7 Ups & 2 Downs From WWE Raw (1 April - Results & Review)

1. Chess

The beatings the past couple weeks have been brutal, old-school pro wrestling at its finest, but the move-countermove strategy that revealed itself Monday night was just *chef’s kiss* perfect.

The Bloodline threw down gauntlet to open the show with their takeover of Raw, but Seth Rollins countered with a challenge to the Rock and/or Roman Reigns for a match. The duo countered with Solo Sikoa in a Bloodline Rules match.

This is where things got interesting.

Roman Reigns had left the building to write an induction speech for the Hall of Fame, and Cody Rhodes wasn’t medically cleared to appear. Rollins knew he was walking into a trap and enlisted the help of Jey Uso to counter Jimmy Uso, which went to plan during the main event.

That’s when Rock emerged and threw things out of line. However, Rollins had a Plan B, which was Cody making a surprise run-in to save the day. For a moment, it looked like Rocky was going to get put through the announce desk, but Reigns popped out from under the ring to get the drop on Rhodes and Rollins, leading to another epic beatdown.

Rock and Roman decimated Seth and Cody, using a weight belt to whip the two into a quivering mess and really drive home that it’s not just numbers, it’s a diabolical nature that can’t be fully anticipated. Great stuff to close the show – not as tremendous as last week, but still a really good closing.