WWE RAW (15th April 2019): The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly
If WrestleMania is the end of WWE's year-long season, the annual Superstar ShakeUp is the beginning of another. With one half of WWE's annual re-set now complete, the RAW brand has been drastically altered, as it heads forward on the long march toward WrestleMania 36.
Some of professional wrestling's biggest names have now moved up to WWE's Monday night staple show transitioning from SmackDown Live, 205 Live, and NXT. The moves will have serious ramifications going forward.
While one would hope that everything was positive, it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows on tonight's edition of RAW. Join us as we examine the very best, worst, and downright ugliest moment in this special Superstar ShakeUp edition of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.
The Good - RAW Is Phenomenal
AJ Styles has been a SmackDown Live mainstay since making his WWE debut at the 2016 WWE Royal Rumble.
Styles had become so synonymous with the blue brand that he has even earned the moniker, "The face that runs the place," and recently engaged in a WrestleMania 35 feud against Randy Orton for brand supremacy.
Styles would go on to win the match leaving many to speculate that he would be staying put on SmackDown Live.
Fast forward two weeks and the landscape has been drastically altered. SmackDown's favorite son is now RAW's newest Superstar. Styles made his shocking RAW debut teaming alongside RAW's two most famous Superstars in Roman Reigns and Universal Champion Seth Rollins.
Styles did not disappoint either and made an instant impact. The former WWE Champion proved integral in the trio's bout against Drew McIntyre, Bobby Lashley, and Baron Corbin, even scoring the deciding pinfall victory over Lashley.
Seth Rollins shouldn't get too comfortable with his new partner, however. If Styles taught us anything in his three plus year SmackDown Live career, it's that he won't be held down. Styles should be expected to be an immediate contender to Seth Rollins' Universal Championship.
The match would be fitting, as Rollins often credits Styles as being one of the first major stars to take notice of him becoming a major motivator in his professional wrestling career. Styles bested Rollins way back in 2006 on the independent scene.
After his victory, he was sure to give the young Seth Rollins high praise and gave him credit for his part in what Styles then considered, "The match of my life."