominated everyone in the ring and paved the way for Belair to come in and get the win with the KOD.
This was a decent match, but it feels like we have seen all of these women fight so many times recently that this performance will just blend in with the rest.
Winners: Belair, Rodriguez and Morgan
Grade: B-
Notable Moments and Observations
- Triple H said he defended the world title at WrestleMania 22, but that's not true. Cena successfully defended the WWE Championship against him that night.
- Bayley may be the leader, but Kai and Sky have both come into their own in recent months. If this group breaks up, which seems to be where this is heading, then both of them will be just fine.
- Rodriguez should get some gear that matches Morgan a bit better. Her bodysuits are a little on the plain side.
- Morgan doing a senton off of the shoulders of Rodriguez was a nice spot.
Mustafa Ali vs. Chad Gable
5 of 7Austin Theory came out to deliver a promo about his upcoming match at Backlash, but he was interrupted by Bobby Lashley.
This predictably turned into a fight that saw Bronson Reed make an appearance. He and Theory beat down Lashley together, but the Australian eventually took out the United States champion, too.
After a break, Mustafa Ali came out in front of his hometown crowd to take on Chad Gable in singles action.
Ali tried to outwrestle Gable at first, but he was met with a belly-to-belly suplex and several takedowns. Otis and Maxxine Dupri watched from ringside as Gable hit a beautiful dragon suplex for a two-count.
Ali was able to steal the win with a counter into a pinning combination out of nowhere.
This was another short bout that crammed a lot into the couple of minutes it had. These guys are both great and looked awesome in the ring, but with five more minutes, this could have stolen the show.
Winner: Mustafa Ali
Grade: C+
Notable Moments and Observations
- Chicago crowds do not care if someone is a heel or babyface. If someone is from their city, they will cheer.
- Gable's dragon suplex was picture-perfect.
- Ali might hit a DDT from any position better than anyone else in the business.
Finn Bálor vs. Cody Rhodes
6 of 7Bálor and Rhodes opened the show together, and at the top of the third hour, they met in the ring for the match they had set up.
They were trying to size each other up at first, so they were slow to engage. Bálor scored the first couple of takedowns, but The American Nightmare didn't let him maintain control for long.
We returned from a break to see Rhodes starting to build some momentum. The Prince kicked out after a nasty kick to the face, but his opponent was getting more fired up.
Rhodes avoided the Coup de Grace and kicked out of an inside cradle before hitting a Pedigree followed by Cross Rhodes for the win.
This was a solid match with a clean finish. They definitely held back a bit, but that just leaves them room to improve upon this performance in future encounters.
Winner: Cody Rhodes
Grade: B+
Notable Moments and Observations
- Rhodes giving his weight belt to a different fan at ringside every week is one of those babyfaces touches that always works so well. Bret Hart did it for years with his sunglasses and it always made that fan's day.
- It sounded like WWE's piped-in crowd noise was fighting with the actual noise from the fans in attendance during the first few seconds of the match.
- Rhodes hit an impressive delayed forward vertical suplex.
- The American Nightmare did not get his usual rotation on his snap powerslam. He looked a little worn out but still made it work.
Rey Mysterio vs. Damian Priest
7 of 7Seth Rollins came out to talk about wanting to win the new World Heavyweight Championship, but he was interrupted by Omos and MVP.
They did a little work to set up the random match WWE has booked them in at Backlash. Rollins did a fantastic job making that contest feel important in about 30 seconds.
That segment was followed by the main event between Rey Mysterio and one of his rivals from The Judgment Day, Damian Priest.
Surprisingly, neither man had anyone with them from their respective stables, so this began as a true singles match. The Archer of Infamy wasted no time establishing his dominance by stomping Mysterio into the mat as soon as the match got going.
Bad Bunny was shown arriving backstage while the match took place. Priest continued to control the pace until Rey avoided him in the corner and he crashed into the ring post.
The Master of the 619 began to make a comeback, but Priest got himself disqualified by throwing a steel chair into his face while he was on the top rope. He hit South of Heaven and began to clear off the announce table.
Bad Bunny's music hit and he came out with a kendo stick to attack his former friend. He unloaded on The Archer of Infamy with shots from his weapon until he took off through the crowd. Bunny grabbed a mic and said he is going to see Priest in Puerto Rico for a Street Fight at Backlash.
The main event was good, but the DQ ending felt cheap. Adding Bunny vs. Priest to Backlash was a bit surprising since a lot of people expected it to be Rey and Bunny vs. Dominik Mysterio and Priest. Either way, Puerto Rico is going to go wild for this match.
Winner: Rey Mysterio by disqualification
Grade: B
Notable Moments and Observations
- Seeing Rey in the LWO colors is great, but WWE needs to do something special with this group. It needs to be more than a quick nostalgia act to get some easy merchandise sales.
- Priest's jacket is the dream of everyone who worked at Hot Topic in 2002.
- The moonsault used to be a move that got a big pop from the crowd, but they are so common nowadays that it gets almost no reaction. Mysterio hit a springboard moonsault from the middle rope to the floor, and the crowd reacted as though they were watching a headlock.
- Bunny was really swinging for the fences with some of those kendo-stick shots.






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