WWE Raw 4-8-13: The Crowd Takes Over Raw the Night After WrestleMania 29

This edition of Raw took place at the IZOD Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey. This was the night after WrestleMania 29 and this may have been either the most fun, exciting, or bizarre (depending on which way you look at it) Raw in history. WWE Hall of Famer Jerry “The King” Lawler has been known for calling Canada “Bizarro Land”, but after seeing this edition of Raw, East Rutherford, New Jersey may very well be “Bizarro Land”. For three straight hours, the crowd chanted the most random things at random times. Some chants were heard for Wade Barrett, Dolph Ziggler, Jerry Lawler, John “Bradshaw” Layfield, the late Randy Savage, and even announcers Michael Cole and Justin Roberts and referee Mike Chioda. The crowd even chanted “We Are Awesome!”. Well, like I said, it just depends on how you look at it. But the chant that truly took over the rest of the night was when the crowd hummed Fandango’s entrance music, even after Raw went off the air. All I can say is that I am sure there are many things that would be an understatement to describe what we heard/witnessed last night on Raw. As for the show itself, it began with the new WWE Champion John Cena sporting the championship with custom plates on the sides of the belt that are befitting for him and coming out to address his victory at WrestleMania. The way Cena wanted to celebrate was by defending the championship on this very night. One guy was quick to answer to that welcome challenge in the form of Mark Henry. John Cena was quick to accept the match; however, WWE Hall of Famer and Smackdown General Manager Booker T came out and informed everybody that Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson (the man Cena beat to win the championship) had an automatic rematch clause, but was unable to use it at the moment due to the fact that he suffered an injury to his abdomen. Therefore, Booker T decided to put Mark Henry in a non-title match against Cena this night and if Henry was able to beat Cena, then he would get an opportunity at the championship. Also, Wade Barrett wasted no time in invoking his rematch clause for the Intercontinental Championship he lost to The Miz the night before at WrestleMania. It all paid off in the end when Barrett defeated Miz to regain the championship. Also, after World Heavyweight Champion Alberto Del Rio overcame the odds by defeating both Jack Swagger &  Zeb Colter in a 2-on-1 Handicap Match, Alberto was feeling the effects of the damage that was done to his leg during the match. Mr. Money In the Bank Dolph Ziggler noticed this and seized the opportunity to finally cash in his guaranteed championship opportunity. Despite a valiant effort by Del Rio, his damaged leg was just too much for him to overcome and Ziggler ended up finishing off Del Rio to become the new World Heavyweight Champion in the first main event of the night. Since Ziggler preyed on a vulnerable Del Rio, he is no doubt gonna have to prove himself as World Heavyweight Champion. Also, while The Undertaker was looking to pay his long-awaited tribute to the late Paul Bearer, The Shield (Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, & Roman Reigns) interrupt and circle The Undertaker around ringside. Fortunately, before The Shield can do any damage to The Undertaker, WWE Tag Team Champions Team Hell No (Kane & Daniel Bryan) come out to even the odds for The Undertaker. The Shield then retreats into the crowd. Wow, The Undertaker, Kane, and Daniel Bryan; this is certainly a trio that I thought we would never see standing in the same ring together. Also, both Randy Orton and Sheamus stated their cases for going one-on-one with The Big Show after he turned on both Orton and Sheamus the night before at WrestleMania. At first, Big Show’s opponent would be decided by votes of the WWE Universe with Orton getting the most votes. However, both Booker T and Raw Managing Supervisor Vickie Guerrero emerged and informed everybody that they had decided to determine Big Show’s opponent by having Orton and Sheamus go one-on-one with the winner facing Big Show. In the end, Big Show gets involved in the match by taking out Sheamus, thus earning Randy Orton the win by disqualification. Then, Big Show brutally attacks Orton, thus leaving both Sheamus and Orton laid out in the end. Also, during Fandango’s match with Kofi Kingston, Chris Jericho comes out and attacks Fandango, thus earning Fandango the win by DQ. After being defeated by Fandango the night before at WrestleMania, Jericho had asked that whether or not Fandango would be able to carry that momentum with him to get further in the WWE. Perhaps Jericho put Fandango to the test with this attack? Also, in a match that was supposed to take place at WrestleMania the night before, but for some reason didn’t, Tons of Funk (Brodus Clay & Tensai) teamed up with The Funkadactyls (Naomi & Cameron Lynn) to take on the team of Team Rhodes Scholars (Damien Sandow & Cody Rhodes) and The Bella Twins (Nikki & Brie) in an Eight-Person Mixed Tag Team Match. In the end, Tons of Funk & The Funkadactyls came out on top, thus ending The Bella Twins’ undefeated streak since returning to WWE. It just sucks that this didn’t happen at WrestleMania the night before. Finally, in the second main event of the night, John Cena and Mark Henry have their scheduled match. In the end, while Mark Henry was beating on Cena on the outside of the ring, Cena eventually countered and drove Henry into the steel steps. Cena was able to roll back into the ring to beat the referee’s 10-count and earn the win over Henry. Henry, however, gave Cena a post-match attack. Then, Ryback comes out and clears Henry from the ring. Ryback then helps Cena to his feet and after a quick staredown between the two, Ryback hits Cena with his patented Meat Hook Clothesline. He then hits Cena with his finishing maneuver, Shell-Shocked. Ryback then stands over Cena’s fallen body with Cena’s championship in hand to end the program. A lot of people seem to be wondering what Ryback’s motives were for attacking Cena, but I deep down, everybody knows that Ryback attacked Cena because he has his sights set on Cena’s championship and Ryback was merely making a statement. For more information about the aftermath of this week’s Raw, check out this week’s edition of Backstage Fallout from Raw on YouTube.