WWE Raw: 4 things we learned from the show before WrestleMania 35 (April 1, 2019)

Raw rolled out its final episode before The Showcase of Immortals in an effort to leave fans wanting more and looking forward to the clashes that will take place on April 7.

They did so quite well but fell apart in a few places which could have been handled better.

Batista delivered a great segment to put the nail in the coffin before he clashes with Triple H on Sunday. The three women who will do battle for the WWE Raw Women’s Championship were also not far behind in ending the storyline before the final clash.

Seth Rollins managed to get the better of The Beast for once and may have cracked the code of how to dominate the Universal Champion.

Overall, the episode was solid with a few leakages here and there, and we will look at 4 things we learned from this week’s show and what impact it may have on WrestleMania 35.

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#4 Raw’s Battle Royal participants are far too weak

To hype up the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal on this week’s Raw, WWE set up a Lumberjack Match with Apollo Crews vs. Jinder Mahal.

This was purely done keeping in mind that except for Braun Strowman, not a single participant had been built before the match and that all other participants were conveniently announced on WWE.com.

The match was nothing, with the lumberjacks the same men who will represent Raw in the Battle Royal on Sunday. The match saw Apollo Crews defeating Mahal before a brawl broke out.

Crews stood tall at the end of the brawl, most probably to act as the only other real competitor for the trophy from Raw apart from Braun Strowman.

The other men announced from Raw seem pretty ordinary and are made up of men who do not get chances on television throughout the year. SmackDown, on the other hand, has some stronger competitors for the trophy.

#3 Kurt Angle will not take any defeats

Kurt Angle

Last week on SmackDown, Kurt Angle was facing AJ Styles in a much-anticipated battle between the two men before Styles was attacked by Randy Orton and Angle lost the match via disqualification.

This week on Raw, Angle was set to face another longtime friend, Rey Mysterio, before the match was interrupted by Baron Corbin even before it could begin.

These two instances show that WWE will not let the veteran take a fall while going out of the company and ending his career, and will find a way to let him stand tall.

He previously beat Apollo Crews and Chad Gable in friendly matches, before shocking Samoa Joe with a roll-up victory.

The signs are already pointing towards one final victory for the Olympian at WrestleMania, with the build-up signaling towards Corbin continuing as the man who will face the veteran at The Show of Shows.

#2 WWE can’t control The Demon

The Demon, Finn Balor’s alter-ego, is among the WWE Universe’s favorite characters on television. The character has been a huge reason behind the superstar’s success and claims to fame.

Balor became the inaugural Universal Champion as The Demon and squashed Baron Corbin at SummerSlam 2018 in a surprise return as the character.

Balor’s return as The Demon during SummerSlam was among the highlights of the pay-per-view, and his work was over the top.

WWE should have gone the same route, and let Balor surprise fans in the arena during WrestleMania 35. Instead, they took the old route of first positioning him on posters as The Demon and then making the announcement that his alter-ego will return at WrestleMania 35.

This clearly shows that WWE is unable to control The Demon, and how the surprise factor related to the character can do far better than fans already expecting Balor to come out as his alter-ego.

#1 Seth Rollins will have to think outside the box

While the feud had been rather limited till now, the final spark was added on Raw during this week’s episode.

Seth Rollins has never been one to back down, and he took to the squared circle where Paul Heyman and Brock Lesnar were belittling him. He took the fight to the Universal Champion by initially delivering a couple of low blows.

With that segment, WWE established the fact that Rollins will indeed need to think outside the box if he wants to win against The Beast. The fact that they allowed him to deliver a couple of low blows shows that they want to present him as a complete underdog in this match.

Backstage, Charly Caruso questioned why Rollins would use low blows Monday night when he would get disqualified for them on Sunday. This added to the fact that Rollins will do something unorthodox on Sunday to ensure that he walks out of WrestleMania 35 as the new Universal Champion.

To see full results & highlights of Monday Night RAW (1st April) visit here