Raw results, April 9, 2018: Returning Jeff Hardy, Seth Rollins & Finn Bálor run wild at the culmination of an epic post-'Mania Raw

Answering a tag team challenge from The Goddess of WWE, the new Raw Women's Champion introduces former NXT Women's Champion Ember Moon as her tag team partner.

Now that Nia Jax has come into her own as a confident champion, anyone looking to knock her off her perch will have their work cut out for them… especially since she already has a friend at her side.

Former NXT Women’s Champion Ember Moon made her exhilarating Raw debut as Jax’s impromptu partner against Mickie James and deposed former titleholder Alexa Bliss, who attempted to re-cast Jax as a bully who only won the title at WrestleMania because her pre-match attack on James left Bliss in “emotional distress.” Clearly, Ember wasn’t buying it: The War Goddess looked pleased as punch to enter the fray once Jax tagged her in, and Moon didn’t hesitate to administer her astonishing Eclipse maneuver to Bliss to claim the victory for her squad.

Rumors are floating that Alexa and Mickie have lobbied to be sent to SmackDown LIVE in the upcoming Superstar Shake-up in the wake of WrestleMania. It might be the best thing for them: The Raw Women's Title is looking to be a more unattainable prize than ever for The Goddess, and her list of enemies has already grown by one.

NXT Superstar No Way Jose dances his way onto the Red Brand, ready to make a splash on Monday Night Raw.

Prepare the conga lines: No Way Jose, the “Dominican Dancing Machine” of NXT, has arrived on Monday Night Raw. Trailed by a train of revelers, Jose certainly cut an unmistakable figure as he made his way to the ring and an imposing one inside it — he dispatched local opponent John Skyler with a pop-up punch to the face within seconds before conga’ing his way out of the ring. This will be fun.

The good brothers battle Dash Wilder and Scott Dawson in the first step toward possibly facing Cesaro & Sheamus for the vacant Raw Tag Team Titles at the Greatest Royal Rumble event.

Alas, Braun Strowman & Nicholas the fan’s Cinderella run with the Raw Tag Team Titles has come to an end. Due to the young champion’s scheduling conflicts — as Strowman helpfully pointed out, he’s in the fourth grade — the champs relinquished their titles on Raw, setting up a two-week bracket that Raw General Manager Kurt Angle dubbed the Tag Team Eliminator, where the winner battles Cesaro & Sheamus for the vacant titles at the Greatest Royal Rumble event.

First to advance? The Revival, who began their Raw journey at last year’s #RawAfterMania and did not waste the opportunity to hit reset on a Team Red run that has been haunted by injuries. To wit, they powered relatively quickly past Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson thanks to a strategy that zeroed in completely on The Suntan Biker Man’s leg. When Anderson was forced to turn on the jets, The Revival used his frenzy to their advantage, scoring a sneaky tag and sending him stumbling headlong into a waiting Shatter Machine for the 1-2-3.

After defeating The Miz and Finn Bálor to win the Intercontinental Championship and become a Grand Slam Champions at WrestleMania, Seth "Freaking" Rollins returns to Monday Night Raw.

New Intercontinental Champion Seth Rollins may not be out of the woods with Finn Bálor, but the good news is that he has no shortage of allies when it comes to dealing with The Miz.

After a brief confab between Rollins and The Extraordinary Man (wherein a handshake — though non-binding — deal was struck to battle for the title), former champion The Miz resurfaced to reprimand Rollins for defeating him at WrestleMania, as the loss had made his baby daughter cry… which, in turn, made his wife cry… which made Miz himself cry.

That said, Miz — who made a point of saying he only dismissed The Miztourage at WrestleMania to avoid accusations of playing dirty — wasn’t about to invoke his rematch clause on The Kingslayer. He opted instead to call his shot for WWE Backlash, though he was more than willing to battle Seth and Finn in a 3-on-2 Handicap Match. Alas, that plan was thwarted by the arrival of Jeff Hardy, last seen haunting The Hardy Compound during The Ultimate Deletion. Jeff returned more than willing here to help Rollins and Bálor send Miz and his crew packing. Given that Kurt Angle sanctioned a Six-Man Tag Team Match for later in the evening, The Charismatic Enigma may well be willing to do a little more before all is said and done.

Fresh off Saturday's NXT TakeOver: New Orleans, former NXT Tag Team Champions Akam and Rezar look to make their mark on Monday Night Raw.

