WWE Raw preview (April 26, 2021): Alexa Bliss is about to dominate the Raw women’s division

Raw airs tonight (Apr. 26) live from the ThunderDome in the Yuengling Center in Tampa, Florida. This is the third Raw episode during the five week build towards the upcoming WrestleMania Backlash event on May 16.

It’s only a matter of time until Alexa Bliss is the Raw women’s champion

Alexa Bliss issued a warning to the entire Raw women’s division - Lilly doesn’t like any of them. If you don’t know by now, Lilly is the one who makes Alexa commit disturbing acts of cruelty. So yeah, an evil doll and supernatural voodoo are about to dominate the Raw women’s division.

Bliss has not held singles gold since Ronda Rousey beat her at SummerSlam 2018, but that’s going to change soon enough. Keep in mind that The Fiend challenged for the Universal championship in just his second official match, and won it from Seth Rollins less than three months after his debut match against Finn Balor. Now that Bliss has the creepy evil doll by her side, she’s likely on the fast track to a similar rise up the card.

With Charlotte Flair temporarily out of the picture due to suspension, Raw women’s champion Rhea Ripley’s main challenger right now still appears to be Asuka. Considering how effectively Bliss toyed with Asuka in January, and that Ripley is the one who eliminated Bliss from the Royal Rumble, it seems to me that Ripley should be way more concerned with Bliss and Lilly rather than Asuka going forward.

Randy Orton couldn’t even beat Bliss on pay-per-view last month, so the Raw women’s division is about to be met with a force that cannot be easily contained. Will Bliss and Lilly choose their first victim on tonight’s episode of Raw?

The title scene

After missing last week’s episode, WWE champion Bobby Lashley will be back on Raw tonight. He’s scheduled to defend his title against Drew McIntyre at WrestleMania Backlash. McIntyre is teaming up with Braun “Choo Choo” Strowman in a tag match against maskless T-BAR and MACE tonight. Will Lashley and MVP get involved and offer further insight as to whether or not they are in cahoots with these RETRIBUTION members?

AJ Styles and Omos became the new Raw tag team champions at WrestleMania 37, but they’ve done nothing with those title since. In fact, they haven’t been seen on television since their big win. In the meantime, the Viking Raiders have made a habit of beating Cedric Alexander and Shelton Benjamin.

Sheamus introduced a new twist on United States championship open challenges when he obliterated Humberto Carrillo before the bell even rang to officially start their match. Something tells me this isn’t the start of Carrillo getting regular television time in a long-term feud with Sheamus. Instead, it looks like a situation where Sheamus avoids defending his title by annihilating his foes before the bell can ring. I wonder how soon it will be until Ricochet is the next jobber in line waiting to be demolished by a Brogue Kick.

Shayna Baszler and Nia Jax lost a tag match last week against Naomi and Lana, thanks to a distraction assist from Mandy Rose and Dana Brooke. Will the Women’s tag team champions finally figure out how to stay focused and work smoothly as a team, or does Reginald’s return mean the end is near for their reign on top?

R-Truth’s current reign as 24/7 champion has lasted about five weeks. But the funny thing about jobber gold is that apparently the titleholder becomes less relevant the longer he holds on to it; the reason Truth still has it is because nobody cares enough to chase after him lately.

Other stuff to keep an eye on

- Elias pinned former WWE champion Kofi Kingston clean in less than five minutes last week. That would seem to indicate a push is coming Elias’ way. But plans change all the time in WWE, so maybe it all means nothing.

- Matt Riddle managed to score an upset victory over Randy Orton last week. There’s no way the Viper is going to let that slide without a violent response. After initially feigning ignorance, I bet Randy knows Matt Riddle’s name now, even if WWE wants us to forget it.

- Bray Wyatt’s gimmick was stolen from him by Alexa Bliss, and we’re still waiting to see how he attempts to recover from it.

- Adnan Virk uttered the phrase “Pardon me while I unload!” during last week’s broadcast. Will Raw’s struggling new play-by-play commentator find a way to make things even more awkward tonight?

Three weeks until WrestleMania Backlash!

What will you be looking for on Raw tonight?