5 Things WWE got right on this week’s RAW (April 27, 2020)

We’re on the road to Money in the Bank, and this week’s RAW tried to cash in as much as it could with some interesting matches and segments to build up towards the grand event.

We already know who will challenge the WWE Champion for the title at the event, and this week’s show featured a contract signing between the two Superstars.

All six of RAW’s competitors for the MITB ladder matches were under the spotlight during the night. While the three women fought each other, the triumvirate of Rey Mysterio, Aleister Black, and Apollo Crews took on Zelina Vega's associates.

However, a late injury took out one of the male Superstars for the pay-per-view and it will be interesting to see who replaces him at the event.

With a lot going on in the world of wrestling, several interesting things happened during the night. In this article, we will look at the 5 things that WWE got right on this week’s RAW.

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#5 Jinder Mahal’s return

Jinder Mahal made a rather unceremonious return to the Red brand this week as he took on Akira Tozawa in a match. Tozawa has been making waves on NXT as part of the Interim Cruiserweight Championship tournament and had a good match against Andrade last week even though he ended up on the losing end.

However, Mahal was much more dominant against Tozawa and showed signs of his former heel self in the clash. He took out the Japanese Superstar and never let him make a comeback in the match to keep the pressure on. Finally, Mahal delivered the Khallas for the victory.

While the match was nothing more than a glorified squash, it did enough to bring back the former WWE Champion to the Red brand with much aplomb. We have seen a slight shortage of Superstars on RAW, and the return of Mahal could help bolster the heel line-up of the brand.

What we hope is that Mahal’s current run is more like the time he became the WWE Champion, and less like the time he was involved in the 24/7 Championship madness.

As for Tozawa, you can’t help but feel sorry for the international star.

#4 The Triple Threat save

One of the biggest women’s matches of the year was set for this week’s RAW as Nia Jax, Asuka, and Shayna Baszler were set to compete against each other.

Before the match could begin, Asuka cut a promo on Jax beating down Kairi Sane last week, before the other two women came out to the ring. Jax and Baszler were out next and the latter decided to attack Asuka and pull her out of the ring before the match could begin.

As the Emperess of Tomorrow and the Queen of Spades exchanged fists, Jax wiped out both women with a ladder and stood tall to close out the segment.

While it was predictable that something or the other would cause this match to never get started or come to a controversial end, RAW needed to have such an altercation to remind fans what they could be in for at Money in the Bank.

It also helps in showing RAW’s dominance in the women’s department for the Money in the Bank ladder match, and we can expect the winner of the briefcase to come from the Red brand.

Jax was interviewed by Charly Caruso after the segment and she was confident in saying that no one could stop her from doing whatever she wanted.

#3 The babyface victory

MVP was out for the VIP Lounge this week to introduce the three RAW Superstars who would fight in the Money in the Bank ladder match. Aleister Black, Rey Mysterio, and Apollo Crews came out to the middle, but they were soon interrupted by Zelina Vega.

Vega challenged the three men, asking them to give up their spots in the MITB ladder match to her clients Andrade, Angel Garza, and Austin Theory. A brawl ensued and it turned into a six-man tag team match. Mysterio was the most impressive of the lot early on and showed why he still had it in him to aim for the top spot once again.

Surprisingly, the heels managed to isolate The Dutch Destroyer to get some advantage in the match. After Crews got the hot tag, he was unstoppable and went after Theory. Crews would eventually take down El Idolo and pick up the win for his team with a powerbomb.

This was a really fun and interesting match that put Crews over big time. Watching Black being dominated was rather interesting, but the entire match was well constructed and gave Crews a massive push.

#2 The referee stoppage

After Apollo Crews surprised everyone by pinning the United States Champion Andrade in the six-man tag team match, he requested a shot at the United States Championship. Zelina Vega accepted his request for a match for the same night.

The match saw the two men give another good performance to keep the night going with a depleted roster. Vega provided the distraction to allow El Idolo to take the control back from Crews, and the champion wasn’t ready to let go of his title so soon.

In the latter stages of the match, Andrade planted Crews with a DDT and set up towards the hammerlock DDT. However, Crews managed to fight out and sent Andrade down to set up for a frog splash.

Crews was unlucky as he missed and injured his knee badly, leading to the referee calling for a stoppage. The injury seemed to have affected the determined babyface, and we hope that Crews did not actually end up injuring his knee badly, especially at a time when he was getting all the right opportunities.

However, the referee stoppage protected both Superstars and gives Crews a chance to come back for the title whenever he is fit and ready to go again.

#1 The contract signing

The final segment of the show saw WWE Champion Drew McIntyre and his challenger Seth Rollins complete the contract signing for their match at Money in the Bank. Rollins made it clear that he wasn’t going after McIntyre because he didn’t like him, but he wanted to get to regain the WWE Championship for the greater good.

The Scottish Psychopath wasn’t happy with The Messiah’s blabbering and stopped it by slamming his head into the table. He cleared the ring to launch an attack on the heel and got him down with a headbutt. However, as he set up for a Claymore Kick, Murphy arrived to save his leader.

After he made the save, he checked on Rollins who hugged him, but McIntyre launched a Claymore Kick meant for the Monday Night Messiah which was taken by Murphy to save his leader once again.

This was a good segment that helped Murphy to reunite with Rollins while allowing McIntyre to make another statement without really hurting his challenger. The eventual contest between these two men at Money in the Bank will likely be a show-stealer!