Being left out of the Tag Team Eliminator has Heath Slater pretty steamed, though he may want to shy away from any open challenges, given that his boasts ran him and Rhyno afoul of Raw's newest tag team.

After daring any team behind the curtain to try their hand against the inaurgural SmackDown Tag Team Champions, Slater & Rhyno found themselves face to face with The Authors of Pain, the twin mammoths who Paul Ellering guided to a near-indomitable reign as NXT Tag Team Champions.

They seem destined for similar supremacy on Raw: They dispatched Rhyno off the apron and flattened Slater with the Last Chapter in a display that was so flawless they seemed to think they were better off without Ellering’s guidance. Akam & Rezar seemingly dismissed the legendary manager at ringside after the match, thereby closing the book on their story’s prologue and turning the page to whatever lies ahead.

Bray Wyatt & "Woken" Matt Hardy put their newfound alliance to the test against Apollo & Titus O'Neil in the first step toward possibly facing Cesaro & Sheamus for the vacant Raw Tag Team Titles at the Greatest Royal Rumble.

Last night, Bray Wyatt rose from The Lake of Reincarnation to help “Woken” Matt Hardy win the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, signifying the beginning of a wonderful new partnership. On Raw, the two former rivals made it official, teaming up for the first time and notching a Tag Team Eliminator victory that doubled as the start of their “Expedition of Gold.”

With Wyatt “rid of the succubus known as Sister Abigail” and Hardy bolstered by the presence of Humungous Wonder Number Eight, they were near-flawless against Titus Worldwide, despite having never competed together. The Eater of Worlds seemed to have picked up a few of Hardy’s mannerisms as well — he decreed Apollo’s athletics to be “Wonderful!” — but Wyatt still relied on his punishing power moves to take the wind out of Apollo’s sails. A Sister Abigail-Twist of Fate combo landed Hardy & Wyatt a victory, The Expedition of Gold is officially a go, and The Revival await in the distance.

After Daniel Bryan & Shane McMahon prevented The "Yep!" Movement from returning to SmackDown LIVE at WrestleMania, Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn compete against each other for the right to join Monday Night Raw.

A returning Daniel Bryan thwarted Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn’s hopes of rejoining the SmackDown roster at WrestleMania, but they have nobody to blame but themselves for missing out on a Raw contract. Literally: Owens and Sami arrived to Raw suited up and hat in hand to ask Kurt Angle for a job on Team Red, were told they’d have to fight it out for the sole roster slot The Olympic Hero had to offer, and no clear winner emerged.

Much like they always do, the longtime friends fought to a dead heat and matched each other blow-for-blow, though, unlike most of their other encounters, nobody managed to close the deal: Sami’s old never-say-die attitude helped him land a Helluva Kick while Owens was perched atop the turnbuckle, and while KO answered with a package suplex, both men were too spent to answer the count of ten.

The ensuing No-Contest decision meant that neither man would receive a Raw contract, a disappointing ruling for the Superstars that nonetheless seems appropriate: One way or another, Owens and Zayn really are destined to fight forever. For the first time in a long time, however, where they will fight remains to be seen.

After claiming that the loss of his Intercontinental Title at WrestleMania made his whole family cry, The Miz teams up with his Miztourage to battle the team of Seth Rollins, Finn Bálor and Jeff Hardy.

Unlike WrestleMania, The Miz had no reservations about using The Miztourage to his advantage in Raw’s main-event Six-Man Tag Team Match. And yet, the result remained the same for the former Intercontinental Champion.

A stomp to the mat from Seth Rollins ended Miz’s night once again, though having his understudies at his side paid significant dividends for The Awesome One. The Miztourage did their work to take Finn Bálor out of the equation, and the returning Jeff Hardy took as much out of himself as he did his opponents upon entering the fray.

That left Rollins to shoulder the load, and The Kingslayer answered the call, sprinting around the ring and taking out Miz and The Miztourage with a suicide dive. His partners helped clear the ring of interference, and a stomp to The Awesome One handed the Intercontinental Champion the win.

A train of finishing maneuvers from all three to Bo Dallas & Curtis Axel sent the WWE Universe home happy. The moment was somewhat tinged with uncertainty: Come the Superstar Shake-up next week, one, or all, of these Superstars might be competing on a different show. But given their big win, it’s hard to begrudge Rollins, Bálor & Jeff for letting the good times roll while they can.