6 Ups & 5 Downs From WWE Raw (14 April - Results & Review)

WWE has reached the end of the line for what has to be termed an uneven, underwhelming, and disappointing build to WrestleMania 41. The last Raw before the big show followed the pattern of successes, stumbles, and outright headscratchers.

What makes this build so strange is that if you looked at the landscape before the Raw on Netflix debut, there was boundless promise and anticipation of what could be coming, and then a series of swerves and left turns led everyone down a confusing path that ends with what could still be a highly entertaining show this weekend, but ultimately did not match the last couple years’ overall hype and energy in the weeks and months prior.

Raw survived on the strength of one major angle – the World Heavyweight Championship feud between Jey Uso and Gunther – and delivered a couple of pretty good matches to set the stage for contests at 'Mania. They explored a couple of interesting angles for a couple of feuds, but they also turned in some dull segments that missed the mark.

It’s worth noting that they phoned in the World Women’s Championship triple threat with three video packages. Other than Bianca Belair’s being particularly solid, there was nothing to write home about here, but they didn’t do any damage to a pedestrian feud. Thus, it lands in the middle and is left out of this week’s calculus.

Let’s get to it…