WWE Raw preview (April 27, 2020): Uninvited

Still at the Performance Center in Orlando, but not necessarily live.

The Headliner(s)

The only thing WWE’s announced in advance for Raw, at least as of Monday morning, is the contract signing between WWE champion Drew McIntyre and his Money in the Bank challenger, Seth Rollins.

Which makes sense, as that program has been a consistent presence on the show the past two weeks - along with qualifiers for the men’s and women’s Money in the Bank “Climb the Corporate Ladder” matches. It’s also good, because with only two episodes to go before the PPV, it looks like Team Red will be going into the May 10 event without several of its big names.

We haven’t seen Women’s titleholder Becky Lynch since the day after WrestleMania, and the last two people she feuded with (Asuka, Shayna Baszler) and her next logical challenger (Nia Jax) are all in the battle for the briefcase. Rumor had it The Man would be taking some time off after the Showcase of the Immortals this year. We thought that would be for a wedding and/or honeymoon. Doesn’t appear that’s the case - her man is getting ready to face McIntyre, after all - but she does appear to be sitting this PPV cycle out.

It’s good that Rollins stuck around, too, because several other main event players on the men’s side have been absent since ‘Mania. That includes the guy who beat the Monday Night Messiah on night one, Kevin Owens. Did jumping off the sign send KO to the disabled list? Does he not want to quarantine away from his wife and kids in order to work every week (or every other week on the new schedule)? Who knows, but he hasn’t been around.

Same goes for AJ Styles, Randy Orton, Brock Lesnar, and Edge. The last two are part-time, so they were probably never pencilled in for the May PPV. Styles and Orton could be selling the beatings they took at on April 4. Still, those are big names to not have around.

More spotlight for McIntyre, who’s getting a Superman-like push as Raw’s new top guy. We’ll see what he and Seth do in that spotlight tonight.

The title scene

United States champ Andrade has spent the last couple weeks selling Drew’s Claymore finisher. He doesn’t have a program set-up with anyone else, so maybe Humberto Carrillo will show back up for a Kickoff match.

Zelina Vega’s other charges, Austin Theory & Angel Garza, went from putting over Raw Tag titleholders Street Profits to putting over McIntyre. Which probably means they won’t get another shot at Montez Ford & Angelo Dawkins. Maybe that’ll go to Viking Raiders… after Erik & Ivar get done carpool karaoke-ing their way back from the ren faire.

Her next two matches are set-up with Superstars from the black-and-gold brand (Mia Yim & Io Shirai), but NXT Women’s champ Charlotte Flair shows up on Monday nights pretty regularly.

Other stuff to keep an eye on

- Rey Mysterio, Aleister Black & Apollo Crews are all set to fight to climb the ladder atop Titan Towers on May 10, so they’ll probably start teaming up and/or fighting each other this week.

- The marriage of Lana & Bobby Lashley seems to have navigated its way out of rocky seas. That tire flipping exercise their couples counselor gave them has worked miracles.

- Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like a Riott Squad reunion is in the cards. But the break-up led to Liv Morgan picking up some mid-card wins. So that’s something. Who knows… maybe Sarah Logan will even get a few more appearances out of the deal.

- Speaking of wins, Bianca Belair has grabbed some since her call-up. And the new tag team of Cedric Alexander & Ricochet is on a streak, too. It’s not clear what’s next for either act, though. At least The EST can hang out with Street Profits.

Two weeks until Money in the Bank!

What will you be looking for on Raw tonight?