WWE RAW 4/13/2026: 3 Things We Hated And 3 Things We Loved

Welcome to Wrestling Inc.'s weekly review of "WWE Raw," in this case the last one before WWE WrestleMania this weekend! And to be honest, it was a show where nothing very much actually happened, but a bunch of people sure did talk a lot! As you might expect, the WINC crew has some thoughts about that, as well as some of the specific promos that were cut on the Monday 'Mania go-home show.

As always, we won't be covering everything here in the column, because that's not what this column is for. That's what our "Raw" results page is for, and we encourage you to check that out if you missed the show. If you want to know the WINC staff's thoughts on the parts of the show that stood out to us the most, however, this is the place to be. Here are three things we hated and three things we loved about the 4/13/26 episode of "WWE Raw!"

Knowing how WWE operates, especially in this era under Triple H, I fully expected a show with more talking than action, but it doesn't mean I liked it and wasn't half-falling asleep on one of the final stops on the "Road to WrestleMania." There were four matches tonight, thankfully, two of them really solid women's matches, but everything else, outside of Oba Femi's promo, felt either extremely long-winded, or pointless, or both.

It's of course really hard to further stories at that point in a premium live event cycle, but outside of a "WWE SmackDown" storyline being furthered in Solo Sikoa and Tama Tonga, and Asuka and IYO SKY in what was meant to be a WrestleMania feud, nothing really happened tonight. Femi thankfully cut an excellent promo that he had plenty of time for, but then there were other parts of the show that didn't make sense. Why was Liv Morgan's music video played in full when the US didn't get to see a second of Intercontinental Champion Penta's promo? A promo that was also apparently cut off internationally, as well?

They tried to explain the GUNTHER vs. Seth Rollins match with a promo segment, which I didn't think was really necessary, as creative barely knows why that's a match on WrestleMania, outside of both men needing a match when their respective opponents were injured. I guess the IShowSpeed training montage was necessary because you want to get his face on the show, since he's so insanely popular, which they reiterated with the social media view numbers, but he wasn't physically on the show, so that was kind of lame.

While the promo segments were annoying, I guess it wasn't nearly as bad as a Pat McAfee seg- OH, WAIT. Roman Reigns mentioned McAfee in his opening monologue to CM Punk, really throwing off the vibe of how well that promo was going, and we got a video package recapping the latest on the blue brand with that terrible story, as well. The build to WrestleMania 42 has been crap overall, and I don't know why I expected more from the go-home episode of "Raw" tonight. At least on Friday, we get the four-on-four street fight, HOPEFULLY ending the MFTs vs. Wyatt Sicks segment, and the Andre the Giant Battle Royal. There will likely be much more talking on that three-hour show, but at least exciting things have been advertised. I can't say that much for the red brand tonight.

Written by Daisy Ruth

I'm someone who isn't really looking forward to much of the WrestleMania 42 card on the whole due to the overall lackluster and messy build for the vast majority of the matches. There was one match that I think WWE actually did a good job of doing one last segment before the two night Premium Live Event for: the Women's World Championship match between Stephanie Vaquer and Liv Morgan.

Vaquer and Morgan may have had a short segment, but it was one that I found to be quite effective. There wasn't any time wasted talking anymore, which I thought worked perfectly here given how much talking Morgan and Vaquer have done over the last several weeks. It was just a straight up pull apart brawl, with Morgan provoking Vaquer as she looked for a fight and Cathy Kelley getting caught in the middle of it all. It had the big fight feel that a lot of the other matches on the WrestleMania 42 card have been really lacking, and left an impact in the best way possible to create something that was lasting. On a "Raw" that felt like nothing and everything happened all at the same time, this was the one single bright spot on the show for me.

Written by Olivia Quinlan

This week had to have some form of build-up for the attraction trios match pitting the Usos and LA Knight against IShowSpeed, Logan Paul, and Austin Theory. And considering IShowSpeed is, as advertised, not a wrestler who is making his debut, that was left to Knight and the Usos on Monday. But given they could either not beat or had already beaten all there was on Monday nights' roster, it was down to the MFTs to make a random cameo.

Sikoa appeared and said, flanked by Talla Tonga, Tonga Loa, and JC Mateo, that the Usos were making the family look bad by hanging out with Knight. Which Knight took as an opportunity to say that Adam Pearce had been struggling to find something for them to do, so why don't they face any three of the MFTs.

That wound up being Sikoa, JC Mateo, and Tanga Loa, and Tama Tonga emerged from his conspicuous absence to stare for a while as his brother got dropped with a BFT and lost the match. Knight and the Usos celebrated their victory and nothing further was said about their match at the biggest show of the year this weekend – granted, there isn't much that can be said.

Meanwhile, Tama just continued to stare at Sikoa, breaking his gaze every now and then to look at Talla, and then back to Sikoa again. There was a whole lot of staring. But what it means is yet to be determined and will surely be drip-fed again on Friday, where the group actually belongs, arguing over a lantern with the Wyatt Sicks.

