"RESET: Revolution": Monday Night RAW (4/18/16)

(Note: I'm trying to find all stupid film sequel titles since WWE is firmly following this clean slate theme following WrestleMania 32, hence the "RESET" titles).

Monday Night RAW went live on London around 12 pm PST and judging by the reactions on Twitter, it seems like the matches and storyline progressions have been the same quality with the last 2 shows, which is GOOD. Shane McMahon is being the benevolent RAW GM and is setting up matches for the rest of the night. And yes, I'm totally spoiling myself and watching a livestream of it, just so I can see how much they edit when it broadcasts at 8 pm.

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Once again, Monday Night RAW continues its wonderful momentum post WrestleMania and laying the groundwork for Payback. The new hit "show", the Ambrose Asylum kicked off the first hour, with an insanely loud London crowd cheering for "Deano!" as Ambrose welcomed Shane McMahon as his first guest. They get rudely interrupted by Kevin Owens, followed by Sami Zayn, and finally Chris Jericho. Shane saw an opportunity and announced 2 new matches for Payback: Chris Jericho vs Dean Ambrose and Kevin Owens vs Sami Zayn (finally!) He also made Ambrose and Owens the main event to end RAW. The results can be found here.

Unlike last week, the pacing of the show started to drag in the third hour. The major highlights were:

• Jericho and Zayn being the first match of the night, which was a better showing from their match at Smack Down last week (minus Ambrose and Owens distracting the commentary team). Jericho cheats with an eye poke and wins over Zayn.
  
• AJ Styles finally meets Karl Anderson and Doc Luke Gallows in a backstage segment. AJ was so happy to see his boys and appeared to be unaware that the 2 made their debut last week by taking out the Usos.
  
• Mauro Ranallo appeared to be filling in for Renee Young, who said she was stuck in the US due to her work visa.
  
• Reigns and Styles had a brief segment in the ring, where Reigns promises to defend the title and to get respected instead of being liked without the title, whereas Styles said he wanted to be liked and respected to be a champ. As Styles left the ring, Anderson and Gallows attack Reigns from behind, leading to a backstage segment where Reigns is suspicious of Styles after his boys attacked his cousins last week (holy crap, continuity).
  
• Baron Corbin squashes Fandango and rockbottoms Dolph Ziggler who was on commentary. I want to point out that Ziggler looked so indifferent to be there. Can't blame the guy; he's been jobbing out NXT callups.
  
• Cesaro interrupted the Miz and Maryse segment, where the Miz said Cesaro had to fight against Rusev, who was accompanied by Alberto Del Rio and Sheamus. Cesaro said he spoke to Shane to change up the match where the LON and Miz would fight Cesaro **rips his tearaway suit** and The New Day. Since Cesaro's return, he's gotten more confident and looking more and more like a main eventer.
  
• The tag team tourneys saw The Vaudevillains advancing over The Usos and Enzo and Big Cass advancing over the Dudleyz. This sets up the 2 NXT tag teams competing for the tag team contendership at Payback. The Vaudevillains got little to no reaction, which was strange considering how over they were for NXT TakeOver:London a few months back.
  
• There was only one women's match segment and it was a doozy with Becky, Sasha, Natalya, and Paige vs Naomi, Tamina, Charlotte, and Summer Rae. Natalya put the sharpshooter on Charlotte, who quickly tapped out. Knowing 50/50 booking, Natalya needs to look strong before losing to Charlotte at Payback.
  
• The main event with Ambrose and Owens was really good. There was a lot of brutal looking spots, such as Owens doing a frog splash on Ambrose outside the ring, and Ambrose countering Owens frog splash with his knees up. An exhausted Ambrose wins the match, only to get hit by Jericho's Codebreaker.
  
  

Unfortunately, there's still the inevitable return of The Authority with them possibly addressing Shane on how he's running RAW. It still doesn't make sense why he's been the last-minute GM for the last 3 weeks so it might finally catch up to him soon, possibly before or after Payback. Speaking of Payback, these are the matches set for May 1:

• WWE World Hvt. Title match: Roman Reigns vs. A.J. Styles
  
• Intercontinental Title match: The Miz (w/Maryse) vs. Cesaro
  
• Sami Zayn vs. Kevin Owens
  
• Chris Jericho vs. Dean Ambrose
  
• Women’s Title match: Charlotte (w/Ric Flair) vs. Natalya (w/Bret Hart)
  
• Tag Tournament #1 contender Finals: The Vaudevillians vs. Enzo Amore & Big Cass