8 Ups And 7 Downs From Last Night's WWE Raw (April 11)
1.Indy Darlings Dazzle The Crowd
OK, hands up: Who could have predicted a year ago that we would be watching Sami Zayn and AJ Styles battling for the #1 contenders spot on Raw? Despite being a major part of NXT for the past couple of years, you never knew how Zayn would fare on the main roster, while Styles was one of the few great American wrestlers who had never spent time on the WWE roster.
Monday, we got their first WWE match against each other, and it was everything that the 874th match between Sheamus and Randy Orton was not. After a feeling-out process, Zayn and Styles cut loose with all their signature moves and other high-impact offense. Samis Blue Thunder Bomb (which seemed to carry an extra rotation) got a huge reaction when he got a long two count.
In the end, Styles won to keep his world title match against Roman Reigns a one-on-one bout. But consider that Shane McMahon came on camera to praise both men, and then JBL declared that they proved that theyre two of the best in the world. Those comments werent by accident. Hopefully, its an acknowledgement by WWE brass that these guys belong as top guys in the company going forward.