Written by Max Everett

If there's one thing that Oba Femi has that Brock Lesnar never did throughout his entire career, it's incredible promo skills. I wasn't sure if I was going to like the fact they were involved in separate segments to actually sign the contract they didn't get to last week, thanks to a brawl, but I actually ended up loving it. We're seen numerous brawls between the pair over the last few weeks, and I really assumed that Lesnar would get the upper hand here ahead of Femi hopefully winning on Sunday, and I was pleasantly surprised that wasn't the case.

Instead, we got Femi cutting an all-time promo, going toe-to-toe with Paul Heyman, which isn't an easy task, even when you're not literally right in front of your boss, Triple H, who of course had to also be there. Femi got out there to sign the contract and was immediately met by Heyman who stayed on the stage, and the "advocate" for Lesnar brought up some good points, including the fact that Femi is the fastest rising star since Lesnar. Heyman basically offered Femi a job once Lesnar wraps it up, but Femi shut that down quick.

Femi, who got a lot of time for this, but not too much that it felt like a ramble, said that Lesnar was scared of him. He mentioned he was the "ruler, destroyer, and bringer of war," a line I believe he's used before. And his way of cutting a promo is just so good. He doesn't talk too fast, but he also doesn't pause or speak in the cadence that would even begin to allow a "what" chant, if the crowd would even considering "what"-ing him. He speaks like he means business, and his promo style matches his presence perfectly. He did inspire a loud "beat his a**" chant and had to double back ever-so slightly with his lines, but it was hardly noticeable.

He said he was the one, and has always been the one, and left time for the crowd to cheer and chant. He said he knows it, the crowd knows it, and at WrestleMania, Heyman will know it too before dropping the mic. I was worried Lesnar's music was going to hit and interrupt the moment, but thankfully, we just got Femi staring down Heyman as the crowd went nuts for "The Ruler." This is my most anticipated match at WrestleMania, mainly because I'm terrified Lesnar is going to win since he had name value in front of a casual ESPN crowd, but I'm starting to feel more confident in the former NXT Champion, especially after this segment tonight.

Written by Daisy Ruth

This go-home episode of "WWE Raw" succeeded in reminding one why the company announced a 25% off sale for this weekend's Wrestle-Meh-nia with a whole lot of nothing happening between little glimpses of what the company could be. A prime example of that being the impromptu singles match-up between former Women's World Champion Iyo Sky and her former stablemate in Kairi Sane. It was fun for what it was as a wrestling match, because of course it was.

But ultimately it found itself marred by the shadow of "What is happening?" and Asuka cost Sky the match. To what end, of course this go-home show did not disclose. That will likely be for social media days or hours before the event. But coming out of the last episode of the company's flagship show just days out from its flagship event, there was nothing answered as to whether or not this feud will ever see any form of conclusion or catharsis.

Sky's tag partner is challenging Jade Cargill for the Women's Championship and the only path forward seems to be an eventual collision between Sky and Asuka. One would have thought this was the show to give that a date, even if for whatever reason it was decided it didn't belong on either of this weekend's cards. This was the show to wrap up or at least get in a position for there to be a wrap-up on the feud, especially since it has been going on for so long with little-to-nowhere left to go. But it was left unresolved, and on a show that felt like a huge lowlights package it just feels all the more egregious.

Written by Max Everett

On a night where not a whole lot of anything actually happened on the Monday go-home show for WrestleMania, I actually really appreciated the promo segment between Roman Reigns and CM Punk, precisely because it had a sort of quiet honesty about it. It felt more like their first promo segment — the one where Reigns chose Punk as his WrestleMania opponent — than anything the two have done since, in that it brought things back to the core storytelling ideas of love and hate. It also invoked another timeless narrative dichotomy: truth and lies.

The segment was set up by Reigns' opening video package, which appeared to "catch" Punk in a series of lies. This prompted Punk to bring back the "tell me when I'm telling lies" catchphrase he adopted during his time in AEW, but it also prompted both men to tell each other the truth. And the truth, as it turns out, is that they're each jealous of the other, and hate themselves a little bit for it. Punk is jealous of Reigns wrestling family, the family he always wanted; Reigns is jealous of Punk's connection with the fans, his own lack of which was the birth of the "acknowledge me" catchphrase. They hate each other because they each have something the other wants, but can never truly have. That's real stuff. That's way more interesting than "I'm going to bury you next to your dead father," and I was happy to hear Punk finally apologize for invoking Sika and put that entire part of the angle to rest in favor of actual human emotion.

As my colleagues have mentioned, it hasn't been the greatest WrestleMania build, and this wasn't the greatest "Raw." But Reigns and Punk made me feel something right at the end, and I have to say that I'm looking forward to their WrestleMania match more than most.

Written by Miles Schneiderman