WWE RAW 25th April 2016 - 5 Points to Note

Stephanie McMahon appeared on Raw for the first time since Wrestlemania 32

The go-home Raw for Payback kicked off and not so shockingly Shane McMahon was back to running things on Raw. The crowd was still hot for him and after he went about giving his typical lines, he was interrupted by his little sister and we officially got the start to what seems to be a big feud heading towards SummerSlam.

This show also came on the heels of the news that one of the greatest performers of all time, Chyna, passed away last week. It remained to be seen how WWE was set to honor her contributions.

Here are the 5 points to note from this week’s episode of Monday Night Raw -

Chyna

Chyna was finally mentioned on Raw for the first time in a long time.

The woman who was for long a woman who must not be named in the WWE had her very name heard around the world last week after her untimely death.

WWE put an ‘in memoriam’ title card for Chyna before Monday Night Raw. This was not accompanied by a video package or any other visual material like they’ve done for other performers who’ve been instrumental in WWE’s success.

This may have been subject to a lot of debate since WWE has generally steered clear of recognizing much of her work prior to her death and ignoring most of her pleas to make amends and put her in the Hall of Fame.

But but but, after a match between Natalya and Emma, they finally aired a video package with some of the highlights of her career, evocative photographs and most of the tweets by performers who worked with her.

Knowing how a lot of decisions in WWE programming are made on the spur of the moment, it’s not far-fetched to say that they were sitting on the montage for a while until they decided to play it.

In a hypersexualized era, sure, Chyna did not escape being sexualized but she brought a new narrative for women in the masculine world of wrestling. She wasn’t frail and petite or eye candy but could actually beat down male performers without giving two cents about them being men. She was a towering figure, an anomaly during the Attitude Era and easily the coolest, most spectacular part of the original DX. Rest in Power.