Cody vs. The Miz, Priest's Eyes and Usos Win Solid Main Event

This week's Raw advertised Cody's first match on the red brand in six years and the SmackDown Tag Team Champions likely showing up to challenge the Raw Tag Team Champions. A show that appeared to be loaded going in was busy from the outset. The Miz and Cody had a solid match, as did The Usos and The Street Profits. Sonya Deville challenged Bianca Belair, Austin Theory is now just Theory and MVP explained why he dumped Lashley. Despite some 24/7 storyline goofiness, this was a solid show, much better than last week's WrestleMania Monday. Here are your winners and losers for Monday Night Raw, April 11, 2022:

Winner: Miz TV

The Miz opened the show with an episode of Miz TV and his guest was Cody Rhodes. The Miz did his typical heel thing, trying to downplay The American Nightmare's accomplishment and getting upset that he upstaged The A-Lister at WrestleMania. Saying he didn't think Cody would do well in a rematch with Seth Rollins, The Miz said he didn't like Rhodes' chances against The Miz later tonight. Rhodes said he had no beef with Rollins and that The Miz making things personal wasn't surprising. He added, "Let the best man win." The Miz tried to attack from behind when the segment was over and Rhodes was ready for it.

This was a fairly basic promo to open the show, but Cody was popular with the crowd and this was an effective build-up to make the match mean something. There were some amusing moments as Cody had trouble remembering not to use some outlawed words in WWE such as "belt" and "wrestler". The Miz was happy enough to remind him.

The match that followed to close the first hour and start the second was solid. Seth Rollins was watching from the outside as Rhodes defeated The Miz and when the match was over, Rollins addressed Cody on the mic and s challenged him to Cody vs. Rollins II. Cody immediately accepted.

Winner: Veer Mahaan Torturing Opponents

It took six months to get him on Raw, but in two weeks, WWE has made Veer Mahaan one of the more dangerous stars on the red brand. He defeated Dominik Mysterio this week in a singles match and applied a modified camel clutch for the win. He applied the move two more times after Dominik submitted and Dom needed medical staff to come and help him to the back. This is a smart play by WWE to make Veer keep punishing his opponents after the bell.

The more Mahaan goes berserk the better. If he keeps doing this to people, he'll get over fairly quickly. Rey is obviously going to want to avenge his son. That has to be creative's next move which will likely not end in a much better fate for the senior Mysterio.

Winner/Loser: Priest Summons Some Kind Of Strange Force

A good match between Damian Priest and AJ Styles came to an abrupt no contest ending as Priest called up some kind of spirit when he sent Styles outside the ring, took a knee and his eyes changed color under the blue light that Edge now uses during his entrance. It's not clear where WWE is going with this, but it seems like Edge might now the be the leader of some sort of Ministry of Darkness/ Brood group where the members either have powers or believe in some sort of higher calling.

This could be very cool, or it could be very lame. Time will tell.

Winner: MVP Explains Decision To Dump Bobby Lashley

Lashley invited himself to the VIP Lounge segment prior to Omos and MVP hosting their own show. Lashley vowed to get revenge and then called out MVP to explain why he did what he did last week. MVP and Omos came out and as a good mouthpiece would do, MVP made a dapper Omos look even more destructive without saying a word. Noting he dumped Lashley because The All Mighty forgot why he was able to ascend to the top of WWE, MVP didn't appreciate being left behind. Saying that was the past and this is the present, Omos is the future. MVP said Lashley barely survived his WrestleMania match and he won't survive the rematch. Lashley said he would chop down the giant and them come after his old manager.

This was a solid promo that harkened back to some old-school wrestling drama where one manager bails on his client to go with the bigger and better new toy. The question will be, did MVP make the right call? Is Omos really the next big thing? MVP is clearly going to help Omos get over. Lashley did an effective job on his own. This week made last week's decision to go in this direction look like it might have been a wise decision.

Loser: Queen Zelina, Winner: Sonya Deville

In her first match without Carmella as her tag team partner, Queen Zelina was made short work of in a singles match against Bianca Belair. Zelina cut a promo prior to the match and it meant little in terms of her changing her fortunes in the win/loss column> This match was nothing more than filler until Sonya Deville could come out and announce Belair's next challenger for the Raw Women's Championship. It turned out to be that Deville was going to be the challenger.

This could have been a much better segment if Deville hadn't already abused her power so much that her crossing the line doesn't mean much anymore. This should be a good match, but the outcome is going to be Belair going over and Deville will likely be threatened with the loss of her job. She probably won't lose it because she's not lost it in the past. This is a good showcase for Deville, WWE just needs to decide if she's going to be a competitor or a WWE official. Pulling double duty with no consequence is no longer a believable storyline.

Winner: Usos vs. The Street Profits

An unadvertised match that closed the show might have offered up some of the best action of the evening. The Usos showed up to Monday Night Raw as RK-Bro was celebrating their victory and walked to the ring and challenged the Raw Tag Team Champions to a Unification Match. The Street Profits came to the ring and took issue with the fact the Usos thought they could simply cut in line. As The Street Profits and The Usos were arguing, Orton suggested everyone shut up and fight. Orton urged the crowd to vote for a tag team main event and the audience was happy to oblige.

The last match of the night was great. The Uso and The Street Profits showed off their chemistry with The Usos picking up the win to keep up appearances as the storyline between them and RK-Bro continues. It was a good close to a solid episode of Raw.

Raw Match Results:

* Veer Mahaan defeated Dominik fairly quickly in a singles match. Veer punished him after making him submit and kept applying the choke submission and Dom had to have a stretcher help him out of the arena.

* Damian Priest vs. AJ Styles ends in a no contest as Style was sent to the outside of the ring and while he was outside, Priest called to the sky/heavens for something and the lights went out. A blue spotlight shone down and his eyes turned colors. WWE then cut to a commercial.

* Cody Rhodes defeated The Miz with the Cross Roads after a back-and-forth match that saw The Miz target his knee.

* After two reversals, Naomi defeated Liv Morgan in a singles match. Rhea Ripley was in protocol and not at ringside, delaying any sort of tag team split angle for at least a week.

* Bianca Belair defeated Queen Zelina with a Kiss of Death finisher. The match didn't last terribly long, even though Zelina did get in a bit of innovative offense. Deville then announced herself Belair's next challenger and attacked the champion from behind.

* RK-Bro defeated Alpha Academy as Orton nailed an RKO on Chad Gable.

* Usos defeated The Street Profits in a tag team main event match set up by Randy Orton. The Usos hit a 1D for the win and the respective brand champions stood face to face before the Usos left the ring and talked trash, they snuck back into the ring when Orton was distracted and nailed a double superkick.