5 Ups & 5 Downs From WWE Raw (7 April - Results & Review)

1. Wrong Endgame For El Grande

WWE WrestleMania 41 Rey Mysterio El Grande Americano
WWE

Chad Gable’s turn as El Grande Americano has gotten some latitude despite being silly, even stupid, on its face, on the premise that he would get his comeuppance.

El Grande’s target throughout this brief run has been Dragon Lee, unmasking him two weeks ago and pinning him in a six-man tag match on Monday night. That seemed to set the stage for the LWO man to get his revenge on the biggest stage of them all.

Sure enough, Americano will have to face the music at WrestleMania… against Rey Mysterio.

Wait, what?

Yes, Rey is the bigger star, and him having a match at 'Mania should be a given, but the booking has pointed to Dragon Lee being the man to rise to the occasion and put Gable’s alter ego down as a mockery of lucha libre. Instead, it’s Mysterio fighting Lee’s battles for him.

How is WWE supposed to make new masked luchador stars to succeed Mysterio if Rey constantly steps into the spotlight that was clearly designed for someone else? Dragon got unmasked and humiliated. He should be the one to punish El Grande at 'Mania.

Just questionable booking here. If you need to get Rey on the card, book a tag or six- or eight-man tag. Keeping Dragon in an understudy role isn't helping anyone.

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Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.