Raw Deal - Raw recap for April 8, 2024

WWE Chief Content Office Paul "Triple H" Levesque heads to the ring to start tonight's show. As the crowd chants "Thank You, Hunter!", Triple H says he is here to thank the fans for making something very special happen, and he can now really tell them that WrestleMania 40 was the greatest of all time by every single metric and standard, and according to the fans. Triple H thanks the fans, and after welcoming everyone to tonight's show, he welcomes everyone to a new time and a new era, and he introduces the man who will lead everyone into the new era: "The American Nightmare" Cody Rhodes. Cody and Triple H shake hands, then Triple H raises Cody's hand. The crowd chants "You deserve it!" to Cody, and Triple H congratulates Cody to ending one of the greatest reigns of all time, headlining the greatest WrestleMania, and bringing 20,000 people to last night's show. Triple H then mentions that some friends of Cody's who work in the back have prepared something special for Cody, which he will now share with everyone. We then see a video package celebrating Cody's path to the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship. Cody tears up during the video package, and Triple H and Cody hug. The crowd chants "You deserve it!" once again, and Cody lays the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship in the middle of the ring and kneels down to kiss it. Cody asks ring announcer Samantha Irvin to declare him the new Undisputed WWE Universal Champion, which she does, then talks about he laid his goals - which have now become reality - out two years ago. He then says that if the air feels a little thin, it is because everyone is standing on top of the mountain, and that he acknowledges Roman Reigns' accomplishments and calls him "one of the most important Superstars of our generation." The fans chant "Thank you, Roman!" before Cody states that he was destined to defeat Roman, then talks about his "why" for doing what he does, then shows video of one of his main "whys," his daughter. He wants her to know that when he goes to work, he goes to work in the main event, and when he is fighting, he is no longer fighting as challenger, but instead as champion. He admits that this has been a difficult predicament, for after standing in line, the line is now for him. Cody re-introduces himself, saying he was once undesirable, then undeniable, and now Undisputed WWE Universal Champion. Suddenly, The Rock shows up and heads to the ring, and the fans call him a "mother hater." The Rock tries to speak, but he gets booed as he puts the microphone near his mouth. The fans then chant "Shut the fuck up!" and "Rocky sucks!" When The Rock says he is a lot of things and that "sucks" is not one of them, the fans chant "It don't matter" and "asshole" before trying to boo him out of the building again. The Rock says he came here to deliver flowers to Cody and announce that Philadelphia broke another record for the gathering of trailer park trash. He then dares the fans to chant "Shut the fuck up!" again. As expected, the fans chant it again, but the fans cheer again when Cody raises up his championship. The Rock then raises up his People's Championship belt only to get booed. The Rock then says he came out here to give Cody his flowers and tells Cody he did it. He says that the fans can chant what they want, then says Cody beat Roman and finished his story even after all that he did to him. He says that Cody's mother is and should be proud of him and that his father Dusty Rhodes would be too, as he cites Dusty as one of his heroes and how their fathers were good friends up and down the road before stating he does not care what his own father would think of him now.The Rock mentions how his belt means a lot of him as much as Cody's does to him, then asks if there is any way The Rock can hold on to that title, as he has grown up in show business but has never held the Undisputed title. The Rock thanks Cody before the two of them swap championship belts again, saying it means a lot, then announces that he "has to go away for a little while now." He says that as much as he does not want to and after how he and Cody made wrestilng cool again, during which the crowd sings "Na Na Hey Hey (The Goodbye Song)," but when he comes back, he will come back for Cody. Cody tells The Rock that he looks forward to it. The Rock says he also looks forward to it, then tells Cody how he won at Night One before Cody went on to Night Two, and that while Cody's story with Roman has ended, their story has just begun. Cody says he believes that, saying that The Rock is not just "The Final Boss" but his literal boss as part of the TKO board of directors, but reminds him that he is the people's champion, and that means he is The Rock's champion. The Rock agrees, then has one more thing for Cody before he rides off into the sunset. He holds Cody's hand, then tells Cody that he does not have to open his hand to see what it is, and tells him not to break his heart again. The Rock lets go of Cody's hand, and he leaves as Cody watches.

We are introduced to the Spanish announce team of Marcelo Rodriguez and Jerry Soto.

Ilja Dragunov beats Shinsuke Nakamura.

We see a video package where Drew McIntyre is furious about losing the World Heavyweight Championship in a matter of minutes.

The Judgment Day (Finn Balor, "Dirty" Dominik Mysterio, JD McDonagh) is in the ring. Finn Balor tells all the doubters who thought that Rhea Ripley could not retain and that Damian Priest could not retain that they were all wrong. Dominik declares that Rhea is still the World Women's Champion even as he is booed out of the building, and Rhea Ripley makes her way to the ring. Rhea says WrestleMania was almost perfect, and that this will be addressed, and that two things came out of this: Mami is always on top and that The Judgment Day is in a new era. Finn Balor then introduces Damian Priest, who heads to the ring. The crowd chants "You deserve it!", and Priest responds with "You're damn right, I do!" He says that "The Terror Twins" are world champions and that everyone should rise for The Judgment Day. Suddenly, R-Truth shows up to celebrate "all of us." He says he has brought the Raw Tag Team titles back to The Judgment Day, then says that while The Judgment Day is picky about who they let in the group, he is only one-half of the tag champs. The Miz then shows up and heads to the ring. The Miz has to tell R-Truth he does not want to be in The Judgment Day and that R-Truth is not in the group, but R-Truth insists that he is. Miz drags R-Truth to his side before announcing that he and R-Truth are tag champs now. Finn Balor says The Miz thinks he is funny and that it is funny that The Awesome Truth (The Miz and R-Truth) will have the shortest reign in history when they put their titles on the line, right here, right now. R-Truth then says as fun as that is, they cannot, as there are only "three of us," as there will be a six-man tag match where he and The Miz tag with "the guy you can't see." JD McDonagh accepts the challenge, and The Miz says he would like to physically see his partner. R-Truth says that this person would like to celebrate but would rather tag instead, and as he introduces him, The Judgment Day (Finn, Priest, Rhea, Dominik, McDonagh) attack The Awesome Truth.

