The post-Mania era is in effect here on WWE Monday Night Raw from Kansas City, MO, and the new landscape of the show is starting to settle in on the road to Backlash next month. Some of the major moments of the evening include Becky Lynch coming out to discuss her attack on Lyra Valkyria, a Logan Paul appearance, and Rhea Ripley set to face off against Roxanne Perez.

Here are your key moments from Monday Night Raw for April 28, 2025:

• Michael Cole and Pat McAfee reiterate before the show officially kicks off that Gunther is suspended indefinitely due to his attack on them last week. Nick Aldis is the temporary Raw General Manager in place of Adam Pearce, who is off this week.
• The show is kicked off by Seth Rollins with Paul Heyman and Bron Breakker in tow. Rollins mentions to the crowd that he won the main event of WrestleMania and that he beat both CM Punk and Roman Reigns. Rollins calls his stable the future of the industry and that it runs through him. Sami Zayn appears and interrupts the segment. Zayn tells him that the new stable is a load of crap and asks how he is any different from Reigns or Punk when he has Heyman over his shoulder. Zayn calls him jealous of Punk and Reigns, Rollins says he's not and this is the vision of the future. Zayn starts to get loud with Breakker until Rollins interjects and tells him again that this stable is the future, and that he's either with them or their target. Rollins offers to have Heyman move Zayn off of the Raw roster to keep him out of harm's way, but he needs an answer by the end of the night. The segment ends with more trash talking between Breakker and Zayn until Heyman pulls Breakker out of the ring.
• A recap of NXT Women's Champion Stephanie Vaquer and WWE Women's Champion IYO SKY's match from last week that saw interference by Giulia, Rhea Ripley, and Roxanne Perez, which set up the match between Ripley and Perez this week.
• Rhea Ripley faces off against Roxanne Perez. During the match, Giulia gets involved with Ripley and causes a no contest finish. IYO SKY appears to save Ripley as Giulia and Perez attack Ripley. They then attack SKY until Ripley breaks it up.
• Judgment Day is shown backstage. Finn Balor speaks to JD McDonagh about not telling him about his return. Liv Morgan interjects, McDonagh had set up a match with Nick Aldis with The War Raiders. Carlito says that he wants to be a champion, too.
• Logan Paul appears in the ring after the break and brags about beating AJ Styles at WrestleMania 41. Paul mocks the crowd and the city, and says they don't know what a true legend looks like. Paul takes a shot at World Heavyweight Champion Jey Uso and issues a challenge to him for the title. Uso appears to interrupt the segment and the crowd goes crazy for him. Uso calls Paul a "punk ass YouTuber" and says that when Gunther beat Jimmy to a bloody pulp, it lit something inside of him that can't be extinguished, and if he wants the title, then he needs to come take it. Paul says he's done more than he ever will, and that he's going to take the title from him and that Uso will crash out, screw up, and lose it faster than he lost the Intercontinental Championship. Uso kicks Paul in the face and lays him out.
• The War Raiders face off against FInn Balor and JD McDonagh of The Judgment Day. The New Day is on commentary for the match. During the match, Penta distracts Balor to allow the War Raiders to hit McDonagh with their finisher.
• Sami Zayn is backstage with Otis, and Paul Heyman appears. Heyman reminds Zayn that they were OG Bloodline, that he respects why he had to break away from them, and wanted him to understand why he did what he had to do. Heyman tells Zayn that Breakker is demanding a match with him, but as long as he accepts the trade to SmackDown, Rollins will do him a favor: Zayn will become the number one contender for the WWE Undisputed Championship, and receive a match against the winner of the John Cena and Randy Orton match at Backlash.
• Becky Lynch comes to the ring to talk about why she attacked Lyra Valkyria last week. Lynch its to attacking Bayley to take her out of her WrestleMania match. She scolds the crowd for booing her and says that Bayley has never apologized to her about attacking her over and over since 2019, and that she's a bigger star than her. Lynch then says Valkyria is her enemy because she's friends with Bayley. Valkyria appears and says that Bayley warned her about Lynch and that she didn't buy into it because she thought it wouldn't happen. Valkyria says that the illusion of Lynch is dead and that she's going to make her pay for it. Valkyria challenges Lynch at Backlash and puts the Women's Intercontinental Championship on the line, and says she's already a better wrestler than she is.
• Penta appears with Nick Aldis, and Aldis tells him he made a match for next week between him and JD McDonagh. Chad Gable appears to talk to him, reminding him that he lost at WrestleMania, and that his favorite part of the weekend was watching his brother, Rey Fenix, lose his first Mania match to El Grande Americano. Penta attacked Gable and had some choice words for him.
• The first promo by Rusev aired after he returned to the company last week. He says when he left WWE, he was lost in the abyss and that he found and redeemed himself. He says that he will use his hands to help others maximize their talents and potential in WWE, but not without pain and hardship. "The Redeemer" is officially in WWE.
• Stephanie Vaquer faces off against Ivy Nile.
• AJ Styles is shown backstage with Nick Aldis when Liv Morgan, Raquel Rodriguez, and Dominik Mysterio appear. Mysterio says he wants time off since he's the champion, and Aldis says his work load doubled now. Styles says he has an idea now after that interaction, which Aldis agrees.
• Zayn is backstage, and Karrion Kross appears to make sure to remind him to make the right choice.
• Michael Cole apologized to Pat McAfee about getting him involved with Gunther last week. A recap video from last week is shown with Gunther choking out McAfee who came to the defense of Cole. McAfee addresses the crowd and says that he went from an "irrelevant bum" to someone who is known across the country. He says many things about himself and how he wants to be ed, but he wants to make sure that everyone re him as a "loyal m**********r" which Netflix censors. He says he had no other choice but to protect Cole last week, and that if he dies, he dies. McAfee calls out Aldis to speak to him. McAfee demands to fight Gunther as soon as possible. Aldis says he discussed it with Pearce in advance, and while they won't lift the suspension, they will let him fight Gunther at Backlash. McAfee accepts.
• Zayn appears again, clearly struggling with the choice in front of him. Jey Uso appears and checks in on him. Uso says whatever decision he makes, it's the best one for him, and tells him he loves him. Logan Paul attacks Uso after Zayn leaves.
• Rollins is back in the ring and is ready to hear Zayn's answer. Rollins says he doesn't want to see anything bad happen to him and says he thought he'd give him the same respect he gave Jey Uso. He says he wants to believe in someone else, but he's the only one to lead the company into the future. Rollins says that Zayn was the first person he called after he became a dad and that he gave him some of the best advice he's ever gotten, and says he's returning the same advice that could save his life: take the and get out of the way so he doesn't get hurt. Zayn confirmed that they are friends, but he thinks Rollins is playing games in the ring. He says he's excellent at that, and that he knows the best cards to play. He says that Rollins is dangling the WWE Championship in front of his face. He asks him if he's ever known him to run away from anything, and he won't let him threaten him. He says he will win a championship in WWE the right way, not through favors, and tells him to go to hell.
• Zayn faces off against Breakker in the main event. Breakker hits Zayn with four spears, causing the referee to stop the match. Rollins hits Zayn with a curb stomp to end the show.

