LIVE Raw thoughts - April 8, 2019

11:00 - It wasn't a bad show by any stretch of the imagination, but it was certainly an oddly booked one.  Why even have Kofi appear, since it wasn't expected or needed?  And if he was to appear, why tease the unification if it wasn't going to happen?  Why replace it with a substantially less important match?  Just seemed odd.

Also, random that there wasn't appearance or mention of Reigns.

10:50 - Hmmmmm, this was a curious decision.  If you're going to tease that sort of match and not give a result, you need a bigger story than "the Bar interfered!"

10:37 - I just feel like, considering this is something that hasn't been promoted ahead of time, that we won't see an actual unification tonight.  It would also steal the thunder of the shakeup, I would think.  So what happens at the end?  Brock returns?  Bryan does something?  Reigns turns heel?  Drew jumps both guys?  Or do we see a straight up winner?  And if so, who wins?

10:32 - Another fun segment.  Loved Elias' "dead man" line to telegraph the Undertaker's appearance.  And Elias' facial reaction was great as well.

10:16 - Really fun promo from Zayn, and especially appropriate after the obnoxiousness of the fans during the tag team match.  Great delivery and great points.  A lot of fun.

9:58 - I like the new shaved head look.

9:54 - No new Intercontinental title either.  How odd that there were rumors of three new titles being in New Jersey/New York this week.

9:52 - I almost feel like Dean got a better send off than Kurt.  Also, nice to see Sami back.

9:39 - Any help on what that laughing dinosaur was?

9:35 - I'm super sad that Dean is leaving WWE.  The company failed to capitalize on his popularity and charisma numerous times over the past several years.  This guy should have been a muti-time World Champion and certainly had what it takes to be a top face in the company.  It's just too bad that WWE worked against him so often.

9:30 - Update:  it appears that the lift wasn't working.  Also, this match seems to be running off the rails.  The fans are (obnoxiously) trying to do a wave, and there seems to be a bit of sloppiness.

9:14 - So did the production crew completely miss Black's entrance?

9:03 - I love Becky but her trying to get her own chant started was cringe-worthy.

9:02 - It's a weird pet peeve of mine when somebody has two titles and they wear one and hold the other.  It always makes the one they hold seem less important.  I say either wear both on your shoulders (like Jericho), connect them an wear it as a necklace (like Cena) or wear both around your waist (like RVD and Angle).

8:51 - I know they (seemingly) don't like each other, but I was hoping for Alexa vs. Sasha.  I think those two work really well off each other.  If nothing else, it's just interesting seeing a different style from Sasha as she's usually the smaller person.

Also, a side effect of the Superstar Shakeup is that it seemingly halts a lot of the surprise post-WrestleMania debuts.  Maybe Lars proves otherwise.

8:43 - Speaking of Angle, it's a bit odd how understated his career ending has been.  Compare him to Ric Flair and Shawn Michaels, who got huge celebrations.  Nobody even came out to save Angle when he was attacked.

8:37 - Michael Cole's stance is a bit strange.  Corbin is a jerk for decisively and cleanly beating Angle?  In a match Angle asked for?  Did he say the same thing about Shawn Michaels after he beat Flair?

8:32 - Happy to see that they kept the titles on Ryder and Hawkins.  Give these a guys a chance to do something with the titles.

I'm a little surprised they're giving us a unification match without any build, so I'm guessing there's no finish (maybe Brock comes in and attacks both guys?)

8:21 - Looks like we didn't get the rumored new Raw tag team title either.  Hmmmm.

8:14 - Oh man, while I had a feeling this could happen when Kofi came out, this is ultimately unexpected.  Considering the overall failure of the Women's tag team titles at actually appearing on both shows, I don't know why they're seemingly merging all of the titles.

And it's also like, Raw FINALLY has a champion now.  While split that up?

8:09 - We can see where this is going, but it kinda irks me that WWE deprived Smackdown of this Kofi unveiling moment.

7:51 - Since the Raw after Mania is usually a pretty big deal, I'll do a LIVE stream of consciousness post for this Raw (unless I decide to watch from my bed.....I'll last as long as I can).  Will we see any last minute title changes?  Any new championship designs?  Any debuts?  Let's wait and see!

Check back in about 10 minutes for my thoughts.