The Awesome Truth (The Miz and R-Truth) beat The Judgment Day (Finn Balor, "Dirty" Dominik Mysterio, JD McDonagh) in a three-on-two handicap match after John Cena shows up to be The Awesome Truth's third man.

We hear from "Big" Bronson Reed, who says he steps into the ring not just to win, but to break his opponents, and winning the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal is just the beginning. He says his opponents tonight will learn a lesson in raw dominance, as he is here to conquer and prove who the real heavyweight champion should be.

The WrestleMania weekend total five-event attendance is 201,924.

Backstage, Rhea Ripley talks with Dominik Mysterio, who says that he will talk to General Manager Adam Pearce about dealing with Andrade. All of a sudden, Rhea is attacked with a metal folding chair by Liv Morgan, and officials have to break up the brawl.

Roxanne Perez beats Indi Hartwell after raking Indi's eyes as Candice LeRae - who tripped Roxanne earlier in the match - is on the apron distracting the referee. After the match, Candice gives Indi a hard time again.

Backstage, Sami Zayn meets with "Main Event" Jey Uso. Both of them are proud of each other for their WrestleMania wins.

Backstage, Roxanne Perez runs into Natalya, who says that she will see her tomorrow night at NXT. Roxanne tells Natalya she will see her tomorrow night "on [her] show."

Sami Zayn heads to the ring. Sami says he has been lucky the past few years at WrestleMania, and while he has done some historical things, he wanted to do something historical this year, and he did. He says that is not entirely true, as the one who did something historical was Gunther, and that a 666-day reign as champion cannot be taken away from him. He says that while Gunther was the best Intercontinental Champion of all time, he took it away from him. Sami says that he cannot take all the credit for this, and thanks the fans for supporting him along the way. He also says seeing his wife and son as well as Kevin Owens backstage helped him. He then says that one other guy helped him out, too, but before he can mention him, Ludwig Kaiser and Giovanni Vinci show up. Kaiser says that for the past two years, Gunther put everything into making the Intercontinental Championship the most prestigious championship within WWE, and that it breaks his heart to see someone like Sami holding it right now. He says that Sami looks like "all these peasants in Philadelphia tonight" and that the new champion "looks like a bum." Kaiser says that on behalf of Gunther, he and Vinci are here to make this right. Kaiser and Vinci surround the ring before Chad Gable show up to stand alongside Sami.

We see a vignette for Sheamus.

Sami Zayn and Chad Gable beat Imperium (Ludwig Kaiser and Giovanni Vinci).

Backstage, we hear from "Main Event" Jey Uso, who says it was personal at WrestleMania, but tonight, it is just him, and he is going to give his opponents a beatdown to become #1 contender for the World Heavyweight Championship.

Backstage, Raw, SmackDown and NXT General Managers Adam Pearce, Nick Aldis and Ava congratulate Andrade, then talk about the upcoming WWE Draft. Chelsea Green suddenly shows up and complains about not being at WrestleMania, and threatens to complain to top brass. Pearce tells Chelsea that he has something for her, and Aldis says she will not be disappointed. Chelsea says that she wants her moment. Pearce tells her that if she heads to the ring right now, her moment awaits.

WWE has sold out seventeen consecutive televised events.

The WWE Draft starts on the April 26th SmackDown and concludes on the April 29th Raw.

Chelsea Green heads to the ring, where she finds out that she is in a match with Jade Cargill.

Jade Cargill quickly beats Chelsea Green with a pump kick followed by Jaded.

Backstage, Sami Zayn meets Alpha Academy (Chad Gable, Otis, Maxxine Dupri, Akira Tozawa), and speaks with Chad Gable. Sami Zayn says he and Gable are even, then admits he his kidding around and says he knows Gable wants an Intercontinental title shot, as he deserves one more than anything. He says it would be an honor to defend it against him next week in his hometown of Montréal, Quebec, Canada.

Before the next match, Drew McIntyre says that what happened last night was "pure and utter B.S." and that he only had his moment for 5 minutes and 46 seconds, which is "five minutes longer than [the fans] last in bed," and while he does not like Rollins, he respects Rollins for standing by his convictions, going out on his shield and sharing a moment only warriors know about. He then says "that bondage Undertaker" Damian Priest ruined the moment and that the Money In The Bank Briefcase is a joke that cost him a world title twice and cheapens everything both he and Rollins did. He says the World title will come back to him, then blames CM Punk for Priest cashing in on him and calls him a coward for attacking him when he turned his back. McIntyre then says it is "on sight" and that he will go for the rest of Punk's body when he returns. McIntyre then takes his anger out on the commentators when "Main Event" Jey Uso shows up.

"Main Event" Jey Uso beats Drew McIntyre, "Big" Bronson Reed and Ricochet in a Fatal 4-Way to become #1 contender for the World Heavyweight Championship after CM Punk comes out from underneath the ring to grab McIntyre by the foot to stop the Claymore Kick, allowing Jey Uso to hit McIntyre with a superkick, a Spear and an Uso Splash to win the match and the title shot.

This week on Raw Talk: Ilja Dragunov! Alpha Academy (Chad Gable, Otis, Maxxine Dupri, Akira Tozawa)! Jade Cargill!

Here are the top ten moments from tonight's show!