Here are your results from Monday Night Raw for April 28, 2025:

• Rhea Ripley and Roxanne Perez ended in a no contest.
• The War Raiders def. Finn Balor and JD McDonagh via pinfall
• Stephanie Vaquer def. Ivy Nile via pinfall
• Bron Breakker and Sami Zayn ended in a no contest.

A New Era On Monday Night Raw

Sami Zayn Is The New Stable's First Target

Seth Rollins' new stable is still shaping up and finding its identity, and while the stable doesn't feel much like Evolution 2.0, it is certainly intriguing to see what's behind this new alliance and how else it's going to shape up. Sami Zayn is now the first target of this new forged alliance, and Bron Breakker comes off scary as the strong, silent new muscle here, much like Batista in Triple H's Evolution stable.

Although Heyman offered Zayn the number one contender position against either John Cena or Randy Orton, Zayn refused to run away from the threats that Rollins is levying. Zayn is intent on winning the WWE Championship in his own way, but with Karrion Kross hanging around, something tells us there's more to this story than meets the eye.

Jey Uso Is As Over As Ever With The Crowd

Having Him Go Over Was The Right Call

Jey Uso, as the new World Heavyweight Champion, is consistently and perpetually over with these live crowds, and it doesn't appear that this hype train - or Yeet Train, sounds better, honestly - is going to slow down anytime soon. Uso is starting out strong and maintaining the energy he had post-Mania, and his first challenger appears to be Logan Paul, setting the table for their match at Backlash.

Paul, love him or hate him, has had a significant push within the company and consistently puts on solid performances without the benefit of long-term training. Paul seems like a satisfactory enough first challenger, and the build will continue for the next few weeks, but we'll need to see more of these face-offs to really determine how good this will be.

Our Take On Tonight's Monday Night Raw

More Table Setting For Backlash And Beyond

The post-Mania builds continue, and we're all systems go as we pave the road to Backlash on May 10th. The Seth Rollins storyline will dominate the Raw roster for quite some time, and Sami Zayn's sacrifice will likely lead into a longer story that will, eventually, culminate in a crossed path with Jey Uso by way of Karrion Kross. The test will really be focused on whether Zayn stays true to his word or if he pulls a John Cena and sells his soul for what he truly wants.

One of the other exciting moments of the night was the first official Rusev promo since his return to WWE, firmly establishing him as The Redeemer, which should be a refreshing change of pace for the mid-card Raw scene for the next few months. As Rusev begins to find his footing again the company, allowing him the space to navigate the new character arc will undoubtedly help elevate him to, hopefully, a championship match.